How to follow up the masterpiece
of miniature excess known as 69 Love Songs? For Stephin
Merritt, CEO of The Magnetic Fields, the answer is “simplify;”
55 fewer tracks, all starting with the letter I, a little
more genderfucking and a little less genrefucking- though
for the record, outside of the predominant acoustic guitar/piano/cello
sound, there’s Human League minor-key disco, a slow
western saloon spur jangler, a harpsichord operetta, and a
couple of smoky noir piano bar numbers.
Merritt continues to write songs like he was a bipolar Cole
Porter who forgets to take his Prozac half the time- beautiful
melodies and nasty schizo sweetheart lyrics with the sharpness
and witty wordplay of the former Spin copy editor that he
is (“So you quote love unquote me/well, stranger things
have come to be/but let’s agree to disagree/cause I
don’t believe you”). Of course, the egotism of
the album title informs us that, unlike 69 Love Songs,
none of these ditties will feature drummer/harpsichordist/
manager Claudia Gonson on lead vocals, and that’s really
the only thing about this album that breaks my heart other
than the narratives themselves. So what if it all sounds like
leftover material from 69 Love Songs? 69
was brilliant, remember? And 83 Love Songs wouldn’t
have been very funny.
Contender
for non-rap verse of the year:
“I wish I had an evil twin/My evil twin would lie and
steal/and he would stink of sex appeal/all men would writhe/beneath
his scythe/he’d send the pretty ones to me/and they
would think that I was he/I’d hurt them and I’d
go scot-free/I’d get no blame and feel no shame/Cause
evil’s not my cup of tea”
You
Dig? You’ll Dig... The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love
Songs, duh
Badly Drawn Boy – Have You Fed the Fish?
Belle and Sebastian – Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Discography Distant Plastic Trees (Red
Flame, 1990) The Wayward Bus (Feel Good, 1991) The Charm of the Highway Strip (Merge, 1994) Holiday (Merge, 1994) Get Lost (Merge, 1995) The House of Tomorrow EP (Merge, 1996) 69 Love Songs (Merge, 1999)
Badly Drawn Boy:
Have You Fed The Fish?
$14.99- Click Here
