Aimee Mann - Hultsfred Festival, Hultsfred, Sweden, 10-15-2001

Really excellent sounding Aimee Mann concert recordings are very few and far between (and she's only released one live album), so when I found one this good, I post it straight away. This is either a soundboard or FM radio bootleg. Either way, it sounds as good as an official live album.

I'm especially happy to find this, because it took place after the release of what I consider her two strongest albums, the "Magnolia" soundtrack in 1999, and "Bachelor No. 2" in 2000. And checking just now, I see the crowd-sourced ratings at rateyourmusic.com also give those two albums her highest ratings. Every song is a winner.

There's not much banter between songs, but this seems to have been all she said. At one point between songs, she mentioned she just didn't feel like saying much.

This album is 55 minutes long.

01 One (Aimee Mann)
02 Choice in the Matter (Aimee Mann)
03 Sugarcoated (Aimee Mann)
04 talk (Aimee Mann)
05 How Am I Different (Aimee Mann)
06 Save Me (Aimee Mann)
07 That's Just What You Are (Aimee Mann)
08 talk (Aimee Mann)
09 Red Vines (Aimee Mann)
10 Susan (Aimee Mann)
11 Ghost World (Aimee Mann)
12 Long Shot (Aimee Mann)
13 talk (Aimee Mann)
14 Calling It Quits (Aimee Mann)
15 talk (Aimee Mann)
16 Wise Up (Aimee Mann)
17 Deathly (Aimee Mann)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ySvpXckk

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/0DymNNKRT9ytRsk/file

The cover photo is from the Rock Werchter Festival in Werchter, Belgium, on June 30, 2001.

Various Artists - An All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson, Radio City Music Hall, New York City, 3-29-2001

Here's something that any fan of the Beach Boys will certainly enjoy. I don't know much about the backstory for this one (maybe someone else can explain?) - I'm guessing it was an anniversary of some sort. But in 2001, a bunch of great musicians got together to celebrate the music of Brian Wilson. That's basically the same thing as celebrating the music of the Beach Boys, since I think all but one of the songs performed here was originally recorded and released by the Beach Boys. (The lone exception, "Love and Mercy," is from Wilson's more hit and miss solo career.) 

In my opinion, most of these kinds of tribute concerts have more dud performances than good ones. But this one is solid pretty much all the way through. It's hard to go wrong with Beach Boys songs, for starters. But also, a lot of big names took part, such as Paul Simon, Elton John, Billy Joel, Heart, David Crosby, Aimee Mann, and many more, and it's hard to go wrong with them as well. Plus, Brian Wilson himself joined in at the end.

Most or all of the performances are unique, meaning these particular artists never did these songs before, and probably not since. They were special versions just for this show.

This concert has never been released in any kind of audio format, as far as I know. But the songs here all come from a DVD that has been released. I edited it down somewhat to remove some speeches praising Wilson. I wanted to keep it more focused on the music. (One section I removed was a talk by Beatles producer George Martin about the song "Good Vibrations.")  However, I did keep all the talking that directly preceded or followed each song that was relevant.

Unfortunately, there was a lot more to this concert that was not included on the DVD, and I can't find it anywhere else. For instance, Wilson sang lead or co-lead on five songs at the end of this album. But in the concert, he sang a few more: "Lay Down Burden," "Do It Again," "Caroline, No," and "Surfin' U.S.A." If anyone has more than I do, please let me know so I can add it in.

This album is an hour and 12 minutes long.

01 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
02 Our Prayer (Boys Choir of Harlem)
03 California Girls - Help Me, Rhonda (Ricky Martin)
04 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
05 Surfer Girl (Paul Simon)
06 Surf City (Go-Go's)
07 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
08 In My Room (David Crosby, Carly Simon & Jimmy Webb)
09 talk (David Crosby)
10 The Warmth of the Sun (Vince Gill)
11 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
12 I Get Around (Evan & Jaron)
13 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
14 God Only Knows (Elton John)
15 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
16 I Just Wasn't Made for These Times (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
17 talk (Chazz Palminteri & Billy Joel)
18 Don't Worry Baby (Billy Joel)
19 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
20 Sail On Sailor (Darius Rucker & Matthew Sweet)
21 talk (Chazz Palminteri & Chynna Phillips)
22 You're So Good to Me (Wilson Phillips)
23 talk (George Martin)
24 Good Vibrations (Heart)
25 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
26 Surf's Up (David Crosby, Vince Gill & Jimmy Webb)
27 talk (Chazz Palminteri & Brian Wilson)
28 Heroes and Villains (Brian Wilson)
29 talk (Elton John)
30 Wouldn't It Be Nice (Elton John & Brian Wilson)
31 talk (Brian Wilson)
32 Barbara Ann (Brian Wilson & Everyone)
33 Fun, Fun, Fun (Brian Wilson & Everyone)
34 talk (Brian Wilson)
35 Love and Mercy (Brian Wilson with the Boys Choir of Harlem)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16584567/VA-_2001AllStrTrbtetBrnWlsnRdoCtyMsicHllNwYrkC__3-29-2001_atse.zip.html

I have to admit, the cover is a bit fakey. I found a photo of Elton John, Billy Joel, and Paul Simon sharing the same microphone during a finale at this concert. But since it's a Brian Wilson tribute and he was there, I wanted him on the cover too. So I Photoshopped him in, using a photo that also comes from the finale at this concert. They were on stage together, just not this close. The lighting is pretty accurate. For instance, there's a shadow falling on his body that actually fell on someone else standing there.

