The Forgotten Arm

The veteran L.A. singer-songwriter delivers a concept LP about a girl and her pugilist lover.

The prospect of an Aimee Mann concept album concerning an addicted boxer returning from the Vietnam War isn't necessarily enticing, but after the meandering, adrift Lost in Space, a change of pace of any kind is welcome for the acclaimed, gifted, and increasingly predictable singer/songwriter.

Aimee Mann's greatest asset has always been her knack for inspecting the brittle consistency of humanity through an acute aperture.