Comments on: Listening Booth: Aimee Mann, “@#%&*! Smilers”

By: Mix Six: "Then and Now" | Popdose

Mix Six: "Then and Now" | Popdose — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:06:59 +0000

[...] The Forgotten Arm. By the time @#%*&! Smilers came out, I had pretty much given up on her. And while I found this album to be kinda sorta good, I rarely listen to it — save, perhaps, for this track. I think “Thirty One [...]

By: willvis

willvis — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:40:02 +0000

Aimee Mann is great. She's so consistent that in the overcrowded and often cookie cutter indie rock blog world, that may come across as…I don't know, it's like the Richard Thompson/Neil Finn Syndrome: Be consistently great for too long and folks start writing you off as boring or something. No rehab, no paparazzi, just great music.

More great songs from Aimee Mann. Hooray!

By: willvis

willvis — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:40:02 +0000

More great songs from Aimee Mann. Hooray!

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:45:56 +0000

Isn't it about time Aimee stopped writing frist-person songs for people 15 years younger than her? “Ghost World” was a little creepy, but “31 Today”? In base-16, maybe…

By: rwcass

rwcass — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:31:44 +0000

There is something to that theory — artists may bitch and moan that the labels don't understand them and only want hits, but if they're forced to go back to the studio and record a new single or two, it seems to make them dig deeper than they normally would in terms of melody, and the anger they feel toward the label leads them to creative places they didn't think they'd find … or at least I'd like to think that's how it goes.

Nobody's mentioned “Bachelor No. 2″ here. Is that because some of the songs appeared on the “Magnolia” soundtrack first? I think that's her best album, free of label hassles, and then she got complacent with “Lost in Space,” which did have three songs I liked, but I sold it back pretty quickly. I never heard “The Forgotten Arm,” but I like what I hear on “31 Today,” which echoes “Momentum.” (Mann's music is pretty perfect for quarter-life crises — I was all over her albums when I was 24 and 25, then a few years later, once I got some confidence back, I didn't want to listen anymore because her songs reminded me of a bad time in my life.) “I'm With Stupid” is pretty great too, but I could never get into “Whatever” beyond a few songs.

By: Popdose debates: Aimee Mann, The Simpsons « Mostly Modern Media

Popdose debates: Aimee Mann, The Simpsons « Mostly Modern Media — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:02:18 +0000

[...] at Popdose is a little more complimentary, which fits most of the reviews I’ve seen. I just don’t get it. The lyrics — [...]

By: My hmphs

My hmphs — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:16:46 +0000

I agree, although I gave up after “Starman.” My review was a little less kind. She hasn't been the same since she stopped working with Jon Brion.

By: Old_Davy

Old_Davy — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:18:41 +0000

I'll chime in here and agree that Lost In Space is terrific. I rank it just a sliver below “Whatever”.

By: eric

eric — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:44:27 +0000

You and me both -- I think Lost in Space is her most consistent album. I haven't heard Smilers. I'll see if I can listen to it over at lala.com. I want to like it, but unless Mann comes up with a new bag of tricks, I probably won't. Everything I hear from her after Lost in Space sounds like a less interesting variation on what's gone before. I think she needs to mix it up a little to get the juices flowing again. Maybe pair up with Alison Krauss for a bluegrass album or something. Or perhaps team up with Al Stewart for an album of material about the French Revolution (or the topic of whatever history book Al's been reading recently). Sing another duet with Geddy Lee. Something. Anything.

By: eric

eric — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:36:10 +0000

If you want to be more polite, you can take the Battlestar Galactica route and call it “Frakking Smilers.”