Aimee Mann - Acoustic Versions, Volume 3: 2008-2012

It's been quite a while since I last posted an Aimee Mann acoustic album. But here's another one. This is the third out of four.

These are all alternate versions. Not all of them are solo acoustic, but they're more stripped down and usually without any drumming. All but one of the performances are unreleased. The one that has been released is "Freeway," from a various artists compilation album called "Live at KGSI." 

As for the unreleased ones, most of them are taken from concert bootlegs. However, the first two songs and the last two are from in-person radio station appearances. (That also was the case with "Freeway.") There are very, very few Aimee Mann soundboard or FM bootlegs, so some of these are from audience boots. But I did my best to maintain quality control with the sound quality. I also used some audio editing tricks (with UVR5 and MVSEP programs) to get rid of the crowd noise and improve the mix on some songs.

Note that all of the songs are Mann originals, generally from her most recent albums at the time of the recordings. But two of the songs, "Voices Carry" and "Coming Up Close," are from her time leading the band 'Til Tuesday in the late 1980s.

This album is 50 minutes long.

01 31 Today (Aimee Mann)
02 Phoenix (Aimee Mann)
03 Red Vines (Aimee Mann)
04 Freeway (Aimee Mann)
05 The Great Beyond (Aimee Mann)
06 I Can't Get My Head Around It (Aimee Mann)
07 The Fall of the World's Own Optimist (Aimee Mann)
08 Voices Carry (Aimee Mann)
09 Coming Up Close (Aimee Mann)
10 Driving Sideways (Aimee Mann)
11 One (Aimee Mann)
12 Slip and Roll (Aimee Mann)
13 Charmer (Aimee Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16288591/AIMEEMN2008-2012AcstcVrsnsVlum3_atse.zip.html

The cover photo is from the Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, Tennessee in 2008.

Aimee Mann - Acoustic Versions, Volume 2: 1994-2002

Sometimes I get started posting a series of albums, then get distracted and forget to post the rest of it. I posted "Volume 1" of Aimee Mann's acoustic performances a few months ago. Today, I noticed that it's high time to post "Volume 2," so here you go. There are four volumes in this series.

These are mostly unreleased versions, from in-person radio station appearances. But not all of them are. "That's Just What You Are" and "Ghost World" are from B-sides. "Save Me" and "It's Not" are from radio station appearances, but they both have been officially released, one on a various artists compilation and the other as a bonus track.

The sound quality is very good. Three of the songs were done in front of audiences, but that didn't mar the sound quality.

This album is 49 minutes long.

There's one bonus track, "I Know There's a Word." It comes from a concert bootleg. The sound quality is decent, but not as good as the others, so it only merits bonus track status.

01 Jacob Marley's Chain (Aimee Mann)
02 Fifty Years after the Fair (Aimee Mann)
03 That's Just What You Are [Acoustic Mix] (Aimee Mann)
04 You're with Stupid Now (Aimee Mann)
05 Long Shot (Aimee Mann)
06 Choice in the Matter (Aimee Mann)
07 You Could Make a Killing (Aimee Mann)
08 Sugarcoated (Aimee Mann)
09 All Over Now (Aimee Mann)
10 Par for the Course (Aimee Mann)
11 Save Me (Aimee Mann)
12 Ghost World (Aimee Mann)
13 Humpty Dumpty (Aimee Mann)
14 It's Not (Aimee Mann)

I Know There's a Word (Aimee Mann) 

https://www.upload.ee/files/15135712/AimeMn_1994-2002_AcoustcVersionsVolume2_atse.zip.html

The cover photo is from an appearance on "The Tonight Show" TV show in 2000.

Aimee Mann & Michael Penn - Joe's Pub, New York City, 2-19-2000

In 1993, singer-songwriter Aimee Mann began dating singer-songwriter Michael Penn. They married in 1997, and have remained married ever since (as I write this in 2023). Both of them have had one big hit - "Voices Carry" in 1985 when Mann was the lead singer of 'Til Tuesday, and "No Myth" for Penn in 1989 - but they're better known for their critically acclaimed albums. Despite being married, they generally have kept their musical careers separate. But they did collaborate more around the year 2000, doing a few songs for various artists compilations, as well as going on tour together.

