Spin Art
2005
Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947
About This Album
It's been five years since Michael Penn delivered MP4: Days Since a Lost Time Accident, a complex yet radio-ready ode to the passing millennium that put the nail in the coffin of his tempestuous relationship with major labels. Epic's support for the record was mediocre at best, so Penn took the logical next step and started his own imprint, Mimeograph. The resulting Mr. Hollywood Jr. 1947, released via spinART, is a loosely constructed song cycle concerning post-World War II Los Angeles. Like fellow singer/songwriter (and Penn's wife) Aimee Mann, who released her own conceptual record earlier in the year (The Forgotten Arm), Penn forgoes the traditional narrative and sticks to what he does best, writing biting and beautiful songs about relationships that are failing, have failed, or are suspiciously working. He lets the year's historical events (the invention of the portable radio, the establishment of the national Department of Defense, a plague of UFO sightings, etc.) wrap his characters in the kind of sepia-tone strokes of nostalgic Hollywood gossamer that would make both Frank Capra and Tom Waits proud. In fact, Penn's slick Tin Pan Alley mini-orchestra (due largely in part to frequent collaborator Patrick Warren's orchestral samples) resembles Rain Dogs-era Waits had he brought Jon Brion on board to produce.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,6 and 12)

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