Reviews (page 7 of 9)
Another one that I’ll stop after disc 1. The cover of Book of Love is great as Izzy says. The rest, a bit subpar Divine Comedy.
I liked the eclecticness and ambition but this was just too long to get a grip of. I liked what I heard though
Songs we ok but way too long
Quantity over quality. Honestly, not gonna listen to all of these. Low effort creativity and musicianship. Feels like a stunt album just to use "Love" and "69" hyuk, hyuk.
I can't believe a 3 hour album is a 5 star experience
Some of the songs really pluck the heart strings
can’t say i listened to the whole thing but there are so many catchy little tunes that remind me of being a 13 yr old with a ukulele twee will always be famous
Hard to score, because its obviously not meant to be listened to all the way through. And i think i respect it enough for its commitment to the bit. Not all songs are killer but some are and thats an achievement.
2.5 stars. Interesting conceptually, but at nearly 3 hours long it's lot to sit through. Lyrically clever at times as it's a take on love songs, not really love songs themselves. "I Don't Want to Get Over You", "The Book of Love", "Sweet-Lovin' Man" were the standouts.
I almost admire the audacity to release a 3 hour album of love songs. By my ratings system, I should give this a 1 because I didn't finish it. I only got through about 40 songs. Most are generic nothing songs and it was all blending by the time I called it quits. There are a couple in here that I actually recognized and enjoyed, but the rest was forgettable. I would hardly call this mandatory listening.
Good but super long
It's like Our Gang meets painfully ironic ennui. Trying way too hard to be clever and original and not really pulling it off for me. Maybe a third of these songs I'd want to hear again, but not for a while.
Music for a middle school drama club. And way too much of it. Barely listenable for me. Bright spot - Sweet Lovin' Man Might be 10 or 12 decent songs in here, but easy to miss amongst the nonsense
What I listened to was fine, but this was just too long to commit to without it being truly exceptional.
There are several songs on this inside and typically ill-advised album that I love. The Book of Love is a truly incredible song and one of my favorite love songs ever. Papa Was a Rodeo is a great tune, a bit sad and possibly disturbing (love was a trucker’s hand). When My Boy Walks Down The Street is a fun one. There isn’t really another album like it, which is a great accomplishment in itself. It is a LOT to take in in a single sitting, and would take dozens of spins at least to fully digest. It’s a tremendous album filled with many good songs, some filler too, but the fact that it exists is a marvel.
This album is nothing if not a testamanent to the raw human urge to create. There's something inherently self-indulgent and obnoxious about this whole project, but they do pretty much pull it off - it's more twee folk inspired indiepop than anyone could ever need, but hard to begrudge a bit of eccentricity and commitment to the bit. Systematically trying to find so may different approaches musically and lyrically to such a familiar topic does produce some great juxtapositions of perspective and feeling. Somehow it's both eclectic in its genre borrowing and very samey - inevitable after 3 hours I guess. They're good at powerpop, indie folk, alt country, and that kind of high-desert Leonard Cohen meets Calexico thing (Underwear), but very bad at gospel, piano ballads, euro electopop, and all the kinds of jazz. Some poignant turns of phrase and disarming melodies, lots of pretty guitar sounds, the odd synth lead, lots of duds and plenty of keepers - again, inevitable after 3 hours. Hard to be negative about an album with so many great songs, but there is SO MUCH FILLER. 20 Love songs would be a nearly perfect album. With 69 songs there's so much opportunity to make terrible decisions, like sticking a flute on the otherwise good 60s psych pop Sweet-Loving Man or the excessive stereo panning on Abigail. The really low pitch singing songs are unbearable, especially when he goes into that amelodic warbling (Cactus, Busby) and the ukelele based songs are as irritating as all ukelele based songs (Pretty Girl is Like, Nothing Matters when we're Dancing). It's hard not to resent them for creating the template for Sufjan Stevens and wave of crooning cloying banjo/ukelele twats who followed suit. Favorites: All My Little Words, I Don't Want to Get Over You, Sweet-Loving Man, Time enough for Rocking, Grand Canyon, No One Will Ever Love You, Papa Was a Rodeo, Epitaph for My Heart, Underwear, I'm Sorry I Love You, Death of Ferdinand de Saussure, Yeah oh Yeah! How to Say Goodbye
Me ha resultado monótono pero quizá no elegí el momento adecuado para escucharlo.
