Aimee Mann - The Forgotten Arm

I recently picked up the CD The Forgotten Arm by Aimee Mann. This is the album she described as "Mott the Hoople meets alt-country". You can hear a bit of Mott influence, but only if you listen for it. It does have a sound that is somewhat reminiscent of that mid-'70's era, probably because that is when the story is set. It's a concept album about two lovers named John and Caroline who road-trip across America; John is a boxer who came home from Vietnam with a drug addiction. It's really just a vehicle for Mann's moving songs about drug dependency and love's frustrations. It's not her best work -- Bachelor No. 2 (2000) and the 1988 Til Tuesday album Everything's Different Now are both better -- but it is a good, solid album.

At Amazon.com, you can read Aimee Mann's List of Music You Should Hear . Besides Mott The Hoople, some of the other artists mentioned on her list (Elliot Smith, Neil Young, Badfinger, Keane) have a more noticeable influence on The Forgotten Arm. The album she mentions by her husband Michael Penn is due for release in August.