Track Listing
1. Absolutely Cuckoo
2. I Don't Believe In The Sun
3. All My Little Words
4. Chicken With Its Head Cut Off
5. Reno Dakota
6. I Don't Want To Get Over You
7. Come Back From San Francisco
8. Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side
9. Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits
10. Cactus Where Your Heart Should Be
11. I Think I Need A New Heart
12. Book Of Love
13. Fido Your Leash Is Too Long
14. How Fucking Romantic
15. One You Really Love
16. Punk Love
17. Parades Go By
18. Boa Constrictor
19. Pretty Girl Is Like...
20. My Sentimental Melody
21. Nothing Matters When We're Dancing
22. Sweet-Lovin' Man
23. Things We Did And Didn't Do
1. Roses
2. Love Is Like Jazz
3. When My Boy Walks Down The Street
4. Time Enough For Rocking When We're Old
5. Very Funny
6. Grand Canyon
7. No One Will Ever Love You
8. If You Don't Cry
9. You're My Only Home
10. Not That Crazy (Crazy For You But)
11. My Only Friend
12. Promises Of Eternity
13. World Love
14. Washington D.C.
15. Long-Forgotten Fairytale
16. Kiss Me Like You Mean It
17. Papa Was A Rodeo
18. Epitaph For My Heart
19. Asleep And Dreaming
20. Sun Goes Down And The World Goes Dancing
1. Way You Say Good-Night
2. Abigail Belle Of Kilronan
3. I Shatter
4. Underwear
5. It's A Crime
6. Busby Berkeley Dreams
7. I'm Sorry I Love You
8. Acoustic Guitar
9. Death Of Ferdinand De Saussure
10. Love In The Shadows
11. Bitter Tears
12. Wi' Nae Wee Bairn Ye'll Me Beget
13. Yeah Oh Yeah
14. Experimental Music Love
15. Meaningless
16. Love Is Like A Bottle Of Gin
17. Queen Of The Savages
18. Blue You
19. I Can't Touch You Anymore
20. Two Kinds Of People
21. How To Say Goodbye
22. Night You Can't Remember
23. For We Are The King Of The Boudoir
24. Strange Eyes
25. Xylophone Track
26. Zebra
| Details | | Number of CDs: | 3 | | Producer: | Stephin Merritt | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Distributor: | Fullfill/Universal Music | | Recording Mode: | Stereo |
Album Notes
Each CD in this box set is also available separately on Merge (166, 167 & 168).The Magnetic Fields: Stephin Merritt (vocals, acoustic, electric, classical, & steel guitars, ukelele, mandolin, violin, penny whistle, recorder, melodica, acoustic & electric pianos, organ, keyboards, synthesizer, acoustic & electric percussion); Claudia Gonson (vocals, guitar, piano, drums, percussion, whistling); John Woo (guitar, banjo, mandolin, bass); Sam Davol (cello, flute); Daniel Handler (accordion, keyboards).Additional personnel: LD Beghtol (vocals, harmonium); Dudley Klute, Shirley Simms (vocals); Chris Ewen (various instruments, Theremin); Ida Pearle (violin).Engineers include: Charles Newman, Chris Ewen, Claudia Gonson.Includes a 76-page booklet.Originally envisioned as a 100-song stage revue but cut down to 69 songs (as Stephin Merritt explained, "That was the first love-related number I could think of") and released on three CDs under the name of the first of Merritt's many musical projects (also including the 6ths, Future Bible Heroes, and the Gothic Archies), 69 LOVE SONGS is a sprawling masterpiece of alternately romantic and rueful tunes. Where each previous Magnetic Fields albums had a specific musical identity, 69 LOVE SONGS leaps casually through genres that include show tunes, jazz, country, punk, techno, and '80s-style synth pop, somehow managing throughout to sound like no one but the Magnetic Fields. Though the three CDs were originally released as a box set enclosed in a special slipcase with an exclusive booklet, Merge Records also released the three 23-song discs separately as 69 LOVE SONGS, Volumes One, Two and Three.
Editorial Reviews
3 stars out of 5 - ...His grandiose, bare-assed lyrics can be catty, crude and sometimes full of sappy goo, but they usually contain a little universal truth....melodies that hark back to Eighties synth popper like Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark...Spin (10/99, p.154) - 10 out of 10 - ...a grand gesture and a brilliant joke; art about the most personal emotion stamped out in bulk; and a love offering in its own right....pop has not seen a lyricist of [Stephin] Merritt's kind and caliber since Cole Porter...Entertainment Weekly (11/19/99, p.150) - ...69 elegant observations by a pop master, employing myriad genres, instruments, and neuroses. All charm, but by set's end, you're ready for more. - Rating: AQ (7/00, p.119) - 4 stars out of 5 - ...This is a boundlessly entertaining expose of what happens when you mix fine words with excellent melodies to make great songs.Mojo (8/00, p.96) - ...An album that could easily occupy your whole life with its witty, intellignet, infuriating, smug and brilliant ways, a dazzling mass of contradictions that you can't help but love...Alternative Press (11/99, p.109) - 4 out of 5 - ...against all odds it shines form beginning to end....[Stephin] Merritt's most ambitious, eccentric and eclectic recording to date...CMJ (1/10/00, p.5) - Ranked #16 in CMJ's Top 30 Editorial Picks [for 1999] - ...a reminder that a finely rendered pop song, no matter how cynical, can approach the status of art.NME (12/30/00, p.79) - Ranked #46 in NME's Top 50 Albums Of The Year.NME (6/10/00, p.39) - 8 out of 10 - ...If he isn;t the greatest songwriter of his generation, he's certainly the greatest sponge.Melody Maker (6/20/00, p.62) - 4 stars out of 5 - ...You'll find yourself immersed inthe richest of musical tapestries, spotlighting every single aspect of love, from infatuation to splitting up....This is approaching genius.
Rolling Stone (10/14/1999)
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