I would love to go into detail describing all the great things about "Bachelor No. 2" but that would take up way too much room. I truly love all of Aimee Mann's records, but I must say that THIS IS THE ONE that reaches a level only a few (very few) artists are capable of reaching. In my opinion, "Bachelor" is right up there with "Abbey Road"/Beatles, "Blue"/Joni Mitchell, "Harvest"/Neil Young, "Lovesexy"/Prince, "The Stone Roses"/The Stone Roses, "OK Computer"/RADIOHEAD, "The House Of Love"/The House Of Love, etc...you get my point. Everything about it is simply top-notch: melodies, lyrics, production, emotion...it all works. It has that rare, impossible to define "thing" from beginning to end. It's one of those albums that I truly feel is essential listening.

"Bachelor No. 2" is in many ways the album in which it all came together for Aimee Mann-- she'd managed to integrate the various influences on her music, she produced a strong, cohesive album, and she released it without the distribution of a major record label. The album shows off Mann's melancholy songwriting at probably the best its ever been-- the arrangements are often sparse, but infused with a great sense of economy-- little is wasted, and no more than is necessary is added to the pieces.

It should be noted that four tracks were also released on the "Magnolia" soundtrack (although one as an instrumental)-- these tracks, excepting "Deathly", were not among the better material on either record-- "Deathly" is another story altogether, in many ways, its really the best example of where Mann's strengths are, a biting, ironic lyric with a fragile arrangement and brilliant vocal harmonies. This is a pretty common sound for Mann and shows on several tracks-- "Nothing Is Good Enough", "The Fall of the World's Own Optimist", the moving and brilliant "Satellite" for example. But there's no shortage of the sort of alternative/pop stuff she was doing earlier in her career-- "How Am I Different" and "Red Vines" are both superb pop songs with more robust arrangements. And again, she branches out on cuts like "Just Like Anyone" (a song so sacchrine that had it stretched longer than it does, it'd be overbearing) and the piano ballad "It Takes All Kinds".

There's a couple weak moments on here ("Ghost World" and "Callling It Quits" are pretty uninteresting), but overall, this is a fantastic album, and a great place to start with Mann's music. Recommended.

Aimee Mann - undermarketed songwriter of immense talent. "Red Vines" and "How am I Different" are amazingly good, but "Deathly" is the song that really stands out....lyrically and musically...A love song from a totally different perspective of most of her other stuff (a good portion of which are relationship-based but not exactly love songs). Who'd guess it was a love song though starting out with "Now that I've met you / would you object to / never seeing each other again." And the live version of this song (not on this CD) is absolutely in another world. Love to listen to both.

Aimee Mann is one of those little known geniuses out there in the music world. She crafts these amazingly catchy, intelligent little gems of songs--she's not only a consumate musician, but a lyricist on par with say, Dylan, or even Joni Mitchell. Some of her verses could have been penned by Dot Parker, they snap with wit and sometimes even a splash of acid. In short, she's brilliant. Of all of Aimee's albums, this one is by far the best, though you couldn't possibly call any of the others "bad". "Lost in Space" is also astute, but nothing can top "Bachelor No. 2". One of the best pop albums of all time. And hey--if you ever should get a chance to catch Aimee in concert, I seriously urge you to take advantage of it. She may look blond and waifish, but she can rock with the best of 'em! :)

This is absolutely one of my favourite albums of all time. It is constantly in my CD player. I first heard of Aimee on the Magnolia soundtrack and knew I had to get this album. I finally bought it a while back and cannot say enough good things about it. It's one of those rare albums where the more I play it, the more I like it. I never get tired of listening to it. Like another reviewer stated, you are rewarded every time you listen to it because there's always something new to pick up on or a lyric to think about. Anyways, the point is that this is a must-have album and Aimee Mann is one of the greatest singer-songwriters of our time. Buy it!