THE BIG LEBOWSKI SOUNDTRACK

The other night I watched The Big Lebowski for maybe the 50th time.  I lent out my DVD, so I bought it on iTunes so I always have it on my computer. It's a perfect film on every level: it's fun, funny, holds up to repeated viewings, has a great story, it's quotable, the acting is great. Even Tara Reid shines.

But it struck me how great the music is. The Coen Brothers definitely know their music (further proof of that is O Brother Where Art Thou). The often use T-Bone Burnett to be music supervisor, and he did an incredible job here.

Bob Dylan's "The Man In Me" which opens the film sets the tone perfectly.  Kenny Rogers & The First Edition "Just Dropped In" during the freakout sequence: genius. The Gipsy Kings cover of "Hotel California" during Jesus' bowling scene: awesome. Especially given that The Dude hates The (fuckin') Eagles. Also the choice of fairly obscure artists: Captain Beefheart, Moondog and Meredith Monk is cool.

The Dude's music choices make sense: he loves Creedence Clearwater Revival. He's listening to Elvis Costello at the doctor.  But sometimes he just listens to tapes of bowling.

The movie rocks even more with its choice of cameo actors. Aimee Mann as the nihilist who cuts off her toe. Flea, another nihilist with a ridiculous accent.  Jimmie Dale Gilmore as Smokey, did he really step over the line? Jeff Bridges as The Dude is just perfect, and he's a rocker in his own right (he actually releases his second album tomorrow. It's produced by... wait for it... T-Bone Burnett).

I've often talked of my respect for music supervisors who do their job really well.  So, I have to tip my hat to the Coens and T-Bone for this one.

AIMEE MANN AT SOPAC: POLITELY AWESOME

"I'm going to play some new songs, so if you want to go to the bathroom, I totally understand." Who else but Aimee Mann would offer that line up without any venom? It's been a few years since her last album, Smilers, so it was good to hear a few new songs.  Her fans may certainly be attached by earlier songs in their catalog (I cite Bachelor No. 2 and Lost In Space as two of my favorite albums ever, and I love her other ones also), but it's not the classic rock crowd, we want to hear where Aimee's at today.  But she's so polite, so self-aware, to offer that caveat before playing new songs (more on them in a second).

Where she's at and where she's always been, is that she's writing about flawed characters, and doing so without judgement. She's always done this so well. And the songs are always so well crafted!  Not that they're "sweet," per se, but if you're not totally paying attention, you may miss how dark they can be.  I think that's one of the things that her fans really like about her.

Another is her charm.  She's always known that there's something a bit ridiculous about performing on stage to a few hundred (or thousand) people and trying to have a conversation. Hence, her deciscion on a tour a few years ago to hire a comedian (Patton Oswalt) to provide between-song banter for her (when she herself is, in fact, quite funny). Last night at the South Orange Performing Arts Center, she joked about everything from her out of tune guitar, to not remembering how to play some of her classics (like "Ghost World") to how we formulate our ideas of what adulthood will bring when we're eight years old, and never modify those ideas. And she pointed out that her brother, possibly forgetting what she does for a living, told her that "no one wants to hear new songs at a show."

Last night she had a different setup than usual: it was just Aimee, with Paul Bryan on bass and keyboards and Jamie Edwards on keyboards, it was a bit more stripped down than her usual shows. She played lots of songs from her recent albums ("Freeway," "31 Today," "That's How I Knew This Story Would Break My Heart") as well as bunch of things from Magnolia ("Save Me," "Wise Up," "Build That Wall," her cover of "One"). Those songs still pack incredible emotional punch, but they're also subtle.  On one hand, she isn't a R&B or blues singer who really hits you with her singing.  On the other hand, she's much more interesting than most folk singers or "indie rock" artists.  When she's performing, everything is about the song. In between songs, her personality wins you over.  It's such a great combination.

Her new songs were cool: they are from an upcoming stage adaptation of her Forgotten Arm album. She admitted that the idea of adapting one of her albums for the stage sounded awful, and remarked she'd seen some "rock musicals" that were really awful.  I think the awareness that something could go off the rails will help to keep Aimee from creating a disasterous show. Anyway, the new songs were cool.

