Last fall, Liz Phair paired the physical release of her album Funstyle with a bonus disc of 10 songs from the storied/worshipped/oft-dubbed trio of Girlysound cassette tapes that predated her Indie Queen status. It was on the strength of these 4-track recordings that Phair was signed to Matador Records, subsequently reworking several Girlysound songs for her 1992 debut, Exile In Guyville (and albums since).

Though I’d collected many of these bedroom recordings via a mix of official releases (a b-side here, an EP there) and underground bootlegs (gasp!), as a longtime Phair fan, there was no question I’d be ponying up for this new, officially sanctioned Girlysound release. In effect, I paid for Funstyle a second time, already having purchased it from Phair’s site when she released the album digitally that July. What a sly, pocket-lining plan!

Anyway, as is all too often the case — and quite embarrassingly so — when the special edition of Funstyle finally arrived on my doorstep, I shelved it, and the bonus Girlysound disc went unplayed. It was only this afternoon, as I was going a stack of CDs I’d purchased in the past year, that I noticed it and decided to give it an overdue spin.

I’d heard several of these Girlysound songs before, but not track 8, “Love Song.” When it came on, I stopped what I was doing. “This is another story about love,” it begins, followed in true Liz Phair fashion by, “What a surprise.” An upbeat tune this isn’t — at least it doesn’t sound like one — but the mixed-up emotions of “Love Song” make for an arresting listen.

Maybe there’s a reason Phair never revisited “Love Song” once she was spending time in a real recording studio, because this raw demo could never really be improved upon. Hear here:

Purchase Liz Phair – “Love Song” (Girlysound Tapes) via Amazon MP3.