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Rating: Enthusiastically setting out to present new material only to face a crossroads where on one side lies artistic integrity and on the other a legitimate hope for recognition, bigger earnings, and proper publicity. A crossroads that seems obvious to many, but not to Aimee Mann. In the late '90s, her new album was rejected by her record label Interscope because it lacked the pop appeal necessary to succeed in the merciless arena of the current music market. At this point, the shy Aimee had the "audacity" to buy the rights to her songs, begin performing them live, and sell them exclusively online.
Meanwhile, Paul Thomas Anderson found inspiration in Aimee Mann's songs for his "Magnolia," a film that would enjoy enormous success and whose soundtrack was mainly composed of songs by the American singer-songwriter. This was the push needed to reboot Aimee Mann's career: she independently released (SuperEgo Records) the material previously rejected by Interscope, along with new pieces that had been added in the meantime, and thus "Bachelor No. 2 (Or, the last remains of the dodo)" finally saw the light. The album, like a slap in the face to Interscope, became Aimee Mann's most successful album, as well as the one that to this day contends with the excellent "Lost In Space" for the title of her best work.
Aimee Mann is a singer-songwriter characterized by great class and sensitivity, with an intricate, elaborate, and seductive songwriting style, making melancholy and introspection her almost unbeatable axe of war. She possesses an unmistakable, versatile, and incisive voice and performs a mature and composed pop, vaguely reminiscent of Joni Mitchell or The Beatles, but interpreted with great personality and skill.
"Bachelor No. 2" is an elegant album with excellent insights, moving away from the pop-rock of the previous "I'm With Stupid" and showcasing an evolution both in sound (today with a more folk-inspired and refined imprint) and in songwriting. From the opener "How Am I Different?" - the first of several poisoned arrows aimed at the record labels - this is already evident. But also in the delightful "Driving Sideways", with its decadent car-crossing tone that should be proclaimed the anthem of all twilight drivers.
Even in the slower pieces, Aimee Mann passes the test with flying colors, as seen especially in "Deathly", which begins serenely and stagnant with its acoustic backbone, only to blossom in a crescendo in the final part, where the instrumental contribution intensifies to produce one of the strongest tracks of the batch. But the true peak is reached with the duo "Ghost World" and "Calling It Quits". The former is a now rare example of a "perfect pop song" that can be interpreted as recounting the common issue of facing life after studies. The latter is simply the most interesting piece of the album, a solid and original power-ballad based on the initial piano melody but, above all, on the caustic and sharp lyrics.
Aimee Mann's limitation, here as in her subsequent albums, is her inability to hit the mark unless listened to with a certain dedication. She relies heavily on the splendid lyrics, but the accompaniments, although pleasant and never trivial, might seem too homogenous upon a superficial listen, and Mann might appear cold and cryptic. However, after all, the stories told by Aimee Mann are nothing but chronicles of daily life in which anyone could see themselves. And if hardly anyone finds themselves in the poignant and minimalist "Just Like Anyone" (dedicated to Jeff Buckley), I have no complaints if that TG5 news anchor with a silly grin tells me about people being blown to bits while I bite into my sandwich every evening.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 How Am I Different (05:03)
I can't do it
I can't conceive
You're everything you're
Trying to make me believe
'Cause this show is
Too well designed
Too well to be held
With only me in mind
Chorus:
And how - how am I different?
How - how am I different?
How - how am I different?
Verse 2:
I can't do it
So move along
Do you really want to wait until I
Prove you wrong?
And don't tell me -
Let me guess
I could change it all around if I
Would just say yes
Chorus:
But how am I different?
How am I different?
How am I different?
Bridge:
And just one question
Before I pack -
When you fuck it up later
Do I get my money back?
Verse 3:
I can't do it
And as for you -
Can you in good conscience
Even ask me to?
'Cause what do you care
About the great divide
As long as you come down
On the winner's side
Chorus:
And how am I different?
How am I different?
How am I different?
Coda:
Different, different, different, different
Different, different
(3x)
And just one question
Before I pack -
When you fuck it up later
Do I get my money back?
02 Nothing Is Good Enough (03:09)
Once upon a time
Is how it always goes
But I'll make it brief
What was started out
With such excitement
Now I gladly end with relief
In what now has become a familiar motif
That nothing is good enough
For people like you
Who have to have someone take the fall
And something to sabotage
Determined to lose it all
Critics at their worst
Could never criticize
The way that you do
No, there's no one else I find
To undermine or dash a hope
Quite like you
And you do it so casually, too
'Cause nothing is good enough
For people like you
Who have to have someone take the fall
And something to sabotage
Determined to lose it all
It doesn't really help
That you can never say
What you're looking for
But you'll know it when you hear it
Know it when you see it
Walk through the door
So you say, so you've said
Many times before
But nothing is good enough
For people like you
Who have to have someone take the fall
And something to sabotage
Determined to lose it all
Nothing is good enough....
