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.
I can't believe it took me so long to discover your web site. It's like I have a musical twin! But, while putting in a link to the previous Aimee Mann "Baby Blue" collection, you omitted a link for the current "Nobody Does It Better". Could you post that one as well? :)
ReplyDeleteThat would be very nice
DeleteOops. A link would be helpful. I just added it in.
DeleteHey! So I have been listening to your version of 'Static on the Radio' because it's a really groovy song and I really enjoy the instruments, so I actually bought the album it's on. To my absolute surprise (and delight), the album version appears to be longer than the one you have, including a short intro and a whole other verse!
ReplyDeleteI've included a google drive link to the song. The extra verse still includes Aimee Mann. It seems strange that there are two different versions. Huh. There's almost 2 minutes cut out of the one in your playlist. I wouldn't have even known that there was a longer version, as when you search "Static on the Radio lyrics", the first hit is the shortened version.
Anyway xD
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1RWLIxAwDuVihRv6YNBONcI8Y2vAyc7x2
Thanks. But I've been on the road on vacation, and by the time I got to see this link, it appears to no longer work. Could you please try it again?
DeleteThank you. I love this collection.
ReplyDeleteHello! I really want to dowload this file but it seems like it isn't available anymore, according to zippyshare the file is expired. The same thing happened for two other aimee mann albums you made, Can't You Tell and Murder Backstage. Is there still a way to download the songs or fix the link? Thank you so much
ReplyDeleteI fixed this link. While I was at it, I updated the links to all the other Aimee Mann (and Til Tuesday) ones, updating the mp3 tags and fixing the volume balance while I was at it.
DeleteExcellent collections, all of the ones for Aimee! I did notice though, when cross referencing the collections with my collection, that Backfire, a Lost In Space B-Side (as well as on the Special Edition of the album) is conspicuously absent from this set.
ReplyDeleteI'm only human and I miss stuff. I've never heard of this song, but I'll check it out now. Thanks. If you see anything else I've missed, for Mann or anyone else, please let me know.
DeleteNo worries, appreciate what you've done here Paul, hope it didn't come across otherwise! Will do! There is also a song called Unforgiven she did singing with John Doe of X fame on a solo record of his, but she's more background than lead or duet. If you haven't checked it out, Discogs is the best resource for combing through an artist discography to check if you're missing anything obscure, as well as finding the different versions of albums with bonus tracks etc.
DeleteNo worries here too. I do use Discogs to help find stray tracks, but I do miss things sometimes just the same. I'm not going to include something though if she's only singing backing vocals. But yes if it's a proper duet.
DeleteI added the song in. It's a good song too. I wish she did more upbeat stuff like that.
DeleteHiya - The zip I just got doesn't have "Backfire", but it has "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times". No big deal to me (I have "Backfire" elsewhere), but I thought I'd let you know. Thanks.
ReplyDelete