Aimee Mann

Motion Picture Magnolia

Good Aimee Mann CD; So-So Movie Soundtrack

Review Score:

(8/10)
The majority of those who reviewed the Magnolia soundtrack complain about the two Supertramp tracks which appear after eight Aimee Mann songs. I don't find this particularly bothersome, and for that reason I take issue with one reviewer who said they should have "quietly died". These two songs were used in the motion picture and for that reason I don't really have a problem with their inclusion in this CD. It's easier to move to the next or previous track than it is to whine about it.

As an Aimee Mann compilation, the Magnolia soundtrack works quite well. As other reviewers have mentioned, her cover of Harry Nilson's "One" lacks some of the panache that made the song a hit for Three Dog Night in 1969. Nevertheless, it is worth listening to. Many of the other tracks also appear on Mann 's excellent and overlooked "Bachelor Number Two" CD. The songs most worthy of attention on Magnolia are "Wise Up", which is used as a seminal transition point in the picture, and "Save Me". Mann's vocal style on this track is best described as "plaintive" in the words of another customer reviewer, and I couldn't agree more. How she lost to Phil Collins for best original song in the 2000 Academy Awards is a travesty that simply cannot be explained.

As far as motion picture soundtracks go, it is so so. For those who liked Jon Brion's score, there is a separate CD of that music available. The only problem I had with the inclusion of Brion's piece on the soundtrack CD is that it was mixed way too low-one must turn up the volume considerably to be able to listen to it.

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