03 Red Vines (03:44)
They're all still on their honeymoon
just read the dialogue balloon
everyone loves you--why should they not?
And I'm the only one who knows
that Disneyland's about to close
I don't suppose you'd give it a shot
knowing all that you've got
are cigarettes and Red Vines
just close your eyes, cause, baby--
you never do know
and I'll be on the sidelines,
with my hands tied,
watching the show
Well, it's always fun and games until
it's clear you haven't got the skill
in keeping the gag from going too far
So you're running 'round the parking lot
til every lightning bug is caught
punching some pinholes in the lid of a jar
while we wait in the car
With cigarettes and Red Vines
just close your eyes, cause, baby--
you never do know
and I'll be on the sidelines,
with my hands tied,
watching the show
And tell me, would it kill you
would it really spoil everything
if you didn't blame yourself
do you know what I mean?
Cigarettes and Red Vines
just close your eyes, cause, baby--
you never do know
and I'll be on the sidelines,
with my hands tied,
watching the show
watching the show
05 Satellite (04:10)
Let's assume you were right
And play the game of charm and strange and satellite
And when we've all had our fun
Deflate the stars and put away the sun
And so, we can call it a day
'Cause I'll never prove that my motives were pure
So let's remove any question of cure
'Cause even though you've made it pretty obscure
Baby, it's clear
From here
You're losing your atmosphere
From here
You're losing it
So let's assume it was true
'Cause baby can't lift up a hand to swear to you
And what's the use of defense
The hangers-on are too far gone for evidence
And that one was lost from the first
'Cause I'll never prove that my motives were pure
So let's remove any question of cure
'Cause even though you've made it pretty obscure
Baby, it's clear
From here
You're losing your atmosphere
From here
You're losing it
So have it your way
Shatever makes the best résumé
Whatever you can throw in
Wash, rinse and spin til it's spun away
Okay
But I won't be sticking around
'Cause I'll never prove that my motives were pure
So let's remove any question of cure
'Cause even though you've made it pretty obscure
Baby, it's clear
From here
You're losing your atmosphere
From here
You're losing it
06 Deathly (05:36)
Now that I've met you
Would you object to
Never seeing each other again
'Cause I can't afford to
Climb aboard you
No one's got that much ego to spend
So don't work your stuff
Because I've got troubles enough
No, don't pick on me
When one act of kindness could be
Deathly
Deathly
Deathly
'Cause I'm just a problem
For you to solve and
Watch dissolve in the heat of your charm
But what will you do when
You run it through and
You can't get me back on the farm
So don't work your stuff
Because I've got troubles enough
No, don't pick on me
When one act of kindness could be
Deathly
Deathly
Deathly
Definitely
You're on your honor
'Cause I'm a goner
And you haven't even begun
So do me a favor
If I should waver
Be my savior
And get out the gun
So don't work your stuff
Because I've got troubles enough
No, don't pick on me
When one act of kindness could be
Deathly
Deathly
Deathly
Definitely
07 Ghost World (03:30)
Finals blew, I barely knew
My graduation speech
And with college out of reach
If I don't find a job
It's down to Dad and Myrtle Beach
Chorus 1:
So I'm bailing this town
Or tearing it down
Or probably more like hanging around
Hanging around
Verse 2:
Everyone I know is acting weird
Or way too cool
They hang out by the pool
So I just read a lot and rode my bike
Around the school
Chorus 2:
'Cause I'm bailing this town
Or tearing it down
Or probably more like hanging around
Hanging around
Bridge:
And all that I need now is someone
with the brains and the know-how
to tell me what I want... anyhow
Verse 3:
12th of June, a gibbous Moon
Was this the longest day?
I'll walk down to the bay
and jump off of the dock and watch
the summer waste away
Chorus 3:
Then I'm bailing this town
Or tearing it down
Or probably more like hanging around
Then I'm bailing this town
Or tearing it down
Or probably more like hanging around
Coda:
Hanging around
Hanging around
Hanging around
So tell me what I want
08 Calling It Quits (04:09)
He's a serious mister
Shake his hand and he'll twist your arm.