The venue was perfect for the show. There were a lot of suburbanites who probably don't get to her NYC shows, and they really appreciated the fact that Aimee came to the 'burbs. It was a theater with seats, unlike the last Aimee show I saw, which I didn't really love (I felt that particular show didn't move that well, and wasn't suited to a club - to be fair, it was probably the first of 15 or so Aimee shows that didn't totally knock me out). It might be a perfect venue for her to test out the Forgotten Arm musical... but wherever that thing plays, I'll be there for previews.  I have faith that however Aimee brings this to life via actors and sets, it will be a cool experience.

AIMEE MANN - "SAVE ME": ONE OF THE GREATEST SONGS EVER?

OK, a bold headline for a little blog post, but this songs just resonates with me. 

Eleven years ago I worked at MTV2. We pretty much just played music videos. In early 2000, we were playing every video of all time, in alphabetical order. It was fun, but at some point, we took breaks from that to play new music, and one of the new videos we focused on was Aimee Mann's "Save Me" from the Magnolia soundtrack. Of course I knew who she was: I'd seen her with 'til Tuesday opening for Tom Petty years earlier, and I'd heard songs from, and read 5 star reviews of, her first two solo albums Whatever and I'm With Stupid. And of course, she guested on "Time Stand Still" by one of my favorite bands, Rush (he said UN-sarcastically). She was an artist who I'd meant to catch up with at some point. This was that point.

The video for "Save Me" stopped me dead in my tracks. I already knew I wanted to see the movie: I loved Paul Thomas Anderson's previous film Boogie Nights, and the way he portrayed flawed characters without judging. And I loved the actors, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly and Phillip Seymour Hoffman who were in both of the films. (Moore and Reilly were in the "Save Me" video, as was co-star [not star, but co-star] Tom Cruise.) But the video would have sold me on the movie no matter what.  Something about Aimee, with that gaze, singing that song next to these sad but not hopeless characters really spoke to me. It's hard to identify why.

The film and Aimee's soundtrack made a big impact on me. I'm not always the most tolerant person in the world, but I try not to be judgemental, and this song somehow reminds me of that.  Aimee's character - her image in this video, her songs in the film - are also a reminder.  She isn't so accepting that she's an enabler. It's just that she's not judging. She's not damning you while you go down, but she's not aiding in your destruction.  If you want to get better, great: she's there to help.  (I realize I'm superimposing my interpretation here, but isn't that what music's about: how you interpret it?)  It's a good way to be, I think, and this song helps me to try and remember to be that way.  How many songs can actually influence your behavior?  Thanks for writing this one, Aimee Mann, and here's hoping you perform it Saturday night at the South Orange Performaning Arts Center!

Here's the video:

TOMORROW ON THE CATHOLIC CHANNEL: THE SONGS OF AIMEE MANN

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, once a month I go on SIRIUS XM's The Catholic Channel's Busted Halo Show on SIRIUS channel 159 and XM channel 117.  Tune in at 7:20 pm ET (for a free online trial subscription, go to www.sirius.com/freetrial). Thursday nights are "Faith and Culture Thursdays," and we usually discuss the music of a specific artist, and tomorrow night we'll be talking about one of my favorite artists of all time, Aimee Mann.

Ms. Mann might find it odd that her music is being discussed in that forum, but I feel that her songs have a really strong moral code. She comes off as a very strong and together person, but she seems to be surrounded by very flawed characters with a variety of problems.  Paul Thomas Anderson's film Magnolia, which I watched over the weekend preparing for the Busted Halo show, was inspired by a line in Aimee Mann's song "Deathly." In so many songs, she sings about these characters.  You don't get the impression that these people can take advantage of her, she doesn't seem like an "enabler." But she doesn't reject anyone either, and she doesn't judge them. Rather, she seems to give hard advice, the advice that only someone with compassion would bother to give.  That's why I guess I felt she fit in on the show. It's difficult to forgive.  It's easier to just hold a grudge.  But to try and understand other people's problems and why they are the way they are, that's something we should all be able to do, and something religion should help us to do.

