69 Love Songs

Too fucking long, my God, this week was a drag listening to this album.

944AM: 7 tracks into this beast. Let's see if I can finish today 1238PM: first disc is done. The lawn isn't so let's start disc two. I'm enjoying this so far. It's pretty varied. We'll see if I still think that 46 songs from now. 103PM: Crazy for you but not that crazy, nice. Stopping here for a bit, still going relatively strong. 530PM: finish disc 2, started strong but interest is waning 938PM: let's bang this out before the deadline. 1028PM: taking a break to watch the Weakest Link. Fuck Jane Lynch and her wisecracks. My wife is asking me if i finished my album with an annoyed look on her face. 6 songs left. 1049PM: Zebra is an ass track to end with. Gauntlet complete. Overall I liked this more than I expected. It does a good job of covering a lot of ground while still sounding mostly cohesive. I can appreciate this and enjoyed the marathon listen but am unlikely to do it front to back again, even if I stumble on this again in the future. Maybe one disc at a time. Disc 1 > 2 > 3, almost certainly due to burnout. Funny how a George Harrison triple album pissed me off but this one I'm weirdly ok with.

THREE FUCKING HOURES for this super dumb and cringe concept are we for real... Ig im gona be up until 1am to listen to this, lets give it a shot. Its a mixed bag... Yes this album explore a lot of different style and atmoshere wich makes it less boring than most long album. But it doesnt mean that all these ideas are well executed! Their are SO many bad song on this album, abouth as much as good songs honestly. The good songs are prety fun and its impossible to not like atleast a couple of songs on the album. In conclusion, to no one surprise, this album is bloated because of its stupid concept. It could have been a prety respectable 40 minutes indie rock album but no, these guys had to be special. 69 haha funny/5

Quite a bit too long, but enjoyable nonetheless

There are quite a few good songs, and plenty of ones I wouldn’t care for. I am glad I listened to it all in one sitting, without getting up from my chair.

lol, I’m not listening to 3 hours worth of love songs on one album. But I’ll get as far as I can. The first thing that stands out is that this singing isn’t conventionally great, but still kinda works. The songs actually are pretty enjoyable for the most part. Some of them are a little too cutesy for my tastes. I dunno, I actually like this alright, but 69 love songs is a lot to ask of a listener. My biggest gripe about this record is that it goes on longer than some box sets. 7.5/10 I wound up listening to way more of this than I expected. I enjoyed most of it way more than I expected also. Alright, 1001, you won this one.

Well, it’s an impressive accomplishment, that’s for sure. However, this is way too much for a simple album.

I’m going to admit that it is very tough to listen to this album in one sitting. For the first 20 or so songs it was interesting but after that it was no longer a pleasant or compelling experience. This is no shade to the prolific Stephen Merritt who definitely has a gift for melody and songwriting. I can’t imagine them having performed all 69 songs in order at one show. Creative and clever but all the same, I tapped out for interest at about the 20 song mark. I did listen to the entire album in one sitting and there are a couple of tracks that would pique my interest every now and again but not enough for me to note what they were called. Book of Love I was familiar with and Oapa Was A Rodeo. I actually own the box set but I’ve never broken it open and given the vinyl a spin. I might in the future.. or I might not. Which is where I stand on this record - somewhere in the middle. 3/5

328/1089 3 hours long… here we go i guess made it through and it was decent mostly. i appreciate the intent and scope and i think for fans of them this would be great. Personally i think it’d would’ve been better with maybe the 13 or even 23 best songs. it dragged on too much with too little variation imo and at times got a bit too cringeworthy for me. i think part 1 was my fave but part 3 was close and suffered a little from fatigue faves: death of ferdinand, love in the shadows, strange eyes, book of love, world love, long-forgotten fairytale, 59/100

Merritt is obviously very talented and unique. My problem is his particular brand of whimsy seems more suited to, say, musical theater or children's TV than a rock album. To be sure, there are some songs on here that are clever, cute, and a few that are achingly beautiful (esp. "The Book of Love"). But there are some that are just damn annoying, many others that are tedious. I respect the ambition, but a triple albums is too damn long. Good songs: "Absolutely Cuckoo" "All My Little Words" "A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off' "I Don't Want to Get Over You" "I Think I Need New Heart" "The Book of Love" (!) "Sweet-Lovin' Man" Bad songs: "Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits" "Reno Dakota" "Love Is Like Jazz" "How Fucking Romantic" "Punk Love" "Promises of Eternity" "I Shatter"

Very interesting

Having a hard time getting a grip on this one. It’s neither really good nor bad. Some of the songs kind of slap, others are kind of just silly. It could have been a fun, casual listen, but then again there’s no reason for it to be 3 hours long…

I appreciate the shtick, but it was about 50 songs longer than the shtick needed

- I don´t belive in the sun - The cactus where your heart should be - My sentimental melody - If you don´t cry - I can´t touch you anymore

I want to like this more than I do. I want to designate this a must-listen. I admire the ambition, the concept, the songwriting ability on display. However, I do not love the songs that are bad, and I do not love that the length almost necessitates that some songs are bad. Clearly there is filler here! And despite my greatest intentions, I cannot listen to this whole thing in one go. Sigh.

there’s a great album underneath the mass of songs thrown at it for a funny title

I have no idea how to rate this album to be honest. As a concept album, the idea of 69 love songs in various different genres as a commentary on the idea of love songs is a neat idea. Some of the songs are even fun to listen to. But would I listen to it again? Absolutely not. Do I think its also maybe a bit pretentious? 100%. Do I regret it? No. I do applaud unique experiences in music but listening to 3 straight hours of "love" songs was almost torture. The punchline wore out after the first volume. 2.5 but I'll round to 3.

This is so hard to rate. I didn’t hate it, which considering how long it is, is impressive. You could make a great album from some of the songs. Overall intrigued me more than a meh 3 star so I gotta go 4.

I didn't have time for 2 hours and 45 minutes of whimsical/novelty love songs. "The book of love" is worth a listen but I'm not going to sit through all the rest.

I like the ambition of writing 69 songs for the album. The quality is pretty consistent, even if I don't hear any standout tracks.

It took some getting used to the guy's voice but some songs grew on me.

This might say more about what Urban Outfitters did for/to the vinyl album than it does the Magnetic Fields, but I truly can’t comprehend the fact that this didn’t come out during the Obama administration. I guess that means it’s ahead of its time?

New to me. There are some brilliant tracks in here (No One Will Ever Love You was a delight). But why is it so long…. Just slightly too much filler, this is a strong 4 stars if it reduced the number of songs.

VER%Y long i couldnt listen to the whole thing

Genuinely enjoyed listening through. No particular song was a stand out but I tend to really like this writing style of telling a story quickly and cleanly

Very methodical in not a necessary bad way. I enjoyed the combination lyrics and music running together. It seemed a good fit. I smiled when listening to a chicken running around with its head cut off

there is no way i’m listening to all of this

Best Song: I Don't Believe in the Sun. A creative and compelling lyrical metaphor. "I don't believe in the sun" is a great line. Worst Song: How Fucking Romantic. All of the aesthetic choices in this song, from the a capella ranting to the finger snaps, make my face pucker. Overall: Honestly, a valiant effort. When I saw that this album was exactly as advertised - 69 different songs about love - I was dreading the next three hours. But in the end, I was kind of surprised at the creativity and diversity of songs here. He really does cover a whole gamut of types of love songs in these little ditties. Some are actually halfway decent, but then you also get absolutely inane tracks like "Love is Like Jazz", for which it's difficult to tell how many layers of sarcasm and irony it was couched in on its way to recording. The whole album just feels like a personal challenge more than a worthwhile attempt to make something that someone else ought to listen to. The musical equivalent of an Ironman competition. Good for the artists for proving that they could do it. For me, the album only works when it drops its mask of cynicism to show brief glimpses of a kind of earnestness that runs quietly underneath.

no hay necesidad de un álbum tan largo

(69/100)

Where do I start with this ambitious project? Well I listened to all 69 songs. Generally found the sound of the group to my liking. Stylistically it was all over the place. The love song dedication to Washington DC was … interesting. Some of the tunes seemed straight out of an amateur music production. The gay rodeo number was out there. As other reviewers have said, a single album of the best 14 songs would be great, but there’s no way I’m wading back through this to pick out some favourites for future listening. Maybe I’ll have a crack listening to a stand alone album from the band or maybe their top 5 Spotify plays. Hats off for the ambition and for the 69 references. And at least it wasn’t more rap and jazz.

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 just really dumb

need to revisit

Ambitious, indulgent, maybe perilous? Whatever you want to call it this isn’t as bad as some would have you believe. There is some musicianship and catchy hooks with thought out structure. My only true complaint is that the lyricism is wanting in many songs and so of course this could have been 15 refined Love Songs, but what fun would that be? I listened to neaaaaarly all of this, had to skip a few boring songs, but overall I’m not ashamed to admit that I enjoyed it.