I looked at the track list and thought, "There's no way I listen to the entire thing." And then I did. Thanks overnight shift! Honestly, bloat aside, there's a lot of fantastically catchy pop songs here. Not everything is a hit (Christ, could you imagine?). They switch up singers and styles so frequently that listening isn't a full chore. Is it easy to zone out to? Sure. But I found myself listening more than I anticipated I would. For my money, I think section/disc/whatever 2 is the strongest, and while I appreciate that the band just fucking went for it, it's not anything I plan on revisiting in its entirety. Favorite tracks: "A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off", "The Book of Love", "No One Will Ever Love You", "Papa Was A Rodeo", "Busby Berkeley Dreams", "The Death of Ferdinand De Saussure"
I don’t know every album on this list. I try not to spoil too much of it for myself. But I know quite a few. And there was only one that I was legitimately dreading a full listen of. That’s this one. I was just hoping and praying I would get it on a day like Saturday, where I could just sit down for three hours and listen to it in one sitting. Unfortunately I was not granted that blessing. And so really the only way I was going to be able to finish the whole thing in time to write a proper review was to almost exclusively listen to this all day. This was a bad idea. I was torturing myself. This is basically three albums in one. And the problem is that even one of these would be too much for me. Nearly an hour is a lot of music. And before I had even finished the first one, I was already getting sick of this. Imagine Jeff Tweedy from Wilco said to the band, “Let’s take all of our scrapped songs and demos, good or bad, finish them, and make one big album”. Except throw out all of what makes Wilco so interesting. This has charming, comedic and lighthearted aspects to it. And they really weren’t lying. This is 69 different love songs. I can admire the creativity it takes to write nearly 70 unique songs about the same thing. And some of the songs do have great lyrics and meanings to them. But it sucks that I can’t remember any of it, because I turned my brain to mush with three hours of indie music. It is just too much of one thing for me. Some albums I will never listen to again because I really dislike them. With this, I will never listen to it again because I don’t want to put myself through that again. Rating: 5/10
At first I thought "three hours, come on". No album should last that long. There are some nice and some less nice songs, but in general it was fairly easy listening. 4 stars for their musicianship.
I actually listened to all of this. A majority of it is very charming with nice melodies but also got annoying in places.
I genuinely loved this. The arrangements, the electronic section, the male and female vocals, the writing, the way it bounces about between styles. Perfect. An album of 69 love songs should not be this good.
Listened to this during a flight to Paris and the whole way back. Still had half an hour of it left to do 😫 Not bad, but nothing needs to last for 3 hours
Wow they weren't kidding eh
69 Love Songs is one love song too many. The song that should have been omitted is Love Is Like Jazz, but ya can’t really have an album about love songs titled 68 Love Songs so ya might as well leave it in. It’s just a bad song, or bad jazz, or both. Overall, I like the album and the concept. A Chicken With It’s Head Cut Off, Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits, and Papa Was a Rodeo are among the better songs. Album runs a little long for one listening session, no kidding. (2.2*s)
What a bloated, pretentious collection of average Indie rock. Maybe there are some good or very good of songs but they are lost within all the mediocrity.
Larguísimo, pero tiene sus joyas. No one will ever love you es una de mis favoritas de la vida.
It took quite a while to get through all 69 love songs due to its epic size, but it's just a like from me
it’s good, but it’s like reading the Iliad and the odyssey.
Unbelievably boring indie hipster crap
How about 10 love songs next time?
Heard of the album but never listened to any of the songs until now. What a surprise. I really enjoyed it, all 69 of them.
