69 Love Songs (The Magnetic Fields)

Wonderful entry in the canon of pop; Stephin Merritt is the name of the man who has written this album himself and is here helped to perform it together with the rest of the Magnetics; the first time I tried to listen to this band was actually through this album, but I quickly dissed them. I thought they sounded way too arty and that the album was produced really badly. Well, it _is_ not very well produced, but just like Manic Street Preachers' "The Holy Bible", that's not the point: the songs themselves are the message. So ditch any preconceived thoughts you may have about Brian Eno, Phil Spector and their likes, and just concentrate on the innards of this beast. As the album title suggests, it's 69 pieces of audio, all about love, most of which threw me off the scent. "Absolutely Cuckoo" is the very first track and quite describes the singer warning a possible love that he'll become completely infatuated with her and become cuckoo, and there's no telling what his friends'll do if th... Read more

There are verry few bands that truly amaze in modern music...The Magnetic Fields are one of those bands. Beautiful, dark, romantic, intellectual, and unusual in every way. The music on this box set (trilogy CD compilation) goes all over the spectrum of indie pop and experimental rock. At times, even a little raw dirty country...and a sprinkle of neo-classical down tempo who knows what. Great music...that all I can say. Amazing!

...with 69 songs there's going to be something to love, and something to hate, on this 3 CD set. None of these songs have energy enough to rise above the crowd and be distinct and memorable, but a lot of the music is infectious, silly, inventive and sometimes beautiful.

Wow! This is fantastic! I received it very promptly as well. The condition is next to none. Wonderful buying experience!! Thanks!

I fall on the side of the fence that a lot of people do with this release, which is to say that there's a perfect album in here, but it's buried underneath a mountain of so-so material. To be fair it's pretty rare for an artist release a double (let alone triple) LP and not have that sort of criticism thrown at them, but that doesn't make it any less valid. That being said Stephin Merritt did put forth a fine effort here and hell, even the Beatle's White Album wasn't perfect, so hats off to him for giving us what he did: An enormous amount of wonderful music. Anyway, we're lucky enough to live in an age of hard drives and CD burners which gives us the power to make our own mixes and leave what we don't like behind. I decided to try this myself with 69 Love Songs and, not surprisingly, my mix turned out to be exactly half of what the original was. I called my brand new, 2 disc, version "34 love songs" and have stuck with it since. Some people might say doing something like that makes... Read more

Who would have the creative energy and ambition to release a three disc set containing 69 songs all about the most complex of human emotions, while at the same time giving it a name that is a clever double entendre? Stephen Merritt, that's who. The gifted/eccentric pop auteur has delivered a stunning set of songs that examine love from every possible angle. This is no sappy collection of silly love songs. Merritt is concerned with more than just the superficial idea of love that we have been presented in movies, television, and, well...... music. The songs on this collection examine the countless effects that love can have upon us. There is the giddy joy of falling in love and developing a new relationship, the pain of realizing that love is fading from a relationship, the need for love, unrequited love, the pain of a failed relationship, clinging to falsely idealized love, etc. The list goes on and on. Sometimes the songs explore the intertwined natures of lust and love an... Read more