69 Love Songs

i ain’t listening to all that i’m happy for u tho or sorry that happened

sometimes the dude from Crash Test Dummies just doesn't go low enough. For moments like that, we have this fine album.

This might take the cake for most self indulgent album of the cd era. I find the sheer length simply unbearable. I don't hear anything in the music/concept to justify its insane demand on the listener. Most of it is so half baked that I find it almost insulting. I don't get it. Both the singing voices and lyrics are irritating to me. In trying to march onward and listen to this there are some okay tunes buried in there but as an album its unrefined/unfiltered stance is utterly preposterous. If someone put this on, I wouldn't be sticking around.

Are we really doing this? Yes, we're doing this.. let's go! 1. Absolutely Cuckoo - Lighthearted start, kinda jingly-jangly, but not really getting a love song vibe from this. Hopefully this is just like the prologue. 2. I Don't Believe in the Sun - Kinda depressing, quite a shift from the previous track, but much prettier and a more romantic vibe. 3. All My Little Words - Cheesy. I suppose with an assortment of 69 love songs, there's bound to be some cheese. But this is not good cheese, this is processed cheese left out in the sun too long and even ants don't want to touch it. 4. A Chicken With It's Head Cut Off - Adult contemporary with some country vibes. If you like your love songs with a healthy dose of cliches, this is the one. 5. Reno Dakota - OK, the genre shifts continue. We got a new singer, and a fun country/cabaret kinda vibe. Song was too short though. 6. I Don't Want to Get Over You - I guess depressing breakup songs also fall under the umbrella of "love songs". I'm not sure if this guy is just bad at writing poetry or is just trying to be really tongue in cheek but, damn, the song finished before I could finish my thought.. ok, next one, next one... 7. Come Back From San Francisco - I like the female singer's voice better from this group. Wistful, pretty song. 8. The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side - Meh, generic and kinda dated this one. Also cringy lyrics. 9. Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits - Was worried this was gonna be some weird furry fetish thing, but this guy just meant "fuck like rabbits". Fair game. 10. The Cactus Where Your Heart Should Be - The sockets where my eyes should be sit empty, as my eyeballs have rolled too far back into my head. 11. I Think I Need a New Heart - Dude, what is with the wailing? Sounds like a poorly built shed trying not to fall apart during a wind storm. 12. The Book of Love - "The book of love is long is boring" Ah, I see we found the inspiration for this album. 13. Fido, Your Leash is Too Long - This song is kinda neat, but ruined by this guy's blaze vocals. 14. How Fucking Romantic - What the fuck was that? 15. The One You Really Love - I swear I heard this one already. Bring back the female singer please. 16. Punk Love - Uhmm... out of nowhere with this one. But my dudes, you can't just make a sloppy, shitty song and slap the word 'punk' on it and call it a day, that's not how this works. 17. Parades Go By - Song went by, barely noticed it was finished. 18. Boa Constrictor - These lyrics though. Damn. A five year olds idea of a love song. 19 A Pretty Girl Is Like - A violent crime is sublime if you do it right? What the fuck is this guy on about? A pretty girl is not like any of the things you said... hold on.. shit, the song's over. 20. My Sentimental Melody - I like the accordion. 21. Nothing Matters When We're Dancing - OK, I can deal with this one. Throw 69 turds at the wall, some are gonna stick. 22. Sweet-Lovin' Man - I finally realized what this album has been missing this whole time, and this song gave it to me! Cowbell! More cowbell! More cowbell! 23. The Things We Did and Didn't Do - Snooze-fest. 1/3 of the way in, gonna have to take a break here and recharge the ol' batteries. 24. I'm back. 28 seconds of roses weren't long enough to form an opinion. 25. Love Is Like Jazz - Thematically this is reminiscent of "A Pretty Girl is Like" and also "Punk Love". In that they somehow manage to completely miss the mark with ridiculous analogies, insult a genre of music they're woefully incompetent at and embarrass themselves with more lazy songwriting. 26. When My Boy Walks Down the Street - OK cool, a token gay love song, it's alright. 27. Time Enough for Rocking When Were Old - A decent Johnny Cash impersonation. 28. Very Funny - Sounds like something taken out of a Disney movie. Fine I suppose. 29. Grand Canyon - Back on the country western wagon. Predictable and bland. 30. No One Will Ever Love You - Very nice guitar tone on here. Vocals pretty good. Sounds like it could work well for a pre-climax portion of a movie. 31. If You Don't Cry - The genre parade continues with some new-wave type electronica. Real jack-of-all-trades master of none vibes from this band. "If you don't cry, you don't feel it deep enough", I hear ya sister! 32. You're My Only Home - If the kid who always slept in class being forced to read from the class novel in 5th grade English class had a sound... 33. Crazy for You But Not That Crazy - BARF 34. My Only Friend - Now THIS is a love song. Why dilute a gem like this, with so much shit? 35. Promises of Eternity - After a very decent song, we get back into the slog. A microcosm of this entire 1001 album project. And yet, we soldier on, in search of the next rose growing out of a pile of manure. 36. World Love - I guess they incorporated a generic "world music" type beat to round out the genre hodgepodge. Lame. 37. Washington, D.C. - Every city has a song that immortalizes it. Don't know if Washington, D.C. has one, but this certainly ain't it. 38. Long-Forgotten Fairytale - I tuned it out. Forgive me. We're 38 songs deep here. I'm trying. 39. Kiss Me Like You Mean It - Sounds like she's singing to Jesus. I'll take a kiss from Jesus. But he better mean it. 40. Papa Was a Rodeo - Faux Johnny Cash is back. I'd rather have the real thing, thank you very much. 41. Epitaph for My Heart - Exactly the kind of lyrics you would expect from someone who thinks a love song album consisting of 69 disjointed, unfinished songs is a good idea. 42. Asleep and Dreaming - Nice, a lullaby. It almost worked too. 43. The Sun Goes Down and the World Goes Dancing - Lazy, lazy electro-pop. 44. The Way You Say Good-Night - This is one for the B-sides compilation guys. 45. Abigail, Belle of Kilronan - Holy smokes, headphone alert!!! The panning on here is really painful to listen to. You've been warned. 46. I Shatter - An attempt at a Kraftwerk type of love song this time? Find something you're good at and stick to that boys. 47. Underwear - Eeeh.. could have been something.. worthwhile, just sounds unfinished and unpolished, like much of this collection. 48. It's a Crime - The electronic bend continues. Maybe these songs should have been arranged by genre. Anyway, I've already put in more effort into this review than these guys did into writing this song. 49. Busby Berkeley Dreams - Not bad. If you do decide to run the gauntlet on this album, this track is one of a few worth your time. 50. I'm Sorry I Love You - Nice guitar riff to start, but it lacks a much needed change up or some sort of variation. All these songs are just so one-dimensional. 51. Acoustic Guitar - Y'all are really running out of ideas huh? 52. The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure - He'll be missed I'm sure. "I don't know anything about love". 52 love songs in, this is the most honest thing you've said. 53. Love in the Shadows - Another one I tuned out. 54. Bitter Tears - Generic country is back on the menu. 55. Wi' Nae Wee Bairn Ye'll Me Beget - When I saw the title, it had me worried, and my instinct was right. After murdering punk, jazz, electronica, krautrock, and country, these maniacs set their sights on more obscure victims, this time being Irish folk. R.I.P. Irish folk. 56. Yeah! Oh, Yeah! - Very, very bad song. Like one of the worst so far. And that's saying something. 57. Experimental Music Love - Yep, this is what phoning it in sounds like. 58. Meaningless - These guys are having as hard a time finishing making this album as I am finishing listening to it. Hang in there guys, we're in the home stretch. 59. Love is Like a Bottle of Gin - Oh, so it's not like jazz anymore? Or is it both? It's like a bottle of gin and jazz? Maybe a lit cigar too? Leonard Cohen called, he wants his corny shtick back. 60. Queen of the Savages - This is just filler to get to 69, isn't it? Y'all must have really been regretting this idea by this point. But you can't stop now. I can't stop now. What's next? 61. Blue You - This is probably the groups best sound. If they stick to just this aesthetic, there'd be a decent album underneath all this. 62. I Can't Touch You Anymore - Another one-note song. Would it kill y'all to write some melodic variations once in a while? 63. Two Kinds of People - A mercifully brief psalm. 64. How to Say Goodbye - I wonder if they play all 69 songs live at their concerts. I wonder if the singer's monotonous voice is his way of conserving his stamina to go 69 songs deep. Ahh fuck it, who cares? Not the singer of this song, that's for sure. 65. The Night You Can't Remember - OK, kind of a clever concept for a song. Or a pub shanty. Whatever, the song works, the singer sucks. Let's move on. 66. For We Are the King of the Boudoir - It's the royal we, you see. 67. Strange Eyes - I wonder how many people made it this far. 68. Xylophone Track - No self-respecting collection of love songs should be without at least one track, highlighting the most romantic instruments of them all. Although I'm not sure I can even hear the xylophone on here. The mental image of the singer playing his rib-cage like a xylophone partially makes up for it. 69. Zebra - Here it is, the final song. The finish line. Should I have been expecting this to be some redeeming finale, a reward for having endured this herculean endeavor? No, we end the same way the album has been going all along, with a solid, emphatic, "meh"! These guys clearly decided to try and achieve fame by way of quantity over quality. Is there a good collection of love songs in here? Yes, there is. Are there 69 songs worth? Most certainly not. Would an album of say 13 of the best of these songs earn these guys any notoriety? Most likely not. As for me, I'll chalk this up to a worthy but misguided attempt, and award myself two ice cubes, not to cool down my loins, but my wrists, much needed after typing up this summary and hopefully avoiding carpo-tunnel in the process. 🧊🧊