That brings us to this album. Their joint tour was called "Acoustic Vaudeville," and was an usual one in a couple of respects. First, Mann and Penn didn't just take turns performing sets or even take turns on a song by song basis. They stayed on stage together the whole time and sang backing vocals and played instruments on the other's songs. But also, stranger still, they didn't speak much between songs, and hired comedians to do most of the talking instead. They got many great comedians to act as emcee for various concerts on the tour, such as Patton Oswald, David Cross, and Paul F. Tompkins. For this concert, they had two comedians, Janeane Garafalo and Andy Kindler. The result is an interesting mix of serious and often sad songs with funny interludes. For instance, there's a running joke that Penn can't speak English, so instead he speaks a made-up language and Kindler "translates" what he said.

Unfortunately, the sound quality of this concert is good, but not great. It was recently posted at a file-sharing site and claimed to be a soundboard bootleg. Unfortunately it's not, and no shows from this tour are. But it's the best audience bootleg from the tour that I've come across. Furthermore, I used the audio editing program X-Minus to improve every single track, even the talking ones. Generally speaking, I boosted the vocals, improved the mix, and also remove extraneous "woo-hoo" and clapping sounds during songs. It still has some issues, but it's markedly better than before, and is very listenable.

It's too bad Mann and Penn haven't toured together in all years since this. Since they're still married, maybe they'll get around to it again. I also really like the idea of comedians as emcees. This tour is the only example of that I know of, but I hope others will take up the idea. In the meantime, enjoy this one.

This concert is an hour and 55 minutes long.

01 talk (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
02 Fourth of July (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
03 Long Way Down [Look What the Cat Drug In] (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
04 Red Vines (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
05 talk (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
06 You Could Make a Killing (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
07 Choice in the Matter (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
08 talk (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
09 Out of My Hands (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
10 talk (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
11 Bunker Hill (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
12 talk (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
13 Me Around (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
14 talk (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
15 Save Me (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
16 talk (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
17 The Fall of the World's Own Optimist (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
18 That's Just What You Are (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
19 Long Shot (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
20 talk (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
21 Wise Up (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
22 talk (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
23 Try (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
24 talk (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
25 High Time (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
26 talk (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
27 Whole Truth (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
28 Perfect Candidate (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
29 talk (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
30 Brave New World (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
31 talk (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
32 I Got You Babe (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
33 talk (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
34 The Other End [Of the Telescope] (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
35 talk (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
36 Bucket Brigade (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
37 No Myth (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
38 talk (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
39 Voices Carry (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)

https://www.imagenetz.de/h7FSn

alternate link:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ZT5exnWM

second alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/vD5y108e1gl3fRa/file 

The cover photo is of Mann and Penn performing on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno in January 2002. They were standing further apart, but I used Photoshop to bring them closer together.

Aimee Mann - Prospect Park, New York City, 6-21-2018

I've mentioned previously that excellent sounding Aimee Mann live recordings are few and far between. She's released only one live album, in 2006, and the vast majority of concert bootlegs are audience recordings were merely okay sound. So when I came across this concert the other day, I thought I should post it. It was professionally recorded in order to be broadcast live on the radio (and Mann makes a few comments about being broadcast live), so the sound quality is great.

As far as song selection goes, there aren't any big surprises, such as rarities or unusual covers. But it does what you'd expect, presenting songs from her latest album at the time, plus her best known songs going all the way back to "Voices Carry" with her band Til Tuesday.

Other than that, there's not much to say. There were no problems that needed fixing. She played with a small band.

This album is an hour and 12 minutes long.

01 talk (Aimee Mann)
02 4th of July (Aimee Mann)
03 talk (Aimee Mann)
04 Little Bombs (Aimee Mann)
05 talk (Aimee Mann)
06 Patient Zero (Aimee Mann)
10 talk (Aimee Mann)
07 The Moth (Aimee Mann)
08 Labrador (Aimee Mann)
09 Humpty Dumpty (Aimee Mann)
11 Rollercoasters (Aimee Mann)
12 talk (Aimee Mann)
13 You Never Loved Me (Aimee Mann)
14 talk (Aimee Mann)
15 Goose Snow Cone (Aimee Mann)
16 Save Me (Aimee Mann)
17 Going through the Motions (Aimee Mann)
18 Borrowing Time (Aimee Mann)
19 talk (Aimee Mann)
20 Long Shot (Aimee Mann)
21 One (Aimee Mann)
22 Wise Up (Aimee Mann)
23 talk (Aimee Mann)
24 Voices Carry (Aimee Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15601850/AimeMn_2018_ProspectPrkNewYorkCity__6-21-2018_atse.zip.html

The cover photo is from a concert in Red Rocks, Colorado, in September 2018.

Aimee Mann - Infinity Hall, Norfolk, CT, 1-30-2012

I'm a big fan of singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, and I plan to post some more albums of her music. But one thing I hadn't been planning on posting were any full concerts from her. That's because although there are many bootlegs of her shows, I don't know of any really stellar sounding ones, the kind that usually come from soundboard or fm sources. 