I like the premise of the music and the album, and the bits I listened to were witty/playful and nicely constructed songs. But I was overwhelmed by the quantity and insufficiently excited by the content to push through the whole thing.

It was a good time, very eclectic - i wouldn't turn it off

Day 38 — The Magnetic Fields — 69 Love Songs (1999) Listened: May 9–10, 2026 Genre: Indie Pop / Chamber Pop / Art Pop Vibe: Grandiose, witty, and deeply personal — 69 tiny love songs spanning every style imaginable, delivered with an old-timey theatrical baritone that echoes Scott Walker. Highlights: • I Don’t Believe in the Sun • A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off • I Don’t Want to Get Over You • The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side • Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits • I Think I Need a New Heart • Fido, Your Leash Is Too Long • A Pretty Girl Is Like • My Sentimental Melody • Sweet-Lovin’ Man • When My Boy Walks Down the Street • Grand Canyon • No One Will Ever Love You • If You Don’t Cry • Promises of Eternity • Long-Forgotten Fairytale • Papa Was a Rodeo • How to Say Goodbye • The Night You Can’t Remember • I’m Sorry I Love You ★ It’s a Crime • Bitter Tears Impression: Abrupt start that almost lost me but glad I stuck with it — a lot of songs landed immediately and more revealed themselves on the second listen. Reminds me of Scott Walker in the best way — that same grandiose voice carrying dark, personal, real content. A remarkably creative project that I respect as much as enjoy. Needs more listens to fully settle. Rating: 3.3/5 Keep songs? Yes Revisit album? Yes

It’s just too many songs for one album. Some of the songs are decent and if the best of them were all on one album then maybe you would have something but this is ridiculous. Granted I did not listen to all 69, there just wasn’t anything good enough that I did hear to entice me to keep going. Interesting concept but it did not work for me.

This album is long and some of it has fillers. If you look past the length there are some absolutely catchy & sometimes hilarious songs. Im a fan of songs not being taken too seriously, and a lot of this hit the mark. "Fido your leash is too long..."

This was so ponderously long, but after listening over two days, I think I got it – besides the "nice" number, this eclectic album was making fun of the very structure of albums. The songs were short, for the most part, and the lighthearted, or sometimes absurd, themes gave me a chuckle or two as they played in the background of my workday. It felt like Bert, the geology professor from The Big Bang Theory, meets the Crash Test Dummies meets the Barenaked Ladies. This one doesn't take itself seriously, but its vocabulary is impressive, and the variation of styles and instruments throughout helps offset the sheer length of THREE VOLUMES. Enjoyed parts of it, but I won't be back.

Highlights: 1-1, 1-3, 1-4, 1-6. 1-8, 1-9, 1-10, 1-12, 1-13, 1-15, 1-17, 1-20, 1-21, 2-2, 2-6, 2-8, 2-9, 2-14, 2-15, 2-18, 2-22, 3-1, 3-2, 3-8, 3-12, 3-13, 3-16, 3-21, 3-23 It took a lot to successfully sit through this shit. It's very bloated. I guess it's just to prove some point about how various love songs can be but also be like "ahhahxhaxhahx funnny 69". And yeah, it might also mocks the typical love songs sometimes, but come on - I got the point after 20 minutes, why does it have to be 3 hours long. The song "The Book of Love" basically perfectly describes my thoughts on the length of the record, and I guess the record itself is just supposed to be a statement, not something to really listen to. It's as if the writer flexes to the listener just how much various material he can put out. It kinda got monotonous after some time too, which was nicely described by "Love Is Like Jazz". However, there are gems hidden in between. This record has two sides - a folky sounding one and a goofy synth one. I honestly prefer the goofy synth over the monotonous folk approach, but they were decently balanced over the runtime. The lyrics are often pretty basic, but there were some original ideas which I did like. But yeah, this doesn't sound like something I'll be revisiting in its entirety anytime soon. Thematically it's all over the place (go figure). It's not like you are supposed to listen to it because it's a record for this or that mood. It's just a library you pick stuff out off or a book of love full of stories. However, I would feel confident saying that the "book" could have been half the current length.

Some tracks I liked, some I didn't care as much for, but I'm left wondering why anyone felt this was worth creating a 3 hour album.

There are so many songs. Some are alright some are good but man a 2 hr and 50 min album

It's a cliche that every good double album would make a great single album. So what's the case when faced with a triple album? I'm sure it would be stronger as a double or even a single album. In this case, though you'd be missing out on a lot. There's enough variety among the 69 (nice) tracks here that it doesn't feel like 3 hours listening to one artist, which an become dour with some indie acts. Something that I was worried would be the case after the first couple of tracks with Stephin Merritt's somewhat sardonic vocal tone. Thankfully there's a lot of variety here, different co-vocalists chip in to vary the mood considerably. There's also a few synth-forward tracks that remind me of either Depeche Mode or the Pet Shop Boys sonically, and those are the ones I enjoyed most. Also, while the concept is 69 Love Songs, it looks at love from a lot of different angles, from the yearning of "Come Back from San Francisco," to the horniness of "Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits," to infidelity in "Fido, Your Leash Is Too Long," means it doesn't descend into glurge.

An interesting experiment. Some of the songs are enjoyable, some are not very good at all! All of them feel a little half baked but what can you expect when the artist is going for quantity over quality. Also for an album about love songs there sure are a lot of self pitying sad boy songs about what a loser the singer is. Weird choice! It’s also obscenely long so feel free to break this one up into multiple days. Your score will probably be lower if you don’t

My 666th album, and I definitely feel like I've been sent to hell and back with this absolute unit of an album. Granted, it's not all bad, it's quite pleasant actually. The biggest weakness is that despite the lengthy track list, there is a lack of variety and musical styles that would have been appreciated for my patience.

Many, most?, of my friends are fans of The Magnetic Fields. And not to set myself apart--I have my own fair share of uber-indie music that I've loved, and even still love. But I've never understood any affection for Merritt's music. Ok, that is overstated: he's an excellent and prolific songwriter. But I find little to like in his voice, nor those of his regular collaborators, and I find many of his instrumentation choices poor. Too often his songs sound to me like someone lobotomized what could have been a good, even great song. Maybe a little like Leonard Cohen, he's arguably a better song writer than performer--though I personally like Cohen's performances, but both have penned songs that spawned covers great than the originals. All the complaining aside, there's song great songwriting here.

2 horas... e 45 min... jesus FAVS (top 3): all my little words, lets pretend we're bunny rabbits, my sentimental melody mençoes hornosas: i dont want to get over you, i think i need a new heart, the book of love, nothing matters when we're dancing, grand canyon, if you dont cry, washington d.c., asleep and dreaming, blue you, i cant touch you anymore, zebra gente? pior q é um bom album. infelizmente muito massante por ter 2 horas quase 3 MEU DEUS! felizmente tem bastante musica boa entao nao é como se fosse tortura KKKKKK ouvir ele de novo inteiro com certeza nao vou, mas as q salvei com certeza, se fosse menor e conseguissem salvar as melhores de todas ia ser um album de amor mt lindo, se tivesse 1 hora por ai KKKKK mas curti! experiencia doida perde alguns pontos por causa dessa capa feia nota final: 3.5/5

Pretty good album with some iconic love songs, however it is a bit long for my taste.

cute

I’ve heard of this album and always sort of thought the title was a cheeky joke because who in their right mind would put 69 songs on an album. Boy was I wrong. It’s too much music to ask the listener to pay attention to in one sitting and certainly too many to keep ensure the quality of the product. Even if you’re the most creative band in history with multiple songwriters contributing, this many songs smacks of a lack of self-editing. It also means that in order to record this many songs on an Indy record label budget you have to just burn through songs in the studio or record it yourself. Either way the end result is the same, sub-par recordings. All of that is in evidence here, variability of song quality, lack of self-editing, and poor sonic quality. Now the music itself. I have a similar crooner baritone that I’ve always kept bagged as corny or mockable, and here are almost 69 (he doesn’t sing them all) examples of why I was right to do so. I can’t take him seriously. The textures they choose are often just weird not cool and sometimes distractingly grating. It’s not all bad but some energy spent concentrating this vivacity into a focused set of a third the length would have been well spent.

I recognized more songs than I thought and some of it was lovely but almost 3 hours?!?! Way too much.

It’s really long but I do like some songs.

I thought we were being juvenile with the title a d it was love songs to 69 to, but no, there are 69 fucking songs on this. First instinct was to give it a 3 in exchange for not listening, but that felt wrong. Made it through disc one and that was as much as I could commit to. It has the vibe of the vampire musical from "Firgetting Sara Marshall" but there is no way I want three hours of it.

