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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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Song of the Day #478: ‘Get Back’ – The Beatles

getbackLet it Be is one of my least favorite Beatles albums (all things being relative, of course… it’s better than just about everything but other Beatles records). Some of the songs are just ok and the great songs have been over-produced by Phil Spector.

I’m curious about the Let it Be… Naked release of a few years ago, which presented the album without Spector’s embellishments, although I’ve heard that one is a bit disappointing too.

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An Education

aneducationAn Education is one of those simple, small, lovely movies that get a lot of critical acclaim upon release but aren’t generally remembered years later. There is nothing groundbreaking here, just a smart script, understated direction and a host of strong performances all in the service of a charming coming-of-age tale. If it seems like I’m damning the film with faint praise, well, I guess I am… I’m trying to work out why a film that does so many things right hasn’t really resonated with me more.

The script was adapted from Lynn Barber’s memoir by Nick Hornby, one of my favorite authors, and he’s on his way to a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination — deservedly so. The dialogue is witty without feeling written, the characters extremely well-drawn and three-dimensional. For a film with little in the way of driving action, it has a definite sense of pace and suspense.

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