Aimee Mann - Bachelor No. 2 or The Last Remains Of The Dodo
(Super Audio Compact
Disc/Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs)
PCM 2.0 Stereo: B
DSD 2.0 Stereo: B Music: A-
As a follow-up to her incredible sophomore effort I’m
With Stupid (1995) and to launch her SuperEgo label, Aimee Mann came up
with Bachelor No. 2 or The Last Remains Of The Dodo (1999) and was
involved with the soundtrack of Paul Thomas Anderson’s underrated, sprawling
film Magnolia. It was a great
combination of events and brought her the greatest commercial success she has
seen since she was with her band ‘til Tuesday in the 1980s.
Mobile Fidelity has issued her first two SuperEgo releases
as Super Audio CDs, including the amazing Lost In Space (reviewed
elsewhere on this site) and has now made Bachelor No. 2 available in the
format. The album is incredible, though
the results of this version are technically odd. But first, the songs:
1) How Am I
Different? – A great record about a relationship in trouble over a
personality trait. This is one of
Mann’s best songs to date.
2) Nothing
Is Good Enough (from Magnolia) – A terrific cut that reflects
some of the issues of the characters in the film, complete with Mann’s
occasional theme of dysfunctional people as circus/carnival.
3) Red
Vines – A good song about apathy with the usual layers of lyric
and sound.
4) The Fall
Of The World’s Own Optimist – Brilliant song (co-written with Elvis Costello!)
about a good woman getting sideswiped by reality and having to deal with it,
done with great humor and irony.
5) Satellite – A
clever piece about the meditative connection between a couple quickly
evaporating.
6) Deathly (from Magnolia)
– An appropriately downbeat tune about barely connecting.
7) Ghost
World – One of those great songs about wanting to leave where
you live because you want more from life, yet are still stuck there.
8) Calling
It Quits – A great song about breaking out of one’s life being
commoditized.
9) Driving
Sideways (from Magnolia) – Life’s journey taking strange
turns in yet another gem from P.T. Anderson’s complex mediation on life.
10) Just Like Anyone – This
short piece works because it gets to its point effectively.
11) Susan – An “I told you so, you told
me so” song with Mann’s usually effective insight.
12) It Takes All Kinds – This
song that notes Burt Bacharach has its own tricky time signature in the mode of
his best work with Hal David, dealing with the almost supernatural aspect of
two people coming together out of millions.
13) You Do (from Magnolia) – One of
the warmer songs from the film that deals with direct human contact.
Of course, Magnolia has a separate soundtrack with
more songs, including Mann’s amazing cover of Three Dog Night’s classic One,
her Oscar® Nominated Same Me and a few more gems from that film. This SACD is not multi-channel, though the
film absolutely was. Too bad New Line’s
U.S. DVD was Dolby-only, but a DTS edition did manage to get issued
overseas. As for the sound here, I love
these recordings, but Mobile Fidelity’s SACD version reveals some limits not
apparent on the original CD-only SuperEgo release of the album.
The DSD 2.0 Stereo here sounds a bit forward and somewhat
bright throughout, something that is less so on the PCM 2.0 Stereo tracks here,
both of which have a bit more detail than the original CD release. That version seems a tad colder and has some
background space the MoFi mix closes off.
Obviously, the recording was made before the higher fidelity of SACD had
come to light and it was an independent production, but the CD has that slight
aluminum CD break-up and 16Bit/44.1kHz ceiling that even a flawed MoFi release
avoids. That is why I would choose the
MoFi version over the original by a narrow margin. You may want to get both versions to compare just for the
experience. Despite experimenting with
the sound, the later Lost In Space album and MoFi SACD is even better
sonically, but Bachelor No. 2 is a vital recording we highly recommend
and if you never heard it, this is the version to get.
- Nicholas Sheffo
