Monthly Archives: September 2008

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Song of the Day #40: ‘4th of July’ – Aimee Mann

Like Belle & Sebastian, Aimee Mann is an artist I could feature on this blog every day without running out of stellar material. Her six solo albums are jam-packed with soulful pop-rock masterpieces. And her work with ‘Til Tuesday hasn’t aged as well (production-wise, that is… it all has a definite 80s sheen) but is still quite solid.

Mann’s latest album, @#%&*! Smilers, is her best yet, a piano-driven exploration of heartbreak and loneliness that’s brilliantly listenable despite the subject matter. That’s really her gift — turning melancholy into electrifying art.

But for today’s song of the day, I’m skipping the new stuff and jumping all the way back to her first solo album, Whatever. It’s not the album of hers I reach for most, but every time I do I’m reminded of how brilliant she was right out of the gate. The song ‘4th of July,’ in particular, has always been a favorite.

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Song of the Day #39: ‘House of the Risin’ Sun’ – Bob Dylan

How do you pick just one Bob Dylan song for a series like this? I have 352 of them in my iTunes library and could probably make an argument for most.

Do I go for a track off one of his trifecta of masterworks from 1965-66 (Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde)? Imagine that… Bob Dylan put out those three albums in two years! Most artists would give their first born to put out three albums half as good over a lifetime.

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