I don't deserve love

I had a ton of trepidation going into this 3 hour listen. There's some filler, and not every song is a winner, but the bottom line is that this ambitious project worked. Stephin Merrit subverts expectations, both lyrically and musically, at every turn. It feels like the musical version of the play in Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York, a sprawling epic that grows and grows until it eats itself. I mean that in the best way. It's easy to get lost in the massive sea of songs, and I think that's the intent. Best track: The Book of Love

Started out quite enjoying it but there is only so much annoying shit that i can take. Ended up wanting to kill myself by the end.

Obviously this album is hella long - no album should be 3 hours long - but I can't help but admire it despite that - even because of it. The humor, humanness of the songs is addictive. It wasn't completely exhausting, because it felt more like hanging out with friends. The spare musicality, and the variety of instruments used, different vocalists, all help the cause.

Oh god it's literally 69 love songs It's 3 volumes It's 3 hours I suffered through one hour and I can't take any more. Please kill me

Quantity does not equal quality

Was so disappointed when I clicked and saw that it was literally 69 songs that I was going to give it a 1. But after listening its actually great, really funny, witty, cleverly done, makes you smile. Recognised 'The a Book Of Love', maybe from a film.

Kinda wanted to hate this but I have to give respect where it's due. Inevitably there is some filler and I thought the end was weak but it deserves its place as an Indie classic.

Hands down a favourite of mine, five stars all the way. One of those albums where your favourite track changes with every listen and you discover something new or you missed from previous listens. This collection celebrates love and the feelings that come with it in often acerbic style. As a songwriter, Merritt's wit shines and whilst often popping the pretensions of love, there he also is failing to hide his secret sincerity for romantic love. Soppy at times. And there he goes, trying a jazz song, punk song, country song, calypso, dance music, all loose and never too serious. A handful of songs from the album were played during the register signing at our wedding with The Book of Love filled the room so always special to hear this again. Other highlights - the dazzilingly silly Absolutely Cuckoo; the dour I Don't Believe in the Sun; I Don't Want to Get Over You; The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side; No One Will Ever Love You (a near perfect pop song); the brilliantly funny and moving Papa Was a Rodeo; the glorious Busby Berkeley Dreams; and the frighteningly hilarious Yeah! Oh, Yeah! which was my favourite for a long time. And I was fortunate to hear the entire song cycle live over two nights at the Lyric Hammersmith. The Magnetic Fields were near shambolic but charming and all the guest artists from the record made an appearance. A memorable event. Poor Stephin suffers from a condition which makes any sound heard louder than normal begins to feedback in his left ear at every increasing volumes - when the audience applauded loudly and freely at the end of the night, he covered his ear, which to the audience seemed a bashful gesture, so they cheered and applauded all the more - poor guy, the adulation just made it more painful.

Where to begin? So much of this is just flat, boilerplate indie. The guy doing Great Value Johnny Cash vocals isn't terrible but isn't very charismatic either. The other vocalists are just there, much like the majority of the songs themselves. A lot of the songs are kind of annoying too especially when they throw in electronics that don't work. I feel like some of these songs are just supposed to be quirky/fun/whatever but they are not. At all. Overall this album would've been slightly better if they cut out about 55 of these freaking songs or released them across separate albums. I feel like an album should be sat down and listened to in its entirety. It's virtually impossible to do that with this album. Screw them for being so pretentious as to think this was a good idea. A total endurance test with very few positives. This deserves a 1 just on principle and that's exactly what it will get.

Wonderful album! Did not expect to enjoy this as much as i did when i saw the three hour run time, but the different styles of music, the different singers and the many different creative takes on the love song kept me interested all the way through. This record definitely just feels like a massive love letter to pop music, to the love song as a medium, while also clearly having a sense of humor. Loved it on first listen and will very likely return to it!

