Bachelor No. 2 : Aimee Mann : Review : Rolling Stone

Before the release of the Magnolia soundtrack, Aimee Mann was undervalued for years by the music business. So her independently released latest effort, Bachelor No. 2, could also be called Sounding Great Is the Best Revenge. It's an album of tuneful, intimate pop-rock songs, a few of which ("Driving Sideways," "Deathly" and "You Do") will be familiar to Magnolia fans. The highs -- including "The Fall of the World's Own Optimist," a collaboration with Elvis Costello, and the exquisite "Red Vines" -- are stunning. There are also some understandably nasty notes to music-biz schmucks, such as the catchy "Calling It Quits" and "Nothing Is Good Enough," which contains perhaps the lowest blow of all: "Critics at their worst/Could never criticize/The way that you do." Your heart almost goes out to the record business -- but not quite. (RS 842)

DAVID WILD