Monthly Archives: November 2009

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Song of the Day #483: ‘That’s Just What You Are’ – Aimee Mann

imwithstupidAfter the demise of Imago, Aimee Mann jumped to Geffen for her next release, 1995’s I’m With Stupid. Again, the album met with critical success but didn’t sell very well, eventually leading to problems with the new label (yes, a pattern is developing here).

Mann has always struck me as a great example of an evolving artist. Looking at her material through the years, the talent is always there and so is her melancholy tone and thematic focus on life’s losers, but her style is very fluid. After exploring new wave pop in her ‘Til Tuesday material, she moved to a more acoustic, organic sound on Whatever. On I’m With Stupid, Mann went electric, but with a minimalist production style that sharpens every song to a deadly edge.

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Song of the Day #482: ‘I’ve Had It’ – Aimee Mann

whateverDue to a dispute with her ‘Til Tuesday label, it took five years for Aimee Mann to release her first solo album, Whatever. Her new label, Imago, then promptly fell into financial crisis and dissolved. As a result, Whatever received very little promotion and sold very few copies.

That’s a shame because it’s a fine album, a big step up from her work with ‘Til Tuesday. I included one of its songs, ‘Fourth of July,’ on the blog more than a year ago and it remains one of the best songs I’ve featured here.

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Song of the Day #481: ‘(Believed You Were) Lucky’ – ‘Til Tuesday

everythingsdifferentnowBy the release of ‘Til Tuesday’s third and final album, 1988’s Everything’s Different Now, it had become clear that Aimee Mann was destined for bigger things. Infighting began over the direction of the group’s sound and Mann’s evolution into the primary songwriter.

Everything’s Different Now is the only ‘Til Tuesday album I own, and it’s a good one. It suffers a bit from dated production — there’s no mistaking it for a late 80s release — but the songwriting is top notch. Mann was really coming into her own as a writer and performer. A collaboration with Elvis Costello, ‘The Other End of the Telescope,’ would eventually wind up as the lead song on his All This Useless Beauty album.

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Song of the Day #480: ‘Voices Carry’ – ‘Til Tuesday

voicescarryI’ve wondered sometimes about the reasons behind the fate of one-hit wonders. Presuming there’s some level of talent involved in producing a quality song that strikes a nerve with the listening public, what keeps an artist from leveraging that talent into a sustainable career?

Is it bad luck? Or perhaps that one song is all he or she had in the creative bank to begin with? Might, say, a-ha have gone on to have the career of Duran Duran under different circumstances?

I mention this as a way to back into the start of a 2-week Aimee Mann theme, because it seems that back in 1985, when ‘Til Tuesday released ‘Voices Carry,’ they (and she) could very well have ended up as one-hit wonders.

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Song of the Day #479: ‘Across the Universe’ – The Beatles

lennonApart from the title song, the most celebrated tune on Let it Be is John’s masterful ‘Across the Universe.’ This is one of those quintessential Beatles tunes that really gets to the heart of what made them special… the combination of simple melody, inspired production and enlightened lyrics.

It’s ironic that John repeats the phrase “nothing’s gonna change my world” when this song is a perfect example of how he and The Beatles changed everybody else’s world through their music.

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