Not a bad collection of love songs. Was really well done, but as I think almost everyone can attest, just soooooo long. I'll give it an even 2.5/5
To be honest: I almost balked at the length of the album. But I decided to test myself and give it a shot. For the most part this is a pretty good album. Sure there’s filler to pad out the run time, but there’s plenty of tracks here that are fun and catchy. The best way to listen to it is a chunk at a time.
I listened to 3 songs and then freaked out that there were 66 more and gave up
Idk how to rate this. I guess I like the intention and context of this record but I could never listen to it again.
Listening to this whole album was a project in itself. Some of these had me laughing. Sometimes with the song. Sometimes AT the song. The lyric writing is elementary at best but one star for writing 69 songs and one star for making me laugh. Yeah oh yeah was hysterical.
I love The Magnetic Fields, but back in the day I felt like nobody - absolutely NOBODY - should release an album with 69 songs, even if it's split over 3 volumes. I feel even more strongly about that sentiment today. In reality, there's not 69 songs on this record. A few of the songs sound so similar that they could seamlessly blend together; a few of the songs are merely 30-60 second interludes; a few of the songs feel undercooked and should have been given more time to develop. This really should have been called "25 Love Songs". It's definitely an ambitious exercise that resulted in quantity over quality. That being said, there's some gorgeous tunes on this record. "All My Little Words" remains one of my favourite songs. It's beautifully heartbreaking. Plus, it introduced me to the term "unboyfriendable". Genius. "The Book of Love" is a first class cover. "The Sun Goes Down and the World Goes Dancing" is quintessential Magnetic Fields. And then they change things up with "Long-Forgotten Fairytale" and it hits just the same. Stephen Merrell has such a unique voice & tongue-in-cheek delivery that I could listen to him sing almost anything. Underappreciated front man, in my dipshit opinion. But then he drops "I Shatter" and even fans of Kid A would say, "Bloody hell, Steve, stop smelling your own farts, mate." Fittingly, "Love is Like Jazz" is the biggest turd on the album. I wonder if that was intentional. 🤔 A daily album generating app should not be recommending records this long, but whatever - The Magnetic Fields rule. 🤟❤️
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
Quirky and funny. Every song is different but same theme and concept throughout. Never something I’d revisit.
One full extra star for Book of Love
Assigning a song to each of my next 69 hinge matches
Scrubs soundtrack ass music
Meh. Way too long, did not finish.
We’ve had two classic albums by two of the biggest and most influential artists of the period. Now this.
For someone like me, brought up in the 50’s, in a home where my daily soundtrack was the so-called Great American Songbook (even after the arrival of Elvis), these 69 songs were a revelation. But it wasn’t until I heard the reference to Rodgers & Hart, composers of the standard Isn’t It Romantic (1932) in How Fucking Romantic (track 15 on Disc One), that I realised where Stephin Merritt was coming from. I named my son Lorenz after Lorenz Hart, one of the great Broadway lyricists (My Funny Valentine, Blue Moon, The Lady Is A Tramp, etc.) and was known for his witty rhymes - e.g. from I Wish I Were In Love Again : “ When love congeals It soon reveals The faint aroma of performing seals The double-crossing of a pair of heels I wish I were in love again”. My favourite on 69 Songs comes in the very last track, Zebra : “We've got so many tchotchkes We've practically emptied the Louvre In most of our palaces There's hardly room to maneuver Well I shan't go to Bali today I must stay home and Hoover Up the gold dust That doesn't mean we're in love“. I should have realised after Track 5, Reno Dakota, that the musical references here were coming from all over : “ Reno Dakota, I'm no Nino Rota”. Track 11 on CD Two - My Only Friend - is a beautiful tribute to Billie Holiday, who I named my daughter after, so, by that stage, the album was becoming a real family affair, across three generations. I’ve only had time to play this once, but it is full of winners. World Love (sounds like a world music track from a Soweto album); Washington D.C. (girl group sound); Papa Was A Rodeo (70’s singer/songwriter/c&w); and so many songs where Merritt could be channelling Leonard Cohen with that voice. Look, the whole things worth it for Busby Berkeley Dreams. I love this recording & will be hammering it severely.
