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@#%&*! Smilers (Special Edition) | 
 enlarge | Artist: Aimee Mann
Label: Superego Records
Category: Music
New (14) Used (4) from $15.88
Rating:  54 reviews
Sales Rank: 8433
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5.2 x 0.4
UPC: 698519002723
EAN: 0698519002723
ASIN: B00171MNL0
Release Date: June 3, 2008
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| Tracks:
| • | Freeway | | • | Stranger Into Starman | | • | Looking For Nothing | | • | Phoenix | | • | Borrowing Time | | • | It's Over | | • | Thirty One Today | | • | Great Beyond | | • | Medicine Wheel | | • | Columbus Ave. | | • | Little Tornado | | • | True Believer | | • | Ballantines |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk
Despite that unwieldy, rather craven title, @#%&! Smilers has already been acclaimed by some critics as the best record in Aimee Mann's long career. Few fans will be disappointed. The opening "Freeway" may be built around a fairly slight play on words ("you got a lot of money but you can't afford the freeway" goes the chorus) but the nagging melody and expansive synth-laden arrangement, reminiscent of her East Coast counterparts and fellow suburban critics Fountains of Wayne, is nigh on irresistible. "Stranger Into Starman" is a mere snippet, and all the better for its brevity, while "Looking For Nothing" is a perfect example of the southern Californian blankness Mann has captured for years now. The lush, orchestrated country-rock of "Phoenix" rhymes the title with "Kleenex" and truly captures the mood of someone leaving for good. Sean Hayes sounds uncannily like a boozy Antony Hegarty on the deceptively jolly closer "Ballantines," named for a whisky, while author Dave Eggers picks up a credit for his rather good "whistling" on the gloomy, undeniably pretty "Little Tornado." The painfully detailed "Thirty One Today," a distant memory for Mann, is another successful attempt to voice dissatisfaction. Only the chirpy horns on the admonishing "Borrowing Time" actually lighten the mood. Smilers is an excellent record, cleverly thought out throughout. But the smiles here are rueful at best -- Steve Jelbert
Album Description
Limited edition book packaging of her 2008 album, Aimee's seventh solo release to date. The album is a return to form after the artistic detours of 2005's concept album The Forgotten Arm and 2006's Christmas CD One More Drifter in the Snow. Featuring thirteen new original songs, producer Paul Bryan describes the record as "deceptively powerful...very rich and grand-sounding." The songs range from the stripped-down-to-basics of "Columbus Avenue," to the almost Cars-esque synth-pop of "Freeway," alongside the classic Jimmy Webb/Glen Campbell-era "Phoenix," and the hushed creepiness of "Little Tornado." The final song "Ballantines" is a duet with Sean Hayes complete with barroom piano and trombone section. All songs were penned by Mann with the exception of "True Believer" which was co-written with fellow singer-songwriter Grant Lee Phillips.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 49 more reviews...
 Bring the band back September 28, 2008
I couldn't wait to get this new CD by Aimme Mann. I listened to it over and over but it just isn't soaking in. I preferred the full band albums complete with drums and faster tempos. I'm hoping this is just a phase and she will return to a full band soon. And I hope she returns to Florida, the state she seems to put off on her tours. There are fans south of Atlanta Aimee. The acoustic thing is ok for a short time but not a whole album and 2 tours. I remember when I saw her in Atlanta for the Lost In Space tour and she opened with "The Moth", the drums kicked in and it was electrifying! I miss that feeling. Hope it returns.
Disappointing.
 @#%&*! Aimee! September 21, 2008
@#%&*! Smilers
She's a great songwriter and while her and her husband went off and did their own concept albums last time (didn't care for her boxing album...Did I hear she did a dark Christmas album? No, she didn't...Man, it must cost a lot to live in LA) this is as compelling and addictive as Lost in Space for me.
I like the horns and the electronics, they seem to add more to her minimalistic song structures than studio cleansed guitars of albums past.
I would have seen her in concert when she comes to town but opening for Squeeze? Don't think I could sit through that. I'm sure while that band would look back at their perfectly coiffed 80s hits, Mann, will, no doubt musically, existentially, keep looking forward...That's what separates her from the rest, I believe.
Aimee is consistently fresh with her stories and even if she's comes across as a bit California-condescending in her observations at times and still clunks a bit with her references (Anne Sexton) and precious with Mr. Eggers whistling (Please...), she still carries a pop tune as well as she always has.
Jim Harris
A Bottle of Rain
Nowhere Near the Sea of Cortez
 Solid workmanship, but a tad pale September 14, 2008
Smilers sounds like comfortable songwriting, comfortable arrangements. Where is the bite, the passion, the variety?
Aimee can produce great work. But where on Smilers is there anything so pretty and cleverly snotty as Amateur (from I'm With Stupid), or infectiously jangly as 50 Years After The Fair? Where is anything so biting and punk as Long Shot, or sweet and heartfelt as Mr. Harris?
Inevitably one must compare the present record with her past artistic successes. Stylistic differences aside, differences in instrumentation aside, I am not hearing the brilliance here that I am used to from her previous work up to Lost In Space. It sounds like an album that got cranked out because it was time to crank out another album.
I can't criticize those who enjoy this. I disagree that this is anywhere near her best work. The songs aren't bad. But to me they sound more like what would pass for bonus tracks or b-sides on previous albums and singles. Aimee sounds like she's reached a point in her career where she needs to be shaken up artistically, challenged to explore new heights and depths. Smilers just glides rock solid right down the middle of the freeway. What this music needs is some hairpin turns and steep grades and potholes and getting the wheels over close to the edge of the cliff so we can look down and have a thrill or two. That's what Aimee has led me to expect from her music, and I'm not getting it this time.
Great CD by Aimee August 20, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have this CD and it is Awsome! Every song I like. Aimee did a great job writing and performing. If you like Aimee Mann's music I really believe you'll like this one.
I can't stop smiling August 20, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
It's difficult for me to put into words how fantastic this CD is...I love it. Let me say that again...I @#%&*! love it. I've enjoyed it so much that I went and purchased Aimee's live CD/DVD performance recorded at St. Ann's and several of her older CD's. It's not like I haven't always enjoyed her music, its just that this CD really struck a chord with me and I find myself getting choked up listening to it. After 25 years of buying music I find that I always return to listen to just a handful of the hundreds upon hundreds of Cd's I have purchased in my lifetime and I know this one will always remain close by, ready for another spin. Now I'm hoping a live set similar to the St. Ann effort will follow.
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