Favorite track(s): Disc 1: I Don't Believe in the Sun, All My Little Words, Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits, I Think I Need a New Heart, Parades Go By Disc 2: Grand Canyon, No One Will Ever Love You, Washington D.C., Papa Was a Rodeo Disc 3: I'm Sorry I Love You, The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure, I Can't Touch You Anymore, There are highs and lows, but it certainly isn't a strong argument for anybody else for follow suit.

Diversiteit, ambitie, en veel te lang.

Oh, actually, the album is pretty nice. Little songs with catchy melodies in simple arrangements. I doubt it was really necessary to record a 3-hour album with them. Maybe I’ll even listen to it again. Probably not, though, because there’s plenty of other music that interests me more. 3/5

Props for the concept

A giant parody album. It's funny, and it certainly does a great job deconstructing love songs. The genre leaps keeps it from being boring, but it is just entirely too long. Even with most songs hovering around 2 minutes long, this is just obnoxiously long. Additionally, none of the songs are particularly memorable. I'm glad I heard it once, but it's unlikely that I would ever listen to this again. It was funny to see so many extremely high reviews of this album, but if you think about how many music critics want to be the smartest person in the room and tell everyone else that they just don't understand an album with bad singing and that they're just too much of a mouth-breather to be willing to sit through a three hour album, then you start to understand why there are so many positive reviews. The idea of this album is funny and the execution is even quite funny. I enjoyed a lot of it, but if the length and lack of hooks makes it so I never want to listen to it again, how can I say that it's good?

Songs are fine, nothing standout, but they weren’t bad. It is legitimately 69 songs long, almost three hours.

Ahh die is lekker rustgevend, moet wel zeggen dat ik ze niet allemaal heb geluisterd

Demasiadas canciones; hay que ser más modesto y escoger algunas. Curioso, pero fallido.

Nice.

It's never more than ok. But 3 fucking hours?! Luckily I was board and I had some bourbon.

Favorite Track: I Don't Want to Get Over You

I try to listen to each album on this list at least twice, which becomes a challenge with albums like this one, but I did it. As expected, there are great and not so great tunes over the course of three hours. This, of course, is the problem with a record like this. It is too damn long. An ambitious project to be sure, I just don’t think it works. As much as I liked some of the songs, I don’t think I’ll be returning to the album again.

Literally 69 songs, so it was a marathon to complete, but despite that, I didn't hate it. It gets a 3

I get it 100%… to make that many songs is really impressive. However I do think a lot of art benefits from being concise and only containing what needs to be there. But also the whole point of this project was to be a shit ton of songs. I’m gonna settle with a three

He has a pretty unique sound and I can appreciate what this is but toooooo damn long

interesting

"The music here is pretty good." "I know, and in such large portions!" It's a very impressive feat that ultimately does overstay its welcome for me. Plenty of gems throughout this. But too long to connect with as fully as I wanted to.

Indie pop, indie folk, synth-pop, chamber pop, art pop, experimental pop, alternative country, twee pop.

This is kind of a tough one to rate. First off, I actually really liked some of the songwriting here. Some of the lyrics and concepts are very well written and unique. The breadth of musical influence on this record is also very entertaining. I do feel like a quality producer would have cut this down into two really good albums and cut the album-worth of subpar material. Overall, because it’s hard to listen to 3 hours of music as a unified piece of art, I have to go with a 3.5/5 but round down.

I don't think you're actually supposed to listen to all of this, the whole album comes off as an ironic joke and by the time you're at Love is a Jazz song -done in the most ridiculous over the top caricature of jazz style - it should be blazingly obvious Magnetic Fields is just fucking with everyone.

will come back and update this eventually

Rock pop ABBA vibe

Phew! Made it. All i need to do is listen to it twice more and I'll be qualified to have an opinion on it (not going to happen) I enjoyed the challenge to be honest and you have to admire the sheer scale of the thing...that alone makes me think it's deserving of a place on the list. Some of the tracks were even good (I Think I Need A New Heart, Boa Constrictor, It's A Crime amongst others , some were poor approximations of stuff by other artists (John Grant, Belle and Sebastian, Tom Waits) and some were just show tunes.

Belle découverte, je connaissais pas! Un album trop long, aucune chance que j’écoute les 2h52! Mais le premier album était plein de surprise, messemble que ça se suivait pas? J’ai pas compris le style de l’artiste mais y’avait de bonnes chansons quand même! Note de 3 pour le manque de cohérence mais l’originalité de l’album Mes préférés; absolutely cuckoo, all my little word (avec le violoncelle à la fin, sorti de nul part mais cool),

Podría ser un disco genial, pero es DEMASIADO. 69 canciones es DEMASIADO. Casi tres horas de duración, es DEMASIADO. Me gustaron varias canciones, pero siento que los propios Magnetic Fields se dispararon solos en el pie haciendo un album de esta longitud. La verdad, aunque me gustó, terminé por no querer volverlos a escuchar nunca.

Album is enjoyable, but three hours? That is quite cumbersome for an album of the day. Not a producer, but this album would have been better off as multiple albums. The only problem with that is the album would not longer be 69.

This is insane. 3 hours of some of the most random music I’ve ever heard. I think I zoned out somewhere mid disc one so don’t ask me anything about it. (69 songs, 172 mins)

Wtf is dit voor een concept. Om te laten zien hoe goed je liefdesliedjes kan schrijven dan maar gewoon teringveel tegelijk uitbrengen. En stoppen op 69, haha seksgrapje wat ontzettend leuk zeg. Het is verleidelijk om deze plaat al te haten voordat je één noot gehoord hebt. Maar gelukkig heb ik het wel een kans gegeven en heb ik twee van de drie cd's uitgeluisterd. In vlagen realiseer wilde ik het afzetten of was ik juist weer hooked. Ergens in het begin van CD 2 zit een serie ijzersterke songs. Zeker waar hij een beetje klinkt als Phosphorescent of Midlake (toch twee zeroes indiefolk iconen) sla ik het ene na het andere nummer op. Maar dan even later (middenin I Shatter) wil ik hem toch maar al te graag weer afzetten. Eigenlijk komt het op het volgende neer: als de beste man niet zo'n idioot was geweest om perse 69 nummers op een album te zetten maar gewoon de 12 beste had gekozen, dan hadden we hier een prachtige indieplaar gehad. Maar hij vertikte het. 7/10 - vanwege de pareltjes die her en der op de platen staan Highlights Book of Love When My Boy Walks Down the Street Grand Canyon Long-Forgotten Fairytale

FFS. The length of this thing. I got to track 31. And it's nice. But man, the length!

Nice. Besides, I understand. This album is anything but conventional, so it would be unfair to judge it by conventional standards. It literally consists of 69 little songs about love. Musically speaking, it's like throwing buckets of slightly different shades of paint onto a canvas. You can hardly expect a Renaissance painting to emerge by chance, but as long as you view it as art, you will find little spots that you can appreciate....

I'd heard about this one before, but I was quietly intimidated by the 2 hours... gotta be honest about that. I like the general idea,an album of love songs exploring the many faces of it. I mean, come on, it's literally the feeling that gets explored most in music. But lyrically? Quietly surprising. I wasn't expecting it to be this good. Let's be real: holding 2 hours of anything is complicated. If I listen again, and I will,I'll divide it up, pay more attention piece by piece. Because it can get overwhelming all at once. This one needs another listen. In pieces. With focus and time. I Respect the ambition, surprised by the lyrics, overwhelmed by the length.

J'ai globalement bien aimé. Franchement, il mérite pas vraiment sa note de 2,85; tout l'album est plutôt bien produit, les mélodies restent en tête et l'album est littéralement ce à quoi tu t'attends donc les attentes sont à mon sens indéniablement respectées. Néanmoins, le problème principal quant à l'album, c'est vraiment le concept en lui même. L'idée de faire 69 sons pour faire 69 sons se ressent vraiment avec une energie recyclée et vraiment redondante vers la fin du projet, et puis c'est beaucoup trop long. En résumé, ça remplit bien les attentes mais en tant que projet je ne peux pas lui mettre autre chose que 3

Pros: - Emotional - Usually good instrumentals - Some lyricism scattered around Cons: - Too bloated - Some half-baked songs Rating (out of 10): 7/10

Not fun. Mid.

Listened to Disc 1. Not bad, not great, it's got decent lyrics but no way am I listening to another 2 discs of this. 2.5/5. Raising to 3.

Started strong, but many of these songs were somewhat forgettable. Props for taking on such a big project. Did not listen to the whole thing

There were some good songs. If they'd made a shorter album with the best songs it could have been great. I'd have preferred "14 Love Songs" without the joke title.

ascoltato non tutto ma quel poco fa capire che c’è potenziale

Ho sentito le prime due canzoni ma sembrava bello, voto falso

69/69 songs listened. I rate this album a 41,4/69 rating.

Love songs, breakup songs, stalker songs, this album has it all. If it was a poetry book I would like it more. I never want to listen to it again, but it wasn’t as horrible as legend has is.

Not yet managed to listen to all three hours, but I appreciated the concept and enjoyed listening

C'est impressionnant un album de 69 tounes. Mais pas autant impressionnant qu'un album de 35 minutes réparties sur 9 tounes excellentes. Il se cache sûrement un ep de quatre étoiles dans tout ça. 2.75 étoiles car je considère cette suggestion d'écoute comme un affront.

a very long listen. interesting...

Supongo que mi opinión (al menos de los que se han molestado en escucharlo entero) es que es un disco interesante con canciones bonitas, pero no termino de entender porqué sacar 69 de golpe. ¿No tienes criterio para elegir? ¿Eres tan bueno que tienes claro que todas merecen ser publicadas así de golpe? No sé y ya leeré para enterarme de esa historia si es que se sabe. La cuestión es que gracias a las listas de los más escuchado del disco puedes repasar lo que más le gusta a la gente y a partir de ahí tomar lo justo y lo mismo explorar de nuevo sus casi 3 horas. Me guardo The book of love, I don't want to get over you, All my little words.

6/10

Quase 3 horas de álbum, comecei as 16h40 e só acabo depois das 20h. Mesmo assim, é 3/5. Não há uma música que possa dizer que não gostei. Ouvem se todas bem, umas são melhores que outras. Mas, por favor, que não apareça outro álbum com mais de 60 músicas ou com 3 horas.

I did it! All 2 hours and 52 minutes. Geez this is tough to rate. The songs are generally short which was a good thing. There were lots of good bits but you throw 3 hours away and there's going to be something that's decent. Rounding up to a 3 because it has "the book of love" which resulted in the much better Peter Gabriel cover

Nice. I didn't get through all 69 songs, but sure feel loved afterwards.

Rv

It is as self-indulgent as marvelous. I would consider it an almost perfect album if it were a double album, but the listening experience does suffer from its long duration.

I made note of the songs that really grabbed me: ‘The Book Of Love’ ‘World Love’ ‘Long Forgotten Fairytale’ ‘Epitaph For My Heart’ ‘I’m Sorry For Your Love’ ‘The Death Of Ferdinand de Saussure’ ‘Yeah! Oh, Yeah!’ ‘Strange Eyes’ That’s only eight out of sixty-nine. ‘The Book Of Love’ is far and away the best song on the whole album and worth the price of admission alone. YMMV, but the rest of ‘69 Love Songs’ is largely (and somewhat unfortunately) a test of endurance rather than an enjoyable musical experience. It’s not without merit, and it should probably be praised for its ambition, but jeez it goes on and on. I admire what it’s trying to do far more than I enjoy actually sitting through it, which leaves me with very mixed feelings towards it overall.

An incredibly creative endeavor. Perhaps too long for me to really retain much of it. 6/10.

Kinda listened to it while I was half sleeping , which is appropriate

Too many!!

“A pretty girl is like a violent crime If you do it wrong you could do time But if you do it right it is sublime” A meaningful review of this is tricky almost entirely due to the vastness of the material and the breadth of the sound. It’s serious and quirky in equal measure but crucially is never taking itself too seriously nor is it ever childish or weird for weird’s sake. The whole record has a tremendous sense of humour (“A Pretty Girl Is Like” is absolutely hilarious). It is these moments of brevity that keep you going and, most importantly, interested through an utterly insane runtime. It’s impressive to be able to fill an album of 69 songs at all. The fact that I enjoyed so many of them is incredible. The ones I did not enjoy I am still glad I heard. Listening to “69 Love Songs” front to back is a mammoth task and not something I am likely to attempt again but I am grateful to have had the experience.

I hate to be critical about this, but it's too long. I think the concept is well executed, but at 3 hours of length it wears itself out.

God, this is just so long. I like the Magnetic Fields but have never listened to a full album of theirs, and this was a doozy of a place to start. 3 hours is so much time to find to sit and listen to music on a Monday. There's a real range of songs here, some good and some not. I would love to hear a tighter version of this with all the filler for the sake of filler cut out. About halfway through the first 10 songs or so I was like "this sounds so much like the Gothic Archie's, I wonder if the lead singer did that project too..." And then I googled it and not only did he do The Gothic Archie's but Daniel Handler plays the accordion on this album 😂 It's a small musical world out there!

All Filler, No Killer! Yesterday's album was too long at 70 minutes. So, the generator decides today I should get a THREE HOUR LONG ALBUM. In fairness, I truly admire the time, effort, and testicular fortitude it took to make this. Stephin challenged himself and went for it! And, he succeeded! There's a lot of very catchy songs on here. The sense of humor is infectious. The variety of styles, voices, and arrangements keep this from being a boring listen. It becomes a game of "What's behind the NEXT door." I suppose that's why it's on this list. It's an oddity that just needs to be experienced. In its entirety. From beginning to end. ONCE. It's no elephant in the room that the three hour run time is the album's greatest weakness. Recording every song that enters your head is something every songwriter needs to do. Get that sucker on tape! But then, go back and do some editing. Cull a few, combine some others. Develop ideas. Work on arrangements. Mold the beast into a sharp KILLER album. This could totally have been that. Instead, editing is left up to the listener. It's mixtape time again. Which, honestly does have its own joy. This is the sort of collection that ends up on a "Super Deluxe" Box Set. It has the feel of a collection of rarites and outtakes. The fun stuff usually released at the end of a band's career. Kudos to these guys. They decided to record the whole box set upfront. Themselves. Isn't that just the "Indie" way? ;)

Long as hell. This one was tough to listen to all of it and have a conclusive opinion on nearly 3 hours of music. I liked some, others felt like they were clear demos. Honestly will return just for the breadth and a couple of those just have the perfect combo of vocals and melody. I swear there’s like three songs on the first two discs that just have the same lame synth boops as it’s beat.

Listened to like half, some are good some are bad

Just way too long

I’m glad this ended the long term feud with Houmous & Chutney. It started when H&C released their album 30 Love Songs. The Magnetic Fields weren’t to be outdone and released 31 Love Songs. This went on for 6 long months of relentless album releases. 3.0 4/69 A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off

Really fun, a lot of bit sized songs and not what I expected given the title

Interesting! Folk/rock kind of vibes. Rhyming “Dakota” and “iota” and “quota” was pretty clever.

Impressive. To be honnest I didn't go through the three albums but a good half of the singts and they are diverse, some rock, some jazzy, thet text are pretty good and original. I'll give a 3 for good effort.

I was surprisingly attracted to this album, though the absurd length did repel me.

Монструозный сборник, чтобы оценить нужно слушать и слушать. Впечатления смешанные, но в положительном ключе скорее.

Reminiscent of They might be giants.

This is quite a task to get through - almost 3 hours is a bit much. A very bloated album (or 3 albums really). I'll applaud that it's a hell of a bold move releasing all of these songs on one record. There were some songs throughout that I liked but the songs seemed to just merge into one after a while. Not enough variety for me to fully enjoy the whole thing. It was refreshing when they changed the vocalist now and again, I just wish it was more often as I found the main singer's voice starting to wear thin at times.

Quirky little album with a wide range of influences/sounds.

Whelp, this three-disc-length record gives listeners exactly what it says on the tin. The problem is that I don't know why The Magnetic Fields put this collection together for release. I am not familiar with this album or the band, and I plan to read about this album after reviewing it. I suspect they decided to record these tunes simply because they could. It appears that the band was going through a surge of creativity without a simultaneous surge in restraint. Though many of the songs feel like creative sketches, every single track is good in its own way. Some are quite unique and interesting, but with so many tracks to get through in a single day for the OAD, I couldn't stop to let any sink in, so they all kind of ran together. I'm at a loss as to how to best experience this collection. My impression is that being overwhelmed by the 69 songs is the point, not the individual songs. It's an interesting idea, but I had trouble connecting to the piece. I listened to each "disc" separately just to keep it manageable, but by the end of the third set of songs, I was annoyed and ready for the album to end, not because any of the songs were bad, but because I was simply exhausted. If The Magnetic Fields chose the 10-15 best tracks from 69 Love Songs, fleshed them out, and released them as a single disc, this could have easily been a record that I'd come back to. But as it is, the length of this experience proved to be just too much for me. Three stars.

Quite difficult to rate. It is a very interesting concept but maybe a bit too much after all.

Ever wonder what it’d be like if The National put out a three hour album of quirky pop indie love songs? Me neither. This is the answer to a question nobody asked.

Yeah, no. I love the form of repetition as a form of change - Groundhog Day, Run Lola Run, The Art of Fugue, looped guitar - but I didn't find any interest in the first 15 or so songs to keep up the experiment - which is actually the most interesting thing to me about this whole project we've taken on of speed listening to a thousand albums in a thousand days: I normally grow to love the music I love over repeated listenings. What happens when I force feed a thousand albums on one or two listens?

