Aimee Mann

I'm With Stupid

What's the matter with the truth?

Review Score:

(6/10)
My friend gave me this album after he bought it in response to a worshipful article in the Times magazine section about the way Aimee's lack of superstar status epitomizes everything wrong with the music industry. He tried to listen to it and found that as much as he wanted to like it he couldn't manage to pay attention to any of the songs. They're all slow and pensive with intricate lyrics, and, with the exception of That's Just What You Are, they aren't catchy at all. They just fail to stick in your head after you turn off the stereo. He gave me the CD because he thought I might be able to get something out of it, and I grew to really like it...I'm glad this CD is around. You can't listen to it in the car and you absolutely CAN NOT sing along with it, but it's still a great listen to just soak up. Sometimes I think that Aimee is a little bit too verbose, flaunting her intellect by saying something the long way instead of just being straightforward about it. However that's a nice antidote to some other artists, who take 'straightforward' WAY too far. I would never compare her to any of those dumb Lilith Fair confessional girls with guitars whose idea of lyrical complexity is something along the lines of "I've got my eggs, I've got my pancakes too, I've got my maple syrup...Everything but youuu." Aimee Mann is in a class by herself. She's almost as cool as Liz Phair.

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