This album astonishingly justifies its 3-volume, 3-hour runtime. But that doesn't mean it's not long as fuck. I think the point of entry has always been the biggest flaw. I, as an example, was always intimidated by just how gargantuan the record is to really dive into it. I mean, who has 3 hours to sit and listen to an album in one sitting? Well, today, that person is me. The more popular tunes on here are classics (Book of Love, All My Little Words), but I was wondering if the lesser known tracks really belong on here, or if they're worth listening to. They are, mostly. There's a beauty in the simplicity of every song, and it never gets boring enough or repetitive enough to switch off. Could some of the fat be trimmed and we still be left with an indie darling masterpiece? Yeah, I'd say so. I would even argue you could cut out 75% of Volume 3, but then I guess you'd have to change the album title...and I mean you already made posters.

Listened to half of this. None of these were particularly special in any way.

Not a chance I'm listening to this

Could have been a decent album if not for the ridiculous length and many filler songs

3 hours? 3 HOURS. and then i read that wikipedia states this about the singer Stephin Merritt: "He is known for his distinctive and untrained bass voice" this is gonna be really really hard. really hard. ..... ...and when he doesn't sound like a terrible version of Leonard Cohen he sounds like Morrissey. 2 singers I can't abide by. These lyrics are terrible - trying to be clever, it's actually distracting. Look - it's clear a lot of effort went into this and as a musician I can completely appreciate that. AND YET! And yet I'm not writing these reviews for the general public - it's how much I do or do NOT connect with the music or the project. And I'm so gd disconnected right now and i'm only 12 songs in. I can't do this. Wait i did. Song 14 "How F****g Romantic" is the worst yet and i'm how far from finishing this? "Sweet Lovin' Man" (track 22 dear lord) isn't so bad mostly because we've got a new vocalist, although it could really drop right into 1983 as an unspectacular late night MTV video. holy crap i'm only 1/3 through this - i ..... "Love Is Like Jazz" was my final straw. only the second of >250 albums i could not finish no nope no no nyet nah pass 2/10 1 star.

Freaking genius. You gotta be a little mad to write this. So weird and so good…this is a treasure. 69 songs and There are only a few that fall flat. I’ll be coming back to this often.

one of the best albums. beautiful lyrics, catchy tunes, and 69 units of wit

So awful. Even skipping part-way through songs, I couldn't further than 8-9 songs.

What an absolute piece of trash.

Three hours is a daunting commitment for a day. Happily, this was worth it, and I just wish I had had the time to savor it more. I know I missed wonderful bits. Bits I did love: "A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off" is catchy while being such a horrid but hilarious metaphor. "The Cactus Where Your Heart Should Be" is another perfect weird metaphor in an old folk style. "Love is Like Jazz" makes a delightful simile, which had me laughing out loud, but again is more perfect than silly. "Washington, D.C." is probably my new favorite city song. "Acoustic Guitar" brought Steve Earle, Charo, and GWAR together. "Love is Like Gin" again makes such a wonderful simile. "For We Are the Kings of the Boudoir" is sexy harpsichord perfection. And that's just a small percentage... I love the mixture of styles and genres and clichés. Something sounds Renaissancy and then veers into modern slang. All the glorious figures of speech and plays on words. What an amazing achievement this is.

I've tried listening to this album twice, I want to like it. This time after listening to 9 songs it killed my good mood, I couldn't imagine listening to another 60 so I put on some Fats Domino again to cheer me up. It almost worked.

This album in it's entirety is more than Will The Circle Be Unbroken. Jesus what am in for? I am going to break this into two days of listening, because I am currently playing catchup so 2 albums a day isn't too bad. First 23 are filled with quirky and wonderful little songs like Reno Dakota, Chicken With Its Head Cut Off, etc. Come Back From San Fransico. Very TMBG vibes. Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side slaps. First 23 songs is good, though kind of tapers off the last third. 2nd album starts with Roses and Love Is Like Jazz, puts this on a darker and weirder footing. album 2 is super dark, Noone Will Ever Love You, If You Don't Cry and others. Long Forgotten Fairy Tale is G R O O V E. Papa Was A Rodeo is beautiful. I Shatter is a great way to end the 2nd album. Third album puts the album into an electronica space, very spacey and etherial. More groove in this one than album 2. Album 3 is just all over the place, like flying over the concept of love from 30,000ft away. Love Is Like A Bottle Of Gin perfect example. Zebra is a fantastic, weird, shambolic, perfect way to end this towering weird monument to love songs.

Thought this was going to be painful given it's 3 hours long but I absolutely adored every moment of it. Amazing.

An amazing album, every track had a standout moment. Funny, touching and beautiful, I was disappointed when it concluded. Genius.

Every song is the exact mix of sadness and love and beauty and truth and fiction that makes my heart pump. They aren’t all hits, but they are all good.

My god this took forever to listen to, must admit it's excellent

Better than any 69-song long album deserves to be. The duds in it weren't even bad, just kinda boring, and the highs were definitely very high. But still... its just so loooooooooooooooooooong.

I really like the songwriting and variety on this album. It is a beast, but a solid 9/10, and leans more to a 5 for me.

Absolutely Cuckoo - 10/10 I Don’t Believe in the Sun - 8/10 All my Little Words - 8/10 A Chicken with its Head Cut off - 7.5/10 Reno Dakota - 8/10 I Don’t Want to Get Over You - 8/10 Come Back From San Francisco - 8/10 The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side - 9/10 Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits - 8/10 The Cactus Where Your Heart Should Be - 8/10 I Think I Need A New Heart - 9/10 The Book of Love - 8/10 Fido, Your Leash is Too Long - 7.5/10 How Fucking Romantic - 7.5/10 The One You Really Love - 7.5/10 Punk Love - 6.5/10 Parades Go By - 7/10 Boa Constrictor - 7.5/10 A Pretty Girl is Like - 7.5/10 My Sentimental Melody -8.5/10 Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing - 10/10 Sweet-Lovin’ Man - 10/10 The Things We Did and Didn’t Do - 8.5/10 Roses - 7/10 Love Is Like Jazz - 6/10 When My Boy Walks Down the Street - 8/10 Time Enough for Rocking When We're Old - 8.5/10 Very funny - 7.5/10 Grand Canyon - 7.5/10 No One will Ever Love You - 8/10 If You don't Cry - 8/10 You're My Only Home - 7.5/10 (Crazy For You But) Not That Crazy - 7.5/10 My Only Friend - 8/10 Promises of Eternity - 7.5/10 World Love - 7.5/10 Washington, D.C - 9/10 Long-Forgotten Fairytale - 8/10 Kiss Me Like You Mean It - 8/10 Papa Was a Rodeo - 7.5/10 Epitaph for My Heart - 9/10 Asleep and Dreaming - 8.5/10 The Sun Goes Down and The World Goes Dancing - 8.5/10 The Way You Say Good-Night - 7.5/10 Abigail, Belle of Kilronan - 7.5/10 I Shatter - 7/10 Underwear - 7/10 It's a Crime - 7.5/10 Busby Berkeley Dreams - 8/10 I'm Sorry I Love You - 9/10 Acoustic Guitar - 8/10 The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure - 8/10 Love in The Shadows - 7/10 Bitter Tears - 9/10 Wi'Nae Wee Bairn Ye'll Me Beget - 8/10 Yeah! Oh, Yeah - 8/10 Experimental Music Love - 6/10 Meaningless - 9/10 Love is Like a Bottle of Gin - 8/10 Queen of The Savages - 8/10 Blue You - 8/10 I Can't Touch You Anymore - 7.5/10 Two Kinds of People - 7.5/10 How to Say Goodbye - 8/10 The Night You Can't Remember - 7.5/10 For We Are The Kings of the Boudoir - 7.5/10 Strange Eyes - 7/10 Xylophone Track - 7/10 Zebra - 7.5/10 TOTAL - 536/690

Jesus, this album is jam packed with songs, I highly recommend not listening to it in one sitting, rather spreading the listening experience out a bit. But when you do listen to it, you'll find it's a great album filled with heaps upon heaps of variety.

