Today, we return to the world of pop - but it is OK - it is good pop.
Disc 171 is...Fuck Smilers
Artist: Aimee MannYear of Release: 2008
What’s Up With The Cover?: I believe Aimee Mann has a message for smilers on this cover. Also worth noting are the two screws on the left hand side. This is the 'special edition' version which in addition to costing more, is bound in book form, rather than a jewel case, or the more recent 'folded cardboard' approach. I actually wanted the regular version, but this was all the store had, and I couldn't wait to buy the album any longer.
I don't mind the special edition look, but it takes up that much more space on the CD shelf, and the spectre of running out of space again is always looming in my mind.
How I Came To Know It: This particular album was just me buying Aimee Mann's new album when it came out. I've known her as an artist since Sheila discovered her about five or six years ago.
How It Stacks Up: I have six Aimee Mann albums. I've already reviewed her two best, "The Forgotten Arm" and "Lost in Space". I'd put "Fuck Smilers" in 4th place.
Rating: 3 stars, but almost 4.
What can you say about Aimee Mann? - she gives pop music a good name. That is a difficult accomplishment from where I'm sitting.
After a three year gap from 2005's "The Forgotten Arm", Mann released this album. It is good, but it pales in comparison to the five star frenzy of what preceded it. Because of that, I have to remind myself not to judge it too harshly, but instead just take it on its own terms.
This album has less range to the composition, and so the songs don't stand out starkly against one another. That said, the whole album has a nice relaxed groove that helps the harsh topics sneak up on you in more than a few tracks.
The album opens with "Freeway" which unsurprisingly is great for driving. In general the album is good on the road, and it strongly evokes the emotional detachment of the LA freeway scene - or so I imagine.
As usual, Mann is at her best when she is singing about depressing topics. Hardly surprising the album is called "Fuck Smilers" - well it is called "@#%&*! Smilers", but her intent is clear.
In "31 Today" a woman bemoans lost opportunity on her thirty first birthday:
"31 today
What a thing to say
Drinking Guinness in the afternoon
Taking shelter in the black coccoon.
I thought my life
Would be different somehow
I thought my life
Would be better by now."
I like how the black coccoon is both the Guiness in particular, and the character's mood more generally. It is also impressive that Mann - who records this song at the age of 48, takes on the character of a 31 year old, and makes her believably world weary.
She packs all this yearning sentiment into what would otherwise be a groovy little pop song. By singing about a character at a different age than herself, Mann reminds us that these feelings of self-doubt and insecurity aren't age related, but can come over us at any time.
If Aimee Mann were a typical pop songwriter, she'd come up with some kind of trite answer for these feelings - after all her voice is so pure and clear she could give you an emotional lift without you ever noticing the short cut.
Instead her heroine in "31 Today" decides to take a stranger home from the bar for some meaningless sex, and the song ends with her "getting loaded and watching CNN."
Later in the album she sings an ode to natural disasters with "Little Tornado":
"Little tornado
Bane of the trailer park
Lifting houses to leave your mark."
"Make it go faster
Baby go faster
Make it go twice the speed
Of you and me."
The song is sung softly - a lullaby to an incredibly destructive and arbitrary force, which reminds her of similar qualities she perceives in her own relationships. Her reaction to this horrible realization? Make it go faster - let it externalize her own storm.
"Fuck Smilers" isn't the magnificent work of "The Forgotten Arm" but it is a competent, enjoyable listen from a singer/songwriter who refuses to let her beautiful voice sing anything other than hard truths. She is always willing to let you see inside her own tornadoes. They are terrible and beautiful, and even if this record doesn't deliver a five alarm twister, they are still good enough you don't want to look away.
Best tracks: Freeway, Borrowing Time, 31 Today, The Great Beyond, Little Tornado.
1 comment:
"Borrowing Time" is one of my favourite songs off this album, which is a favourite...but agreed, not as good as "Forgotten Arm" or "Lost in Space" (but those are...sublime). But even a merely good album from Aimee Mann is a 5 star event.
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