There are a lot of parts of Magnolia that stick out to me.  But one big one is towards the end where John C. Reilly's character, pretending he is being interviewed for a "COPS" type show, says, "Sometimes people need a little help. Sometimes people need to be forgiven. And sometimes they need to go to jail." There's a lot of humanity and realism in that statement. Sometimes you can help people if you try.  And sometimes you can't help them. That is sort of at the core of Magnolia, and in a lot of ways, it is at the core of many of Aimee Mann's songs.

Agree?  Disagree?  Tune in tomorrow and call in with your opinions.

AIMEE MANN AND MAGNOLIA

It's hard to believe that Paul Thomas Anderson's film Magnolia came out ten years ago. I remember being curious about it because I loved his prior film, Boogie Nights, and this one featured some of the same great actors, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy and the lovely Julianne Moore. And Tom Cruise was in it as a member of an ensemble cast. But the video for Aimee Mann's "Save Me" which included most of the cast really got my interest - at the time I was working at MTV2, and we played that video often.

Anderson knew Aimee because her husband, Michael Penn, scored Boogie Nights and also made a cameo in it (as the guy who owned the studio that Marky Mark and John C. Reilly cut their album in). At the time, she was going through well-documented issues with her label, Interscope, who was enjoying great success with music by the likes of Eminem and Fred Durst. They weren't sure how to market her,  and didn't hear a single on her new set of songs.  One of those songs, "Deathly," included the line "Now that I've met you, would you object to never seeing each other again?" Paul Thomas Anderson heard that line, which inspired one character named Claudia, and he started writing the rest of the film from there. He wrote about this in the liner notes to the Magnolia soundtrack.

The film also provided Aimee's music a better vehicle than Interscope ever could, not only did it find her audience, but it gave her a bigger audience than ever, and helped her launch the next phase of her career as a truly independent artist (she owns her own label, SuperEgo Records). In some ways, her story is a bit Magnolia-like.  Going through crap with at least three major labels for years led to greater popularity as an independent artist.

I was one of the people who became a fan due to Magnolia. I liked some of her old songs, but I wasn't a huge fan, and this film and soundtrack changed that. Her music figured pretty heavily into the film, not just "Deathly" and "Save Me" but also "Momentum" and "Wise Up," which was used in a scene where different characters sang along with it (I remember lots of the Cruise fans in the theater weren't going along with the premise).  I loved that the songs described people who you might say were "damaged," but did so without really judging them  - which is kind of what Anderson did in the film.  Over the last decade, I've listened to her music as much as anyone else's and I'm always struck by that.  She doesn't seem like someone you could take advantage or, she's not an "enabler," in psychological terms. She doesn't suffer fools lightly (particularly if they work at major record labels!).  But she also doesn't judge, and sort of has hope for characters/people no matter what their flaws are. I find that noble, and often try to be more like that. I'm going to be talking about Aimee Thursday night on The Catholic Channel.  I haven't selected which songs yet, but I'm sure at least one will be from Magnolia.

Here's the video for "Save Me":

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: GREAT, OVERLOOKED ALBUMS OF THE '00S

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning I go on the SIRIUS XM channel OutQ on the show The Morning Jolt With Larry Flick. Tomorrow I will be talking about some albums from the past decade that I really like, and that I feel are a bit overlooked.

Possibly my favorite album of the decade is one of the first ones to come out: Aimee Mann's unbelievable Bachelor No. 2 or the last remains of the dodo. Truthfully, the album started coming out in 1999, on the Magnolia soundtrack, which was released on December 7 (the film hit theaters on December 25). Here's the great story: Aimee had a history of battling record labels. She had to fight Epic to get off of that label after her band 'til tuesday broke up. She signed to the indie label Imago, and released her solo debut, 1993's classic Whatever. Imago folded, and after legal wrangling, she got her second album, the also classic I'm With Stupid released on Geffen. But eventually that label was folded into Interscope, and by the time she was ready with album number three, the label had totally changed to a durst/dre/eminem obsessed label, with little room for someone like Aimee. They didn't hear a single. Apparently, Aimee bought the album back at great cost and released it on her own, and she has been an independent artist ever since (although you rarely hear her described as "indie," although you do hear The Strokes - signed to RCA - as "indie." George Orwell spins in his grave!). Anyway, the great director Paul Thomas Anderson, who had worked with Mr. Mann - Michael Penn - on his then-latest movie, Boogie Nights, heard Aimee's "Deathly," and started writing Mangolia, using the line "Now that I've met you, would you object to never seeing each other again?" Aimee's songs sort of narrated the film, and the soundtrack featured mostly her songs, some of which were also on Bachelor. None of this would matter if the songs weren't so amazing, but, wow, they were. She is one of my favorite artists of all time, and this is her finest moment. This album never ceases to blow me away. She always gets critical props, but you never heard of her on "best of" lists. She is on my "VERY best of" list. And on a personal note, it was an interview with Aimee about her Smilers album that I met Larry Flick - I was interviewing her for the SIRIUS website, Larry for his show, and we became friends after that, leading to me being a weekly contributor to his show.

Conventional wisdom says that Elton John stopped making cool music long ago. And for the most part, that's true (I love some of his '80s and '90s stuff, like "Sad Songs (Say So Much)," "Empty Garden," "The One," "Sacrifice," "Believe" and "The Last Song" to name a few exceptions). I don't even feel bad saying it, Elton says it himself. His 2001 album Songs From The West Coast is one of his very best albums, and it came when people weren't even paying attention. It's too bad, it is an incredible album. What happened? My theory: lyricist Bernie Taupin went through a divorce (his third I think?)and wrote some very emotional lyrics. And Elton was rediscovering simply recorded music, notably that of Ryan Adams. In the liner notes, he writes, "Special thanks to Ryan Adams, who inspired me to do better." At the time he was really into Ryan's solo debut, Heartbreaker. If you like Elton, do yourself a favor and check it out.

Also in 2001, Stevie Nicks released Trouble In Shangri-La. I definitely do not think that anyone expected a decent album from her at that point. I know it took me by surprise. It may not have had a monster smash hit single like "Stand Back" or "Edge Of Seventeen," but I will say that it is her best solo album ever. Part of it is that the album was partly produced by Sheryl Crow, who I think was more motivated to make a great Stevie album, than (maybe) making her own album. Not that Sheryl didn't care about her own music, but she really wanted to do Stevie justice, and on the song "Sorcerer," she does. I think that helped the rest of the album, produced by John Shanks, to be really great. She was also coming off of the huge success of the Fleetwood Mac song "Silver Springs," which the band rejected from Rumours, and which became a humongous hit on their reunion album The Dance. I don't have a total theory for this one, Stevie just had "it" back.

Fiona Apple's 2005 Extraordinary Machine got tons of press at the time, but doesn't seem to be talked about much anymore. This one has a story also. She first worked on it with Jon Brion, with whom she had worked before (and who also produced Aimee Mann's Bachelor No. 2), but was delayed over and over by the label. The album leaked, there was a huge fan-driven campaign to get the album out, which the press picked up (and maybe blew out of proportion, but it made a good story) and then she re-recorded almost the entire album with Mike Elizondo, well known as a musician who worked for Dr. Dre. He didn't make it a hip-hop album, of course, but he did give it a snap that really worked.


Finally, Q-Tip's album from last year, The Renaissance. Tip never gets the props he deserves, and I guess that may be his lot in life because he is ambitious and never panders. That is sometimes the burden of an artist I guess, and Q-Tip is a true artist. Forget wayne and whoever else is getting all the press, listen to this album, it's great.

Of course, there are so many other unsung albums from the decade, I may get to some more in two or three weeks. If you have any suggestions, that's what the comments area is for!

BEST OF THE '00S: AIMEE MANN

Aimee Mann is one of my favorite artists of

all time. And, one of the greatest artists of the past decade, if not the best. Not just because of her incredible albums, but also for the way she's conducted herself and her career. She's practically created her own alternate universe where she can exist without having to deal with the music industry. She's certainly earned that right.

A little background. In the '80s, it would be hard to predict how her career would unfold. She was the singer and bassist for a "new wave" band called 'Til Tuesday who had a huge hit with "Voices Carry." But they seemed destined for "one-hit wonder" status. They split up, and Aimee apparently had a hard time getting away from her label to sign with another label to launch her solo career.

In the '90s, she struggled with label problems, which were considerable. She put out two genius albums, 1993's Whatever and 1995's I'm With Stupid on Imago and Geffen, neither of whom knew what to do with them. They are great records and you should check them out.

When Aimee was working on her next album, her label Geffen was being folded into Interscope, who were enthralled with Limp Bizkit and Eminem... not the best enviornment for Aimee's music. They didn't like the album, or didn't get it, and she bought the masters back from them. Meanwhile, the great film director Paul Thomas Anderson, who had worked with Aimee's husband Michael Penn on Boogie Nights, started writing a screenplay around a lyric from one of her Aimee's new songs, "Deathly." That became the film Magnolia, and the soundtrack was mostly made of songs that Aimee was working on at that point. The film and the soundtrack both came out in December of 1999.

Aimee's music got more attention from its role in Magnolia than it had ever had before. Other songs from her late'90s sessions (and some songs from Magnolia) became the independently released Bachelor No. 2. Possibly my favorite album of the '00s. Interscope didn't think that it had commercial appeal, but it went on to sell more than 200,000 copies without major distribution, and it established Aimee as a career touring artist. She can play any song from Magnolia/Bachelor No. 2 and people know all the words.

She followed it up with Lost In Space in 2002, another classic, and on her own label, United Artists. She seemed to tour non-stop for the album for about two years - including some joint touring with Michael Penn. Those shows were so awesome: they played as one band, backing each other up. And the funny thing was, they hired comedian Patton Oswald to open the shows, but also to provide in-between song banter, ostensibly because they aren't funny. The joke is, both Mann and Penn are hilarious anyway (albeit in a drier way than Oswald).

Two more solid albums, 2005's The Forgotten Arm, and 2008's Smilers add up to a great decade. Plus, she started doing these really cool Christmas tours (although this year she's apparently only playing Largo in L.A.) to go along with her holiday album One More Drifter In The Snow. I don't think anyone out there today writes better songs, and no one has more cred (not that that matters, but I just have so much respect for the woman). I don't know if she's working on a new album - I heard she might be doing some kind of screenplay for The Forgotten Arm - but whatever she does, it is worth paying attention to. She's not the type to take requests, but I'd love to see her work with Jon Brion again (he produced Magnolia and Bachelor No. 2). I almost hesitate to write that last sentence - I kind of imagine Ms. Mann reading this and coming up with some dry, searing retort. But, whatever. Hey, if you've read this far, and don't have her albums, pick up Bachelor No. 2 and Lost In Space, you'll thank me.

More Best Of The '00s: Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson

BEST OF '08: AIMEE MANN'S @#%&*! SMILERS

For a while, I wasn't sure how I felt about Aimee Mann's @#%&*! Smilers. That's just because I love some of her albums so much - the Magnolia soundtrack/Bachelor No. 2 and Lost In Space are among my favorite records ever. I also love Whatever and I'm With Stupid. And I liked her last one, The Forgotten Arm. She actually has quite an intimidating catalog, which is fitting, because she's actually a bit intimidating, in that she has suffered so many fools throughout her career, you can just tell that she doesn't suffer fools lightly anymore, and nor should she.

Anyway, Smilers took me a while, but now I love it. "Freeway" is for sure one of her best songs ever. And who can't relate to something like "Thirty-one Today." So, it is among my favorite albums of the year, even though I didn't love the tour. Still, I always look forward to hearing what she'll do next: I hope she welcomes the electric guitar back into her life, after casting it out for this album and tour.

On a more personal level, this album has a special place for me, because it is sort of what I bonded with Larry Flick over - he was interviewing Aimee for OutQ and I interviewed her afterwards for sirius.com. That's when Larry and I became friends, and that led to me being a weekly contributor to his OutQ radio show, a pleasure and an honor.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ PART 2: MY FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2008

So, today, Larry Flick mentioned that it'd be cool if I could do an hour on his show tomorrow instead of a half hour. Why not spend half of the show on my original idea of cool box sets/gift ideas, and the second half on my favorite albums of 2008? That's cool, except I can't seem to be able to come up with these kinds of lists without thinkingandthinkingandthinking about it for a super long time. So, I'm not going to give away all of my picks - and I'll probably do a feature here in the next week or two about it. But three of my picks are definitely Mudcrutch's debut/reunion album, Aimee Mann's @#%&*! Smilers and The Foxboro Hot Tubs ' Stop Drop and Roll!!!

