Aimee Mann

Intelligent, tuneful, and loaded with attitude, many of Aimee Mann's songs should be instant pop classics. The only problem is that most of them haven't been very popular. Mann's understandable frustration at this and other hardships has come out increasingly in her music over the years, to the point where it's often tough to tell whether the guys she's venomously kissing off in song are ex-lovers or record company executives. And yet, tart as her lyrics may be, her melodies -- expertly crafted pieces of retro-chic that pay homage to all the usual '60s and '70s touchstones -- never lose their sugar.

Whatever, Mann's first album following the dissolution of her '80s band 'Til Tuesday, is a veritable encyclopedia of regret, bitterness, and defeat set to glorious Beatles-worthy music. Highlights include the rousing rocker "I Should've Known" and the woman-meets-much-much-older-man vignette "Mr. Harris," which manages to be both funny and touching. I'm with Stupid is rougher and less compelling, with a few ear-catching exceptions: "Amateur," "You Could Make a Killing," and "All Over Now."

After shuttling from one bad major-label experience to another, Mann finally caught a commercial break with the soundtrack to Paul Thomas Anderson's film Magnolia. Although the album isn't completely hers (four of the 13 tracks are by other artists, including two by, ahem, Supertramp), the stuff she's responsible for is some of her finest work, especially the cheeky stroll through Harry Nilsson's "One" and the beautifully somber "Build That Wall." Three Magnolia songs reappear on Bachelor No. 2, another outstanding disc that would be worth the list price for the poignant "Ghost World" alone. From the vintage Chamberlin tones of "This is How It Goes" to the finely wrought metaphors of "The Moth," nothing on Lost in Space will surprise fans of Mann's earlier albums, but nothing on it will turn them off either. Clearly, she's found a good sound and she's sticking with it.

Ultimate Collection, compiled by Mann's former record company to cash in on her Magnolia success, cobbles together a few nifty B sides and three 'Til Tuesday cuts (including the band's biggest hit, 1985's "Voices Carry") to bulk up the obvious choices from Whatever and I'm With Stupid. It's an okay intro to Mann's catalogue, but the original albums are better. (MAC RANDALL)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide