I wasn't sure where to go today - I had a number of possible selections, but none of them were feeling right.
I landed with Michael Penn - mostly because I've never done one of his before and secondly because I like the song, "Try".
Penn is probably known for three things overall: being Sean Penn's older brother. being Aimee Mann's husband. and having one hit with "No Myth" back in 1989.
Actually, his debut, March, is pretty stellar. His other four solo disks have strong material on them, but overall they lack something. You could take his best of those four and make a killer album though.
Penn has better songs than "Try", but I'm on the road and don't have access to my liberry, so I had to pick one with a video and he doesn't have many actual videos. The easy route would have been to do "No Myth", but eh - I definitely wasn't feeling that.
"Try" comes fro Penn's fourth solo disk Resigned. That may have been his last album on a major label, the rest of his work has been on independents - and he's continued to do film and tv musical work, but I haven't seen a record from him since, I dunno, 2004?
He is interesting enough that I always get his disks even if they don't live up to what I think they should be. Still they are better than most.
He still has an independent streak while having an underlying pop sensibility - or a hook that can be hard to shake and he's good with wordplay as well. I always thought this song should have been bigger and heard more - I like it that much. And it is about what I think, right?
Maybe he'll have something new in the next few years - who knows.
3 comments:
Great posting. I learned a lot! I did not know he was Aimee Mann's husband. I always liked the song "No Myth" but didn't know that was the title. And I'd never heard "Try". I Santa comes through with that iTunes gift card I know where some of it will go. Thanks
I put your postings on as background as I read some other blogs; I enjoy hearing the tunes this way.
Your musical tastes are sooooo eccentric. It's like you root for underdogs. Not surprising... considering you come from Cleveland... home of the Browns.
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