Smilers is the Aimee Mann album I find least satisfying, by a long chalk. I spent quite a lot of time getting to know it because her songs had had such an important place in my life so I wanted to really try with it. But every time I played it, I just felt disappointed. The songs weren’t terrible per se. There were a few I really liked and others that I found quite enjoyable, but there was nothing, even amongst the songs I liked best, that really deeply spoke to me. I like plenty of artists who don’t make ‘deep’ music, but if I just want a fun, light listen then I listen to them. I put Aimee’s records on when I want something that connects with me deeply. As I’ve mentioned a couple of times, this feels like a collection of writing exercises. I never feel the songs MATTER to her, and as a result I don’t find they matter much to me either. There’s nothing at stake here. Partly perhaps this is the result of the predominance of songs focussed on ‘you’ rather than ‘I’. If I had limitless time, I’d be curious to do a comparison of the number of times the words ‘you’ and ‘I’ appear on this album compared with on Whatever. I’m willing to bet Whatever is littered with ‘I’ (there are even three songs in which ‘I’ is the first word of the title) whereas this album is predominantly ‘you’. This leads to a distancing effect, keeping the material at arm’s length. When she’s written character material before (e.g. Mr Harris, much of Lost in Space, all of The Forgotten Arm) she was still writing predominantly in the first person. It’s quite probable that a song like It’s Not, for example, isn’t strictly autobiographical, but because it’s in the first person, it feels real and painful and beautiful. On Smilers this hardly ever happens. I also don’t much like the sound of this album. I find it really flat – the audio equivalent a two-dimensional, rather than three-dimensional, image. I’m not sure what I mean by this exactly, but it never comes alive. I don’t know if it’s the arrangements, the production, the mixing, the mastering… perhaps a combination. It was with this album that I feel like Aimee really started collaborating exclusively with a small team that rarely varied. It excluded any interesting, well-known, outside names. Whether it was Bob Clearmountain or Elvis Costello or Chris Difford or Bernard Butler or Jim Keltner or Benmont Tench or Joe Henry or many others, up till now she’d often worked with really top-drawer and acclaimed people. That pretty much stops happening at this point. It feels like she’s now working with competent people rather than inspired people, and people who will say ‘yes’ rather than pushing and challenging her. I’m just not a huge fan of the Paul Bryan/Ryan Freeland production team, and now she’s worked with them now for longer than with anyone else. At least with Joe Henry, it felt like there was a deliberate attempt at trying a different approach, with a core band recording pretty much live, even if ultimately the result wasn't always great. But the Paul Bryan approach feels like he’s listened to what Jon Brion and Michael Lockwood brought to the table and is attempting a quicker, cheaper version of the same. This may be unfair, but it’s just how it sounds to me. It feels a bit like those cheap ‘cover version’ LPs that were so popular in the seventies… ‘can you tell the difference between this and the original artists?’ Well, yes. I can. On the plus side, I agree with @Patanoia – the album is exquisitely packaged. It’s beautifully put together. I adore the illustrations. A few posts back, someone (and I can’t find the post now – so I’m not sure who) made the extremely astute point that maybe this album is meant to be quick cartoon sketches – ‘smilers’ – and, on that basis, it works fine. Maybe that really was the intention. I honestly don’t hate it, but Aimee’s songs had always meant so much to me, and this album was – and remains – a huge disappointment. 2/5
Smilers This record was a great disappointment to me on its release, especially on the heels of The Forgotten Arm, which to that point, was my least favorite Aimee record. After two consecutive albums that, on the whole, I disliked, I felt I'd lost the special connection to Aimee that I'd felt since her 'Til Tuesday days. (Fortunately, it was reestablished with the fantastic Mental Illness!) It seemed to me that Aimee had lost her mojo. That's presumptuous of me I know, but it seemed to me that her well had run dry and she was filling it with half-hearted exercises. It's interesting now to read how well Smilers was received at the time, praised as sparkling pop. To me, it's dull and lifeless, aside from a few exceptions. At any rate, I'm happy to leave the mid-2000s Aimee behind! 2/5
I’ve always liked Smilers from day one! Bleak as only Aimee can do, but she somehow manages to tap into another level as an observer, like her albums are a self-help listen if you needed it, with catchy songs to ease the pain. The one thing I don’t like about this album is the vocal on Freeway. When she sings the word “freeway”, it sounds like it’s off-key, or almost demo-ish like she hasn’t decided what to do there. Unusual for her because her arrangements are always perfect.
I will tally up scores and cast my own vote later in the afternoon. I want to listen to the whole album again, first.
Today's song is "Lullaby", which was an iTunes bonus track somewhere...but certainly not on my iTunes release. I have a mp3 copy of it, though.
Smilers was the album on which, sadly, Aimee began to get very samey. I liked it ok at the time, but struggle to remember anyting much about it except in the context of threads such as this one. Same for Charmer.
