CD Odyssey Disc 66: Aimee Mann

In less than a month, I've rolled my two favourite Aimee Mann albums. Actually, as more rolls occur I find I am rolling a disc already listened to.

In these cases I roll to see if I go to the right or left of that disc until I come to a new one.

This time I rolled "Lost in Space" again - and heading East again, the next album was this one.

Disc 66 is...The Forgotten Arm

Artist: Aimee Mann

Year of Release: 2005

How I Came To Know It: We had purchased "Lost in Space" (which I reviewed in November at Disc 54) back in 2004 and when this album came out, we were fans so we bought it right away. It did not disappoint.

How It Stacks Up: I have six Aimee Mann albums, not counting the Magnolia Soundtrack, which is 80% her music as well. I started out listening to this album expecting it to be tied for first with "Lost in Space" but after going through it, I'm going to give it first place all on its own.

Rating: 5 stars.

This album is quite simply Aimee Mann at her best.

The album borrows its title from an old boxing term. In boxing, "The forgotten arm" is refers in a fight when one fighter uses the same arm to launch the majority of his attacks (like a constant left jab, for example). Over time, his opponent shifts his defence a little to favour that arm, creating an opening which can be exploited with an unexpected strike from the other side, via the "forgotten arm." It isn't like the defending fighter deliberately shifts his defence, he just kind of forgets, and lets the attacking fighter lull him into a pattern that is later exploited.

As a fencer, I know this is very much part of any martial art. Setting up your opponent by establishing a pattern or a rhythym , and then breaking that pattern.

On this album, Mann uses this image in a series of intertwining ways to tell the tale of the love between a fighter and his woman. How they met, and how they fall in love and how they fall apart. Alternating songs from the point of view of first the girl and then the fighter she shows us how "The Forgotten Arm" is a powerful metaphor for how a relationship can slowly fail.

On my first few listens, I just picked up the failure of the relationship elements, but at each listen new applications of the image of the forgotten arm reveal themselves.

At its most basic, near the end of the woman sings in "I Can't Help You Anymore":

"I'll get a pen and make a list
and give you my analysis;
but I can't write the story with a happy ending.
Was I the bullet or the gun?
or just a target drawn upon
a wall that you decided wasn't worth defending?
And I should know - but I don't know:
That I can't help you anymore."

In addition, the fighter has has alcohol addiction problems that also creep up on him unawares like a "Forgotten Arm" and that he can be violent - both of which are big reasons for the end. Early on the album, the woman sings in "I Can't Get My Head Around It" as the fighter makes a promise to straighten out.

"I want to believe, if you tell me so,
I want to believe because you ought to know:
That kicking is hard, but the bottom's harder."

Instead, by the time the album nears an end, the fighter realizes he cannot quit - that he has been cruel to the woman he loves without even realizing. In "I Was Thinking I Could Clean Up for Christmas":

"I was thinking I could clean up for Christmas;
and then baby, I'm done.
Because I can't live loaded and I can't live sober,
and I've been this way since the end of October,
and I know enough to know:
That baby when it's over, it's over. And it's over
Because baby, I'm done."

And this time I noticed it also refers to a boxer struggling with memory loss from brain damage - no doubt contributing to his inability to live without self-medicating, as well as his rage. In "Video":

"Tell me why I feel so bad, honey
- fighting left me plenty of money,
but didn't keep the promise of memory lapses
Like a building that's been slated for blasting
I'm the proof that nothing is lasting...
Counting to eleven as it collapses."

The whole album kind of sums up right in the middle with "Little Bombs"

"Life just kind of empties out
First a deluge then a drought,
Less a giant mushroom cloud
Than an unexploded shell."

But at the end, Mann gives us hope. The final track "Beautiful" features a bittersweet reunion of the couple, who hook up again and swear to be best friends, as our fighter hero closes by telling his ex-girl:

"Beautiful - I wish you could see it, too.
I wish you could see it, too.
I wish you could see it, too -
baby, how I see you."

Yes, he is a schmuck, but in this moment, for all the pain between them and behind them, you feel that even though they won't be together, they are both going to be OK, and you're glad of it.

Maybe I love this album because I have a soft spot for concept albums. I'm sure that's part of it, but that's not all it is. I love this album because the music is excellent, Mann's voice is incredible and the lyrics tell a story that is as good as anything you'll read or hear. I love it because even though I've heard it dozens of times, it still hits me in unexpected ways.

Speaking of which, whatever your particular Forgotten Arm is, this album will remind you to keep your guard up, and stay on your feet.

Best tracks: All tracks, preferably listened to sequentially.