But I recently stumbled across this concert on YouTube. It's a professionally filmed show (I don't know what for exactly), and as a result the sound quality is significantly better than any of those bootlegs I know of. The only thing that compares in terms of sound quality is her sole live album, "Live at St. Ann's Warehouse." But that's from 2004 and this is from 2012, so the shows are significantly different.

The one flaw with the recording was that the lead vocals were too low. So I applied my usual trick, using the X-Minus audio editing program to increase only the volume of the vocals. I did this with all the songs (though some more than others), so I don't think it's necessary to add "[Edit]" to all the titles.

This concert is a bit odd in that concerts are usually meant to promote albums, but at the time of this concert it had been three years since her last album, "@#%&x! Smilers." Her next one, "Charmer," would be released later in 2012, but about eight months later. Looking at setlist.fm, it seems she only did a handful of shows in January 2012, including this one, then was off the road until after the release of her next album. Still, she played four songs from "Charmer:" "Soon Enough," "Labrador," "Slip and Roll," and "Gumby."

One downside to this concert is that it's relatively short, at only 54 minutes long. Like most performers, she typically plays for roughly an hour and a half. Maybe that's due the format of whatever this short was filmed for? But in any case, it seems like the whole show is here, since she's introduced at the start and says goodbye at the end.

Mann played this concert with a small band consisting of bass, lead guitar, and keyboards. One problem I have with many of her albums is that she tends to get stuck in a mid-tempo rut, making the songs sound too similar to each other. Here, the songs are more lively and I think they're better for it.

01 talk (Aimee Mann)
02 High on Sunday (Aimee Mann)
03 talk (Aimee Mann)
04 You Could Make a Killing (Aimee Mann)
05 Looking for Nothing (Aimee Mann)
06 talk (Aimee Mann)
07 Going through the Motions (Aimee Mann)
08 Freeway (Aimee Mann)
09 talk (Aimee Mann)
10 Gumby (Aimee Mann)
11 talk (Aimee Mann)
12 Labrador (Aimee Mann)
13 Slip and Roll (Aimee Mann)
14 talk (Aimee Mann)
15 Good Enough (Aimee Mann)
16 Save Me (Aimee Mann)
17 Wise Up (Aimee Mann)
18 talk (Aimee Mann)
19 Red Vines (Aimee Mann)
20 Deathly (Aimee Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15601791/AimeMn_2012a_InfintyHallNorfolkCT__1-30-2012_atse.zip.html

The cover is a screenshot taken from the YouTube video of this exact concert.

Aimee Mann - Acoustic Versions, Volume 1 (1993)

Now that I've posted a bunch of Aimee Mann stray tracks albums, I want to post some albums I've made of acoustic versions she did of her songs. I think she's a strong songwriter, I generally like the lush production she usually does on her albums. But her songs do very well when they're stripped down to simple acoustic versions too.

This album comes from the very start of her solo career, the same year as her first solo album, "Whatever." Prior to that, she'd led the band 'Til Tuesday. She did a couple of 'Til Tuesday songs here, "Coming Up Close" and "The Other End (Of the Telescope)." I'm especially grateful for the acoustic version of "Coming Up Close," 'cos that's a freaking great song that should have been a big hit in some alternate universe where the best music is also the most popular. 

"'J' for Jules" is a 'Til Tuesday song too, but that got bumped down to bonus track only status due to sound quality issues.

Half of the songs here were officially released. Most of those were released as B-sides. The rest, although unreleased, all come from in-person radio station appearances, so the sound quality is a good as a studio session, without any crowd noise.

I think this is great stuff. If you're an Aimee Mann fan, this is a must-have. And I have three more of these coming dealing with the rest of her career (so far).

01 Coming Up Close (Aimee Mann)
02 4th of July (Aimee Mann)
03 Stupid Thing (Aimee Mann)
04 Put Me on Top (Aimee Mann)
05 I Should've Known (Aimee Mann)
06 The Other End [Of the Telescope] (Aimee Mann)
07 I Know There's a Word (Aimee Mann)
08 Could've Been Anyone (Aimee Mann)
09 Say Anything (Aimee Mann)
10 I've Had It (Aimee Mann)

 'J' for Jules (Aimee Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15601750/AimeMn_1993_AcoustcVersionsVolume1_atse.zip.html

I couldn't find any good photos of Aimee Mann with an acoustic guitar from 1993. The closest I got was this one from 1995. It's from the Phoenix Music Festival, which you'd think took place in Phoenix, Arizona, but actually was in Stratford-upon-Avon in Britain.

