I am a sucker for jangly guitar based power pop. I love the sound of this track more than I love the track. The melody feels a touch unfocused to me, but the chorus makes up for it.
Why Must I sounds a little more 80's to me than the first two in terms of production. It's got a good melody and great lyrics. To my ears, this track looks backwards more than to Whatever.
Ahhh! Now we're talking. What a fantastic track. Although Aimee can sometimes sound a bit distanced from her subject, on this track, particularly the chorus and bridge, the emotion pours out. What a tremendously sad song. Beautiful melody. As a composition, this would have fit right in Bachelor. To my ears, this is forward sounding as opposed to the previous track. At the time of release I had no idea who Jules was, no notion of the history behind this record, but I sure felt the heartbreak.
The kind of girl who repeats her mistakes. There are some great lyrics on this one. I love the soaring harmonies on the chorus. Again, this is a track that is looking forward musically. Another winner.
As has been previously stated, musically this track looks back to the 80's. As such, it's not my favorite. But, divorcing it from it's arrangement, it's a good tune, great chorus. I like the bridge. It's really cuts to the point.
Is this the best melody on the album? Every part of this song is strong, it doesn't need to "propped up" by a great chorus (even though it IS a great chorus) - the whole song works. The bridge is so well constructed. It starts on a great chord, does it's thing quickly and melodically, and gets out of there. I never owned a vinyl copy of this album, but this track is a perfect side closer. Also, the jazzy bass & drums (along with finger snaps) of Limits To Love makes a lot more sense as a side opener, than sitting right after Believed You Were Lucky.
(Believed You Were) Lucky One of the highlights on the album, without any self-pity in the lyrics, more like occasional self-depreciation. And shows some rare optimism - not sure how many times we’ll see Aimee say life could be lovely and great. I don’t mind the video. Probably my least favorite version of her hair and I can understand that if it were me doing the close up full camera facing eyebrow raise that I might not like the video either, but I don’t find it boring or routine, and sometimes that’s enough for me. Some of the lyrics I enjoy: “What's the use in pushing When it's all uphill” “I can't be appointed Keeper of the flame Without two to carry It won't burn the same” “I won't be wasting my words To tell you hopes that I had - We can just leave it alone for now” I also like the uncertainty and ambivalence here and there (“yeah I guess I will”, “but then again”). The music and production is good. A sunny and cheerful enough (for Aimee) sounding song overlying the breakup theme. Also like the rare bit of profanity at the end to make the point. 4.7/5
Welcome to the thread @BZync Lucky.. Another highlight of the record, nothing I can really add to the praise already posted. 5/5
Today's song is "The Other End (of the Telescope)", written by Aimee Mann and Declan MacManus (aka Elvis Costello.) Produced by Rhett Davies. Lyric. Aimee Mann: vocals, acoustic guitar, bass Robert Holmes: guitars, backing vocals Michael Hausman: drums, percussion, programming Michael Montes: keyboards Haery Ung Shin: violin Peter Abrams: French Horn Elvis Costello: vocals This song was also released on Elvis Costello's album All This Useless Beauty. I'll post that version below.
I like this, but I'm not sure her treatment of the song is any better than other songs on the album. 4
Elvis Costello, 1998: After a chance meeting in a London street, Aimee Mann and I began a correspondence of songwriting notions. This, our most successful effort, appeared on the 'Til Tuesday album Everything's Different Now. Although it now seems a little presumptuous, I tried to find the right words for someone going through a rather unhappy time. I also make a cameo appearance in the bridge of the recording, although I'm not sure that it doesn't distract from Aimee's excellent performance. At one time our acquaintance promised to result in a number of songs, but it now seems unlikely that any of these tunes will see the light of day. However, I remain a great admirer of Aimee's songwriting and took the liberty of reworking this lyric so that I could sing her lovely melody and make it the first cut on the album All This Useless Beauty. (He was wrong in his prediction that other collaborations would not see the light of day, as Aimee released "The Fall of the World's Own Optimist" not long after.)
