If is shockingly assured and fully formed for a debut album, there are a number of reasons why. Most prominent of these is that many of the songs were initially essayed on 's homemade cassette , which means that the songs are essentially the cream of the crop from an exceptionally talented songwriter. Second, there's its structure, infamously patterned after ' , but not the song-by-song response promoted it as. (Just try to match the albums up: is the "blow-job queen" fantasy of really the answer to the painful elegy ?) Then, most notably, there's and producer 's deft studio skills, bringing a variety of textures and moods to a basic, production. There is as much as there are eerie solo piano pieces, and there's everything in between from unadulterated , winking , , and classic . Then, there are 's songs themselves. At the time, her gleefully profane, clever lyrics received endless attention (there's nothing that critics love more than a girl who plays into their geek fantasies, even -- or maybe especially -- if she's mocking them), but years later, what still astounds is the depth of the writing, how her music matches her clear-eyed, vivid words, whether it's on the self-loathing the evocative mood piece or the swaggering breakup anthem or how she nails the dissolution of a long-term relationship on Each of these 18 songs maintains this high level of quality, showcasing a singer/songwriter of immense imagination, musically and lyrically. If she never equaled this record, well, few could. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine