Details
Track Listing
1. How Am I Different
2. Nothing Is Good Enough
3. Red Vines
4. Fall of the World's Own Optimist, The
5. Satellite
6. Deathly
7. Ghost World
8. Calling It Quits
9. Driving Sideways
10. Just Like Anyone
11. Susan
12. It Takes All Kinds
13. You Do
Album Notes
Personnel: Aimee Mann (vocals, acoustic guitar, bass, hi-hat, tambourine); Michael Lockwood (12-string acoustic & electric guitars, keyboards, background vocals); Michael Penn (electric & slide guitars, background vocals); Jon Brion (electric guitar, keyboards); Clayton Scoble, Jen Trynin (electric guitar); Brendan O'Brien (slide guitar, bass); Michael Panes (violin); Patrick Warren (accordion, piano, chamberlain, celeste, keyboards); Mark Flanagan (trumpet); Benmont Tench (piano, chamberlain); Buddy Judge (Wurlitzer piano, programming, loops, background vocals); John Sands, Ric Menck, Dan MacCarroll (drums); Michael Hausman (tambourine, percussion); Hank Linderman (programming); Grant Lee Phillips, Juliana Hatfield (background vocals).
Producers: Jon Brion, Buddy Judge, Aimee Mann, Mike Denneen.
Given her surprise success with the soundtrack to the 1999 film MAGNOLIA, Aimee Mann seems more assured than ever on BACHELOR NO. 2, OR THE LAST REMAINS OF THE DODO. The album builds on the steam of her first two solo releases, refining their intelligent melodic songcraft to greater complexity and grace. While the production on her previous records could seem a bit middle-of-the-road, BACHELOR NO. 2 boasts a sound that, while still clean and straightforward, is full of layered detail.
But beyond the excellent arrangements and backing vocals are Mann's songs themselves. With her penchant for winding, Beatlesque melodies and her literate, captivating lyrics (she deftly combines narrative detail, metaphor, puns, and emotionally resonant images), Mann's songwriting impresses. Whether on desultory folk ("Deathly"), groove-driven pop ("Red Vines"), or music-hall musings ("Nothing Is Good Enough"), Mann is at home here, and her lovely voice, which charms with its unaffected subtlety, is the icing on the cake. BACHELOR NO. 2 finds this fine singer/songwriter at the top of her powers, and is easily one of her strongest offerings.
Industry Reviews
Included in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Albums of 2000.
Rolling Stone (01/04/2001)
4 stars out of 5 - ...An album of tuneful, intimate pop-rock songs....The highs - including 'The Fall Of The World's Own Optimist', a collaboration with Elvis Costello, and the exquisite 'Red Vines' - are stunning...
Rolling Stone (06/08/2000)
4 stars out of 5 - ...an album of intimate pop songs....[her] songs concentrate on life gone wrong - but this is timeless stuff.
Q (07/01/2000)
...Scintillating brilliance...
Mojo (05/01/2000)
...[An] accomplished, appealing disc...
CMJ (07/01/2000)
Included in CMJ's Best of the Year for 2000.
CMJ (01/08/2001)
Ranked #3 in EW's Top 10 Albums of 2000 - ...The craft and subtle elegance combine to make for the kind of music Burt Bacharach hasn't cut since the '60s...
Entertainment Weekly (12/29/2000)
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