"Build That Wall" sounds like a regression to 'Til Tuesday days - maybe it's the little tinkling answer melody. And I really dislike the title phrase's melody. The lyrics are too opaque to pull me in. 2/5.
I really like Build That Wall, and even though they probably have nothing to do with each other, I put You Do, Build That Wall and Susan together in my mind (and playlists). Smart, intelligent pop music. Thoughtful and tuneful. 4/5
I didn't realize until just now, when you mentioned it, that Build that Wall dates from 1990. That makes total sense, and explains why it has far more in common with Whatever and even, in terms of song structure, with Til Tuesday, than it does with I'm With Stupid or with most of Bachelor #2. As I mentioned in my earlier review, to me it sounds apiece with Whatever, and it's the kind of sound that, even as late as Bachelor # 2, I was hoping we'd get more of from Aimee. Sadly, for a variety of reasons, not least of which was a move away from working with Jon Brion, there wouldn't be many more songs in the style of Build that Wall as she went on.
It's possible. I know that after Whatever was released, there was a whole bunch of master tapes of unreleased Aimee Mann songs from the project. I know this because I was hanging out at Q-Division and was shown a bunch of DATs with then-unreleased material. We were actually going to queue some of those up to listen, but then the person who was showing me the stuff got called into a session and it didn't happen.
It's a good song but a little lightweight. It actually does sound like a 1990 demo with window dressing. I like the lead in to the chorus, but that glockenspiel...makes it sound kind of like a sugary Wilsop Phillips song if anyone remembers them. I'm happy it didn't make Bachelor No. 2. 3/5.
Build That Wall would have been a favorite track of mine no matter when it came out. Sure, Jon Brion put everything but the kitchen sink on it, but I love it. I zeroed in on that 1990 copyright date when I got the Magnolia soundtrack and put it in with the other pre-1999 songs on my CDr for the car. I think that fourth 'Til Tuesday could have been fantastic, but then we wouldn't have gotten Whatever as we know it, so I'm happy with what we've gotten. 5/5
Sorry about posting late: very busy day, but the last super-busy day of the school year, so shouldn't happen again until I go on vacation! Build the Wall has such a sweet melody and is so obviously a superior song -- it amazes me that it went for ten years unreleased. Oh, I get that she had plenty of other things and maybe she just felt that it wouldn't fit but for me, it would have totally graced "Whatever" or the "fourth 'Til Tuesday" album it was plainly written for. 4.8/5
Today's song is "Save Me", written by Aimee Mann and produced by Aimee Mann. "Save Me" was written for Magnolia and featured in the credits of the film. It was also included in the European release of Bachelor No. 2; and on the 2020 re-issue of the album. It was released as a single and it charted at #88 on the UK chart. It was also nominated for an Academy Award and the song has been featured in many other TV shows over the years. AimeeMann: vocals, acoustic guitar, bass Michael Lockwood: electric guitar, melodica, backing vocals Patrick Warren: keyboards, accordion John Sands: drums, percussion Buddy Judge and Jon Brion: backing vocals From the RSD release:
Save Me Yeah, pretty perfect song. Great vocals (and background vocals), lyrics, production. Nothing to nit pick here. 5/5
Not much to add, except to ask the more musically inclined why the guitar solo makes me think of Mary Poppins? 5+/5.
Theft of the Dial: Dave Foley Dave Foley: First I was a fan of Aimee's, but then when I moved to L.A., I met Aimee through friends, and we became good friends -- and we were friends for about a year. I picked the song because [laughs] there's a good story to it. When I finally did get out of this horrendous relationship I was in with my first wife -- [ I] was emotionally devastated by it and was trying to rebuild who I was as a human being -- then one day Aimee came up to me and said "I suppose you know I have a crush on you." I of course said "No, no, I... no idea." So Aimee and I became sort of involved for a while. and then she went out on tour, and one day when she was in Paris, she called me on the phone at around 3 in the morning, and she played this song to me, the song "Save Me," which she had written about me. Steve Seel: No, no, no. Are you serious? She wrote the song about you? Dave Foley: The song "Save Me," which later it when on to be nominated for an Oscar, [for Best Original Song for Magnolia in 2000] and she performed it at the Oscars, but she wrote it about me. And to a guy whose ego was just shattered from living with an insane person for 11 years first off to be liked by someone as amazing as Aimee, and then to have this song written was such a balm to my soul at that point. this was also a hugely important song -- and hugely important moment -- in my life that sort of sent me into my single life after that for the next five or six years. Steve Seel: This is the greatest story I've heard in the last eight years. Dave Foley: And I'm also -- I think -- the only man Aimee's written a positive song about.
I'm actually not the biggest fan of Save Me! I like it fine, but don't love it. It's another one that feels very 'head' and not so much 'heart', although I think all I mean by that is I'm not a huge fan of the music. It doesn't really move me. I always thought it a shame that it was this song that got the Oscar nod and not Wise Up. Obviously Wise Up wasn't eligible, as it premiered on another film soundtrack, but I think Wise Up would have moved non-fans, whereas there's something about the angularity and wordiness of Save Me that would probably put off non-fans, who'd pigeonhole it as lo-fi angst, whereas Aimee is much more of a classic songwriter than this song indicates. None of this really matters, of course. I just think this is far from being in her top 20 songs, but it (and Voices Carry) are the ones most associated with her. It really picks up for me with the 'you struck me dumb...' section, and I think it's well constructed and interesting, just not a stand-out for me. 3.5
Save Me I realize that, commercially and in terms of praise, this was the big one in her post That's Just What You Are career. And I like it--good song and arrangement. But it's just one of many songs she's done of this caliber. I'm not sure why--outside of the clever use in the movie--it rises above a number of other songs she has done. The video (linked above) doesn't do much for me... 4/5
Save Me - I like it but musically I think there are far superior songs from this period. It's because of the bog standard descending progression I think- it's one of the most common in popular music. Heck, I think I wrote five songs with the same progression. But nice sentiment. 3.5/5
Said it before, as have others: I like the song, but don't get why it's so well known and lauded when to me it's in the second rank of great Aimee Mann songs - and I guess that irritates me a bit, like when people only know Thin Lizzy for The Boys are Back in Town. 4/5
