Aimee Mann — Mental Illness

After Bachelor No. 2, I remained a staunch fan of Aimee Mann. “Lost In Space,” which came out just two years later, really hit me, just an incredible collection of songs very much in the Bachelor No. 2 vein, but with a somewhat different sound that I really loved – so much that when she issued a deluxe CD edition a few years later, I bought that too, breaking a very strong personal taboo against buying the same thing twice. Didn’t care. Then came “The Forgotten Arm” in 2005, which took me longer to get into but then once it connected, became possibly my favorite of her albums. Based on the damage that addiction can do to lives and relationships, it really resonates. Then came “@#%&*! Smilers,” and “Charmer,” neither of which I ever connected with, but not for lack of trying,. The songs were perfectly good and still very much in her style but, for me, forgettable. I’d still listen to Aimee Mann’s forgettable songs over almost anything else out there.

Then she teamed up with Ted Leo as The Both, and put out a pretty great album of co-written songs.

Then, after a five year solo hiatus, she came out with “Mental Illness,” the most directly titled record ever, and from the first note I was hooked. There isn’t a song on it that doesn’t resonate. Is there a sadder, more direct song than “You Never Loved Me”? “Rollercoasters,” “Lies of Summer,” “Patient Zero” – all just incredibly evocative songwriting.

And these lines from “Patient Zero”:

“Life is good
You look around and think
I’m in the right neighborhood
But honey you just moved in . . . “

And even though the title and the concept cuts a little close to the bone for some of the things we’ve gone through, this album has gotten a lot of play, more than anything since “The Forgotten Arm.” It’s just a perfect Aimee Mann album.

We got to see Aimee perform on the Mental Illness tour in 2017. When we heard she was performing at The Keswick up in Glenside, about 35 minutes away, we jumped at the chance for tickets. Jonathan Coulton opened and then played with her as well, and on the way out this beautiful vinyl edition was on sale in the lobby and I did what I never do and joined the merch throngs and waited to get my copy, even though I wasn’t quite yet in the throes of my new vinyl addiction. Then she booked another show here at the Colonial in Phoenixville in Dec. 2017, a five minute walk from our house, and we decided we needed to go to that as well (Ted Leo opened and played with her). She came back to the Colonial in 2019, and we saw her again (with Coulton again).

That led me to realize that Aimee Mann has crept up into the ranks of the acts we’ve seen the most in our lifetime (not counting local groups). The top two spots are a rivalry between The Ramones and Ray Charles – both of which we saw somewhere between 10 and 12 times; it’s been too many years now to be absolutely sure. We’ve seen Aimee Mann eight times now – three times at The Egg in Albany (2003, 2005, and her 2006 Christmas show), then once at a free concert in Albany’s Washington Park (2008, at a time when free was what I could afford). then it would be quite a long time before we got to see her again, at Union Transfer in Philly in 2015 (a Christmas extravaganza with Liz Phair, Ted Leo, Jonathan Coulton and John Roderick), followed by the two 2017 shows and then 2019 right here in Phoenixville. She’s playing the Keswick again in April; I’m secretly hoping a Colonial stop gets added to the tour, as I’m not sure where pandemic numbers will be in April and haven’t wanted to commit just yet.