A Word About The So-Called "Ultimate Collection"
by Aimee Mann
There is a CD that was released recently titled "Aimee Mann--the Ultimate
Collection". I want to give everyone a heads-up about this CD, because it
was
not only something that I had nothing to do with, it's a product I consider
to
be seriously substandard and misleading. My manager Michael Hausman and I
heard that this project was in the works several months ago. In our opinion
the label putting out the record, Hip-O Records, had no right to use the
material they were intending to use in the first place. But I didn't want to
be the bad guy and shut the project down entirely, so I asked Michael to get
in touch with whoever was heading the project and offer our services, so
that
the record could be one I was proud of, even if it wasn't something I wanted
out in the first place. I offered to do the artwork, as I had done for every
record I've ever made except the first Til Tuesday record, and be involved
in
song selection. This offer was flatly refused--we were basically barred from
being involved in any way on a project that had my NAME on it. As typical as
this is in the music business, it still never ceases to amaze me. The most
unbelievable thing they did was to take quotes from old interviews and weave
them into liner notes for the package so that it would APPEAR that I had
been
involved--basically using my own reputation for integrity in my music to
sell
their own lame product.
And the very title--"The Ultimate Collection"--implies at the very least a
comprehensive collection, when it doesn't contain anything from Bachelor No.
2
and only one song from Magnolia (and not the Oscar-nominated song), and yet
it
DOES contain several things I personally consider to be absolute crap,
including a rough mix of one song from just one of two reels of tracks, a
song
recorded live off the radio 10 years ago and never authorized by me to be
recorded at all, much less released, a song I recorded for a movie as a
favor
to a producer friend that I didn't even write, etc. None of the great little
B-sides or demos that I was actually proud of and thought would be perfect
for
this kind of collection.
So I would ask everyone to please give this one a miss-- I hate to see fans
being subjected to this kind of music industry bait-and-switch. Michael
Hausman and I have been planning to put out our own collection that I
promise
will be a lot more "ultimate" than this wretched fraud. Needless to say,
there's also a lawsuit in the works. To put out a record that deliberately
gives the impression that it's been authorized by me is really the last
straw.
Link to this statement from Aimee's site:
http://aimeemann.com/news/letter1.html
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