4.2 + Bought this box set when it first came out and it sat like a brick in my bedroom, and various college dorms. Before this weekend, I may have listened to it all the way through maybe once, if that. On initial listen, the songs felt dashed off, the arrangements sketchy, the vocal performances distracting. Knowing what to expect, I was able to give a more objective listen this time around and I'm left awed by the quality and quantity here. To be sure, there are a handful of annoying old-time ditties as well as a few beat-off tracks ("Love is Like Jazz", "Washington, DC"). But there's a light and casual feel to the album overall that lends humanity to the endeavor and I was consistently charmed throughout. Most of the songs I like best avoid satirizing love song clichés, and instead blend melody with interesting soundscapes. Each song presents interesting ideas, and examines genuine emotions and love song tropes. Despite its warts, it's hard to deny how much Stephin Merritt put into this project and I'd say overall it's extremely successful. I'm glad I finally invested the time, and hope to return someday.

Best believe I did NOT listen to all 69 songs. Rather full of itself, I'd say.

Man, hell no. Pretentious nonsense.

All of your reviews saying that you’re not going to bother to listen to an album this long sound like Philistines whining about about how the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is too big. I got so mad reading your half-literate tossed off dismissals of an album that is foundational to the vast majority of indie music made in the last 25 years and I started to say that anyone who doesn’t bother to listen to this masterpiece and recognize its greatness should just quit this project now. I was big mad for a minute there. But then an intense feeling of peace came over me. I realized I don’t have to tell you to quit this project. You will do that on your own. You don’t have the passion to finish doing something like this, or to finish anything really. You will continue to live in your sad boring apartment by yourself, or with a series of partners who you don’t care that much for and who don’t care much for you, for the next few decades, playing video games and looking at the internet, and then you will die and the world will move on without much of a fuss. You will have never had the courage to love or be loved, you will never have felt deeply enough to affect the world or anyone in it. You will be utterly forgotten before your body is cold. You are not worthy of being upset with because you don’t really exist. I wish I could give this album a million stars. Yes, it’s a giant sprawling mess that veers from sublime and too perfect for this world to absurd and maudlin and unbearable. Because that’s love. But you wouldn’t know anything about that.

Part 1 is absolutely flawless. Maybe a top 5 all time album for me. Would put this above probably any album we've heard so far.

Jesus, Stephin Merritt, learn to edit. There are, I'm sure, a few gems in this trove of songs, but sifting them out of the nearly three hours of mid-paced, poorly recorded demos is challenging. And I am not a fan of Mr Merritt's voice. It was always a relief when sone of the collaborators took over the lead vocals. And for all the supposed 'variety', this album sounds very much the same all the way through. That said, there is some clever wordplay and some pretty tunes here. And I appreciate the conceit of the project; Merritt has said "69 Love Songs is not remotely an album about love. It's an album about love songs, which are very far away from anything to do with love." And I get that. I wonder if this album is bit like the catalogues of Leonard Cohen or Tom Waits; the songs sometimes really come to life when sung by someone else. But I just can't shake the feeling that this is a collection of demos for a really great album. If the 69 songs here were carefully whittled down to the strongest 15 or 20, and properly recorded (possibly with a less arch singers), this could have been an all-time classic. The Book of Love and Papa Was A Rodeo are really, really great pieces of songwriting. I really think people prefer the _idea_ of this record to the experience of listening to it all the way through. Some good songs, woefully under-baked. The sheer quantity here ensures that the whole is somehow less than the sum of its (many, many) parts. And with terrible cover art. I am so torn on rating this. Some of it is really good, but the whole thing exhausts me. And it sounds like rubbish. Five stars? No stars? I mean, I kinda appreciate that this exists, and I'd like to pick out my favourite songs to put on playlists,. but the idea of listening to the whole thing again fills me with dread, like a winter march through Russia. Let's call it three stars, because it is clever and well written and full of good ideas, even if the execution is shite.

Robert Pollard is just about the only human on earth who could put out a 69 song album that might keep my interest. Stephin Merritt, talented as he is - and I mean that - is no Bob Pollard (for me, at least). Also, Pollard’s songs, both solo and with Guided By Voices, tend to be in the minute and half to two and half minute range, which would make a 69 song record a lot more manageable. Since I made very little effort to listen to all 69 songs here, and both 6 and 9 are divisible by 3, I’m giving 69 love songs 3 stars, which I think is the fairest way to do things.

Here’s how the meeting at the record company should have gone: MF: How do you like our demo? MF record company: There’s some good stuff on there, we suggest the best 12 tracks make it on to the album, and you ditch the rest. MF: Yes, agreed, that makes sense.

“I’m making a Garden State knockoff but I’m on a budget and I can’t afford the Shins.” “Say no more fam, I got you.”