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 are some clever wordplay and 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 forced march through the Russian winter. Let's call it three stars, because it is clever and well written and full of good ideas, even if the execution is shite.
Nope. 2 hours and 40 minutes of 69 unremarkable songs. Scanned a few, couldn't be bothered. Not sure why its here.
I made it through 2/3s of this to realize that I don’t need to spend another hour on it. Now, a few songs are good without a doubt. But is this a good listening experience as an album? Absolutely not. And some songs are outright bad and/or simply fillers. I can understand that it’s a fun project to put together for yourself, but to write 69 love songs for the sake of it doesn’t really cut the mustard for me as an album.
Too long, seemed amateurish.
Despite the wide variety of tracks, this album was downright annoying to get through at way too many points. I don't like the main guy's voice and the vocalist changes are no reprieve either (they're actually worse). Is this whole thing a joke? Not for me at all.
Started out like what is this...a guy trying to pump out simple love songs to set the record for most on one album? By the end of the 3rd disc, I still felt the same but the songs got a little better. Writing 69 love songs (# choice intended) is a feat but just cause someone does it, doesn't mean it should make a top album list. Def would be a better listen in a late night drag bar...
What a unique and charming collection of songs. Some of them are little more than demos or short clips. A few of them are skippable but many of the songs are enjoyable. Overall the collection is a far too long and drags a bit by the end . As a collective project I don't expect to listen to this again but I am glad that I was exposed to this. Never heard of The Magnetic Fields before this. This lead singer has a unique voice that I suspect I will enjoy outside of this project. Interested in checking out some of their other hits. 2.64 stars stars
2.5. Funny project. Some good songs, a lot of ok songs, but also a lot of stinkers
2.5
The band members can’t seriously think all of these songs are good? Some of them are so close to being good songs, maybe if they’d cut out a majority of the songs and focused on these few this would be a fantastic indie album. As it is, it stinks.
69 dull songs derivative of the Divine Comedy and Lloyd Cole.
This is a 4 star album, less 1 star for stretching it to 3 disks and less another star for stretching it to 2 disks. They who live by the disk die by the disk.
69 love songs but nary a one about 69
3 hours of love songs? How about no. It only gets a 2nd star because I'm feeling nice for putting in the effort.
Ok, c'était vraiment trop long...
1. No album should be this long.
Garbage
Looked at the album length and then immediately exited out of spotify
i mean i guess some songs are okay but seriously what do you want from me. its not even that impressive of a feat to make this large of an album, it was 1999 producing music was easy at this point.
Too many sub par songs
Get the fuck out of here with that shit Will I listen to again: 0%
Many critics accuse prog of being pretentious and for the most part they're right. (Looking at you ELP) Yet this is some of the most pretentious shit I've ever heard in my life yet the know-it-all writer that passes as a rock critic will praise this. Boring, self absorbed, bordering on narcissistic. Shut up!
I knew this 172 minute long album would be coming up in the next year, so I took the opportunity to listen whilst I had an afternoon of quietly reviewing documents. I thought I'd write my review in real time, too. 11 tracks in, I really like this. It's pleasant indie music which ebbs and flows and an interesting meditation on various aspects of love. I also really like the low register vocals of Stephin Merritt and the variety of having about a third of the tracks sung by one of four other lead vocalists. Claudia Gonson's vocals are a particularly nice counterpoint to Merritt's. 23 tracks in and at the end of volume 1. The second half of volume 1 got a lot more musically experimental and varied, and is great! - As good as the first 12 tracks of volume 1 were, 172 mins and 3 seconds of the same thing would be a bit too much. 34 tracks in and half way through volume 2. It's similar to volume 1 so far, but somehow still enjoyable and not getting boring. 46 tracks, and 115 minutes and 37 seconds in, at the end of volume 2. It's starting to drag a little. Only one volume and less than an hour to go now. Volume 3 starts with a bit of a burst of energy, and is decent throughout with a pleasant vibe but plenty of variety and weirdness thrown in. Overall, this is an odd one. Although I didn't like every track, I liked every volume and can see how each track contributes to the volume. It is obviously too much to be listened to as an album in the normal way. It did drag a bit beyond the halfway point. However, this was purely because of the length. The music actually mitigated the dragginess. Considering I've thought some 30 minute albums dragged, it is testament to the quality of this that it only dragged a little. Scoring wise, each individual volume would be 3.5 or 4 out of 5. I'd knock a point off for the monstrous length which makes it impossible as an album, but would add half a point back on for ambition. Rating: 3.5/5 Playlist track: The Book of Love Date listened: 05/10/23 (generated 27/01/24)
Some beautiful songs. Incredible stamina!