Truly never heard of this band. Interested to check this out. First couple tracks a bit slow for my taste. Not my vibe. I get it.

I know this album has always been lauded as extraordinary but I have hard time listening to it all the way through. It’s more talking than singing. And the instrumentation is spare. I just don’t get it.

Like it says on the tin: 69 love songs. Spans the spectrum of falling in love, being in love, and losing love, and anything that could fall in between. It felt like watching a play made up of disconnected scenes about different people, which I appreciated. The songs themselves are melodic enough to be listenable but simple enough to keep the writing and stories at the foreground. It’s a huge creative feat (and listening commitment) that I do plan on revisiting at least in part. A long, life-affirming, often funny record.

Kudos to anyone who made it through all three hours of this. I did not. After volume 1, I decided there were probably no surprises hiding around the corner. This seems to be a quality collection of pleasant songs. With its length, it would be great to put on as background music at a party. Other than that, there's not much to bring me back to it. Also, one of the singers sounds exactly like Bill Callahan.

Certainly ambitious and the musicianship is great but this is far too long to hold interest and you will get sick of his voice.

It's got some solid stuff on it, but I find the length to be a legitimate issue. I wouldn't call it "filler" because a lot of the lesser songs are still good, but this good have been a much better album by tightening it up. I assume the length is the idea and the point... it's just not a great idea.

too long

I finally got through all 69 songs!

Allt of langt. Nokkur góð lög þarna en mikið spólað.

Ágætt stöff en alltof mörg lög.

Somehow I’ve never gotten far into this album. It’s hard to imagine any band getting the runway from their label to put out an album this sprawling, but I don’t think there are many wasted moments. Clearly a band at the peak of their creative powers. The influence of “69 Love Songs” has enjoyed a strong run through the years, but most noticeably amongst the stomp clap hey bands of the 2010s (or as I like to call it, “Of Mumfords and Lumineers”).

Ei hirveesti innostanut kun katsoin että tänään kuunneltava levy on tripla ja kesto 2 tuntia 52 minuuttia... Kuuntelin teoksen läpi. Onneksi laulajalla on tumma ja syvä ääni ja se piti mielenkiinnon yllä. Tuskin tulee enää uudestaan kuunneltua. Hivenen liian tasapaksu mun makuuni

There's some good songs in here. Otherwise it's WAY too long. I admit, I didn't make it through the whole album because it got boring and the songs were all meshing together and nothing sounded good. Read the other reviews where others made it all the way through. 3 / 5 = If you take all the decent tracks and put them on one album, it would get a higher rating.

A gem

When I saw the title of this album, my first thought was "Dear God! I hope there aren't actually 69 songs!!" Sure enough . . .. I've mentioned in other reviews just how few albums need to be this long (about three hours!), and there is a ton of chaff in with the wheat here. But I have to admit that seems to be the point of this one. This is Paul McCartney's "Silly Love Songs" writ large. The experiment seems to have been to try to write love songs in as wide a variety of genres and styles as possible. As the title indicates, that effort often turns into a kind of joke, but songs like "The Book of Love" and "Papa Was a Rodeo" and maybe half a dozen others make you think maybe we SHOULD fill the world with silly love songs. I mean, 8 out of 69 would be a pretty dismal batting average for a baseball player and still makes one question the need for the other 61 songs, but my guess would be that the 8-10 songs that speak to me would not necessarily be the same 8-10 songs that anyone else would mark as standouts. So maybe that's the point?

An interesting ambitious idea and had plenty of good songs, though the length didn't feel fully warranted

It’s definitely 69 songs.

Heard it before. And I'm not gonna listen to it in full again for my review because it's just way too long. I did relisten to more than half of it and it is a good album, you just need to pick your favourite songs and compose your own standard length album out of it. Pretty impressive to make an album that's so sonically cohesive while also not making every song sound identical 3/5

Too many songs for a single project. I didn’t have the time to listen to this

23 would've done.

Kid of dug. His voice is something I'd rather hear in small doses. It's cool, but less is more.

Honestly, just too many songs. There are some great tracks on here, and some also not so great tracks. While I get the idea, I think they would have benefitted from some editing, there is a good album in there, in just gets bogged down by the pure number of songs. Highlights: "I Think I Need a New Heart" and "Nothing Matters When We're Dancing"

Too long

Good

really impressive, but man, 3 hours is so long

Album #935 I was annoyed having to sit through a whopping 2h 53m of music just so they could achieve the joke of having 69 songs on the album, so I was waffling between giving this either a 2 or a 3. I certainly won't be listening to this one again, but as a one-off listen, there was some interesting stuff here. They cover a wide range of music styles, some hits, some misses. They probably had to force in some mediocre songs just to hit 69. Was it worth it?

3 Chapters, 3 hours, 3 Stars

this is divided into three volumes on wikipedia so im going to listen to it like that; one at a time with a palate cleanser between each volume. ill rate each one and average them for the overall score. volume one: this wasn't bad, there were a few standout songs. the quality of this gives me hope for the rest of the album. 4/5 volume two: less enjoyable than part one. if i hadnt taken a break i wouldve hated this but on its own its like a 3/5 volume three: i feel like this one was the least consistent. it had the highest highs but also had the lowest lows. 3/5 overall my only real complaint is the insane length. taken as three separate sections i dont love any of them but they werent awful either.

It's the longest studio album on this challenge (Ella's The Gershwin Songbook is longer but that's a compilation album), and as a busy worker I needed two days to listen the full album. The fact is that writing 69 songs for one album that are pretty consistently good and make a consistent album is not a small feet. I liked many of the songs on the album, and thankfully indie folk/rock is a genre that I like. I could easily compile a short version of this album with my 15 favorite songs from it. The thing is, however that it is simply too long - 3 hours is a lot and I don't enjoy long albums very much. So I will give it 3 stars - 4 stars for the songs I particularly enjoyed, 2 stars for the length and 3 for the overall experience.

I mean it’s too long Obviously And the quality control is all over the place But when it is good it is sublime. There are a treasure trove of great songs locked away in here. Luckiest Guy…, Busby Berkeley and Book of Love are fabulous Stephen Merrit’s voice is obviously limited (that’s being kind) but I recommend checking out the Peter Gabriel version of Book of Love to see the glory of its songwriting really unlocked

My first thought was being annoyed that I need to listen to an album with 69 songs even though I appreciate the humor in that. After a few songs though I was really enjoying it. I had never heard of The Magnetic Fields but this album just feels like true indie to me. I'm not totally sure what that means but when I think of the origins of indie music, this is what I hear in my head. It all sounds pretty similar but varied at the same time. Okay I bailed halfway through LP2. LP1 was pretty fun for the most part but it got way too old. There's too much good new music right now to spend 3 hours on this. I think if they would have only kept the solid tracks and removed all the filler getting them to 69 songs and only had 43 minutes of love songs, it would have been pretty good.

Bien trop fleuve et grandiloquent pour moi. Le concept est intéressant, mais rien que le premier album nous fait passer par 15 genres différents. Qui plus est, ça reste de l'indie pop assez classique

Lots of really great songs here, but the length is not justified so I gotta give a 3, unfortunately

Oh god it finally happened to me. So he set out to write 100 love songs but got stuck at 69. Honestly I wish he limited himself to a lower number. Just writing funny number amount of songs for the sake of it, is not good. The songs that do stand out could be condensed to a 4 or 5 star album. For now 3/5

There were songs that I liked but the length of the record makes it hard to weigh as a full project. Lyrics were generally just fine. I didn't love the lead male vocals. The melodies and musical ideas were mostly good to great.

69 Love Songs is a fascinating idea, but a mixed execution. There are truly great songs here—“The Book of Love” is an all-time favorite of mine—but they’re too few and far between, hidden under a lot of filler. I can’t help but wonder if the strongest tracks ever got the credit they deserved, or if they were overshadowed by the sheer sprawl of the album. Some people swear by the whole 69-song experiment, but to me it feels more like the gimmick drove the reputation than the music itself. Just my two cents.

Definitely some tracks I enjoyed. Definitely some that felt more low effort. But as a sum of its parts I think it's a good album

I'll admit it, I skimmed the first disc and decided that it was good enough. Almost three hours of songs about the grand concept of "Love"? Yeah, nobody has time for all that. "The Book of Love" is the hit, covered several times by artists who probably didn't listen to the whole collection either. The rest of the tunes are curious little notes.

point0.

Quite a lot going on.

Too much...

3.1 1x cool album, but 2h45m was a lot of love songs. nice cariety and nothing here i didn't like

Some good songs, but no one needs a 69 track album.

This is going to take awhile.

#692. Neat, I guess, but I'm not listening to this whole thing. 3/5: fine

Ambitious, but too much chaff.

Definitely bold! It’s taken me five days to listen to it because I didn’t have the wherewithal to sit for three hours. So I listened to it in 15 to 20 song bouts. It definitely made me chortle in parts and I admired the tonal mix and variety of genres. But valiant it may be at three hours, its whimsy does not wholly compensate. It sounded at times like Tge Divine Comedy but longer… I think I need a new heart and Busby Berkeley dreams were worth the listen but I’m not sure I’ll ever listen to this again in its entirety.

I liked this more than expected, there were plenty of lyrics that had me chuckling. But the premise dooms the project. Too many songs to take it seriously as a "listen in one sitting" album. After the Gershwin songbook, no less. So, kudos. Ambitious project.

Mid

Hey guys, maybe try and focus on like 9 songs and make them, how do I say this, good? This is an album of mostly songs fragments. On They Might Be Giants album Apollo 18 they made a bunch of song fragments (later compiled as the song Fingertips) so if you put the cd on shuffle it would feel like flipping through the radio in between full songs. The only difference between Fingertips and this album is the Giants did it as a throwaway and they are talented so the fragments end up being interesting. That isn’t to say the Magnetic fields aren’t talented. I honestly think they are, the main guy plays tons of instruments competently on here, and there are some genuinely good songs (Papa was a Rodeo in particular). The problem is 70% of this album is unnecessary to downright bad. Also I hate the singer, is he singing bad on purpose or is he just tone deaf? Make the girl the lead/only singer and this album would be way better.

This was interesting as a concept album, and had quite a few that I really enjoyed.

What an absolutely crazy project! It was pretty good throughout the whole 3 volumes. It's honestly just too overwhelming to rate after a single listen, but I'm not going listen through this again 😅

I didn't make it all the way through this album. It is "69 songs" after all. But it was quite fun. Funny, even. Very nostalgic-feeling.

They delivered what they promised

Uummmm

In theory this is a cool concept before an album, in action too many songs lol like it all kinda seem the same or even kinda like they were stretching for "love" songs but it was interesting albeit flawed album

Would Andres Serrano's Piss Christ be as effective, without the viewer knowing the context of the photograph? This album begs the same question - would these songs hold up if not within the framework of a 69 track compendium , variations on the theme of love? My short answer is that some would and some would not, but those that would not are propped up by the concept of the record and therefore are part of the greater tapestry. Some songs are knockouts, some are silly, some like worse Yo La Tengo, one sounds like it could be a Stevie Nicks demo? There is country, jazz, indie, and so on - most with a very New York theatrical cabaret vibe. Funny how a majority of these 'love' songs are about loss or love going wrong - but thats life! There will definitely be something on here for everyone to relate to and dig - rudimentary or frivolous as some entries can be. Papa Was A Rodeo is GOATed.

Var faktiskt 69 låtar på riktigt. Nice

I liked this album a lot more than I thought. 69 Love Songs contained a lot of music genres which really interested me as you tend to see albums today with one only or two at most. I’ve listened to the full first disc and most of the second one. The first disc really reminded me of Adventure Time. My complaint is the amount of quantity in this album and the lack of lyrical substance. It’s hard to connect to a song if it’s not really catchy due to the lack of lyrical substance. I also loved how the group swaps between members for who sings. This is an album that definitely feels it will grow on me over time. My favorite song so far is definitely All My Little Words.

3 hours is…a lot. Listened to the first 23 and got the picture well enough. Liked some stuff, didn’t like others, middle of the road it is

Some of my favourite lil love songs of all time but fucking hell, 3 hours

Interesting assortment of Songs

My first reaction was "wow" 69 tracks. A daunting task to review, but I'm doing this in the hope of finding music, that I have not heard before, that I will ultimately revisit time again . This seemed to fit that that bill! Alas, this will not happen with this album. Having completed listening to it, "69 Love songs" is all of the following things; audacious, ambitious, funny, quirky, wry, charming, dull, satirical, excellent, good, awful and for the most part Ok. Towards the end it was tiresome. It's an interesting concept but perhaps a concept taken too far? The vocals are human, and flawed in places, I like that. Musically it is diverse, though somewhat one paced and the album, at times, just drifted from one song into another. Some of the songs I was indifferent to, others were good, some very good, one was awful and there are a few excellent stand out tracks. My wife's comment was "What are you listen to? This is weird" and she's a fan of David Sylvian! Perhaps this album is a case of "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts"? For me this is a 3⭐ album. Would I listen to this album again? No. Would I buy this album? No. Volume One 1 "Absolutely Cuckoo" - 3 2 "I Don't Believe in the Sun" - 3 3 "All My Little Words" I really liked this. This would get quantized to high heaven today to snap the vocals, but I don't care. - 5 4 "A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off" - Funny and catchy. - 5 5 "Reno Dakota" - 3 6 "I Don't Want to Get Over You" - Neil Young'ish introduction. 4 7 "Come Back from San Francisco" - Lovely voice. - 4 8 "The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side" - 4 9 "Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits" - 4 10 "The Cactus Where Your Heart Should Be" - 2 11 "I Think I Need a New Heart" - 3 12 "The Book of Love" - I think Peter Gabriel covered this. - 3 13 "Fido, Your Leash Is Too Long" - 3 14 "How Fucking Romantic" - 3 15 "The One You Really Love" - 3 16 "Punk Love" - 2 17 "Parades Go By" - 3 18 "Boa Constrictor" - 3 19 "A Pretty Girl Is Like..." - 3 20 "My Sentimental Melody" - 3 21 "Nothing Matters When We're Dancing" - 3 22 "Sweet-Lovin' Man" - 4 23 "The Things We Did and Didn't Do" - 3 Volume Two 24 "Roses" - 3 25 "Love Is Like Jazz" - 2 26 "When My Boy Walks Down the Street" - 4 27 "Time Enough for Rocking When We're Old" - Great lyrics! - 5 28 "Very Funny" - 4 29 "Grand Canyon" - 3 30 "No One Will Ever Love You" - 3 31 "If You Don't Cry" - 3 32 "You're My Only Home" - 3 33 "(Crazy for You But) Not That Crazy" - 3 34 "My Only Friend" - 3 35 "Promises of Eternity" - 3 36 "World Love" - 3 37 "Washington, D.C." - Naff. - 1 38 "Long-Forgotten Fairytale" - 3 39 "Kiss Me Like You Mean It" - 4 40 "Papa Was a Rodeo" - I really enjoyed this song. Liked the arrangement and lyrics. - 5 41 "Epitaph for My Heart" - 3 42 "Asleep and Dreaming" - 4 43 "The Sun Goes Down and the World Goes Dancing" - 3 44 "The Way You Say Good-Night" - 4 45 "Abigail, Belle of Kilronan" - 3 46 "I Shatter" - 3 Volume Three 47 "Underwear" - 4 48 "It's a Crime" - 3 49 "Busby Berkeley Dreams" - 4 50 "I'm Sorry I Love You" - 4 51 "Acoustic Guitar" - 4 52 "The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure" - 4 53 "Love in the Shadows" - 3 54 "Bitter Tears" - 3 55 "Wi' Nae Wee Bairn Ye'll Me Beget" - 3 56 "Yeah! Oh, Yeah!" - 3 57 "Experimental Music Love" - 3 58 "Meaningless" - 3 59 "Love Is Like a Bottle of Gin" - It gets an extra star for comparing love to Gin. - 4 60 "Queen of the Savages" - 3 61 "Blue You" - This just might be the best song across the collection! - 5 62 "I Can't Touch You Anymore" - 3 63 "Two Kinds of People" - 3 64 "How to Say Goodbye" - 3 65 "The Night You Can't Remember" - 3 66 "For We Are the King of the Boudoir" - 3 67 "Strange Eyes" - 3 68 "Xylophone Track" - In the style of Lee Marvin! - 3 69 "Zebra" - 3 Total - 228 Average - 3.30

3/5

Wow...um, not sure how to begin on this one. Every song is completely different, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but is a bit jarring when you think that many albums do you have some sort of a theme or a flow to them and this one just does not! There are definitely moments of fun with clever, bouncy lyrics and melodies, and some catchy tunes that could easily become earworms, but I'm not certain that I will return to this monstrosity of an album very often.

very large body of work here. sounds like a slightly upbeat The Handsome Family on a good day.

first listen some of it is alright and man is it long

This is simply too many songs. Some of them I liked a lot but at a certain point your eyes just glaze over.

Boy, the combination of this and the Ella Fitzgerald record in the same week had be struggling to keep up, but I made it through! This one is also a really quality listen with plenty of interesting topics and a heavy dose of humor. The songs explore nearly every side of love, with ignorant bliss and crushing heartbreak working side-by-side. 6/10

A lot of good things, but the third part doesnt bring anyrhing new The concept is nice, but hard to execute

Weird album but sometimes weird is good. There aren't your normal type songs and I'm glad for that. A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off is just one of the great songs on this sprawling set.