Not an album in the classic sense of the word, *69 Love Songs* is more like a gigantic catalogue of exercices in style, filled with off-kilter left-turns, promising potentialities and incredible moments. It's also a *quote-unquote* "mixed bag". Yet it's fully intended that way, of course. Once you find your path into it, you'll realize that the overall "concept" behind this project actually brings a lot of charm to the whole endeavor, instead of weighing it down. Such tongue-in-cheek "scope" is paradoxically what saves the project from becoming a full-blown parody, as quaint as some of those "exercises in styles" are. A piece of advice, though: you must not go through this triple (?) record in one sitting, but rather explore it through shorter sessions. At first you'll single out the obvious standouts, and dismiss the rest as fillers. But then, a doubt will surge: is that random one-minute tune in a mock-gay disco style *actually* a filler? Or is it a hidden gem--one that you dismissed too early before? In a way, The Magnetic Fields are here flipping the bird at this very app, and also at the book the latter draws inspiration from. In the end, podiums and rankings and "good taste" don't really matter. Because music is a subjective art first and foremost. Which means that *any style* can yield to a potential gem of a song for your very subjective ears. It's the exact reason why Merritt and co. chose the subject of love for the project: because this subject is universal. From that starting point, they can translate said universal subject into 69 different subjective interpretations of it. 69 different ways to be humoured and bothered and thrilled and moved. And this sheer accumulation is not only "conceptually" dizzying. It's also emotionally effective. What's great about this record is its "excess", along with its treasure trove nature. Sometimes you find trinkets in it, sometimes you find jewels. And sometimes trinkets turn into jewels, depending on your current mood. it's rarely the other way around, fortunately. As a result, you can potentially spend hours rediscovering wonders as you listen to this record, again and again--wonders such as "All My Little Words", "Nothing Matters When We're Dancing", "Papa Was A Rodeo", "No One Will Ever Love You", " I Think I Need A New Heart", "My Only Friend", "Underwear", "Grand Canyon" or "The Death Of Ferdinand De Saussure'. Flipping the bird at the 1001 Albums book or not, I'm pretty sure that a lot of people using this app could be ready for such an adventure if only they could let go of their expectations about what an "album" should be and sound like. If you manage to do that, you may realize how nice it is to get lost in this maze, just as all of us are getting lost sorting out the whiff from the chaff through this app, day in, day out. All you need is time, which is not available for everyone, obviously--but then again, if you can find some time for this app, I think it's not a stretch to postulate that you can also find some for this very long album if you feel like it. It also doesn't hurt that Stephin Merritt is such a brilliant songwriter, generally speaking--with a keen ear for details, both lyrical and musical. In the hands of anyone else, this project would have been doomed from the get-go, crushed by its own weight. But the playful undertones and the understated yet lively nature of most of these songs save them from any suspicion of misplaced pretensions. And all of this fully stems from the bizarre character that Merritt is. *69 Love Songs* needed a leading figure who was extravagant, and yet very much "in control" as well. It needed someone who could be either serious or ironical depending on the song--who could go from a cynical tone to a naive one, or from having shallow intents to stances having a certain depth... And to pull it off, it needed a songwriter who had a set of skills that were as formidable as they were understated, once again. Merritt fits those shoes perfectly. Finally, *69 Love Songs* is not an album in the classic sense of the word for another reason: everyone could select one third of its tracklisting and create their own "perfect" subjective version of it--one that would have a "normal" length, instead of the overblown release that it is. Very ironically, no two subjectively "ideal" shorter versions of the project would look alike--even though you can bet your boots that its heart and centerpiece, the sarcastic yet also very touching ballad "The Book Of Love", would be in 99% of the versions thus created. *This*, also, is part of the project's "playful" DNA. One could even dare to say that the album is an "interactive" experience in the best sense of the word. And you don't even need an app or a computer to make it work. All you need is a record player. Under that light, maybe *69 Love Songs* shouldn't even be in such a list, come to think of it. Because it's not *really* an album. It's a recording aimed at suggesting what the *platonic ideal* of an album could be. An album about love, yes. But also an album about life as a whole itself. Number of albums left to review: 366 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 287 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 150 Albums from the list I won't include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 204

The soundtrack to when my wife & i started dating.

Heard before: yes I guess I can understand the criticism that this is too long. But there's a reason it's "69 Love Songs"; it's epic, it's absurd, it's dirty, it's committed... it's funny! And this is is a hilarious, melodic, sincere love letter to love songs. They are all in here - the broken-hearted sad boy, the cold-hearted heel who can't love, the moon-eyed romantic, the weary cynic, the philosopher, the rake on the prowl... And the changing voices help you meet all the characters along the way. One of my very favorite collections. So if you are in hour three, bitching and moaning about a quick little trifle you are listening to, just remember this: if it were "14 Love Songs", it wouldn't have been such a big deal. And it also wouldn't have made you giggle and shake your head when you first read it. Top tracks: Absolutely Cuckoo, Papa Was A Rodeo, I Don't Want to Get Over You (...Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side, All My Little Words, Busby Berkeley Dreams... I'm breaking my rules)

Lovely and weird. 69 stars!

When I saw the runtime on this I nearly shat a brick. Knowing the proclivities of our ne'er-do-well list maker, I was really dreading this listen through. And then I fucking loved it. It's a mix of Tally Hall and Mountain Goats and Ween and Ben Folds Five. I would have been obsessed with this in high school. This probably actually deserves a 4, but I am giving it a 5 to offset the disappointing number of people who have said "I saw the runtime and just didn't bother" and then gave it 1.

What a great concept and what a great album! Love the voices, love the diversity, I was never bored and I was often delighted

Went out for a run, and put this record on. After an hour, I assumed I'm close to the end and start looking at how many tracks left and, to my horror, I realise that 69 Love Songs does mean 69 Love Songs. 3 friggin hours long. But. It's a masterpiece. Every song is clever or witty, funny or pulls on your heart strings - and it's ADHD-inducing in it's eclectic nature. I didn't want it to stop, and by the second listen - i.e. 6 hours in - I was having withdrawals - wasn't sure how any album this week is actually going to stand up to this, while at the same time kicking myself for being so late to this party. It's awesome - worth every minute I dedicated to it and it's nigh on being one of my favourite albums ever.

I love this. I loved it when it was released and I love it more now. 69 simple songs full of great wit and wordplay. Fun as background music to just pick up a word scrap that is meaningful. 5 star masterpiece.

Y'know, despite the fact that this is 69 songs long, I never got tired of it. The musical diversity, multiple singers and some completely batshit curveballs really helped keep my attention ("Experiment Music Love" for example). Even the duller moments weren't bad and just inoffensive background music at worst. I think pulling that off takes a lot of talent. Shit, I guess making 3 hours of consistently great music deserves a 5/5... Although I absolutely understand people who give this a 1/5.

Wow I love it. This is so so much music. It’s a labor of love, an indie magnum opus. There are so many songs, so many good ones, so many mediocre ones too, but still just so much. It’s like the unabridged version of The Little Engine that Could. It just keeps chugging along. Probably 5 classics, 10 great ones, and another dozen that are really enjoyable. I don’t know what to do with this, but I’ve got it on repeat.

Love it! 5/5

Yes, it's long (that's what she said!), but it's good (she said that also!). I have fallen in love with this album over the past couple years. Each song is pretty special to me. Standouts: just the first 69 songs! Rating: 5/5

I listened to the entire album spread over several days and really enjoyed it! A cool project and I like the variety of tunes and voices.

I've owned this digitally for ages, but that means it's one loooong list of tracks rather than 3 discrete discs, so obviously I've heard disc 1 WAY more than the others. If I was rating disc 1 alone it would be an automatic 5, but I wasn't sure the quality held up over the other discs. I carved out enough time to give the whole thing 2 play throughs, and I reckon discs 2 and 3 hold up well! Love the exploration of styles and genres. Don't like this song? Wait 3 mins and you'll hear something totally different! Fave track - "Absolutely Cuckoo" is an all time fave, "Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits" likewise, but this playthrough "I Shatter" takes the crown!