Aimee Mann - Murder Backstage - Non-Album Tracks (2014-2019) (NOTE: sound quality warning)

I have to start my comments with a big fat WARNING: the sound quality for this album is not up to my usual standards! If you're familiar with this blog, you've probably noticed that I try to maintain certain a sound quality level, but sometimes there's a song or two just below that that is still interesting, so I include those as bonus tracks. Well, this is basically an entire album of songs at the bonus track level. Most of these come from audience bootlegs that are somewhat muddy or muffled, and/or have some crowd noise through the song. There still are a lot of great Aimee Mann songs here though, some of them very amusing. So you may want to give this a listen, at least once, if you're a fan of her music. But beware of the sound quality issue.

I just posted another Aimee Mann stray tracks album covering largely the same time period, which I call "Can't You Tell." Basically, I put all the excellent sounding songs on that one, and all the dodgy sounding ones here. 

Why are there so many songs with iffy sound from these years? I think there are two reasons. The first is that Aimee Mann has taken part in an annual Christmas concert each year with lots of unique songs, especially comedic and/or parody songs. Six of the songs here come from two of those concerts, but all I've been able to find are audience bootlegs that don't sound that great. That's too bad, because some of the songs are freaking hilarious. I especially enjoy her parody of her big hit "Voices Carry" with her 1980s band Til Tuesday, called "This Is Gary." And there's a parody of the hit musical song "Jesus Christ Superstar" that gets Jesus and Santa Claus all mixed up, called "Jesus Claus Santa Christ." It would be great to hear a better version of these where the words were clearer. If you know of such a recording, please let me know.

The other main problem is that Mann has been in the habit of taking part in yearly musical cruise ship voyages, like many other famous people do recently. She tends to play some unusual songs on that cruises, especially as she has a tradition of singing a song by famous musicians who died in the past year. She did that here with four covers. Unfortunately, these cruises are usually poorly bootlegged by people with cell phones, if they get bootlegged at all. There were a bunch of additional songs I didn't even include here because the sound quality was worse. 

So yeah, be warned. But if you don't mind the rough sound, there are many good performances here. I think having all of these together helps, so hopefully you adjust to the sound quality issue instead of having jarring switching from excellent to dodgy sound and back again repeatedly.

This album is 45 minutes long.

01 Give Me Another Chance (Aimee Mann & Susanna Hoffs)
02 Murder Backstage [Baby it's Cold Outside] (Both [Ted Leo & Aimee Mann])
03 What Are You Doing New Year's Eve (Both [Ted Leo & Aimee Mann])
04 It's Christmas Time (Both [Ted Leo & Aimee Mann])
05 This Is Gary [Voices Carry] (Both [Ted Leo & Aimee Mann])
06 Jesus Claus Santa Christ [Jesus Christ Superstar] (Both [Ted Leo & Aimee Mann])
07 Calling On Mary [Acappella Version] (Aimee Mann)
08 Queen Jane Approximately (Both [Ted Leo & Aimee Mann])
09 Keep the Customer Satisfied (Both [Ted Leo & Aimee Mann] with John Roderick)
10 Love Is All Around (Aimee Mann)
11 Wichita Lineman (Aimee Mann)
12 Life of Bug (Aimee Mann)
13 Sister Golden Hair (Aimee Mann & Jonathan Coulton)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16687560/AIMEMNN2014-2019_MurdrBackstage_atse.zip.html

The cover art photo comes from a 2014 news article about that year's Christmas concert. I cropped it from a larger photo that had Ted Leo, her musical partner in the band the Both, in it. I believe the colorful animals were added in after the fact, but not by me. There are more added Christmas-y elements like that in the complete photo.

Aimee Mann - Can't You Tell - Non-Album Tracks (2013-2018)

I've wanted to post the next in my series of Aimee Mann stray tracks albums for some time now. But there was a problem: a bunch of the songs had poor sound quality. I waited, hoping to find better versions, but it became clear eventually that wasn't happening. Then a solution came to me: I rearranged the songs for the next two stray tracks albums so that one of them was all the excellent sounding songs and the other was all the poorer sounding ones. It turns out there were just enough for a decent length album of each. So this is the album of songs that sound great.

I think Aimee Mann is an excellent songwriter. But all too often, her studio albums have suffered from a certain kind of sameness, with the songs being serious and having similar mid-tempos. So I actually find her stray tracks albums more interesting and listenable. She has a great sense of humor, and it shows up in some of these songs in a way you hardly ever see on her studio albums. Take for instance the song here "I'm Cured," which is a love song from the point of view of a cold virus infecting a person! It's amusing, yet it's also just a good, catchy song. Furthermore, most of the songs here are originals, but she varies things up some more with some choice covers: "Yesterday Once More" (by the Carpenters), "River" (by Joni Mitchell), and "Drive" (by the Cars). Plus, "TV Themes Medley" is a bunch of short snippets of covers of TV theme songs done together.

Most of the songs here have been officially released, with the usual mixture of bonus tracks, singles, various artists compilations, soundtracks, and appearances on other artist's albums. Two of the songs are officially unreleased ("Woe Is Me" and "TV Themes Medley"), but you wouldn't know it by the sound quality.

