This is truly a wonderful and quite singular entry in the canon of pop; Stephin Merritt is the name of the man who has written this album himself and is on this triple-CD album helped to perform it together with the rest of the group that make The Magnetic Fields; the first time I tried to get into this band was actually by listening to spots of this album, but I quickly dissed them. I thought they sounded way too arty, that they sounded as if they were trying too hard and that the album was produced really badly. Well, it's not too late to change, is it?
Here's "Nothing Matters When We're Dancing", with Stephin Merritt on vocals.
[audio:https://niklasblog.com/wp-content/2009-08-21-magnetics-dancing.mp3]
The album isn't very well produced, but just as with Manic Street Preachers' "The Holy Bible", there's a punk rock charm about it, and besides, I have a feeling that it's not the point: the songs themselves are the message. So ditch any 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 the first time around. As an example, the very first song of the album, "Absolutely Cuckoo", lets the listener be warned that the singer will become completely infatuated with you and go cuckoo, and there's no telling what his friends'll do if the love-interest should fall through. It pretty much got me on track, learning to expect nothing but rather take it all in.
Here's "Absolutely Cuckoo", also with Stephin Merritt on vocals.
[audio:https://niklasblog.com/wp-content/2009-08-21-magnetics-cuckoo.mp3]
From simple, slow songs ("I Don't Believe in the Sun", "Papa Was a Rodeo"), to complex guitar-pieces ("Acoustic Guitar", "Come Back from San Francisco"), etheric guitar-based pieces with wonderful singing ("No One Will Ever Love You", "The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure") blip-bop electronica ("Fido, Your Leash is Too Long", "If You Don't Cry", "I Can't Touch You Anymore") and country-ish rock ("Sweet-Lovin' Man") to nearly pure voice stuff ("Roses", "How Fucking Romantic"), orchestral, pompous songs ("Very Funny", "My Only Friend") and experimental stuff ("Punk Love", "I Shatter", "Love In The Shadows") I think there's bad stuff in here ("Love is like Jazz", "World Love") to the absolutely brilliant ("When My Boy Walks Down the Street", "The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side", "Nothing Matters When We're Dancing", "Epitaph For My Heart", "I'm Sorry I Love You") and bizarre ("It's A Crime" being an electronic reggae track that brings Culture Club to mind). The mind boggles.
Not to mention "Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits" is a total steal off Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's "Enola Gay"!
Here's "Come Back from San Francisco", beautiful voice courtesy of Shirley Simms.
[audio:https://niklasblog.com/wp-content/2009-08-21-magnetics-sanfrancisco.mp3]
There is a lot of music hall in here, and I do wonder how much influence the songs have received through musicians like John Woo (lead guitarist); on the other hand, Merritt has played most of the instruments himself.
Here's "If You Don't Cry" with vocals by Gonson.
[audio:https://niklasblog.com/wp-content/2009-08-21-magnetics-cry.mp3]
It's a wild ride. The album is about to be reissued in triple vinyl for appx. 100 US dollars
Here's "Papa Was a Rodeo" with vocals by Stephin Merritt and Shirley Simms; this song nearly makes me cry with pathos and love. It's just so telling. Rather than using basic adjectives, Merritt has written about how his dad's a rodeo and his mom's a rock 'n' roll band. For fuck's sake, if only all bands were this eloquent and punk!
[audio:https://niklasblog.com/wp-content/2009-08-21-magnetics-rodeo.mp3]
Here's a bit of the more trashy sound that Merritt developed for the band's latest album, "Distortion", but still from this album: "I'm Sorry I Love You" with vocals by Shirley Simms.
[audio:https://niklasblog.com/wp-content/2009-08-21-magnetics-sorry-love.mp3]
Finally, ending with "Xylophone Track", where Stephin Merritt lowers his voice so much it turns into a slow-mo Johnny Cash pastiche.
[audio:https://niklasblog.com/wp-content/2009-08-21-magnetics-xylophone.mp3]
All tracks will be gone in a week's time. Go buy this album now
Finally, I must mention that L.G. Beghtol has written this book on the album for 33 1/3