The magnum opus of one of my favorite songwriters. I appreciate this album more each time I listen to it. I know the length is controversial, but if you go song by song, almost all of good, and many are outstanding. The diversity of the songs helps with listenability while maintaining a cohesive sound. There are too many favorites to list here, but on this listen I was really into Asleep and Dreaming and You’re My Only Home. I would recommend everyone listen to this album at least twice (doesn’t have to be in one sitting!) Top 15 record for me, maybe top 10.

Almost defies critique. I’ve docked other albums for sprawling of Lodi g focus, but it works here. It exists entirely within its own set of rules, so if isn’t fair to impose a set of rules onto it in order to review it. I’m going to default to five stars.

Loved it. Amazing variety and consistently great songs.

Hmmmm…I guess to wanted to dislike this album as soon as I saw the~3hr love song theme. But once I started listening, it was mostly a warm reception from me. I like a lot, but does that push it to a 5? I struggle,,,

Wow. There are a lot of songs here. But there's a lot of variety in style and instrumentation so I never really got bored or tired, just overwhelmed by the assignment. Thematically, yeah, they're all love songs of a sort. Some are silly, some are sweet, some are poignant, some heart-breaking. Lyrics are worth paying attention to for sure. So much to love.

I have heard The Magnetic Fields in the past, but can’t remember any of the songs. I guess I’m not a romantic because when I saw this was going to be 3 HOURS of love songs I was filled with dread. Seemed like this was an awfully long assignment that was sure to become grating… This morning when I started listening I was most pleasantly surprised. It was quirky and not what I was dreading (the quote attributed to Merritt in the Wikipedia article makes so much sense : “69 Love Songs is not remotely an album about love. It's an album about love songs, which are very far away from anything to do with love.”). Each song is unique and delightful. There are some truly crazy lyrics with wonderfully offbeat analogies and observations. Amazing to find so many creative ways to write a love song. The styles of songs are all over the place. And the music is varied and great! This is an incredible accomplishment and wildly entertaining! I’m very glad that this assignment pressed me to invest time in such a long album. This was a ton of fun and something I will enjoy listening to again and again!

Soy fan desde hace siglos de Magnetic Fields pero nunca había escuchado completo este disco. Se me hacía un poco apabullante. Pero resulta que no, que a pesar de que sí son 69 canciones, todo vuela y fluye ligero. Este disco es bello, nutritivo como respirar profundamente o comerte una buena fruta. Sabe a guayaba. Pone de buen humor. Tiene una paleta de sonidos determinada que se aprehende pronto pero las posibilidades melódicas parece que son sin fin. Si te gusta el pop, el pop entendido como canciones de la vida cotidiana, tarareables, bonitas y pegajosas, tienes que escuchar este disco al menos una vez en tu vida. Creo que me obesioné. Insisto, son un vergo de canciones pero quieres más y más, no quieres que termine. Es un milagro este pedo.

The f*cking temerity. What collection of troll critics landed this three hour long concept album on this list. I have lots to do today...guess the majority of this Saturday will be spent getting my business accounts all balanced whilst pining for love like a beheaded fowl. It's fine. F*ck. Turns out it's still a really interesting if resentable album.

Do your stretches before diving into this record—the ultimate love letter to love letters—and don't be surprised if your heart stretches in turn by the time you finally reach its end.

It's an ambitious project. It really showcases Stephin Merritt's range and songwriting abilities. The modern, thoughtful and often humorous takes on the subject produces some great songs, focused on many different kinds of love. But it's a tall order to produce a triple album based on a simple concept, without ending up with a lot of filler. As enjoyable as it is at points, it's a slough to listen to the entire thing. It's a missed opportunity to be honest. If Merritt could have whittled this down to a single disc of the best 20 or so songs, it would have an amazing album. Save the rest for a special expanded edition, maybe. As it is, it's a good album, but it's just too bloated. The novelty of the length is too much of a gimmicky distraction and disservice to what could have been a great album.

Good tunes, lyrics, and melodies. I get why it's an indie rock classic. Could have used some editing, definitely doesn't need to be so long. Merritt's voice is definitely a love it/hate it instrument. But, if nothing else, you have to admire the album's sprawl, and there are good songs throughout.

Once my apoplexy settled, I began listening and realised that I would have a much better time appreciating this as a work of conceptual art rather than something so gauche as a triple album of adult nursery songs. White Cubing it made the record decent company for two long commute rides and the spreadsheet I’m finishing while I write this. 69LS wears its beret even in the title, which has the right vibe of self-conscious smugness and defensive self-deprecation; while the song-elements of the work are not to my taste, their arrangement is intelligent, these components distinguishing themselves sufficiently to intrude on my consciousness with various novelties, like an electronic seagull riff or the faux jazz part or gentle verbal smart arsery. My notes coalesce around “Christian Marclay remakes “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” from a thousand outtakes of John Candy talking, preceded by a title card reading “You are the Steve Martin”.” Simon, I couldn’t resist reading your tirade before writing. What did the family think of this experiment?

No. 216/1001 Absolutley Cuckoo 3/5 I Don't Believe In The Sun 4/5 All My Little Words 4/5 A Chicken With It's Head Cut Off 3/5 Reno Dakota 3/5 I Don't Want To Get Over You 3/5 Come Back From San Francisco 3/5 The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side 3/5 Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits 2/5 The Cactus Where Your Heart Should Be 2/5 I Think I Need A New Heart 3/5 The Book Of Love 3/5 Fido 2/5 How Fuckin Romantic 2/5 The One You Really Love 3/5 Punk Love 2/5 Parades Go By 3/5 Boa Constrictor 3/5 A Pretty Girl Is Like 2/5 My Sentimental Melody 3/5 Nothing Matters 3/5 Sweet Loving Man 4/5 The Things We Did And Didn't Do 3/5 Roses 2/5 Love is Like Jazz 1/5 When My Boy 4/5 Time Enough 3/4 Very Funny 3/5 Grand Canyon 3/5 No One Will Ever Love You 3/5 If You Don't Cry 3/5 You're My Only Home 3/5 Not That Crazy 2/5 My Only Friend 3/5 Promises of Eternity 2/5 World Love 3/5 Washington D.C. 3/5 Long-Forgotten Fairytale 3/5 Kiss Me Like You Mean It 3/5 Papa Was A Rodeo 3/5 Epitaph for my Heart 3/5 Asleep and Dreaming 3/5 The Sun Goes Down 3/5 The Way You Say Good-Night 2/5 Abigail, Belle of Kilronan 4/5 I Shatter 2/5 Underwear 2/5 It's A Crime 2/5 Busby Berkeley Dreams 3/5 I'm Sorry I Love You 3/5 Acoustic Guitar 3/5 The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure 4/5 Love in the Shadows 2/5 Bitter Tears 3/5 Wi' Nae 2/5 Yeah! Oh, Yeah! 3/5 Experimental Music Love 2/5 Meaningless 3/5 Love Is Like A Bottle Of Gin 3/5 Queen of the Savages 3/5 Blue You 2/5 I Can't Touch You Anymore 2/5 Two Kinds Of People 2/5 Here To Say Goodbye 3/5 The Night You Can't Remember 3/5 For We Are The King Of The Boudoir 2/5 Strange Eyes 2/5 Xylophone Tracks 2/5 Zebra 2/5 Average: 2,72 This album proofs that quality is more important than quantity.