3 uur.. Wel een goeie ervaring. Dat op verschillende nummers verschillende mensen zingen scheelt een hoop om te voorkomen dat het saai wordt. Zo hier en daar ook echt wel top nummers.

Álbum bem variado musicalmente. Truthear Zero: Red.

With an album with such a length and containing so many songs, it’s difficult to fully assess this recording. Indeed, it’s a bit of an ask to listen to it in one sitting. However, one thing that comes across is that there’s a wide variance in quality. Nothing particularly bad on the album, all the songs have a certain quality but some are definitely better than others.

Really good, impressive they made an album of 69 songs and i cant think of one that was bad

Never heard of them.There are a bunch of songs on here that I quite like, well, the melody at least, but in general I couldn't quite get into it. Maybe I'm just old. 69 songs is a great effort and It's by no means a bad album but just not for me.

fun!! sooo long...

I spent 968 albums dreading this based on all of the gripe I've read… and I like it. Starting with the cover, this album leaves nothing to the imagination. It's a concept album. About love songs. 69 songs long. This no-frills cover does what 80% of the albums on this list can't even come close to. No foggy paintings of lakes with boats on them, no poetic interpretation. 69 Love songs is different and original and when compared to the endless amounts of Britpop that shouldn't be hear, it's probably shorter. 3.5/5

Pleasant music to turn it on behind and not keeping notice of it. Put it on repeat and you will never get bored. But to listen it - it would be a huge deal. I did it now, once, and I will never do that again. Almost 3 hours!? No, thanks.

Could've cut it down to a dozen or so and been better.

As soon as I forgot 'album' and regarded this as a song cycle it made more sense.

It feels a bit like an academic exercise.

quantity over quality...?

I often describe these albums of having chill vibes, but this one especially has chill vibes, plus the shear quantity.

Hørte ikke alle 69.

Finfi, men litt for lang

Ein god langspillar.

Random thoughts: * 69, heh heh heh * Kidding aside, this is a real ambitious endeavor. He tried for 100 songs and decided he could only make it to 69. * This was daunting, seeing it was a 2 hour and 52 minute play time across 3 discs. This nearly broke me. That a lot of listening. * There is no one I can fully comprehend and adequately rate this album after a single listen. It is definitely one that might be worth revisiting. * I liked some of the more psychedelic sounding tracks which seemed to be more on disc 3. "Underwear" was a standout."Papa Was A Rodeo". There was another song that had the voice all distorted like Darth Vader. That was cool. * Anyway, this is a big bold album and is definitely the kind of album that should be on 1001. Maybe I'll drift back into this one again and give it the proper attention needed.

Didn’t wanna like this because of how long it was, but kinda liked it wasn’t able to listen to the whole thing

Very extense and varied.

Guy wrote 69 love songs while hanging out in bars in NYC in mid 90s. Indie pop. Lovely and folksy, very simple, pretty arrangements. Really cute.

Found some of these songs kinda charming…

THREE HOURS! waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa 3/5, and yes I did listen to every single song

I made it. It drug on at times, but it wasn’t the slough I thought it would be. Short songs kept me engaged.

These songs were funny lyrically. Decent album musically, another one to check off the list.

I did not make it through the whole album, but I like some of their stuff. Going with three.

Fav: The One You Really Love Notes: This one takes some getting used to. Clocking in at nearly 3 hours, it's hard to do that in one day as this exercise demands. Def could have been cut down but then you wouldn't have 69 songs I guess. Good bit of song writing nonetheless.

NGL, didn't have the time to give this one a thorough listen, but it's 69 songs on 3 discs, so, I think that's not really a surprise. There's some fun stuff on here, I love his voice. The song writing is fun, but it's a bit much of one thing, though I respect the concept and the dedication they obviously had to record 69 love songs on one album.

Perfect number of love songs

What a slog this was. This album absolutely bottlenecked my progress on this project. I’d listen to a chunk when I could, then when I came back I’d always jump in at the wrong spot, not realizing it until some lyrics felt vaguely familiar. Then I’d have to hunt around to find where I’d actually left off. This cycle repeated itself over and over across a couple of weeks, until the clouds finally parted today and I made it to the end. I can’t help but wonder about the impetus for this project. It honestly sounds like something dreamed up as a bar bet: "69 is a funny number; I bet I can write 69 love songs for my next album.” To be fair, the music itself isn’t bad at all. There’s every genre you could think of here (and even some you couldn't), and everything is sung and played well. Still, many of the songs reminded me of commercial jingles or show tunes--clever, busy, and eager to land a witty lyric or unexpected rhyme rather than dig into something more vulnerable. They feel more like exercises in craft than expressions of feeling. Smart, competent, and occasionally charming, but ultimately more head than heart.

mid

Oh wow, literally 69 songs. This might be the only album I do today. Lots of nice songs, but (like many others said), there's bound to be filler with so many songs. 3* The "Great Value Johnny Cash" description in someone else's review was pretty spot on. The book of love sounded familiar, but i didn't recognize any of the Wikipedia mentions.

Once I learned this wasn’t almost 3 hours of experimental electronica I breathed a sigh of relief. At least it was relatively pleasant.

There were actually 69 damn songs

This is...a lot. It's a sullen and melancholic mood for the most part, with drone vocals and some funky electronic music to complement. It's okay overall, but I won't seek this out unless I'm looking to fit in a particular scene. It's okay.

I rolled my eyes at the concept and the name of the album. However, I managed to get through the first two volumes and actually quite enjoyed it, the lyrics were humourous and there was good variety. Didn’t finish it so can’t be a 4 but I quite liked what I heard

Prolific album

Always thought this was a bit too gimmicky for its own good, though there's still a lot to like here. My favorites tend to be when they dip into country (e.g., "All My Little Words" or "The One You Really Love"), or the more Brill Building-ish songs (such as "Sweet Lovin' Man" or "When My Boy Walks Down the Street"). Luckily for me, both those types of songwriting get their own full albums, which I end up listening to a whole lot more. 3 hours is just too much! Listen to The Wayward Bus or Charm of the Highway Strip or something, don't listen to this one unless you're *really* dedicated.

A good thing, but you know what they say about too much of a good thing…

It’s definitely one of the most unique albums on the list, and I respect that, but at the same time it’s 3 hours (although it’s less boring than you would think) Also I kind of want to get the Gershwin Songbook tomorrow just because I think getting both 3 hour albums in a row would be really funny

I liked it a bit more than I thought I would. It’s certainly a lyrics album, I wish I had the ability to listen in as closely as I should. Way too long though, very tedious to get through.

3/5

So self-indulgent to take 15 bangers and dilute them with a bunch of also-rans. Nobody wants to listen to a fucking triple album. Stop it. 2.5

I liked the songwriting, the male singer's deep voice, and the general vibe, but I wasn't going to listen to 2 hours of this. I like it, but the lyrics require more attention than I can spare while working. Better for a long car drive.

A singular experience. This sounds like an alien or an AI model who’s been fed 69 random love songs and has tried to recreate 69 of its own, realizing the form but feeling distinctly soulless and unnerving in the actual content. But it seems that was the exact vibe they wanted? There’s a lot I could say about this, much of it bad, some of it good. There are some horrible songs, a few legitimately good ones, and a ton of experimental oddities swimming around in the difference. It’s difficult to evaluate that last group, because so many tracks feel more like goofy proofs-of-concept or stabs at a new genre rather than actual songs. The experience of listening to it is full of novelty, but at the end you’re going “what?” more than any feeling of admiration. So I have no desire to ever listen to this again, but I can’t keep myself from appreciating the extreme ambition as well as the bizarre humility of this album. It did exactly what it set out to do in an incredibly weird way, and so I can’t help but judge it to be a success. Disc 1’s best song: The Book of Love Disc 2’s best song: Papa Was a Rodeo Disc 3’s best song: I Can’t Touch You Anymore

Not gonna lie, I did not get through all of these. Some were pretty good - but come onn, 69 tracks?!

Oh this is literally 69 songs...not nice. I guess what I'll try to do is just type out which songs I like per disc and just grade it from there...here goes: Disc 1: All My Little Words, I Don't Want to Get Over You, I Think I Need A New Heart (heard this one before and it's in The Bear season 2 finale for anyone curious) Disc 2: When My Boy..., No One Will Ever Love You, Epitaph For A Heart Disc 3: Underwear, Bitter Tears Out of the 69 songs, I only really liked 8. The rest were pretty good though, but I did hit skip on at least 3 or 4 (like I Shatter) that were bad. I don't know what to do with this one other then give it a straight 3.

I spent the weekend on ketamine a f****** my way through all of these songs with my girlfriend at the cottage

Jaha. Det här är för svårt att bedöma på ett rättvisande sätt. Jag har bara lyssnat en gång. Delvis ofokuserat. Gillar den mörka rösten. Och en hel del låtar är bra (tex den första.... ) Men det hade varit mycket bättre om det kokades ner till ett vanligt album. Får ändå trea, för det är mycket som är bra. Men det drar ner att det är för mycket.

