'Til Tuesday - Everything's Different Now
'Til Tuesday
Everything's Different Now
CBS/Columbia Records 1988
Produced by Rhett Davies, co-produced by Bruce Lampcov
Personnel:
Aimee Mann - vocals, bass, acoustic guitar
Michael Hausman - drums, percussion, programming
Additional Personnel:
Tiger Okoshi - trumpet
Marcus Miller - bass
Elvis Costello - backing vocals
Michael Montes - keyboards
+ others
Way back when (has it been 2 decades?) before Aimee Mann became the quietly cantankerous indie singer-songwriter icon, she fronted a quartet in the 80s that initially made some rather impressive pop music that eventually scaled down to a duet and made....well...mostly mediocre audio puff-pastries.
'Til Tuesday's debut was a rough around the edges pop gem that has remained famous if only for Mann's rather more stylish take on Rod Stewart-style hair, and the one mega-uber-ur hit Voices Carry. This is unfortunate since the album had quite a few other minor hits, some of them superior songs to VC -including my own personal favorites Love in a Vacuum and I Could Get Used To This - and actually had a sharpness that while clearly dated to the 80s, stands up well. Their sophomore effort was a bit more staid, but still offered some good radio-friendly pop that moved away from their initially New Wave leanings. By the time Everything's Different Now was released, only Mann and Hausman were left, and the music production overall went downhill even though Mann's songwriting itself was improving.
Mann has a knack for writing plain language narratives and pithy statements about human foibles. This albums is no exception in that regard, with tracks about her dissolved relationship with Jules Shear (Limits to Love, J for Jules) and more open-ended ditties like Other End (Of the Telescope) showcase her deftness at the composition desk. But the quirkiness of the debut album's sound is largely gone, replaced by very trite, stunted performances and sounds. The whole album sounds extremely forced when it's not busy floundering in generic pop-melody hell. The only exception to this may be Crash and Burn, with Long Gone (Buddy) a possible runner-up. Even Mann's engaging vocal style is boxed in and left to fight against a staging that does not compliment her well.
Considering Rhett Davies (Roxy Music, King Crimson) produced this, and that having collaborated with Elvis Costello, this album simply is not what it should have been, and is a sad excuse for a swan song on one of the more promising acts from the first half of the 80s. Thankfully Mann's solo work has been far more consistent and of high quality, as far removed from TT as anything else, but still impeccably in its craft.
Do yourself a favor, skip this and go for their debut.
TT Trivia: Mann is currently married to musician Michael Penn (brother to actor Sean Penn), and was once part of an early 80s collective that would eventually become Ministry.
Everything's Different Now
CBS/Columbia Records 1988
Produced by Rhett Davies, co-produced by Bruce Lampcov
Personnel:
Aimee Mann - vocals, bass, acoustic guitar
Michael Hausman - drums, percussion, programming
Additional Personnel:
Tiger Okoshi - trumpet
Marcus Miller - bass
Elvis Costello - backing vocals
Michael Montes - keyboards
+ others
Way back when (has it been 2 decades?) before Aimee Mann became the quietly cantankerous indie singer-songwriter icon, she fronted a quartet in the 80s that initially made some rather impressive pop music that eventually scaled down to a duet and made....well...mostly mediocre audio puff-pastries.
'Til Tuesday's debut was a rough around the edges pop gem that has remained famous if only for Mann's rather more stylish take on Rod Stewart-style hair, and the one mega-uber-ur hit Voices Carry. This is unfortunate since the album had quite a few other minor hits, some of them superior songs to VC -including my own personal favorites Love in a Vacuum and I Could Get Used To This - and actually had a sharpness that while clearly dated to the 80s, stands up well. Their sophomore effort was a bit more staid, but still offered some good radio-friendly pop that moved away from their initially New Wave leanings. By the time Everything's Different Now was released, only Mann and Hausman were left, and the music production overall went downhill even though Mann's songwriting itself was improving.
Mann has a knack for writing plain language narratives and pithy statements about human foibles. This albums is no exception in that regard, with tracks about her dissolved relationship with Jules Shear (Limits to Love, J for Jules) and more open-ended ditties like Other End (Of the Telescope) showcase her deftness at the composition desk. But the quirkiness of the debut album's sound is largely gone, replaced by very trite, stunted performances and sounds. The whole album sounds extremely forced when it's not busy floundering in generic pop-melody hell. The only exception to this may be Crash and Burn, with Long Gone (Buddy) a possible runner-up. Even Mann's engaging vocal style is boxed in and left to fight against a staging that does not compliment her well.
Considering Rhett Davies (Roxy Music, King Crimson) produced this, and that having collaborated with Elvis Costello, this album simply is not what it should have been, and is a sad excuse for a swan song on one of the more promising acts from the first half of the 80s. Thankfully Mann's solo work has been far more consistent and of high quality, as far removed from TT as anything else, but still impeccably in its craft.
Do yourself a favor, skip this and go for their debut.
TT Trivia: Mann is currently married to musician Michael Penn (brother to actor Sean Penn), and was once part of an early 80s collective that would eventually become Ministry.
posted by theloniusfunk at 4:14 AM
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