AIMEE MANN AT THE HIGHLINE BALLROOM

OK this picture is just a press photo of Aimee Mann, I took a photo of her at tonight's show, but it didn't come out that well.

It was an interesting show. For the past year, she's said that the electric guitar is "shit out of luck" in her music. She's using just her own acoustic guitar and two keyboardists. It's a nice change, but I found her decision to play a small rock club - that was mainly standing room - to be a bit odd. It really felt like a "sitting down" concert. Someone I was there with asked if I thought it was a bit self-indulgent. I'm hesitant to criticize anything that Aimee Mann does. But even her more anthemic songs - "Invisible Ink" and "Red Vines" - were a bit more calm. I thought it was a good show, but I'm glad I didn't take anyone to see her for the first time tonight. Maybe it was a bit self-indulgent, but I'll deal with it for Aimee Mann. I'll still go see her Christmas shows in December.

I'm still a bit iffy on her new album, Smilers. I think "Freeway" and "31 Today" are among her greatest songs though. It's tough though: her Magnolia, Bachelor #2 and Lost In Space are some of my very favorite albums. I do believe she can put out another one that is just as good as those though.

"SEVEN NIGHTS TO ROCK"

A week from today, my lovely wife (we just celebrated our six year wedding anniversary) leaves for a week and a half trip to Africa. She goes nearly every summer. Last summer I went with her. This summer I'm not (her trip involved a class, much reading and a term paper that needed to be completed before the trip).

Anyway, at some point I noticed that starting the night she leaves, there are seven shows in a row that I want to go to. Wouldn't it be fun to go to all of them? I'm calling it "Seven Nights To Rock," after an old song that Springsteen sometimes covers. Of course, I'll be blogging about it. Other than just writing about the shows, though, I'm also going to be writing about what it costs in ticket prices, gas, tolls, parking and food. Plus, what's it like to be a guy who is pushing 40 (or, leaving his 30s), holding down a job, and going out for seven nights?

My old company, VH1, may be interested in me blogging about this on their site. I've been trying to push it to other sites as well, but time is running out. So, I may blog about it here, or I may blog elsewhere (but I will link to it from here). Here's the schedule: 7/26 I'm starting out with a movie that "rocks," Neil Young's Crosby Stills Nash & Young Deja Vu documentary. My original plan for 7/26 was to see Yes, but they cancelled their summer tour. However, if I do it for VH1, I'll be going to the Warped Tour. I went to the Warped Tour in its first year, its first few actually, but I haven't been for a long time. I'm not that interested in many of this year's bands. I know that Pennywise is playing, so is Against Me! (a band I would probably be into if I were in high school now) and the Horrorpops. 7/27: Rock The Bells (with A Tribe Called Quest, de la soul, Nas, Mos Def, Method Man & Redman, Raekwon & Ghostface and more). 7/28: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. 7/29: The Foo Fighters. 7/30: Aimee Mann. 7/31: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (yes, again). 8/1: Loretta Lynn. But if I do it for VH1, I'll go to see Apples In Stereo instead. Should be fun and interesting, if tiring. I'm sure I'll be talking about it on the OutQ In The Morning With Larry Flick Show.

AIMEEMANN IDOL

This idea is so Aimee Mann. She's having fans upload videos of themselves singing her new song, "Freeway," to a youtube page. She'll choose a winner, who will get to perform the song live with her at one of her shows. She's even posted a free instrumental download of the song on her website. I wish I could sing! 

A NOTE TO OUTQ LISTENERS

I had a great time again on Larry Flick's show on SIRIUS OutQ yesterday. We discussed the sad death of Bo Diddley, as well as great new albums by Aimee Mann, Al Green and The Raconteurs. I was on for about a half hour, but could have talked about any one of those topics for a half hour. But there's one thing I really wanted to mention about Bo Diddley that I forgot to mention, and I was bummed afterwards. Here it is: as I mentioned in my post on Bo earlier this week, there's a lot of reasons why Bo is so important to the history of rock and roll and popular music. But that isn't why you should go out and buy his records. You should go out and buy his records because they are some of the very best records ever made. Like a lot of early rock and rollers, he doesn't have a hugely extensive catalog, and it doesn't take a lot to get the essentials.  I'd recommend the 2 CD Chess Box, or the His Best collection. You won't be sorry, I promise. 