Heureusement que je n'avais rien d'autre à faire que d'exercer ma profession pendant l'écoute de cet album sinon je l'aurais trouvé interminable. On est tout simplement pris en otage pour une durée de 2h52 à écouter 69 ballades de post-dépucelage-indie contoctées par l'affreux Robert.

Ce qui ne fait pas l'ombre d'un doute, c'est que cet album était affreusement long. Il rejoint ainsi The Gershwin Book dans la prestigieux caste des 1001 albums à écouter avant de mourir si vous avez beaucoup de temps.

Definitely quantity over quality.. why does this exist on this list?

有很多不同的風格在裡面，有覺得特別的組合、段落或演唱方式。但沒有讓我印象深刻的歌。

A lot of mediocre songs.

This the second longest thing that I gave it a try and regret it... The most longest still remains One Piece (anime obv).. Jokes aside, the tracks in this album are average to good and some are really good. But if I put these songs in an album of 69 tracks, they'll all seem same to me. Also just for the sake to include 69 tracks in the album, they made random 'filler' songs with 1-2 mins which I see no point of making it. And why there's a song on Washington DC in a love album lmao. This album might've worked for me if it had 10-15 tracks on album. But listening to this 69 tracks album is extremely tiring. I'd rather listen to a lofi playlist. Not 'nice' 2.5/5

Sometimes a songwriter hits such an inspired patch, the only showcase for their talents lies in a double-album (George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” & Smashing Pumpkins’ “Mellon Colie…” spring to mind). By that logic, this 3 hour long behemoth from Magnetic Fields might suggest a frenzied spell of prodigious creativity unheard of in music. Alas, this is album is about 60 songs too long. It represents the sort of mechanical approach to songwriting directly anathema to the spontaneous creativity which defines all great art. Stephen Merritt’s process consisted of blurting out some random phrase and proceeding to force a chorus out of it. It’s an extremely rudimentary style of songwriting, and utterly pretentious for the first hour or so of utterly expendable cornball indie-pop tunes. I generally found it easy to tune out of this record, only occasionally jarred into some sort of irate state by the odd plagal cadence (a serious bugbear of mine, but a favourite among jerkoff professional music eccentrics). Like I say, the gargantuan length is not a problem per se, but it can’t be filled by such pretentious claptrap. With so much shit thrown at the wall here, some of it naturally sticks. Dare I say, there is actually the makings of a decent album here (or, on second thoughts, maybe an EP). The female vocalist on this album tends to take the lead on the majority of decent cuts. But on the whole this is a pretty loathsome attempt at dragging pop music behind a fortified wall of music snobs. So I’ll sum it up in a word: pish. Favourite tracks: “I’m Sorry I Love You”; “Crazy for You”; “If You Don’t Cry”

No surprise that Love Is Like Jazz, an improvisational jazz tune, is my least favorite song. Although there is definitely worse singing on many other tracks, which also displease me. I was going to write about how insane one would have to be to think a 69 song, 2 hour 53 minute album is a good idea. But then I remembered that many people are involved in creating an album. So there had to have been several insane people involved here. I shouldn’t write insane people, that would be capricious name calling, but rather collective insane thought. SeLF EDiT PeOPLe!!!! For the love of all that is sacred, self edit. There are plenty of tracks I really like here, at least an album’s worth. It’s too damn exhausting to go back through this album and figure out which ones so I can convey them to you. As it turns out, this was originally 100 songs!!!!f*$k!!!! To their credit, they decided that 100 was too many and cut it down to 69 songs. Way to miss the mark. The range of song writing is commendable. Their are a wide variety of styles and voicings, which isn’t easy to pull off. As it stands, I’m turning this album off if it’s on. Maybe not right away, but eventually I’d hear more than one grating song in a row. Power button. With pROpeR self editing, this has 4, and maybe even 5, star potential if the best 30-35 minutes were chosen. 5 stars would likely be too generous, and if I were a dedicated reviewer, I would pick apart this album until I identified those top 10-12 songs to be sure. However, that would require enduring a plethora of exhaustion that I am not willing to suffer.

I can hear the demonstrable talent and skill in their music, and some of the tracks are musically interesting, but the vocals in both presentation and content feel too gimmicky for my personal taste.

Saved Prior: I Think I Need a New Heart Saved Off Rip: A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off Cutting Edge: a couple I have to go back through and pick Overall Notes: Very very long, didn't really have time to go through and truly listen to all of the songs as I am currently quite busy. An album I will be returning to in the summer when I have more time (hopefully). Placeholder grade of 2.

Some gems on this - really lovely songs - but overall just too damn long. Yes, I get the point.

Strange music.

Imagine the level of self-worship that it takes to think you can write 69 love songs and put them all on an album. This same someone clearly never heard the phrase “less is more.” I wouldn’t want to listen to this many love songs all at once by someone with talent like Freddie Mercury or David Bowie so this album never stood a chance. It took three sittings to finish and at no point was I enjoying myself.

I was dreading this and it lived down to my prejudice. I love "The Charm of the Highway Strip" and "Get Lost", but you can't even cut the highlights of this debacle down to a single album that would be of remotely similar quality. The definition of indulgence, and a real puzzle to understand who has the time for it [EDIT - I made it all the way through ONCE AGAIN and hate its pointless filler half-arsed improv bad showtune-ass bullshit even more. Sorry, Stephin - this is now downgraded even further in line with my tally of only 4 worthy tunes (5% - wtf!!!) adrift in a sea of absolute drivel]

If you have enough time to write, record, mix, and release 69 love songs, you have too much time on your hands. Get a job ya hippy

AGHHH NOOO what is this oh my no his voice made me cry his lyrics made me sob the length made me DIE. not anything good came out of this.

Wow this album actually has 69 songs on it, this is going to be a long one. "The book of love is long and boring" yeah no kidding so is this album. They really just wrote down the first idea they had and wrote a song on it, just very shallow and the effort was just to reach the number and not actually produce good music. Song 25 Update: I'm losing my mind, how is there still over 40 left? This is just torture. Song 45: I don't know if this is a joke or not, what's real? Am I sleeping, is this a nightmare from which I will never awaken? Song 68: Holy shit, it's almost over. I almost have my life back. There is hope in this world, everything ends. And it's over! I did it, I survived, life can continue! I did like "Fido, Your Leash is too long" for what it's worth.