This album is 49 minutes long. If you're an Aimee Mann fan, I strongly suggest you get this. As for the other one with poorer sound quality that I'll be posting at the same time, that depends on what kind of sound quality standards you have.

Oh, and her song about Donald Trump, "Can't You Tell," is freaking brilliant political commentary, if you ask me. I included it on my three album collection of songs criticizing Trump that I posted here shortly before the 2020 presidential election, so you might be familiar with it already from that:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2020/10/various-artists-rock-trump-out-volumes_24.html

UPDATE: On September 1, 2021, I added the song "Swanee River" to this album. I'd been looking for this song for ages, and a commenter found it for me. It's a bonus track to her 2017 album "Mental Illness," but it must have only been on some limited editions, because it seems to be extremely rare.

01 There's Nothing Left to Do [Let's Make This Christmas Blue] (Both [Ted Leo & Aimee Mann])
02 Woe Is Me (Aimee Mann)
03 I'm Cured (Aimee Mann)
04 TV Themes Medley (Both [Ted Leo & Aimee Mann])
05 You're a Gift (Both [Ted Leo & Aimee Mann])
06 Can't You Tell (Aimee Mann)
07 Yesterday Once More (Aimee Mann)
08 Throw You Over (Aimee Mann)
09 Swanee River (Aimee Mann)
10 Baby Who Knows (Kimon Kirk with Aimee Mann)
11 Paper Boats (Aimee Mann)
12 River (Aimee Mann)
13 Drive (Aimee Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16687550/AIMEMNN2013-2018_CantYuTell_atse.zip.html

The cover art photo comes from a 2013 concert.

Aimee Mann - Little Boxes - Non-Album Tracks (2010-2012)

Here is the next in my line of stray tracks albums for Aimee Mann. I find her musical output to be of a high quality, and very consistent. So this is more of the same good stuff from her.

The first three songs are originals that have never appeared on an album. That's also the case with the bonus track, "Conflicted," which is only a bonus track due to sound quality issues. Apparently, these songs were meant for a musical based on her "The Forgotten Arm" album, but it never came to fruition.

Some of the remaining songs are covers: "Jealous Guy," The Hissing of Summer Lawns," Free Man in Paris," and "Little Boxes." I believe all the rest are originals. "No More Amsterdam" is a collaboration with "guitar hero" Steve Vai that works surprisingly well and doesn't sound like Vai's typical stuff.

Two of the songs have been drastically edited: "Two Horses" and "Little Boxes." In both cases, Mann did the songs for TV shows, and they only needed a minute or less of music. So, for both of them, I edited them to repeat the entire song. That leaves them still on the short side, but they sound more like complete songs now.

This album is 41 minutes long, not including the bonus track.

01 Easy to Die (Aimee Mann)
02 Eiffel Tower (Aimee Mann)
03 You've Got to be Willing to Hurt the One You Love (Aimee Mann)
04 Jealous Guy (Aimee Mann)
05 The Hissing of Summer Lawns (Aimee Mann with Herbie Hancock)
06 Free Man in Paris (Aimee Mann)
07 No More Amsterdam (Steve Vai & Aimee Mann)
08 Brother's Keeper (Aimee Mann)
09 Mea Culpa (Aimee Mann)
10 Two Horses [Edit] (Aimee Mann)
11 Bigger than Love (Aimee Mann & Benjamin Gibbard)
12 Little Boxes [Edit] (Aimee Mann)

Conflicted (Aimee Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16687551/AIMEMNN2010-2012_LittleBxes_atse.zip.html

For the cover art, I decided to adopt a literal approach to the album title. The song it is based on, "Little Boxes," was written by Malvina Reynolds in the 1960s after seeing the suburban tract housing of Daly City, near San Francisco. So I've used a photo of a Daly City neighborhood.

Aimee Mann - At the Edge of the World - Non-Album Tracks (2005-2009)

Here's the next in my serious of Aimee Mann stray tracks albums. Even though it's a grab bag of songs from all sorts of sources, Mann has high and consistent standards.

All but four of the songs here have been officially released. Of the four, three of them come from a concert in 2007 celebrating and performing the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album. Mann played two songs from that album, "Fixing a Hole" and "Lovely Rita," plus "Blackbird" from the Beatles' "White Album." Unfortunately, the sound quality of those three songs are a bit below the rest. But they're still good enough for inclusion. The other unreleased song is a cover of Elton John's "My Father's Gun." It was played on a British TV show, and sounds fine.

Regarding the other songs, most of them come from various artists collections, as well as duets that appeared on other artists' albums. The last two, "Engine Driver" and "Salvation," come from an mp3 collection called "Rarities" that was posted for sale on Mann's website in 2009 but has since disappeared. There were a lot of other interesting songs on that collection, but I've included all the unique songs on this or earlier stray tracks collections by going to the original sources.