Garbage. Can someone really make it through 3 hours of this?? 1/5
Funny…quirky…might listen again. Boston dude.
As bloated as it might be, I gotta say that I actually enjoyed that one quite a bit. But you know, I'm a sucker for concepts revolving around some romantic sad bastards trying to understand love. Musically it has a bit of everything indie, at times sounding like some lightweight Nick Cave, some other songs reminded me of Belle & Sebastian or even Silver Jews. Of course it's too long but I felt drawn in anyway. I'll actually return to it someday.
3 hours of half-baked demos. How is this... No. You know what? Nevermind.
The water drop torture is a method of torture consisting of tying a condemned person immobile to a board. From then on, at regular intervals, a drop of water fell on his forehead. Lack of sleep and repetition wear down the subject's resistance. This results in a psychological alteration of the victim, who ends up going crazy.
A bit droning, not too interesting
al momento en el que escribo esto, escuché 25 canciones y lo Disfruté más de lo que pensé, aunque es una barbaridad 69 canciones (3 hrs de duracion) alguien puede pensar en las personas con atención pobre como yo? ah
Certainly a variety
How you keep something this long this engaging is a work of passion and art.
Overall, it's a very pleasant noise. Only a few tracks actually caught my attention (Book of love), but in general it's music I like.
Unique indie sound. It's a mood
I've really given it my best shot, but it's just not for me.
I did a marathon in 2019. When I decided to do it, I was excited by the prospect. I was used to a usual run time but this was way above the usual. The first 10 ticked along in a bubble of enthusiasm. As the time passed I found it difficult to differentiate one mile from another. After about 30% it became a slog and I just kept my head down and chugged through. My brain only really woke up when the end was in site. In retrospect, I'm glad I did it. I'll never do it again. It was too long.
WHO WOULD RATE THIS?!?! About 4 songs that are ok. The rest is mental illness on toast. Who makes an album 2hrs and 30 odd minutes long. I listened to the lot trying to make sense but it just wound me up to be honest. The reviews are insane. Should have just called it 1000 albums to listen and leave this off.
this album is ass
This was so bland I could not even get through it. It sounds like a really poor imitation of Belle and Sebastian but with none of the charm.
Different but I liked it!
Too long
I generally liked this. Pleasant music, good vocals, pretty clever. So long though!
Anything over 1hr 10 is going to be a slog and this is no exception at 2hrs 52. Had it on as background music while WFH and honestly it was no where near as painful as I expected it to be. There is no denying the man's got range - jazz, electronic, experimental, acoustic, bit of 15th century bard - it was all equally entertaining. Bringing on a female vocal counterpart was essential to me not turning it off half way through, kept things varied enough to be interesting for the full 3 hours.
I've played this album countless times, but this is only the second time I've ever listened to it completely, front to back. It's a fat three hours of eclectic love songs, and they nail it. Even with a topic as broad as "love" the task of writing sixty-nine songs concerning the same subject is quite an accomplishment. The fact that they achieved such breadth is one thing, but the songs are also full of depth and life. Just about every facet of love is covered in some way. Lovely album. *Heard before.
Self-indulgent as hell and sure, it's not 69 bangers. But there's way more quality on here than there has any right to be.
Was ok but just way too long. I only got through about half of it before I was done
This album holds up pretty good for something from 1999. I enjoyed most of the songs and the variety. I completely understand the hate for the run time but as a whole it’s a solid album for the length. I have a feeling this album is gonna screw up my Spotify recommendations because of the length.
