@#%& Smilers

Product Details

Artist : Aimee Mann
Binding : Audio CD
EAN : 0698519002624
Label : Super Ego
Number of Discs : 1
Product Group : Music
Release Date : 2008-06-02
UPC : 698519002624

ASIN : B00171MNKQ

Track Listings for

Disc-1
1. Freeway
2. Stranger Into Starman
3. Looking For Nothing
4. Phoenix
5. Borrowing Time
6. It's Over
7. 31 Today
8. Great Beyond
9. Medicine Wheel
10. Columbus Avenue
11. Little Tornado
12. True Believer
13. Ballantines

Customers who bought this goods also bought.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.co.uk review

Despite that unwieldy, rather craven title (a coy ‘@#%&!’ precedes the title, in lieu of proper swearing), Smilers has already been acclaimed by some critics as the best record in Aimee Mann’s long career. Few fans will be disappointed. The opening "Freeway" may be built around a fairly slight play on words ("you got a lot of money but you can’t afford the freeway" goes the chorus) but the nagging melody and expansive synth-laden arrangement, reminiscent of her East Coast counterparts and suburban critics Fountains of Wayne, is nigh on irresistible. "Stranger Into Starman" is a mere snippet, and all the better for its brevity, while "Looking For Nothing" is a perfect example of the southern Californian blankness Mann has captured for years now. The lush, orchestrated country-rock of "Phoenix" rhymes the title with ‘kleenex’ and truly captures the mood of someone leaving for good. Sean Hayes sounds uncannily like a boozy Antony Hegarty on the deceptively jolly closer "Ballantines", named for a whisky, while author Dave Eggers picks up a credit for his rather good ‘whistling’ on the gloomy, undeniably pretty "Little Tornado". The painfully detailed "Thirty One Today", a distant memory for Mann, is another successful attempt to voice dissatisfaction. Only the chirpy horns on the admonishing "Borrowing Time" actually lighten the mood. Smilers is an excellent record, cleverly thought out throughout. But the smiles here are rueful at best.—Steve Jelbert

Customer Reviews

Grower (2008-09-21)

I've been a fan of Aimee Mann since "Whatever", and along with Lost In Space, it's still one of my favourite Mann albums. This one has taken time to grow on me. All the trademarks are there, the beautiful and warm alto, the witty world-weary obervations, lovely productions.I would say that my favourite tracks here are Freeway, very radio friendly, the moving honesty of 31 Today, Phoenix - "you love me like a dollar bill, you roll me up and trade me in", and It's Over, a beautiful lilting 3/4 string-laiden ballad. The lyrics are often beguiling to the point where it's not always clear whether these are mere stories, or whether the lyrics are drawn from personal experience, I suspect possibly both. There are a handful of songs which I find it difficult to tap into, ie Stranger into Starman and Ballentines. I'd sum this up 'Smilers' by saying that when it's good, it's excellent, despite one or two inconsistencies. I would highly recommend it to fans, and to people who have yet to discover Aimee Mann. And it gets better the more you live with it.

not quite up to scratch (2008-07-17)

Aimee, Aimee, Aimee. What can I say? I have been a longtime fan of Aimee Mann. At her best she is a writer of beautiful songs charting the ups and downs (often the downs!) of love and life. However, something seems to have gone wrong with the current album, I'm sad to say.Unlike many, I was a big fan of The Forgotten Arm, Mann's previous record. Dismissed by most critics purely on the grounds of its `concept', it was a set of strong songs and at least a couple good enough to be ranked amongst Aimee's best. Unfortunately, the magic is somehow missing on Smilers. The songs are pretty enough; it's just that after a number of listens, they steadfastly refuse to stand out; not one has lodged itself in my brain (except maybe Borrowing Time, and that's due to its echoes of Green Day's Holiday and Iggy Pop's The Passenger).This might be the fault of the production. Each song sounds largely the same, and the electric guitar is notable only because of its absence. It's just kind of... inoffensive, and for a songwriter of Mann's quality I'm sorry to have to say it. I very much hope this is a temporary blip, but I can't see @#%&*! Smilers staying on heavy rotation on the ipod for long.

Another fantastic album from the fantastic Aimee Mann (2008-07-11)

I loved this album, it just consists of beautiful songs after beautiful songs. For anyone who has no other Aimee music, I would say this album would be a fabulous introduction

Amazing Album (2008-07-02)

This is truly a must have album for any lover of well written music. Unlike previous albums, there is no theme running through this one which really makes each song carry more clout than individual extracts from albums like lost in space did.Every song is superbly written as Mann boosts a vocabulary other song writers could only dream of. You know you're listening to a great songstress when you hear 'phoenix' rhymed with 'kleenex' and you don't cringe. Every song is great in its own unique way though my highlights of the album would be 'Freeway' - the strongest start to an album i've heard for a long time, 31 Today - whose chorus you will seem to know instantly and be singing along with after the first verse, and Borrowing Time - which is just quirky enough to be a true classic.The album also comes with a beautifully illustrated (in the style of old fashioned, pop-eye like,cartoons,) lyric book.

quietly confident (2008-06-18)

Aimee Mann is one of those artists who quietly produces songs of real quality without really troubling the press or being lauded as the next so-and-so. Even providing the soundtrack for P T Anderson's mammoth movie Magnolia wasn't enough to make her more widely known over in the UK. Even I, who had enjoyed her work, had let her fall off my radar recently, only to find that her latest is another well crafted collection of West Coast melancholia; it's title, with deleted expletive, should make it clear how she feels about those with a sunny disposition (and I'm guessing there's a fair few of those in LA).The album opens with the familiar sounding Freeway, containing everything you might expect; male backing, a catchy tune and chorus, which makes the next track, Stranger into Starman, a bit of a shock. Just piano and her voice sounding better than ever before a simple arrangement fleshes out this tiny track. Lovely. Mann's voice for those that haven't heard it is like a combination of Karen Carpenter and Chrissie Hynde, deep and rich and surprisingly sweet given the bitter tang to some of her lyrics. A song like Phoenix is a good example, with its lovely string accompaniment even whilst she sings about leaving her lover, telling us 'I know love doesn't change a thing'. 31 Today is another track typical of her outlook ' I thought my life would be different somehow/I thought my life would be better by now/But it's not, and I don't know where to turn'.It's Over is the album's big number, with a far more optimistic outlook, encouragement to make the most of life, ' cos everything's beautiful, every day's a holiday'. There are some clear musical influences; Borrowing Time, as another reviewer has pointed out, has clear echoes of Iggy Pop's Passenger, Little Tornado is very Simon and Garfunkel and True Believer is imbued with the spirit of Elliot Smith. All in all it makes for very pleasant listening but I'm not sure that this album is going to get her any closer to being a household name on this side of the pond.

Look for similar items by category

• Styles > Indie
• Styles > Pop
• Styles > Adult Contemporary
• Styles > Rock

Related Link