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Michael Penn |
| Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947 |
| Hollywood Records / Spin Art | 2005 | Album |
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Michael Penn must be pretty frustrated. When he’s not being introduced as “Sean Penn’s brother,” he’s being introduced as “Aimee Mann’s husband.” Fortunately, over the course of a career that has spanned more than 15 years, he has proven two things: he cannot be pigeonholed, and he can do very little wrong.
Those familiar with Penn’s early hit “No Myth” might also recall the buzz that surrounded his 1989 album “March.” After releasing three albums between 1989 and 2005, all of which, though nearly perfect, did not break into the commercial markets, Penn decided to release a concept album that would please his fans first and everyone else second. The result, Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947, collects everything we love about Michael’s music. The opening track, “Walter Reed,” is cleanly produced and crisply mixed (though, like much of Penn’s work, the production recalls the unusual styles of Mitchell Froom or Jon Brion). The story of a soldier depressed and discouraged upon his return home, “Walter Reed” contains my favorite Michael Penn lyric yet: “I’ve had my fill of palm trees / And lighting up Graumann’s Chinese…” The strange “Mary Lynn” recalls a lost Beatles session, while steady rocker “Room 712, the Apache” sounds like it could have appeared on his Brendan O’Brien-produced Resigned. Although no song stands out as being particularly flashy or complicated, but, to paraphrase T.S. Eliot, Michael Penn is no Andy Partridge, nor was meant to be. He is simply -- and how wonderful it is to say “simply”! -- one of our strongest, most competent, and most consistent songwriters. In a musical world full of pomp and circumstance, that’s nothing to shrug off. |
| Ben Gott |
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