With Monopoly money
We'll be buying the funny farm.
So I'll do flips, and get paid in chips
From a diamond as big as the Ritz--
Then I'm calling it quits.
(Calling it quits)
Eyes the color of candy,
Lies to cover the handicap.
Though your slippers are ruby,
You'll be led to the booby trap.
And there's no prize,
Just a smaller size,
So I'm wearing the shoe 'til it fits,
Then I'm calling it quits.
Yes, I'm calling it quits.
Yes, I'm calling it quits.
Now he's numbering himself among the masterminds
(Calling it quits)
'Cause he's hit upon the leverage of valentines.
(Calling it quits)
Lifting dialogue from Judy Garland storylines
...Where get-tough girls turn into gold mines.
All those Polaroid babies,
Taking chances with rabies,
Happy to tear me to bits--
Well, I'm calling it quits.
Yes I'm calling it quits.
Yes I'm calling it quits.
Yes I'm calling it quits.
Yes I'm calling it...
09 Driving Sideways (03:49)
At least you know
You were taken by a pro
I know just how you feel
She talked a perfect game
Deflecting all the blame
You took the jack
And changed the flat
And got behind the wheel
Now you're
Driving sideways
Taken in by the scenery
As you're propelled along
And your companion
Will not help you to navigate
For fear she may be wrong
For fear she may be wrong
And you will say
That you're making headway
And put it in overdrive
But you're mistaking speed
For getting what you need
And never even noticing
You never do arrive
Cause you're
Driving sideways
If you roll down the window you'll see
You're where you don't belong
And your companion
Will not help you to navigate
For fear she may be wrong
For fear she may be wrong
And you're powered by
The hopeful lie
That it's just around the bend
And when this, by default
Comes screeching to a halt
Let's hope that you
Know what to do
To start it up again
Driving sideways
Hitting scan on the radio
So she can sing along
And she'll sit
Thinking you're going to handle it
Until she's proven wrong
Until she's proven wrong
Until you prove her wrong
Driving sideways
10 Just Like Anyone (01:22)
[Aimee Mann]
So maybe I wasn't
that good a friend
but you were one of us
and I will wonder
just like anyone
if there was something
else I could've done
So maybe it's true that
your cry for help
was oh, so very faint
but still I heard
and knew something was wrong
just nothing you could put your finger on
and I will wonder
just like anyone
just like anyone
11 Susan (03:51)
SUSAN
by Aimee Mann
Oh Susan, you were clued-in,
you knew just how this thing would go.
A prognosis that was hopeless
from the very first domino.
I guess I see it all in hindsight.
I tried to keep perspective despite
the flash of the fuse, the smell of cordite.
Now I'm in that place again,
and I know he can't come in to get me.
And someday he will live to regret me.
Susan I can see it now.
Oh Suzie , they get to me,
they can really be wearying.
So he threw me rope and bouey,
let me use his decoding ring.
There must have been some kind of parade,
we kissed for a while to see how it fades
and pulled the pin on another grenade.
But I'm in that place again
and I know he can't come in to get me.
And someday he will live to regret me.
Suzy I can see it now.
Oh Susan, the hope of fusion
is that the halo will reappear.
It may be pure illusion,
but it's beautiful while it's here.
I had some trouble with the goodbye.
I checked my roman candle supply,
and watched the vapor-trail in the sky.
But I'm in that place again
and I know he can't come in to get me.
And someday he will live to regret me.
Susan I can see it now,
Susan I can see it now,
Susan I can ...see... it ... now.
12 It Takes All Kinds (04:06)
As we were speaking of the devil
you walked right in
wearing hubris like a medal
you revel in
but it's me at whom you'll level
your javelin
Wasn't that just our dear friend Ron?
Throwing your weight around the sun
happier now that you've become
what you hated
I'm surprised I even thought I
had half a chance
I was just one in a million
of also-rans
who was sure to be your victim
of circumstance
Once you were just our dear friend Ron
selling the soul you swore upon
spreading the word that you've become
what you hated
And if I don't understand...
well, I guess it takes all kinds
I would like to keep this vision
of you intact--
when we'd hang around and listen
to Bacharach
and you loved the world you lived in
and it loved you back
Once you were just our dear friend Ron
now you look out for number one
who would've guessed that you'd become
what you hated
And I guess it takes all kinds
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By lovi
Aimee is like a diesel engine, starting slowly, somberly, almost shyly.
She sings about herself with innate elegance, highlighting the darker and more decadent sides of her life and the society that surrounds us.
