Liz Phair – “Stratford-On-Guy (Newly Digitized HD)” [Video]

2018 marks the 25th anniversary of Liz Phair’s classic album Exile In Guyville and on May 4th, Matador Records will release Girly-Sound To Guyville: The 25th Anniversary Box Set. The upcoming release is an extensive, limited edition 7-LP or 3-CD box set to celebrate the anniversary of her classic album. The box set contains the first official restored audio of all three 1991 Girly-Sound tapes from the original cassettes. It also contains the 1993 Exile In Guyville album remastered by Emily Lazar at The Lodge. You can pick up a copy HERE.

Here is the original video for “Stratford-On-Guy,” which has been newly digitized and upscaled to HD, directed by Liz Phair herself! Liz’s first-hand account of how the “Stratford-On-Guy” video came to be:

“We were in talks with labels about the second record – Matador was being courted by Atlantic – and Danny Goldberg came backstage to meet me. I told him about my idea for the next video – ‘Stratford-On-Guy’ – explaining that we were stalled due to budget constraints. He asked ‘what do you need?’ I said, ‘a private plane to fly over downtown LA and get footage at night.’ I wanted to shoot the electric veins of the city. He just said, ‘done!’ It was one of those real rock star moments.

So my husband, his friend Michael Mees, who was the DP, and I went up in this 8 seater Lear Jet and got the greatest footage ever. We were literally flying sideways so Michael could shoot straight down over the rooftops of all the buildings. We were executing these tight turns above the skyscrapers and the G force was incredible. You could feel your internal organs dragging to the other side of your body cavity. Michael was using this really heavy camera and Jim, my husband, had to hold onto him as we shot. The lens of the camera was pressing down against the window pane and I remember Michael nervously joking – and not really in jest – that the glass beneath him better hold. It was so fun. We made two approaches into the airport so we could capture that fantastic runway lighting. Those images are etched in my memory forever. I seem to recall I somehow wedged my head up between the pilots like a dog peering over the backseat so I could see that awesome 180* cockpit view, too. Good times!”