POP MUSIC REVIEW : Liz Phair: Liberation Day : Her Confident 70-Minute Set Includes New Songs but No Band

For Liz Phair, the best way to move forward is to take one giant step back.

Scores of performers have turned to solo roles for a momentary change of pace after years of touring with bands, but it’s rare for an artist as new on the scene as Phair to make such a dramatic retreat.

Yet the decision proved liberating Tuesday at the Wiltern Theatre for Phair, whose marvelously crafted songs about sexual politics and the mating game place her at the forefront of contemporary pop-rock singer-songwriters.

In a stirring return to live performances after nearly a year’s break that was due in part to stage fright, Phair exhibited confidence and command in a 70-minute set that featured some two dozen songs, nearly a third of them new.

You’d think that someone who felt uncomfortable in the spotlight would want the company of a band on stage--for moral support and to deflect some of the attention.

But Phair felt that her band was a straitjacket on earlier tours, locking her into a format that left her with little room to maneuver once she hit the spotlight.

Without the band, she figured, she could concentrate on the emotion of the song rather than worrying about staying in sync with the musicians.

And that’s what happened Tuesday.

There were times when the songs would have benefited from greater musical punctuation, so Phair will be shortchanging herself and her audience if she doesn’t eventually bring musicians on the road with her. Rather than use them all on every number in the traditional manner, she could experiment by using different combinations, depending on the demands of the songs.

As a step toward making Phair comfortable enough to eventually make that move, Tuesday’s concert offered the bonus of presenting Phair’s songs in a spare, almost naked fashion.

To add a touch of intimacy to the evening, the stage was set up to resemble a cozy living room, complete with a couple of sofas, a plant, a rug and (a true sign of the ‘90s) a CD rack.

Wearing a halter top and jeans, Phair ran into trouble early in the set when her guitar drowned out her words. As the evening progressed, however, the sound balance was corrected and she mixed old and new songs delightfully.

Much has been made of the X-rated language in such songs as “Supernova,” but Phair doesn’t employ the words for shock value. She is a challenging and insightful writer whose material is peppered by the bite of Elvis Costello, the rowdiness of the Rolling Stones and the intimacy of Joni Mitchell. Some of the new songs introduce welcome strains of tenderness.

As she showed again at the Wiltern, Phair is an artist with much to say in her music--and it’s exciting to see her take the necessary steps to allow her to share that music in concert.

Tuesday’s show was opened by Jewel, a young, folk-accented songwriter from Alaska whose appealing voice will serve her well once she finds her point of view as a writer. At this stage, Jewel, 20, is able at times to inject her songs with engaging images, but too many of her songs are conventional explorations of social issues and relationships that every young writer seems to feel obligated to tackle.