It retrospect, Elvis Costello and Aimee Mann seem like a perfect match for a songwriting team...very similar...maybe too similar, in fact, though Aimee sort of lacks the wide-ranging musical ambition that Costello displays. But, actually, I don't think that Aimee's wordplay was at the height it would reach in the 90s, so it was not that intuitive a pairing in 1988, after all. Anyway, a gorgeous song with gorgeous, highly specific words. I do think that Elvis' "guest star" vocals detract a little bit from the song. The harmonies are fine but the call and response doesn't really work, IMO; I guess they wanted to emphasize his participation on the track, but I don't think it was the right decision. There is a lot of singing on this song, which is the Costello stamp, but I won't hold it against him and of course his songs are also stellar despite whatever quirks he has. The chorus here is just gorgeous, and no one but Elvis could come up with lines like You're half-naked ambition and Youré half out of your wits And though your wristwatch always works Your Necktie never fits... But at the end of the day it's another mature adult song about a mature adult break-up, and definitely a big jewel in the Til Tuesday crown -- I forgot to note that this was included on the Coming Up Close: Retrospective 1996 collection; a live version of the song was also included on the solo Rarities collection from 1999. 4.8/5 -- a perfect song marred for me by Elvis' too-prominent guest vocals.
I'll return to this theme when I talk about the album in full, but the truth is, it boggles my mind that this song wasn't a bigger hit -- oh, it doesn't sound like it would be a number one, particularly in late 1988, but it just seems like such a natural song that so many people could relate too -- a college rock/alternative hit if anything. I actually agree that that was becoming her natural audience and I think she and Epic dropped teh ball by not aiming harder at them. This is no just universe where this album flopped as much as it apparently did. I have to wonder if her rather antagonistic stance towards Epic Records (and subsequent record companies) didn't damage her career quite a bit before she started self-releasing her albums when, presto, everything seems to work out for her.
The Other End (of the Telescope) I think this is a great song, in all its versions. Collaborating with Elvis (who I’m a huge fan of) I think brought some lyrical distance from Aimee’s usual subject matter, focusing more on the clever wordplay of E.C. vs the emotional honesty present in most of Aimee’s work of this period and after. You can, I think, pretty easily pick out which verses were mostly written by Aimee vs Elvis, while some are more ambiguous. Musically, I think it’s a bit more sophisticated than the other songs from this album, though Aimee’s performance is like the lyrics a bit more distanced. As far as all of the versions compared, I think I like this album version the least, though I still really like it. Above that, I’d rank Elvis’ version off of All This Useless Beauty. But on top, I’d rank Aimee’s live version that was on the b-side of her solo Stupid Thing single, which I guess would imply it was performed 4-5yrs after this album version. 4.8/5
"The Other End (Of The Telescope)" is a fabulous song. It's shocking to me that this wasn't released as a single. This is a perfect marriage of melody and words. I love Elvis' backing vocals as well. I'm probably partial to Costello's later version (from one of his best latter day albums), but the 'Til Tuesday take is wonderful and is one of my favorite songs by the band. 4.9/5
Elvis' contribution was a big selling point when considering purchasing this album, as I had been a fan for a bunch of years. This song was written and recorded after Blood And Chocolate & before Spike (or thereabouts). A peak period for him - certainly a peak period in my enthusiasm for him. According to the quote above, Aimee wrote the melody. And what a beautiful melody. This song is an outlier (to my ears) on this album. More than any other it points towards her solo work. I love a good waltz. I love a waltz that is driven by lush acoustic guitar strumming. I love a soaring melody line. So this song hits all of my pleasure sensors right from the opening notes. Aimee is very consistent in terms of vocal performance. But this one stands out to me as being particularly strong. Maybe it's because the melody covers such a range. One of my faves, not just from this album, but from her entire career.
The Other End of the Telescope is another of my 5/5 songs on this album - I just love it, including the call and response with Elvis. I remember eating at a Boston-area restaurant and this song came on and I instantly fell in love with the restaurant for their excellent taste in music. Nothing from this album was played anywhere, not even in Boston.
WOW! I don’t like Elvis Costello AT ALL but the ultimate collection version took a 5/5 song into a different realm- that is as 5/5 as it gets!
Today's song is "Crash And Burn" music by Aimee Mann and Ketura "Kit" Hain; lyrics by Aimee Mann. Produced by Rhett DAvies Lyric. This song was also released on the compilations Super Hits and All About Love. Aimee Mann: vocals, acoustic guitar, bass Robert Holmes: guitars, backing vocals Michael Hausman: drums, percussion, programming Michael Montes: keyboards Haery Ung Shin: violin Peter Abrams: French horn
