Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo

Aimee Mann's first two solo albums, Whatever (1993) and ''I'm With Stupid'' (1995), achieved strong reviews but did not meet sales expectations. After success in the 1980s with her band 'Til Tuesday, Mann began to be seen as someone whose career was in decline. Later in the 1990s, Mann became a regular act at Largo, a Los Angeles nightclub where her collaborator Jon Brion hosted performances from alternative songwriters including Elliott Smith, Fiona Apple and Rufus Wainwright. This shaped Mann's songwriting; Largo fit her so well that the owner jokingly nicknamed it "Aimee Mann's clubhouse". Mann contributed songs to the soundtrack of the 1999 film Magnolia, including four songs later included on Bachelor No. 2. One executive suggested she work with Diane Warren, who had written hit singles for major acts. Mann wrote "Nothing Is Good Enough" in response to the criticism, but felt the song could also apply to many kinds of relationship. According to Mann, "I sent him a tape of a song that I couldn't finish and he added a new bit. Basically I had a problem with a song and he fixed it — it was as simple as that." Mann and Costello had previously collaborated on "The Other End (Of the Telescope)", released on the 1988 'Til Tuesday album ''Everything's Different Now''. == Release ==

Geffen refused to release Bachelor No. 2, feeling it had no commercial potential. According to Mann, the Geffen boss, Jimmy Iovine, said: "Aimee doesn't expect us to put this record out as it is, does she?" In 1998, the Sony Music employee Gail Marowitz predicted that Mann would make more money selling 70,000 albums independently than by selling 300,000 on a major label. With Mann's husband, the songwriter Michael Penn, they also established United Musicians, a collective working outside the major label system. Using the money earned through royalties from Magnolia, Mann bought the Bachelor No. 2 masters from Geffen. As of May 2008, Bachelor No. 2 had sold more than 230,000 copies in the US. In 2020, Mann released a 20th-anniversary reissue for Record Store Day, with an alternative track list and five bonus tracks, including songs included on the Magnolia soundtrack. Mann said she remained pleased with the album and did not regret leaving Geffen. == Reception ==

On the review aggregator website Metacritic, Bachelor No. 2 has a score of 89 out of 100 based on 13 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Writing for the New Yorker in 2000, Nick Hornby wrote that Bachelor No. 2 was Mann's strongest work to date, praising her "bleak and bracing cynicism about our ability to connect with fellow humans" and her "sinuous, Burt Bacharach-like melodies". Slant Magazine named the album the 100th-best of the decade. Reviewing the album in 2019, Pitchfork called it a "contemporary classic" with "the organic flow of a late-night set in a small, hushed room ... Though they're by no means minimalistic, these arrangements establish a sense of intimacy that's hard to find on full-band rock records that aren't deliberately, performatively lo-fi." == Track listing ==

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Musicians • Aimee Mann – vocals (1–13), backing vocals (1–4,7—9,11), bass (1—8,10—13), acoustic guitar (1,3,6,8,10—13), Nashville guitar (1), guitar (7), tambourine (7,11), hi-hat (11) • Jon Brion – electric guitar (4,6), keyboards (4), backing vocals (6), drums (6) • Mark Flannagan – trumpet (8) • Juliana Hatfield – backing vocals (6) • Michael Hausman – tambourine (3), drum programming (13) • Buddy Judge – backing vocals (1–5,7,8,12,13), drum programming (1,3,8), Wurlitzer (8), drum loops (8) • Hank Linderman – drum programming (11) • Michael Lockwood – electric guitar (1,3,4,7–9,12,13), guitar (5,6,11), percussion (5), backing vocals (9), 12-string acoustic guitar (9), Cheesy Keyboards (13) • Dan MacCarroll – drums (3,9,11) • Ric Menck – drums (2,8) • Brendan O'Brien – bass (9), slide guitar (9) • Michael Panes – violin (10) • Michael Penn – backing vocals (1,5,9,11), slide guitar (3), feedback guitar (5), electric guitar (9), guitar (13) • Grant Lee Phillips – backing vocals (1,5) • John Sands – drums (1,4,5,7,12) • Clayton Scoble – electric guitar (4) • Benmont Tench – Chamberlin (3), piano (8) • Jennifer Trynin – electric guitar (7) • Patrick Warren – keyboards (1,5,7,11,12), piano (3,9), Chamberlin (3,8,10,13), guitar (6), accordion (10), celeste (13) Production • Producers: Aimee Mann, Jon Brion, Mike Denneen, Buddy Judge, Brendan O'Brien • Executive producer: Michael Hausman • Engineers: Mike Denneen, Nick DiDia, Ryan Freeland, S. "Husky" Höskulds, Dustin Jones, Buddy Judge, Hank Linderman, Brian Scheuble • Assistant engineers: Elijah Bradford, Carlos Castro, Connie Hill, Dustin Jones • Mixing: David Boucher, Bob Clearmountain, Ryan Freeland • Mastering: Shawn R. Britton • Extensive Help with Production: Buddy Judge • Assistants: David Boucher, Ryan Freeland • Computers: Buddy Judge • Drum engineering: Hank Linderman • Vocal engineer: S. "Husky" Hoskulds • Art direction: Aimee Mann, Gail Marowitz • Design: Aimee Mann, Gail Marowitz == References==