The circumstances surrounding my first two Michael Penn albums — a very timely and special gift on the one hand, and the soundtrack to a key period of my life on the other — pretty much solidified me as a fan for life. So it was with great anticipation that I purchased Penn’s third album, Resigned, in 1997.
Again, he didn’t disappoint. I’ve already called Free-For-All his best album and pointed out that March is right up there with it. Well, Resigned is a challenger to that throne as well. In fact, it would probably be the hands-down winner if I had the sort of positive connotations with it that I do for the other two albums.
The title has a double meaning, as Penn had been dropped from RCA following the disappointing sales of Free-For-All before re-signing with Sony. These record company headaches are something he shares in common with his wife, Aimee Mann, an even more talented singer-songwriter who can’t seem to buy a hit.
Resigned is another collection of literate power pop and ballads and boasts the finest production values of any Penn album yet. I’ve often seen his music described as Beatles-esque and I think he earns that comparison. So many modern songwriters are chasing new sounds but only a few have tread this old ground so effectively. We could use more pop artists who wear their love of The Beatles on their sleeve and craft melodies to match.
While looking for today’s song, ‘Out of My Hands,’ on YouTube, I came across a cover version by a guy named Ekrindul. He’s recorded a bunch of Michael Penn songs as well as a ton of Elliott Smith, some Billy Joel and Beatles and a lot more. I love discovering these talented amateurs who showcase their own abilities as well as their excellent taste in music. Check him out.
All the symptoms fit
And I backslide
An eye on the clock
I don’t talk much
When I’m running on the inside
When every conclusion reached
Is out to you
I put on my best face and my kid gloves, too
And held up the end
Until it’s out of my hands
Out of my hands
And if you tuned in to see blood
It’s not a subject that I surpass in
My mission’s been scrubbed; my brains were washed
Because I never was your assassin
It’s like a desert
Sand will have to do
And between my fingers
Saw it running through
Until it turned into this
And out of my hands
Out of my hands
Out of my hands
So come up and check
There’s nothing up my sleeve
All the while
It’s getting harder for you to believe
Out of my hands
Out of my hands
Out of my hands
Meet Me In Montauk 
I once again can’t help but wonder why you think it’s a bad thing that these artists don’t have “hits.” I love the covers of two complilation albums Joni Mitchell released several years ago. One is called Hits, the other Misses. The Hits contain the songs with which we’re more likely familiar, the Misses the other gems she feels ought to be represented on such a “Best of… ” sort of release. What I love is the cover art. On the first album, she lies – apparently dead – on the road, where she has been left after a car (which has presumably left the scene of the crime) left her. On Misses, she’s bending over in the street (in order to draw the chalk lines that will enclose her hit body for the other cover).
It’s hard to think of a more visceral image for the difference. Maybe these artists should be happy to have been missed more often than hit. As long as they are (re)signed and have an outlet to share their music that goes beyond hoping somebody with a blog finds your YouTube videos and shares them, they should be ecstatic. They make a living by making music. Who cares if they have HITS?
(nice song, btw)
I guess my point is that success for popular musicians is measured in sales and, as Dana as pointed out a few times, over the years the quality of what tops the charts has diminished considerably. When the best talent is seldom found anywhere near the top of the charts, what does that say about society and/or the music industry?
Have radio and TV trained people to like crap by wrapping it in pretty packaging?
Or maybe we’re just romanticizing the past and it’s always been like this? But I believe Dana is right that talented singer-songwriters once appeared high on those charts.
Joni Mitchell, for example, had five Gold albums, two Platinum and one 2X Platinum and put five albums in the top five during that period. And those “hits” were what is generally considered her most enduring work, not stuff she cranked out to pay the bills.
Contrast that to Aimee Mann, a not dissimilar artist, who has never had a commercially successful album and has been dropped by music labels because of it.
Wow–this is a wonderful song, and confirms again that I jumped off the Penn train too soon. I must take some time to listen to these follow up albums after March. Thanks for sharing:)
I had no idea that Joni Mitchell had such commercial success! That’s quite a game changer and completely obliterates my thesis 😉
However, I wonder if we’re simply focusing on the wrong side of the equation. Rather than bemoaning those artists who haven’t hit the charts, why don’t we see if there are any who actually have. Perhaps, just like with indie films, there is an expectation that certain artists will perform for a niche audience. When the Little Miss Sunshine breakout smash hit occurs, it is a cause for celebration but also prompts the inevitable article wondering what happened here. In other words, it’s a “surprise hit” because nobody expects it to do that well. Maybe it’s the same thing with musical artists. They still get to make their albums, play their smaller venues, but they aren’t expected to wind up on the Billboard chart or play stadiums.
A quick glance at this week’s Billboard chart found songs by Alicia Keys, Taylor Swift, Michael Franti (albeit this is his first hit ever!), Rob Thomas, Mary J. Blige, and Shakira. Maybe for each Aimee Mann and Michael Penn, there is an Alicia Keys and a Rob Thomas.
I also wonder if there isn’t a failure on the part of newspapers and magazines, which are read by the older reader, who has perhaps lost touch with his inner new music finder, to create the kind of exposure and excitement for some of these artists. A Bruce Springsteen album will sell well because he earned his fans decades ago. How is this generation’s Springsteen supposed to find his audience?
I think some of it comes down to genre. All of the people you named from this week’s chart (maybe not Franti, I don’t know him well) are in the R&B or country realm. Rob Thomas is an exception, as he’s more of a rock/pop guy. It’s the singer-songwriters who have been banished from the charts.
You make a good point about Springsteen. Both he and Bob Dylan have had strong sales right up through this year, but that’s likely due mostly to fans they picked up over the past several decades.
I don’t think the new Dylan, Springsteen or Mitchell will ever have the success of their inspirations. I looked up Frank Sinatra’s chart history and he routinely put albums in the top five from his very first album in 1946 until the mid-60s. Then he dropped off the face of the earth, sales-wise, and I imagine that sort of music generally went with him.
So rock-n-roll killed the crooners and modern R&B killed the singer songwriters, to oversimplify things.
What’s a singer songwriter if not Taylor Swift or Alicia Keys? If your genre is R&B, does that automatically keep you from the singer songwriter category? And why should country+ singers not be considered in that category? Isn’t Lyle Lovett a singer songwriter? Mary Chapin Carpenter? Lucinda Williams? Why would they classify any more than Taylor Swift does?
I think some of them “make it,” while others don’t. Any, theoretically, could.
Yeah, I suppose they qualify as singer-songwriters. Norah Jones is another one who had a lot of success, and in her case it was with an old-fashioned sound. So yes, there are exceptions.
Aha! And… I bet that you think less of each of those singer songwriters because they have achieved commercial success. People are quick to dismiss that which has wide appeal as somehow automatically less interesting than that which only attracts a small but fervent fan base.
WHICH is why I was suggesting that commercial success is not always the best thing that can happen to an artist (at least not to that artist’s fans) 🙂 How often do we feel a sense of frustration that we now have to share “our” movie, tv show, musical artist. Let’s face it. If Tift Merritt had the success of Taylor Swift, you never would have bought her CD from her, met her, had that wonderful moment that cemented your fandom forever.
I say embrace their lack of commercial viability instead of bemoaning it! 🙂