Bachelor No. 2 (2000)

Written by John Murphy

Strange as it may seem, this third album Bachelor No. 2 or, the last Remains of the Dodo from Boston singer/songwriter Aimee Mann was originally rejected by her record company Interscope for being "not commercially viable". Aimee therefore bought it back from the record company and released it herself. Now common sense has prevailed, and V2 has released the album for Aimee's British Music fans to enjoy.

Although this may have originally been deemed "uncommercial", this isn't a thrash version of Metal Machine Music. Rather, what you'll find in here is a set of beautifully crafted songs, a few of which were featured in the film Magnolia. If you've heard that soundtrack, you'll know what to expect. Opener How Am I Different kicks off the proceedings, with a lazy acoustic guitar music and Aimee's warm vocals a standout. 

Read more: Bachelor No. 2 (2000)

Written by Riley McCarthy

Aimee Mann's eight or so introductory tracks on the soundtrack to "Magnolia" are, quite frankly, some of the best moody, angsty music I've ever heard. Better than Alanis. Better than Fiona Apple. Better than Tori Amos.

From her cover of "One" to the brilliant, brilliant "Wise Up," Mann's tracks alone make this album a must-have. The Oscar-nominated "Save Me" is a great song, the sort you put on repeat in your CD player when you feel like you're part of "the ranks of the freaks who suspect that they'll never love anyone," a feeling I hope I share with lots of people.

The Supertramp tracks and that song "Dreams" are OK, but they don't really fit with the feel and sound of the Mann songs. The album, though, is very clearly split into two halves - with the Mann stuff basically filling the first half and the poppier, more upbeat stuff coming at the end.

"Magnolia" the film requires multiple viewings to understand, but the songs of Aimee Mann, which inspired the film's creation, are fairly straightforward, moving and beautiful to work both with the film and without it.

The multiple listens you'll give the "Magnolia" soundtrack won't be to help you better understand its meaning. You'll just want to relive the beauty of the thing.

Tracks on Magnolia:

One
Momentum
Build That Wall
Deathly
Driving Sideways
You Do
Nothing Is Good Enough
Wise Up
Save Me
Goodbye Stranger - Supert
Logical Song - Supertramp
Magnolia - Jon Brion

I'm With Stupid (1995)

This record is a masterpiece production. First, Aimee Mann's voice is crisp and clear, and seemingly unprocessed, it stands a little higher in the mix than most artists - but it works for her. Perhaps the reason it works so well is that her lyrics are fantastic, and they deserve to be heard.

The record follows the style of her previous release "Whatever", which also followed the style of Til Tuesday's final release "Everything's Different Now" (which could have more aptly been referred to as the first solo Aimee Mann record, because of it's stylistic divergence from previous Til Tuesday work).

Whereas "Whatever" was very polished and Beatles-influenced, "I'm With Stupid Now" intentionally takes a bit of the polish off. The recording and production is still stellar, but this time there are a lot of special effects, and subtleties put in, which give the album a feel of cohesiveness whereas "Whatever" may have seemed a little more sterile. In one track, there is actually the scratching of an old LP record mixed in quietly to the song (Amateur).

Read more: I'm With Stupid (1995)

Whatever (1993)

Aimee Mann's debut album, "Whatever", is a quirky collection of off-kilter guitar driven pop-- many of the trademarks in Mann's music are already in place, the sarcastic lyrics, male harmony vocals, and fantastic songwriting are there, but the music is a bit different than we'd see-- there's some pieces that point to the future, but largely, this is an album of jangly indie pop music.

The music excels at its best when Mann manages to coax her saracastic lyric and deadpan vocal into a sort of aggressive, ecstatic delivery ("I Should've Been Known", "Put Me On Top"), or when it clearly points to the feax-folky direction that would be coming in years to come (the brilliantly melancholy "4th of July", "Stupid Thing"). There's a couple misfires on this one as a result (sacchriney pop song "Could've Been Anyone", the conceptually brilliant but lifelessly executed "Jacob Marley's Chain"), although this is all going to be pretty subjective, the music is pleasant enough, some of it just lacks bite.

Its a beginning, and better things are to come-- if you're interested in Mann, don't start here, check one of the more recent albums, but if you've got those, this makes for an interesting listen.

Tracks on Whatever:

• I Should've Known
• Fifty Years After The Fair
• 4th Of July
• Could've Been Anyone
• Put Me On Top
• Stupid Thing
• Say Anything
• Jacob Marley's Chain
• Mr. Harris
• I Could Hurt You Now
• I Know There's A Word For This
• I've Had It
• Way Back When

Performing on Whatever:

Aimee Mann - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar and Bass
Michael Hausman - Drums and Percussion
Jim Keltner - Drums
Randy Brion - Trombone
Jon Brion - electric Guitar, Bass, Drums and Vocals
Buddy Judge - Acoustic Guitar and vocals
Roger McGuinn - Electric guitar, vocals