As for the Aimee Mann album, "Fracking" Smilers, we discussed it but I didn't give an opinion on it other than the awesome first single, "Freeway." I haven't lived with the album enough to have a strong opinion.  I'll write a review later on. 

Oh yeah, I look forward to talking about more cool music, new and old, next Wednesday morning (at either 9 or 9:30 am ET). 

COOL NEW MUSIC FROM AIMEE MANN, ELVIS COSTELLO, MUDHONEY

Aimee Mann's new album, Smilers, comes out in two weeks. Of course I'll pre-order it, but still I couldn't help buying the first single, "Freeway," on iTunes. It's another classic. I'll write more about the album after I've had some time to listen to it.

But I saw her over the summer, performing some of the songs from the album, I was digging them. The sonic theme of this album is "no electric guitars." As Aimee said, "The electric guitar is shit outta luck on this one."



Aimee's friend and sometimes collaborator, Elvis Costello, has a new album with his rock band, The Imposters, Momofuku. I'm not one of those people who adore everything he's done, but the one song from the album that I bought, "American Gangster Time," is pretty great. I've liked lots of Elvis's rock stuff over the past few years, especially the song "45."



Mudhoney has a new album, The Lucky Ones, which may be a sarcastic reference to their fortunes, compared to some other Seattle bands. Then again, the Mudhoney guys are still alive and rocking. I dug some of the songs from their last album, Under A Billion Suns, and the one before that, Since We've Become Translucent. It's like, they're putting out some great music, but no one is really noticing.

AIMEE MANN'S (GENTLY) ROLLING THUNDER (X-MAS) REVIEW

Last night I caught the NY stop on Aimee Mann's second annual Christmas tour. It was a great show - really well-thought out and put together, and everyone there had fun.

Which is a bit weird, as most people who are vaguely familiar with Aimee's music probably wouldn't associate her, or her music, with fun.

I am a huge fan of Aimee's. Yes, her music can be depressing, and her sense of humor isn't totally apparent if you just listen to her music. A few years ago, Aimee and her husband, Michael Penn, toured together and hired the comedian Patton Oswald to not only open the shows, also to provide the in-between songs banter. What was funny about that is that Aimee and Michael were hilarious on thier own, and Mr. Oswald just added to the general hilarity. Also, I've always felt that theres some undercurrent of optimism in her music. Like, maybe the wrecks that she sings about have some chance of redemption or improvement.

Last year, Aimee released a Christmas album, One More Drifter In The Snow, and decided to do a Christmas tour. I missed it, but read about how great it was, so I was sure to catch this year's. Aimee and her great band played a few Christmas songs, plus some of her other stuff, like "Jacob Marley's Chain" and her classic "Save Me." But she also gave the stage over to a cast of special guests: comedian Paul F. Thompkins (probably most well known as a "talking head" on VH1's Best Week Ever), and singer-songwriters Ben Lee, Josh Ritter and Nellie McKay, as well as "The Hannukkah Fairy" who did a pretty hilarious rap about the meaning of Hannukkah. The show made me curious to check out more of all of their music.

Aimee also had a three part film which showed her quest to get "special guests" for her Christmas show, including Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, Weird Al, Patton Oswald and someone from CSI: Miami (Emily Proctor?), and a few others. It was really funny. Aimee has great comic timing, I'm surprised she hasn't done more film work (although let's not forget her toe-sacrificing role in the classic Big Lebowski). I guess it's probably because in movies, you don't have much control, and after spending years fighting labels, she isn't prepared to sign over a few months to corporate movie studio. Still, she was really funny.

On another Aimee note, I saw her show at Warsaw in Brooklyn over the summer, and she played a few new songs - apparently, there's no electric guitar on the next album. That's cool: her new album is one of the records I'm most looking forward to in the '08.