Magnolia: Music from the Motion Picture [SOUNDTRACK]

Aimee Mann, Various Artists - Soundtracks - 1999

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 7, 1999)
• Original Release Date: December 7, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Reprise / Wea
• ASIN: B00003A9NN
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (201 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,295 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The much anticipated follow-up to Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights, Magnolia features a specially orchestrated soundtrack, largely written and performed by Aimee Mann ('Til Tuesday member and sadly overlooked solo artist). Mann's voice has always been a suitable vehicle for conveying emotional turmoil and indelible sadness, and several tracks here ("Build That Wall," "You Do," "Driving Sideways") do so with the rich melodicism that informs her best work. Producer Jon Brion's sprightly horn arrangements for "Momentum" are an unexpected (though not completely unwelcome) splash of cold water. Only Mann's cover of the Harry Nilsson-penned Three Dog Night hit "One" backfires, as it simply doesn't deliver the same effective climax as the original. The two Supertramp tracks from their Breakfast in America LP tacked on at album's end are incongruous (though they cut down the degrees of separation between them and Mann to an incredible one!). However, for anyone with an interest in Mann's melodic songwriting, there are eight worthy originals waiting for you. --Rob O'Connor

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not enough Aimee Mann, but half an album's worth of A+ stuff, December 26, 1999

By	David Pearlman "sound fanatic" (Arlington, MA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The trajectory of Aimee Mann's career is one of the more unusual ones. Whereas artists typically toil in obscurity for years, slowly building a rabid fan base who turn their noses when that artist makes a successful compromised play for mainstream success, Mann started her major label career with the successful compromised album ('Til Tuesday's "Voices Carry"), then proceeded to follow it up with a brilliant-but-less-commercial discography (now numbering four LPs, plus assorted other contributions) that built the rabid fan base out of the ashes of the mainstream success.

If there has been a fault with her output post-Voices Carry, it has been that there simply has not been enough. This is due in large part to her problems with major labels. Columbia rejected what was supposed to be the fourth 'Til Tuesday album. Imago, who released her first solo album (Whatever) went under before the second solo album could be released. Geffen Records, who released the second solo album, was turned into a decimated shell following the Universal/Polygram merger, and after some well-documented chain pulling, Aimee was dropped by a label who clearly didn't "get" the idea of art versus commerce.

And along the way, Mann also had the distinction of being the "girl singer" not signed by A&M because they could only sign one such singer at the time, and Sheryl Crow got the nod.

OK, so now you know why the rabid fans (myself included) anticipate with drool spilling from our mouths ANY new Mann music. When you get beyond the packaging and tie-ins, the Magnolia soundtrack is essentially a half an Aimee Mann album. There are nine Mann tracks, a couple of old Supertramp hits, a track by what can only imagine is a Warner Bros. label priority (Gabrielle), and a snipped of score by the estimable Jon Brion (who has also occasionally served as Mann's producer).

Let's start by pruning away the junk. Goodbye Supertramp, it's been nice. Goodbye Gabrielle, it has not. Goodbye Jon, too. Your score is fine, but I'd rather wait for either a full score or else your delayed solo album (another story).

That leaves the nine aforementions Mann tracks. Of these, two have been available previously. Her cover of Nilsson's "One" was on the "For the Love of Harry" tribute. And "Momentum" was a "b-side" on a UK CD-EP for "That's What You Are". Suprisingly, these tracks share not only the distinction of being available elsewhere, they also share the distinction of being inferior to the other Mann material here. A third track here, "Nothing is Good Enough" is an instrument. And while it's a pleasant enough instrumental, doesn't play to Mann's strengths. So that leaves six new Mann songs on which to base a review.

And the verdict: Those six songs are wonderful. Grade A Mann material. And good enough that I'm willing to give the sountrack a 4 star review on the basis of those songs alone. I only wish they were joined by another 6 to make this a true album.

My suggestion: Buy the Magnolia soundtrack and the Bachelor No. 2 EP (available from Mann's Web site, aimeemann.com), then burn your own CD compilation combining the six important tracks here with that EP. It may not be the album Aimee Mann wants to release, but until a real one appears it'll beat just about anything else you can put in your CD player.

And tell your friends to buy this. Maybe if they sell enough copies SOMEONE at a major label will wise up and realize there is a market for wise and wonderful pop records. We can dream, can't we?

dap

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best way to look inside yourself is through Aimee Mann, January 10, 2000

By	Greg (North Brunswick, NJ) - See all my reviews

To be honest, I haven't heard of Aimee Mann before this terrific soundtrack. She totally encompasses the emotion of the film and enhances the viewing experience. Her music and the film work together to create an emotion within yourself that is so hard to depict through mass media. "Save Me" is the hit, but I feel that "Wise Up" is one of the best tracks on the soundtrack because it truly defines what the film is all about. I have now bought all of Aimee Mann's collection and will be eager to hear more from this artist. No longer will the corporate record labels be able to silence one of the greatest songwriters and vocalists I have ever heard. Buy this soundtrack and go see the film if you want to experience some of the best personal and social commentary that can be shown in this commercialized, mass mediated society.

47 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Stars Are 4 Aimee, Not Supertramp, January 11, 2000

By	Edward Dunn (Silicon Valley in California) - See all my reviews

Buy this CD and program tracks 2-9--since Aimee's version of One--Track 1--is dispensable, as are the Supertramp, Gabrielle and, I hate to say it, Jon Brion, tracks. That leaves seven sterling examples of Aimee Mann's musical and lyrical virtues. As always, there's the expert songwriting, guitar playing, musical arrangements, vocals, lyrics and relentlessly penetrating insight. But,that's just the beginning. Once you've immersed yourself in the music, go see Magnolia This isn't the usual snippet here and verse there type of Soundtrack. As director P.T. Anderson acknowledges: Magnolia is based on these songs and he gives full rein to most of them during the course of the movie. In one beautiful passage, each of Anderson's lovingly developed characters take turns singing Wise Up in sad, broken, heartfelt voices as Aimee's plaintive voice rises above them all. For my money, it's one of the most affecting movie moments in memory. Though P.T. Anderson is clearly the auteur of Magnolia, it stands as a sonic collaboration with Aimee Mann...and the whole thing is utterly awesome.