Aimee Mann did not have a very productive decade. She released Charmer in 2012, then a record paired up with alt-rocker Ted Leo in 2014, before wrapping things up with Mental Illness in 2017.
I can complain about the frequency, but not the content, especially Mental Illness, which ranks among the best releases of her career.
Ben Folds, one of my favorite artists, had a very lean decade. His last solo release was 2015’s So There, an album recorded with the chamber ensemble yMusic that featured a handful of songs plus an orchestral piece. Before that, you have to go all the way back to 2010.
But that 2010 album was a doozy. Written in collaboration with novelist/screenwriter Nick Hornby, Lonely Avenue is possibly Folds’ best work outside of Ben Folds Five (and speaking of that trio, 2012 did see a very good reunion album by the band titled The Sound of the Life of the Mind).
Today is my birthday, and because it falls on a weekend, the Random iTunes Fairy gets the chance to serve me up something appropriate, ironic, bizarre or boring to mark the occasion.
Let’s spin the dial and see what song sums me up as I turn 47…
Well, Bruce Hornsby’s ‘Look Out Any Window’ doesn’t have much meaning to me personally, but it’s a great song about the state of the world, and one just as relevant today as when it was released in 1988.
Eleven years ago, I ranked R.E.M.’s albums and placed 1986’s Lifes Rich Pageant at #3. I have some quibbles about that list and would likely shuffle some titles were I to revisit it today, but I stand by the placement of this album.
Pageant was the album where R.E.M. started the transition from the alternative to the mainstream. It’s more polished and muscular than its predecessors, but not as radio-friendly as what was to come. It sits nicely in that sweet spot.
My #11 album of the 2010s is the only one on this list that I didn’t hear when it first came out. Jason Isbell’s Here We Rest eluded me for six years.
I discovered Isbell after reading year-end praise of his 2017 album The Nashville Sound (recorded, like this one, with his backing band The 400 Unit). The excellence of that album prompted me to download the rest of his catalog.
Meet Me In Montauk 