Väldigt svårbedömt, särskilt eftersom det inte blir aktuellt med mer än en genomlyssning. En del är hyfsat bra men en del är rätt uselt också. Lite övervägande åt det sämre hållet så det blir en svag trea.

From a songwriting perspective, it's a massive accomplishment to follow through on the concept of creating a new take on love for this many songs, and even more impressive to finish in a relatively short amount of time. I don't care for a lot of the songs, but some are very good. It's not a hot take, but The Book of Love is probably the best song, even if I prefer Peter Gabriel's version because that man is magic. I chose Nothing Matters When We're Dancing because I love the line: "Be we in Paris or in Lansing / Nothing matters when we're dancing".

That's a lot of songs, went down a rabbit hole to learn about them. Interesting

Getting 3 stars only due to the 'creativity'. It's interesting.... Wouldn't listen to this again, not for me.

Som med många längre album på den här listan, så ligger det säkert en perfekt platta gömd här. Som den nu är så har den en del filler men många bra stunder också

57/100.

Wow! Not sure what to think of this grandiose project. It had humor but didn’t really feel developed and fully maturated. It seemed more a collection of 69 poems. Most of these had clever wordplay and quirky twists but musically felt underdeveloped, more analogous to a poem with imagery and simple rhymes but musically had oversimplified repetitive melodies. I don’t think I’d ever want to listen to this album in its entirety again but the subjects and ‘songs’ are interesting and quirky enough that individually I wouldn’t mind hearing them again. Interestingly most of these songs are not love songs but more unloved songs. I’m not convinced based on these songs that the singer ever has been in love but these feel like a bunch of painful separations without deeper love and passion.

Reno Dakota was my favorite song. I listened to the first disc and it was ok overall. But I’m not going to listen to three hours of this band.

My second time listening to this monstrosity. It would have really pissed me off if it was a work day today, but thankfully I was travelling cross-US so I had time to kill with this rather extensive record keeping me company. It’s good music, a bit too indie for my liking, but nothing spectacular and of course two hours longer than it needs to be. Time Enough For Rocking When We’re Old was my favourite, it reminded me of Crash Test Dummies.

Too good but too long

Sehr unterschiedliche Songs. Allein die Masse von 69 Songs ist erschlagend. Vielleicht irgendwann nochmal komplett hören. 3/5

Meh

There's a certain brilliance to this album. Also a certain ridiculousness. I really enjoyed some of it, and the parts that didn't do it so much for me at least came in shorts spurts. I probably won't ever listen to this start-to-finish again, but there will certainly be songs that stay with me.

This has some great moments - I already loved Yeah Oh Yeah and the Book of Love especially - some of it washes over me. Some of it is almost purposefully annoying/kitsch, like Zebra or the boudoir/medieval track towards the end. I think it needs repeat listens for more songs to reveal themselves to me. All My Little Words, Promises of Eternity, Papa Was a Rodeo all have promise in this regard. But it's so long!

So, there are just way too many songs on here to listen to in one day, unless it was my job to do so. I listened to about a dozen and then quit because even though I am retired, I do still have a life. Anyway, for the most part I did enjoy what I heard, although Stephin Merritt’s voice wasn’t my favorite, especially when at times he seems to have a really loose relationship with the concept of pitch. I guess I will give this one a three based on my limited sampling.

This was interesting, but im not going to listen to 3 hours it

Favorite Track: Absolutely Cuckoo

Really long, could be decent, could be gay. Overall was alright

Hahahahahahahahahahahahagagagagagagagahagahahahaha

It's fun, too long, witty, unevenly sung, heartfelt, and too damn long. It's the weirdest thing, a three-star five-star album

The songs are fine but this was a slog to get through

En su generalidad es muy bueno. Notable calidad y muy pragmático, abarcativo de muchos géneros. Al ser tan largo también tiene mucho relleno que sobra, el 3er disco ya está prácticamente de más (o quizás me cansé).

some are gems, others completely forgettable favorite track: no one will ever love you

Some good songs watered down with a lot of meh.

This album has 69 tracks and is 2 hr 45 min. Wow. I did get through it all, but only once. I was familiar with a few songs, mostly because Spotify chose to plug them (or maybe KEXP did?): "Absolutely Cuckoo", "All My Little Words", "The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side". The vocals can sometimes be a little too drawl'y for my taste, but the melodies are ok.

This ultimately suffers under the weight of its own conceit. If it had been, I don't know, even 39 love songs, it would have easily been a 4 or 5. But there's plenty that varies from filler to bad that the great songs (I Think I Need a New Heart, I Don't Want to Get Over You, Papa Was a Rodeo - and so many others) get totally drowned out.

a lot of interesting stuff here that I enjoyed! Just not enough to justify 3 hours long haha It's too bad this wasn't edited a bit more.

A mixed bag of tracks here. Some I enjoyed. Some I passed on. A lot of humour, though which made me smile!

Most of these songs are good. Just depends on who sings them.

I like the idea, the idea is fun and i think almost all songs are like a good 3. I listened to disk 1 and it’s good background music. Nothing reeally exceptional, but then again this is not about that. It really captures the generic lovesong genre.

Inte alls tokigt. Det som är tokigt är att den är för lång. Hade det varit 20 låtar så kanske det blivit en fyra eller femma.

Okay I only listened to the first 9 songs which is why I will give this a neutral rating. I actually did not hate it as much as I thought it would, but I will not rate any higher because the premise of this album is so ridiculous I cannot be bothered to listen to any more than what I did.

I didn't dislike this enough to skip any tracks, but I also didn't like it enough to particularly enjoy it. I got through the entire album though, so there's that I guess.

WAY TOOOOOOOOOOO LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG!!!

Delightfully weird enough to keep me interested for most of the absurd running time. I likely will never listen to this again, but for a somewhat harebrained gimmick I’d say they pulled it off.

Quirky mix of genres. Varied instrumentation about love in all forms. I'm never going to listen to this again.

Oof. The strength of this triple album is also it's weakness: variety. If I could select the songs, I could probably make a single 4* album. But there were also a lot of 2* songs. In the end, there's just too much stuff I don't enjoy to rank this any higher than 3*.

Hideous

Some gems tucked in between some strange and mediocre songs

Not horrible

Love song indie rock from the 90s. I didn't listen to the entire 69 songs but I enjoyed what I listened to. Standouts: Absolutely Cuckoo, A Chicken With It's Head Cut Off and I Think I Need A New Heart.

Enjoying it for the nostalgia factor, but goodness gracious what a collection of wholly unpleasant singing voices.

It's damn long, but it's nice

1st song-its mid dont like it it sound lame and idk what to say this one i rate on 1/10 2nd song- i really like it but i rate like 8/10 3rd song-

I don't know who had the more daunting task, Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields for writing and recording 69 songs or me, listening to the whole thing in one sitting. This three volume concept album set is an enormous project that is hard to believe was actually released, but for the less masochistic fan was also released as three separate volumes. I think of prolific artists, such as Ryan Adams who earlier this year (Jan. 1, 2024) released five albums in one day and their need to record pretty much everything they write. I didn't have the patience to actually focus too hard on each song, but as a whole this is the classic example of "throwing it against the wall and see what sticks" approach. There are so many songs and not just short ditties under a minute (yes, there are some), as most are around the 2-3 minute length with two at 5 minutes, so it definitely wasn't a brisk listen. Though many songs sounded like lo-fi demos or felt incomplete, there are some really good developed songs on here and the range of styles and instrumentation is varied enough to not become too boring. The reality is this is a self-indulgent project that is hit and miss and there's no doubt, quality is sacrificed for quantity. If you're patient, there are some gems in here, but who can tell when it all becomes a blur after awhile. This could have been a solid album edited down to one volume, as no one should have to listen to 3 hours of a mixed bag of ideas.

69

Fine but no I did not listen to all 69 ffs.

I enjoyed this more than I expected to -- there's a wide range of genres, and the lyrics are clever. But I'm not sure we need three hours worth. Had it been a single album, it would have merited four stars.

Known about the album/project for a while but had never listened to the whole thing, so thanks for that, generator. Figured it would be a 4-5 for me, but nope. Many songs I love and I dig the concept of producing so many songs around the vagaries of love, but too much felt beyond filler. 33 and I might coulda five-starred and listened regularly. As it stands, probably not. Will just try to remember and cherry pick the jewels.

about 59 songs too many

I enjoyed half of this album. The rest was alright with a few really bad ones thrown in This album should have been way shorter than it was though. Felt like a chore chipping away! 3 ⭐️

A cool concept, and I like the sound, but it does run together as you love through it. Still, generally enjoyable.