The Forgotten Arm | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | May 3, 2005 | |||
Recorded | Sunset Sound, The Sound Factory | |||
Genre | Pop, rock | |||
Length | 47:06 | |||
Label | SuperEgo | |||
Producer | Joe Henry | |||
Aimee Mann chronology | ||||
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The Forgotten Arm is the fifth album by singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, with illustrations by artist Owen Smith. It was released by SuperEgo Records on May 3, 2005. It is a concept album, telling the story of two characters who run off with each other to escape their problems, but end up in more trouble than either of them could have imagined. The album reflects Mann's own boxing in its story and illustrations. The title is derived from a move in which one arm is used to hit the opponent, causing him to "forget" about the other arm, which is then used to deliver a harsher blow.
The album won the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Recording Package for Mann and Gail Marowitz (art directors).
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | (70/100) [1] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [2] |
The A.V. Club | (unfavorable) [3] |
Entertainment Weekly | B [4] |
Paste | [5] |
Pitchfork Media | (7.4/10) [6] |
PopMatters | (9/10) [7] |
Q | [1] |
Rolling Stone | [8] |
Uncut | [1] |
The Village Voice | (favorable) [9] |
The album so far has a score of 70 out of 100 from Metacritic based on "generally favorable reviews". [1] Prefix Magazine gave the album a score of seven out of ten and said it has "Enough bending guitar licks to satisfy the yuppiest of thirtysomething businessmen and enough mellow ballads to satisfy your Dixie Chicks-loving mom." [10] Trouser Press gave it a positive review and said, "Some of the songs are immediately engrossing... Others mostly carry the story forward while allowing Mann to indulge her career-long taste for vintage keyboard orchestration, coolly elegant pop arrangements and displays of tart wordplay." [11] E! Online gave it a B− and said it "reveals how straight-up dull Mann's country-tinged songs can be." [1] Other reviews are very average, mixed or negative: Mojo gave it three stars out of five and called it "an unfussy affair". [1] Blender gave it two stars out of five and said of Mann, "If she doesn't follow commercial formulas, she's following creative ones, and selling herself short in the process." [1] The A.V. Club gave it an unfavorable review and said, "Mann's signature wordplay sounds clichéd and exhausted, and her melodies lack the energy and pop sparkle that distinguished her pre-Lost In Space work." [3]
All songs written by Aimee Mann.
The album details, in a series of vignettes, the story of John, a Vietnam vet and boxer, and his "kind of white trash" girlfriend Caroline, who meet at the Virginia State Fair in the 1970s, where John is boxing an exhibition round. They get the idea that they can escape their problems by running off together and travelling across the United States. However, their relationship begins to fray as John's addiction to alcohol comes to light. In Vegas, John leaves Caroline to try to get help ("Goodbye Caroline") but resists treatment ("I Can't Get My Head Around It") and finally Caroline gives up on trying to help John ("I Can't Help You Anymore"). However, the album's final song indicates that everything works out somehow, although much later. "It's a character study and a relationship study," Mann says.
The Japanese edition of The Forgotten Arm contains a bonus track ("Who Knows"). This minute-long track acts as an epilogue to the story of Caroline & John, with the following lyrics:
Released in 2005–2006
Lost in Space is the fourth album by singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, released in 2002 on her own label, SuperEgo Records. A special edition released in 2003 featured a second disc containing six live recordings, two B-sides and two previously unreleased songs.
Magnolia is a 1999 American drama film written, directed and co-produced by Paul Thomas Anderson. It stars an ensemble cast, including Jeremy Blackman, Tom Cruise, Melinda Dillon, Philip Baker Hall, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ricky Jay, William H. Macy, Alfred Molina, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Jason Robards and Melora Walters. The film is an epic mosaic of interrelated characters in search of happiness, forgiveness and meaning in the San Fernando Valley. The script was inspired by the music of Aimee Mann, who contributed several songs to its soundtrack.