The bonus track, "Walking on a Dream" is a duet of Mann and Ben Lee of a song by the band Empire of the Sun. They only played this a couple of times in concert in Australia in 2009. Unfortunately, I had to include it as a bonus track because the sound quality is a clear notch below all the others.

01 Who Knows (Aimee Mann)
02 Blackbird (Aimee Mann)
03 Fixing a Hole (Aimee Mann)
04 Lovely Rita (Aimee Mann)
05 At the Edge of the World (Aimee Mann & Zach Gill)
06 Once I Loved [Amor Em Paz] (Till Brönner & Aimee Mann)
07 Lullaby (Aimee Mann)
08 Hearts (Tim & Eric with Aimee Mann)
09 My Father's Gun (Aimee Mann)
10 Too Many People (Aimee Mann)
11 Engine Driver (Aimee Mann & the Decemberists)
12 Salvation (Aimee Mann)

Walking on a Dream (Aimee Mann & Ben Lee)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16687549/AIMEMNN2005-2009_AttheEdgeoftheWrld_atse.zip.html

The cover art photo uses a photo of Mann in concert in 2005.

Aimee Mann - Nobody Does It Better - Non-Album Tracks (1997-2004)

Aimee Mann is fantastic and underrated. One thing I love about her is that virtually everything she does is good. This album covers a time of great creativity for her, as well as her peak of commercial success with the "Magnolia" soundtrack in 1999, so of course this is a really solid album.

One critique I've seen leveled at Mann's music which I think is fair is that her albums tend to have too many songs with similar production done at similar tempos. The songs sound great taken individually, but they can blend into each other if you're not paying close attention. These stray tracks of hers don't have that problem because they show greater variety.

And there can be no greater example of that than an Aimee Mann cover of "Sweet Home Alabama," which is included here. Yes, THAT "Sweet Home Alabama!" I didn't include her comments from before the song, but to summarize them, in her concerts, people often call out for her to play Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird," since that's a joke that virtually all musicians face. Eventually, she decided to face this by surprising audiences and actually playing "Freebird." But she and her band members listened to the song, and decided it was rather slow, and Lynyrd Skynyrd's equally famous "Sweet Home Alabama" made for a more rocking and fun song to play. So this is the result. I couldn't have imagined her doing a song like that, but I think it sounds great.

The rest of the songs on the album are a mixed bunch. She married fellow singer-songwriter Michael Penn in 1997, and they've stayed married since. They sing two songs here, both of them covers. In addition, I've added their duet version of Penn's hit song "No Myth" as a bonus track. The only reason it got demoted to bonus track status is because the sound is subpart compared to the rest of the album, since it's taken from an audience bootleg.

A majority of the rest of the songs are originals, with the exceptions of "Nobody Does It Better," "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," "The Scientist," and "What the World Needs Now." And I'm not sure who wrote the songs she does as duets with Dan Zanes and Jim White.

Mann has performed a lot of her songs in a solo acoustic format, and they sound great that way. I've got a whole other series of albums of her songs played acoustically. But I think I'll finish posting her stray tracks albums before getting to those.

This album is 50 minutes long, not including the bonus track.

UPDATE: On June 8, 2023, I updated the mp3 download file. I added a song I'd missed, "Backfire."

01 Nobody Does It Better (Aimee Mann)
02 Reason to Believe (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
03 Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (Aimee Mann)
04 Two of Us (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
05 Nightmare Girl (Aimee Mann)
06 Backfire (Aimee Mann)
07 Fighting the Stall (Aimee Mann)
08 Observatory (Aimee Mann with Glenn Tilbrook)
09 The Scientist (Aimee Mann)
10 Night Owl (Dan Zanes & Aimee Mann)
11 Sweet Home Alabama (Aimee Mann)
12 Static on the Radio (Jim White & Aimee Mann)
13 What the World Needs Now (Aimee Mann)

No Myth (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15423587/AimeMn_1997-2004_NbdyDoesItBetter_atse.zip.html

The cover art uses a photo of Mann from 1999.

Aimee Mann - Baby Blue - Non-Album Tracks (1992-1996)

Now that I posted an album of Aimee Mann singing for 'Til Tuesday, I can get started on her solo career.  Personally, I think she's both a great singer and a great songwriter. She's consistently put out quality material for her entire solo career, But I especially like her 1990s output.

One reason I think her 1990s era was so good was because she had a few "lost years" during one of her most creative time periods. She put out 'Til Tuesday albums in 1985, 1986, and 1988. Their last album, "Everything's Different Now," was their best in my opinion, because it showed Mann was growing by leaps and bounds as a songwriter. But then the band broke up, and Mann had a hard time getting a good record contract to begin her solo career. (She continued to tour under the band's name for two more years.)

