Aimee Mann
The Forgotten Arm
(Superego)
Aimee Mann invades husband Michael Penn’s Beatles collection and comes out with her best disc since Bachelor No.2. The record is based on a song cycle concept about an addict boxer returning from Vietnam. Surprisingly enough, the idea works, though many of the tracks can stand on their own as well. This is quite a feat for any album based on a story concept, but Mann is adept at getting inside the emotion of the songs, lyrically and musically. But as with any record in this genre it works better listening from beginning to end. As with most of Mann’s previous records, some songs are superior to others (a standout here is “That’s How I Knew this Story Would Break My Heart”), but The Forgotten Arm is a far better album than Lost in Space.
—Trevor MacLaren
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.
