Aimee Mann - Whatever

Everything about the cover of this album seems to defy everything I think I know about Aimee Mann. I know Aimee Mann as a brilliant singer/songwriter who is beautiful, sensitive, and articulate. The woman on the cover of this album has a weird 90's haircut, is wearing all black and Dr. Martin's (the official shoe of rebellion back in the day) and laying down next to the most 90's word in the dictionary: "Whatever." Nothing about this album indicates that it might be an Aimee Mann album in the same sense as the other Aimee Mann albums I know (I heard her later stuff first. Also, I didn't know about the 'Til Tuesday connection until I was a big enough fan for it to make me look stupid for not knowing about it) but Whatever is exactly the same Aimee Mann I know and love.

The most 90's thing about this album is the fact that the backing tracks rock a little harder than some of Aimee Mann's more recent stuff, but it's not like this is Slayer and her new stuff is Captain and Tennille. You could easily mistake some of the songs on this album for something off...say....Bachelor no. 2. Anyway, the big selling points on Aimee Mann is the fact that she has a great voice (right up there with Susanna Hoffs as one of the great female voices which survived the 80's) and she writes great songs with interesting lyrics. She's what Elvis Costello would be if he weren't British, but was a cute American blonde instead. Whatever is an excellent group of songs which foreshadows all the other excellent things Aimee Mann has done since. She's fantastic and if you haven't heard her stuff before, this is a great place to start.