Aimee Mann
I'm With Stupid (DGC)
by Marc Hirsh
Aimee Mann
I'm With Stupid (DGC)
by Marc Hirsh
originally published in the Public News, February 21, 1996
If Aimee Mann is already on her White Album, that's okay, because her debut "Whatever" was pretty much Sgt. Pepper, a masterpiece right out of the starting gate. With a new record label and the freedom to go damn near unchecked, I'm With Stupid, her followup, is flawed. Good God, is it flawed. Which is why it's so good.
Where the fluid "Whatever" was multi-layered but smoothly produced, Stupid is fractured. There's sonic rubble all over the place, with instruments flying in all directions out of the speakers and odd studio patter between songs.
Reflecting this disjointedness is the inclusion of all the words. Alphabetically. It seems like a nose-thumbing, since Mann is one of the most wittily nasty wordsmiths since Elvis Costello, circa 1978. An annoying obstacle, it demands more careful listening, and I still can't figure out if "Superball" is really Mann announcing what a great lay she is.
Elsewhere, the baroque feel adds to Stupid's charm. "Frankenstein" sounds like its parts will fall apart at any second, and Neil Innes's hidden coda of "It's Not Safe" treats the song as a gem from his Bonzo Dog Band days.
Co-conspirator/multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion's dense production abandons the sharp edges of the last album. Instead, the rumbling "Long Shot," the airy "You Could Make A Killing" (a dead ringer for the White Album's "Long Long Long") and the roomful of instruments in "It's Not Safe" set an unexpected but non unpleasant tone.
Stupid isn't as immediate as its predecessor, requiring listeners to dig in deeper than before, but Mann's excellent songs and singing make it more than worthwhile. All this plus "That's Just What You Are" rescued from the Melrose Place album. I can finally sleep nights.