69 Love Songs

by The Magnetic Fields

Overview

As the sprawling magnitude of its cheeky title suggests, 69 Love Songs is Stephin Merritt's most ambitious as well as most fully realized work to date, a three-disc epic of classically chiseled pop songs that explore both the promise and pitfalls of modern romance through the jaundiced eye of an irredeemable misanthrope. A true A-to-Z catalog of touchingly bittersweet love songs that runs the gamut from tender ballads to pithy folk tunes to bluesy vamps, the sheer scope of the record allows all of Merritt's musical personas to converge -- the regular use of guest vocalists recalls his work as the 6ths, the romantic fatalism suggests the Gothic Archies project, and the stately melodies evoke the Future Bible Heroes. The whole is much greater than the sum of its parts, however -- for all of Merritt's scathing wit and icy detachment, there's a depth and sensitivity to these songs largely absent from his past work, and each one of these 69 tracks approaches l'amour from refreshing angles, galvanizing the love song form with rare sophistication and elegance. Naturally, given a project of this size there's the occasional bit of filler, but all in all, 69 Love Songs maintains a remarkable consistency throughout, and the highlights ("I Don't Believe in the Sun," "All My Little Words," "Asleep and Dreaming," "Busby Berkeley Dreams," and "Acoustic Guitar," to name just a few) are jaw-droppingly superb. Also available as three individual releases, 69 Love Songs was nevertheless conceived as a whole and is best absorbed as such, with all of its twists and turns taken in stride; despite its three-hour length, the music boasts the craftsmanship and economy that remain the hallmarks of classic American pop songwriting, a tradition Merritt upholds even as he subverts the formula in new and brilliant ways. ~ Jason Ankeny

Product Details

Release Date:	04/20/2010
Label:	Merge
UPC:	0673855016917
Rank:	19917

Tracks

1. Absolutely Cuckoo
2. I Don't Believe In the Sun
3. All My Little Words
4. A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off

Album Credits

Performance Credits

The Magnetic Fields   Primary Artist
Claudia Gonson   Drums,Piano,Vocals,Percussion
John Woo   Banjo,Cello,Flute,Guitar,Mandolin,Accordion
Dudley Klute   Vocals
Shirley Simms   Vocals

Technical Credits

Stephin Merritt   Producer,Composer
Shel Silverstein   Composer
Claudia Gonson   Arranger,Engineer
Eric Masunaga   Engineer
Michael English   Logo
Jeff Lipton   Engineer
Daniel Handler   Text
Charles Newman   Engineer