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The Forgotten Arm
by Aimee Mann

Aimee Mann reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 70 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.4 out of 10
based on 19 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 29 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Produced by Joe Henry, Mann's first studio disc in three years is a concept album about the life of a boxer during the 1970s.

LABEL: Superego
RELEASE DATE: 03 May 2005
DISCS: 1 disc
GENRE(S): Singer-Songwriter, Rock, Adult Alternative

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

90
PopMatters
It's her darkest and most complex record to date, an examination of the centripetal destruction that consumes lives at the point of no return.
Read Full Review
80
Uncut
Songs unfold as complex relationships, with attendant euphoria, doubt and internal demons. [May 2005, p.112]
80
Delusions of Adequacy
While nothing on The Forgotten Arm is brand new for her, it's a natural evolution from what her fans have gotten used to, the minor-key laments and regrets of Bachelor No. 2 and Lost in Space.
Read Full Review
80
Paste Magazine
While the emotional payoff of the album proves more satisfying than anything she’s done so far, the individual tracks don’t stand alone as well.
Read Full Review
80
Village Voice
The songs on The Forgotten Arm are too engaging to dismiss their familiarity.
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75
Entertainment Weekly
Forgotten Arm still sounds like Aimee Mann. And that's not a bad thing. [29 Apr 2005, p.147]
74
Pitchfork
Here's yet another exemplary Aimee Mann album to add to the pile.
Read Full Review
74
cokemachineglow
The best songs on The Forgotten Arm reveal the extremes of love and despair under their smiling masks, but the sorrows of the album are tempered by what can only be Mann’s own joy.
Read Full Review
70
Junkmedia
And though she may be running in place lyrically, her melodies have never been keener and her vocals grow richer and more confident with each release.
Read Full Review
70
ShakingThrough.net
Once the contrivance of The Forgotten Arm’s vaguely sketched plot device crumbles, there are still solid tracks to be found.
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70
Prefix Magazine
Enough bending guitar licks to satisfy the yuppiest of thirtysomething businessmen and enough mellow ballads to satisfy your Dixie Chicks-loving mom.
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70
Trouser Press
Some of the songs are immediately engrossing... Others mostly carry the story forward while allowing Mann to indulge her career-long taste for vintage keyboard orchestration, coolly elegant pop arrangements and displays of tart wordplay.
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70
All Music Guide
While the music here isn't as good as that on Bachelor, the strict structure does help give The Forgotten Arm direction, helping shape it into one of her more consistent albums.
Read Full Review
67
E! Online
Unfortunately, this straightforward approach also reveals how straight-up dull Mann's country-tinged songs can be.
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60
Q Magazine
Sketched out over a dozen songs, the idea doesn't quite hang together. [May 2005, p.114]
60
Rolling Stone
This time around her songs are more pleasurable for seeming less deeply felt. [5 May 2005, p.72]
60
Mojo
An unfussy affair. [Jun 2005, p.108]
40
Blender
If she doesn't follow commercial formulas, she's following creative ones, and selling herself short in the process. [Jun 2005, p.111]
30
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Mann's signature wordplay sounds clichéd and exhausted, and her melodies lack the energy and pop sparkle that distinguished her pre-Lost In Space work.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this album is 8.4 (out of 10) based on 29 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Tim H gave it an8:
This album is still growing on me. Very very nice effort by Aimmee. Congrats

Sam D gave it a7:
On this site, i continue to hear the same thing; Lost in Space was dull. One, people who say that didn't listen to the lyrics whatsoever; It's Not, Today's the Day, and Real Bad News are some of the best, and most tragically beautiful, lyrics i have ever heard. So when I popped The Forgotten Arm, I was shocked to hear that some of the songs slipped a bit in the lyrical department. They were all still beautiful, but it seemed that Aimee wasn't behind all of them 100%. Goodbye Caroline and Beautiful captured my heart from the first go 'round, but the others will take a few more test drives before they become memorable.

Austin A gave it a9:
In this story of agonizing love, Aimee Mann seems to lose focus on some songs yet the great ones make the album timeless.

Chad S gave it a9:
Ploughing through "Lost in Music" for the first time brought back memories of my disappointment towards Prince's "Graffiti Bridge"; the shock that creative fatigue happens to the great ones, too. It was the first time an Aimee Mann album made me yawn(even 'til tuesday's "Welcome Home") has more high points). With some trepidation, I pressed "play" on my cheap-ass cd player, and that trepidation was waylaid. Aimee Mann is back. There's no "Mr. Harris"(I think this is her finest moment), "Frankenstein", or "Ghost World", but Mann is once again melding intelligent lyrics to hummable melodies like no other female singer-songwriter in the past fifteen years. And this includes the third 'til tuesday album, which has "Rip in Heaven", where Mann deftly encapsulates romantic disappointment with unerring naked verve in its rousing chorus, and "Limits to Love", a character sketch every bit as stunning as "Mr. Harris". As for "The Forgotten Arm", my favorite songs are "Goodbye Caroline", "Video", and "I Can't Help you Anymore". She's coming to Hawaii and I hope she plays "Sign of Love"(from "Back to the Beach"), even though it's a cover. Somebody needs to give that neglected gem some props.

John B gave it a9:
Terrific. Benefits enormously from the new stripped-down sound (no fussy overdubs... a much leaner production) which gives it a real directness. A real relief to get away from complaint and confessional and move towards writing about third parties. Great stuff.

Pope John Paul gave it a9:
No, there are no major musical innovations here (honestly, there haven't been any since Bachelor No. 2 for Aimee), but this is still arguably the most consistent album she has released yet, and it's great to hear her sounding revitalized after the near-terminally dull Lost In Space. There is no way that wasn't a run-on sentence.

levvy gave it an8:
A great follow up to Lost in Space (admittedly, possibly even better than said album). Faves include King of the Jailhouse, Going Through the Motions, I Can't Get My Head Around It and Video

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