I like the first song so I’m intrigued, but this feels like a big commitment today. 😂🤣 2nd song is great too. If they can keep this up the whole time this will be great, but that will be a feat. Only on the third song and this is really great. I think it’s the instrumentation selections on these songs that are making this so much fun. Each song is unique. There is so much variety here and yet it’s held together like a good mix tape. I’m glad I didn’t skip this one. Halfway through the second collection of 23. “Long forgotten Fairy Tale” is brilliant. This record is amazing. This arrangement on “the way you say goodnight” is just fantastic! Last song on the second collection “I shatter” is like a twisted Leonard Cohen and I love it. I truly can’t get over what a great collection of songs this is. When I saw 69 love songs and then realized it was really 69 songs, I was going skip this one. I’m almost to the end now and cannot believe how many great songs are on this one collection. This album should be the focus of songwriting curriculum in music schools and classes. This album is brilliant.

Goddamn. I listened to this one from 5am-8am in my way to work, what a behemoth. I thought I listened to much of this before but soon realized I've mostly listened to songs off of disc 1. It is absolutely masterful that they conceived of this many distinct songs with the same theme. At no point does it feel like there is repetition, and the tracklist is constantly engaging. Outstanding piece of musical history, though I think I'll only listen to it all the way through this one time. 5/5

Any album that's gonna take up 3 hours of my time better be a damn good one... ...ok, fair enough! Pretty much every song contained something that made me smile, either lyrically or musically - and often both. The fact I'm even considering listening to the whole thing again speaks volumes. A triumph of ambition, wit and throwaway pop songwriting. SURPRISE FIVE STARS.

Lord, took forever to get through, but 100% worth it.

Any album that goes from one of the most beautiful love songs ever written straight into a song about a dog is a 5 in my book. A truly unbelievable feat of ambition. A deserving classic.

I really dont even know where to begin. Grand pianos smash together when my boy walks down the street! Busby Berkeley dreams? Book of love? So many masterpiece songs, an album full of 1 hit wonders. Maybe the most impactful albums of my life. 10/5

This was my first time ever listening to it straight through in its entirety. What a great album. It shockingly lives up to its bold premise. There's so much variety here too that it never feels stale.

This is truly incredible. Each song is a little gem. Merritt examines every aspect of love and then he covers so many song styles. First, I was interested, then beguiled, and eventually flabbergasted. Every emotion: from joy, through sadness, to wry laughter, to falling down laughter. It's all here! Oh...and some goan worthy rhymes. I'm down to the last 100 and this has been the best moment. Well... along with discovering P.J. Harvey.

I've listened to every song on this album, but never in one focused sitting. I'm always charmed by a self-imposed artistic challenge and the story of Stephin Merritt listening to Sondheim covers at a gay bar in New York and being inspired to write a massive collection of songs exploring the theatrical and pop music traditions that comprise "love songs" is iconic. Tongue in cheek yet tender, the album is a thesis statement on different kinds of love and the concept of and motifs used in love songs from a broad spectrum of musical genres and tropes. To sum up: "The book of love has music in it. In fact, that's where music comes from. Some of it is just transcendental. Some of it is jut really dumb."

A dazzling variety of love songs in a cornucopia of musical styles and voices. Madly creative, with loads of tongue-in-cheek humor--and true to the subtleties of committed, loving relationships. "The Book of Love" is one of the great love songs, but I'd never listened to the rest of the album until now. My bad.

If you’re to go to the effort of conceiving, writing, practising, refining, recording, mixing, mastering, distributing performing and touring a 69-song concept album then I feel that it’s only fair that I judge you exclusively on the merits of your 69-song concept album. Did the concept, in that most ineffable manner of speaking, succeed? Did it justify the additional demands placed on vinyl producers, warehouse logisticians, shipping and last-mile delivery companies, record shops, listeners and anyone else involved in the process of creating and participating in art? Did The Magnetic Fields manage to make something that’s greater than the sum of the sixty-actual-nine parts presented? From the offset, I’m unsure. I’m into song two (admittedly, still less than 3% of the way through the record) and I’m fearing that what I’m about to spend almost three hours subjecting myself and my family to is an exercise in the art of the possible. Yes, a good enough 69-song record about love can be made, just don’t expect it to move you beyond a polite toe-tap. Enjoy the concept because it’s the concept that really sells it! A minute or so later those clouds of doubt are further massing. My mind has raced off. What if the 69 OK songs about love leave me little space but to conclude that all of this is, this whole thing, creativity, concepts like “essential listening”, all of it, is just so many appeals to a completely predictable cultural median value. The joking use of “69” isn’t in reference to, ahem mutuality, but is rather a coded message about music itself being a sort of analogue for a composite number – multiply two positive integers and anyone can score a hit. What if this album about love forces me to fall out of love with … music? As is so often the case, “A chicken with its head cut off” forces a sharp re-centering of perspective. It’s a funny song, honky-tonking its way around the place like the titular beheaded chook. But then it starts to dawn on me – this isn’t a throwaway line. It’s actually a really quite perfect analogy for a set of feelings that might be best captured by the image of that poor bird. Who, I ask you, hasn’t been made to feel like a chicken with its head cut off by love? Have you ever lived otherwise? It all clicks into place for me from here. There are truly fantastic standalone songs that I’ll cherish forever (“Sweet-Lovin’ Man”, “No One Will Ever Love You”); surreal ditties (“Punk Love”, “Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits”); tunes that, given their subject matter, make me feel appropriately uncomfortable (“I Can’t Touch You Anymore”) or bittersweet and wistful (“I Don’t Want to Get Over You”) or reflective of how profoundly in-love one can be lucky enough to be (“Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing”). Even the stuff that doesn’t really work as ‘a song I like’ doesn’t fail to move me (a boudoir is the last place “For We Are The King of the Boudoir” should be experienced). This is an epic kaleidoscope, a constantly shifting tangle of states. We’re in love, out of love; experiencing love unrequited, giving love, returning it with interest. We’re also in ourselves, in our beds, at our best or brought low by it. It’s visceral. It’s essential. It’s fucking everything, the whole fucking point. When I proposed to Fleur, I wrote an accompanying letter. In that, I borrowed from Alain Badiou, for whom “Love is a quest for truth.” It’s a line given fresh resonance by this collection of songs. And it’s a collection of songs that gives the most important thing in any life exactly the attention it deserves. So yeah, Magnetic Fields “succeeded”. This is a masterpiece.

Discovering that the godawful book of love song by Gavin James was a cover is a true mindfuck. This is easily one of the longest albums on the list, and kind of hard to judge it as a regular album because of it. 69 love songs is what it says on the tin, with no broader overarching theme or motive besides just writing a whole lot of stand alone love songs. For a 3 hour album it never really gets boring, having 3 vocalists and a huge variety in instruments and approaches to songmaking makes every track at least interesting. The entire album just kind of sucks you in and gently flies by as you fall in and out of focusing on the individual songs. I liked a lot of the tracks here, too many to count. I'm really happy to have listened this album but it will probably take a long time to visit it again.