It wasn't until 1993 that her first solo album, "Whatever," finally came out. So that was a gap of about five years since her last album. That gave her a backlog of songs to choose from. I'm sure many, if not most, of the songs here were written during that gap, even if they were recorded later. There are probably still more that remain unreleased and unbootlegged, since she had high quality control and almost nothing has been bootlegged from that time period.

So I consider this album a "lost album," even though it's mostly B-sides. The vast majority of songs here are Mann originals that didn't get on any of her studio albums. I believe the only covers are "Baby Blue" (originally by Badfinger), "Girls Talk" (originally by Elvis Costello), "Inverness" (originally by Scott Miller of Game Theory,, as well as the Loud Family, who plays the song with her). and "Christmastime." Plus, there's kind of a self-cover, in that she does a version of her 'Til Tuesday hit "Voices Carry," but it's done in a very different way here, making it two and a half minutes longer.

If you like Mann's solo albums, you should definitely enjoy this. It's a mystery to me why she hasn't put these out on proper albums.

By the way, Mann has a habit of recording acoustic versions of her songs, either as B-sides or in concert. I plan on posting more albums of stray tracks from her, as well as a separate series of acoustic versions.

01 Put On Some Speed [Demo] (Aimee Mann)
02 Truth on My Side [Demo] (Aimee Mann)
03 Baby Blue (Aimee Mann)
04 Take It Back (Aimee Mann)
05 Jimmy Hoffa Jokes (Aimee Mann)
06 [Believed You Were] Lucky (Aimee Mann)
07 Will She Just Fall Down (Aimee Mann)
08 Girls Talk (Aimee Mann)
09 Driving with One Hand on the Wheel (Aimee Mann)
10 Inverness (Scott Miller & Aimee Mann)
11 Christmastime (Aimee Mann with Michael Penn)
12 Time for You to Go (Aimee Mann)
13 Voices Carry [Long Version] (Aimee Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16687555/AIMEMNN1992-1996_BbyBlue_atse.zip.html

I made the cover using a publicity photo of Mann from 1993.

Aimee Mann & 'Til Tuesday - The Best of 'Til Tuesday - Selected Best Tracks (1984-1988)

When it comes to female singers, the public puts a lot of weight on physical beauty and the singing voice. Songwriting has generally been less important, since songs can be written by others. But every now and then, a woman comes along who is beautiful, has a great voice, AND is a top notch songwriter. Kirsty MacColl is one example. Another is Aimee Mann.

Mann has gotten a lot of critical acclaim for her solo career, though her sales haven't been as great as they should be. However, a lot of people forget that she started out as the lead singer and main songwriter for the new wave band 'Til Tuesday back in the 1980s. I plan on posting a lot of albums of Mann's solo stuff. But I think before I do that, it makes sense to cover her 'Til Tuesday work.

Personally, I think 'Til Tuesday was very hit or miss. Sometimes, they came up with great songs, like their big hit "Voices Carry." Another example would be "Coming Up Close," which I'd consider one of the top five songs of Mann's entire career. "The Other End (Of the Telescope)," a song cowriten by Mann and Elvis Costello, is great too. But too often, the songs were just ordinary, and were marred by dated 1980s production values. So I've compiled my own 'Til Tuesday "best of" for people who don't want to own all three of their albums. There have been several official best ofs, but those have included some songs I don't like and left off some songs I do like.

In my opinion, Mann was still learning how to write and produce consistently excellent songs in her 'Til Tuesday years. This can be seen by the drastic improvement from the band's first album to their third one. The first album has the classic "Voices Carry" and not much else, while the third album has lots of good songs. So nearly half of this compilation comes from the third album.

It turns out 'Til Tuesday has lots of unreleased songs, at least an album's worth. I've listened to a bunch, and while they were as good as many of the songs on their albums, they didn't really stand out enough for me to include them here. But I did find one I like which I've included, called "Tension." If you want to hear more of their unreleased stuff, check out the band's live concerts on YouTube.

One song here, "Sign of Love," is credited to just Aimee Mann. But I think that's a mere technicality, since it was played in concert by 'Til Tuesday at the time, and sounds just like their other songs.

01 Love in a Vacuum [Demo] ('Til Tuesday)
02 Tension ('Til Tuesday)
03 Voices Carry ('Til Tuesday)
04 Coming Up Close ('Til Tuesday)
05 Have Mercy ('Til Tuesday)
06 What about Love ('Til Tuesday)
07 Yesterday ('Til Tuesday)
08 Do It Again ('Til Tuesday)
09 Sign of Love (Aimee Mann)
10 Everything's Different Now ('Til Tuesday)
11 Why Must I ('Til Tuesday)
12 J for Jules ('Til Tuesday)
13 [Believed You Were] Lucky ('Til Tuesday)
14 Limits to Love ('Til Tuesday)
15 The Other End [Of the Telescope] ('Til Tuesday)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16687552/AIMEMNN1984-1988_BestofTilTuesdy_atse.zip.html

I made the cover art using a publicity photo of Aimee Mann from her 'Til Tuesday era.