Aimee Elizabeth Mann is an American singer-songwriter. Over the course of four decades, she has released more than a dozen albums as a solo artist and with other musicians. She is noted for her sardonic and literate lyrics about dark subjects. Mann's work with the producer Jon Brion in the 1990s was influential on American alternative rock.
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Has Been (2004) is William Shatner's second musical album after 1968's The Transformed Man. The album was produced and arranged by Ben Folds and most of the songs are co-written by Folds and Shatner, with Folds creating arrangements for Shatner's prose-poems. The album features guest appearances from Joe Jackson, Folds and Aimee Mann, Lemon Jelly, Henry Rollins, Adrian Belew, and Brad Paisley.
Season of Glass is the fifth studio album by Yoko Ono, her first solo recording after the murder of her husband John Lennon. Season of Glass, released in 1981, reached number 49 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart, making it Ono's highest-charting solo album to date.
Goodbye Alice in Wonderland is the sixth studio album by singer-songwriter Jewel, released on May 2, 2006, through Atlantic Records. The album marks a return to her musical roots after 0304, and trying to write an autobiographical album like she did with Pieces of You. The album was written in the form of a novel with each track representing a chapter. Although the first official single was "Again and Again", the title track "Goodbye Alice in Wonderland" debuted a month earlier on her website as an Internet exclusive. The second single, "Good Day" was released to radio in late June 2006. The next single was "Stephenville, TX". A video for it can be seen on Yahoo! Launch.
Thoroughfare Gap is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Stephen Stills, released in 1978. It was a critical and commercial disappointment that only charted at number 84 in the US. This album is now available as a three-album set on two CDs with Stills & Illegal Stills, having never been released on its own on CD.
@#%&*! Smilers is the seventh studio album by singer-songwriter Aimee Mann. It was released by SuperEgo Records in the UK on June 2, 2008, and in the US on June 3. Upon the week of its release the album was featured as the Virgin Megastore "Pick of the Week."
Paul Bryan is an American music producer, arranger, songwriter, and bassist.
Ed Mann is a musician who has been "a drummer and piano dabbler since childhood." He is best known for his mallet percussion performances onstage with Frank Zappa's ensemble from 1977 to 1988, and his appearances on over 30 of Zappa's albums, both studio recordings and with Zappa's band live. Mann also has released a number of CDs as a bandleader and composer.
Okemah and the Melody of Riot is the fourth album by alt-country band Son Volt. It was released on October 5, 2005.
"Girls Talk" is a new wave song written by Elvis Costello and first recorded by Dave Edmunds in 1978. Costello gave an early version of the song to Edmunds, who reworked the song and released it on his album Repeat When Necessary. Edmunds' version peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart and number 12 in Ireland, becoming one of Edmunds' most successful career singles.
Charmer is the eighth studio album by singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, released by SuperEgo Records in the UK on September 17, 2012, and in the US on September 18.
The Both is an American indie rock musical duo consisting of Aimee Mann and Ted Leo. They began collaborating in 2013 and released a self-titled album in April 2014.
Mental Illness is the ninth studio album by singer-songwriter Aimee Mann. It was released on March 31, 2017, by SuperEgo Records. Mann described it as her "saddest, slowest and most acoustic" album. The album won the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Folk Album.
"Choice in the Matter" is a song by American singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, which was released in 1996 as the second single from her second studio album I'm with Stupid. The song was written by Mann and Jon Brion, and produced by Brion.
"That's Just What You Are" is a song by American singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, which was released in 1994 as a single from the soundtrack of Melrose Place. It was also included on Mann's second studio album I'm with Stupid (1995). The song was written by Mann and Jon Brion, and produced by Mike Denneen.
"Going Through the Motions" is a song by American singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, which was released in 2005 as the lead single from her fifth studio album The Forgotten Arm. The song was written by Mann and produced by Joe Henry. "Going Through the Motions" peaked at No. 18 in the US Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart.
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