So if no one out there
is going to ask the question, then I will.....
HEY GUYS! - WHAT IS THAT GREAT MUSIC THAT GETS PLAYED
IN THE INTERVAL OF YOUR SHOW?
Thanks for that question,
Curious from Stokely Charmichaels.
The music that gets played in the interval is Aimee
Mann's "Bachelor No.2 - (or the last remains of the
dodo)" album.
Actually, it starts playing at track number two, with a
song called "Nothing is Good Enough".
The first show we did last year that this music was used
on was...erm... Swansea Grand I think. I'd given
Ade the disc to play and told him to just bang it on and
let it run. So there we were in the dressing room
and I hear the sound of "How Am I
Different" (track one) start up.
"Oh Christ!" I
screamed...
"What!" said Dirk
"Have you heard the Middle 8 of this song?.. I
totally forgot about it"
To explain:- Aimee
Mann writes fantastic songs about relationships, but she
ain't scared to use the odd expletive. In this
particular middle 8, she does just that with great
aplomb. Now I don't mind, and dear reader, you also
probably wouldn't be that bothered..... but heckerty heck,
it just ain't done in some of these places.
We usually return to the stage after track 6 "Deathly"
(20 mins).
Most of the songs on this record feature in the Paul
Thomas Anderson movie "Magnolia"
starring; Julianne Moore, William H. Macey, Tom Cruise
and heaps of other major talents. In fact the
movie was written around Aimee's songs.
The obvious question is
"Why Aimee Mann?" Well, in 1993 I was
watching The Danny Baker Show and each week he had a
musical guest. Each guest played one song of their
own material and were required also to perform their
choice of Beatle song. hmm.. good idea huh?
So on strode this quite odd looking but certainly not
unattractive woman (bit of a babe actually if not in an
orthodox way), with a lovely old Gibson J-160E strapped
on. ( For the uninitiated... this is the acoustic guitar
that you see John and George playing up to '66).
She launched into a rendition of "You've Got To
Hide Your Love Away" on her own. I could
tell instinctively that she was 'one of us', and rushed
out the following day to buy the album that she was
promoting on the show, "Whatever".
"Whatever" is Aimee's
first solo album since she broke up from her 80's pop
group "Till Tuesday". I fell in love with it at
the first play, the Beatle influences don't always jump
out at you... but they are there, perhaps most obviously
on "Mr Harris". A tune that reeks
melodically of "For No One", this
according to Aimee, is the only track on the album that
is not in some way biographical. Lyrically,
this album is stunning for anyone who has been in a
relationship. She just sums stuff up in one line
where most of us would struggle using a few pages.
It's one of my all time favourite records!
Checking out the album
credits, I came across the name "Jon Brion" as
producer and co-writer on some tracks. This name
sounded very familiar. I wondered if it could have
been the Jon Brion that I had met in Japan in 1983,
whilst touring with Mojo Filter and May Pang. Jon
was in a Beatle group from Connecticut called "The
Excepts", they were part of the tour and we all got
on really well. At the end of the tour, Jon was
staying in Japan to try and secure some sort of deal for
his own music, and that was the last I heard of him
except a couple of postcards. At the next
Liverpool Beatle Convention I asked Charles F. Rosenay!!!
(those !'s make me howl Charles.... hope someone
knows what I'm talking about here) if it WAS Jon, as he
was the one who had taken the Excepts to Japan.
"sure is" he confirmed.
Wow!! I've just
realised how un-interesting that story is...
accept my apologies dear reader. Oh but the point is..
yes that's it... Beatle fans... you can't keep 'em
down. And as for the Fabs themselves, well, their
shockwaves are STILL circulating round the world,
inspiring new music all over the place in each new generation.
See.... I knew that I would make a point
eventually.
Back to Ms. Mann and
moving on to her second LP. This
one is called "I'm With Stupid",
released in 1996. By now Aimee was fast picking up
critical acclaim from her peers if still not getting
much success with the record buying public. She had
already collaborated with Elvis Costello back in her
Till Tuesday days and got Roger McGuinn to provide the
famous "Tambourine Man" lick on "Could've
Been Anyone" from "Whatever" .This
album has contributions from Ron Nasty, Barry Wom, Glenn
Tilbrook and Chris Difford. I have to say, that
this is not my favourite Aimee album, but it's got some
pearlers on there, they just take a bit more listening
to.
1999's "Bachelor
No.2", I've dealt with,- her latest offering "Lost
in Space" came out a couple of years back and
is the natural progression from "No.2".
Again, this record was a little more difficult to get
into, but matures like a rare old cheese! (Jeeze..
I hope she never reads this...lol.. I'm supposed
to be a fan)
You tend to find Aimee's
songs cropping up in all sorts of movies. There
are a couple in Peter Howitts "Sliding
Doors". Now there is another unashamed
Beatlemaniac.... who got all the Beatle references
in THAT film?..
Oooh that gives me an idea.. send in your favourite
Beatle cover versions... lets see what ya
like. My fav. has to be Fiona Apple's "Across
The Universe".
I tend not to be too keen on people doing covers, they
hardly ever do them any justice (some statement coming
from someone who performs in a Beatle cover band...lol...
but ya know what I mean!)
The message is
folks.... Have a crack at some Aimee Mann stuff,
you know it makes sense.
I found these great deals
below at Amazon... My No.2 cost 15 nicker,
Amazon £4.99
I think they have some clips on there so you can try
before you buy.
www.aimeemann
.com
Spent day kicking round
London. Roy and the crew decided on a tramp around
HMS Belfast, whilst the other three settled for endless
cups of Seattle coffee. 