I think Lullaby was one of the large batch of rarities that she made available via her web site many years ago. The pedal steel guitar is a little cliche but it's better than some of the weaker tracks on Smilers. 3.8/5
Not being a user of iTunes, as I like to own physical copies of albums, I didn't discover Lullaby and other bonus tracks around this period until a few years after their release. I think I was so disappointed with Smilers that I had stopped paying the level of attention that I used to in the nineties. When I did discover Lullaby, I couldn't believe it. Here was a beautiful, wistful, elegant, perfectly composed classic-sounding Aimee Mann song, comfortably head and shoulders above anything on Smilers (and probably TFA too), and it was completely buried. I have no idea by what logic this song was seen as 'b-side' material. Maybe including it on the album proper just didn't fit with the lighter, less intense vibe she seemed to be going for? In my opinion, Aimee has often put out b-sides/extra tracks that seem as good as anything on the album proper (Are You Serious is way better than half the songs on VC, Yesterday is a catchy slice of pop heaven, Jimmy Hoffa Jokes ought to be on Whatever, and Observatory, Nightmare Girl and Fighting the Stall wouldn't disgrace Lost in Space) but I always assumed that was because she just had too much good material. This is the first time that a bonus track far exceeds the quality of the album tracks it accompanies. This song pulls me in from the beautiful opening line, and has a wistful Americana feel that reminds me of Coming Up Close. It should have replaced True Believer on the album. No question. A definite 5/5.
Lullaby Because of the pedal steel guitar, it is uncharacteristic and I could mistake it for a cover for that reason. It’s fine, but I don’t see it as special or better than 3-4 songs on Smilers. 3.9/5
Never heard it before but a lovely song with vivid scene-setting, straightforward and relatable situation, and a strong performance. Maybe it's a wee bit ordinary but I'd still swap out a "Smilers" song for it, "True Believers" or "Ballantines". 4.4/5.
If Lullaby were by any one of a half dozen country singers I follow (Rosanne, Suzy Boggus, etc.) I'd be raving about this. I'm not sure why I find this only good and not great. Take away the pedal steel guitar and put on something else and I might like it more. While the pedal steel is really nice, Aimee singing with it somehow doesn't work for me. It seems a little busy for a lullaby, maybe it needs to be stripped way down and the steel guitar mixed lower. Still, it's a really well written song and I like it better than several songs that did make @#%&*! Smilers, so 3.9/5
I'm having trouble writing about ...Smilers, because I have trouble paying attention to it. So some andom bullet points: melodies are mostly great, which I expect from Aimee Mann. Lyrics are good too. Somehow most of the songs don't connect with me. Mastering is quite brickwalled, which is a thing since Bachelor No. 2, really, but getting worse. On some songs it matters less but when ever the piano takes center stage it really takes me out of the songs. About three songs are mediocre. Ultimately, how to rate. I think if this was playing I wouldn't turn it off and I'd enjoy it while it was on, but probably would skip the last two songs. I guess I'll give it a noncommittal 3.5/5. About the same as The Forgotten Arm ata the end of the day, but, surprisingly, the concept of The Forgotten ARm kind of kept me interested as I tried to figure out what the hell the narrative was. I like this album better (especially the production/instrumentation) but feel some of the songs let it down.
Albums so far -- with links to the beginning of their respective discussions: Bark Along with the Young Snakes 2.15 Voices Carry 3.65 Welcome Home 4.175 Everything's Different Now 4.375 "Whatever" 4.6222 I'm With Stupid 4.5214 Bachelor No. 2 4.6417 Lost In Space 4.69 The Forgotten Arm 3.9182 ...Smilers 3.4 Albums ranked: Lost In Space Bachelor No. 2 "Whatever" I'm With Stupid Everything's Different Now Welcome Home The Forgotten Arm Voices Carry ...Smilers Bark Along with the Young Snakes EP
Lullaby should have been on the album proper. It's a rainy, misty day today and this song fricking works. 4.1/5
Today's song is "Once I Loved (Amor Em Paz)" written by Antonio Carlos Jobim and performed by Til Brönner and Aimee Mann.
I love this music an this song but I don't feel Aimee feels right for it. Too disattached and almost bored sounding. Otherwise this is awesome music. I'll stick with the original. 2.6/5
I love Aimee Mann. How did I miss this thread? Definitely "Smilers", hands down. And the cover of the Cars great song "Drive", awesome. Come back to Boston, you're missed Aimee.
For me, a lot of it is in the singing. Since Whatever, Aimee sounds to me like she's not really interested in what she sings any more. At least with B#2 she had the weight of amazing songs to carry it off. I don't wish to put a downer on a thread about an artist I absolutely love, so apologies for a bit of negativity. This is why I just read and generally don't comment on this thread. Had I been earlier to it I would have been effusive about everything up to and including Whatever.