It's almost impossible to try to appraise in the way we've been doing so because of the length and diversity of the content, and it really does come across at times as if the inspiration for putting this work together was to receive acclaim for exactly that, rather than because of the music. Some of the songs are really nice, some of them are pretty, some quirky, there's cross-genre stuff, there's stripped back stuff, there's a lot going on. The femle vocals are infinitely more tolerable than Merritt's (my favourite songs are those ones, No One Will Ever Love You, Come Back From San Francisco, Acoustic Guitar), which I find annoying most of the time, although it works on the most stripped back songs like The Book of Love and Meaningless and Nothing Matters When We're Dancing. If I was going to give this a 3 because of everything going on and settling in the middle, I'm dropping it to a 2 because it is far, far, far too long and doesn't hit enough highs to remotely justify it.
Actually listened to this in bursts whilst I was away. Definitely haven't got the energy to listen to all 3 hours of it again today (particularly given I was travelling from 3 am UK yesterday and got home about 40 minutes ago, to start a work day!). I didn't think there were many bad songs on this - and a fair few good ones - but the concept of writing 100 (and giving up when he got to 69) doesn't particularly appeal to me. Could've been a 4 quite comfortably if it had been 19 Love Songs, but it's just too much, so 3/5.
Really? 3 hours of this. umm no
Three decent albums fused together for no apparent reason so that listening to it is a real chore.
Y'all have no idea. Certified classic. "Oh no it's too looong waaah." News flash, this whole activity is too long.
Impressive feat of composition. Many songs sound like they could be turned into bangers if only they had more polish.
Very pleasantly surprised by this one. I figured with 69 songs, there’d be a lot of stinkers, but not a bad song here! The songs all manage to have a unique identity, while all still sounding coherent. Great album to put on in the background at a party and not have to worry about finding something new to play in 40 minutes.
Listened to Vol1, that was enough
69 nice. And that’s the only nice thing about it. No way this deserves to be in the list unless one of the qualifiers was most torturous album. I think this one may be the worst one overall just due to the insane length and the varying genres and how inconsistent it sounds. I tried to listen to every song. Key word tried. But just make separate albums next time. And don’t include this in the list next time. 0.1/10
Didn't listen to the whole thing, but it was decent 90s crooning over guitar..
Not my cup of tea. only listened to disk 1.
I get that it's the point but there are too many songs on this record. Beautiful record to listen to in the morning BUT THERE ARE TOO MANY FUCKING SONGS ON THIS FUCKING RECORD
Haha, get it? Because sex number. Funny right? Pain in the ass album all from a childish idiotic idea. I can also write 69 songs if 20 are useless 1 minute interludes and the other 50 songs are similar to each other, almost indistinguishable in some cases. I would have generally given this album a 2 or 3 if it was normal length and not a whole bunch of fillers and repeated songs. There were some that you can enjoy, but in proportion they are minimal. 1 as a punishment score. Expected Marc rating: 2
Massa llarg. Però les cançons m'han agradat, em veig escoltant-ho de tant en tant. Lorenzo expected rating: 5
This album overstays its welcome. It has some decent tracks, especially the Book of Love, which is its only saving grace in my opinion and raises it to a 2 instead of a 1. The rest is just drivel.
Nope
This is WAY too long. When a mid song comes on if feels like a banger just becuase you are suffering so much.
Popped this one into Spotify and took a look at the track listing/album length as I often do and was surprised to see the album title is pulling no punches and clocks in at just under 3 hours in length. Suspected I’de give it an hour then jack it in but it’s actually pretty good and I listened to the whole thing.
boring but it has the song from the scrubs finale
the magnetic fields' 69 love songs went in almost every direction, and they tried to tackle too much within one album. yes, it's full of creativity, but it lacks so much cohesiveness. i thought i understood this album with its quick turns from indie to pop to electronic, but then some celtic sounds came out of nowhere. i'm annoyed i had to listen to such an unnecessarily long album, and i didn't want to even like this album. i suppose when you create 69 songs, odds are some of them can be hits. the lyrics didn't stand out at all. it figures with so many songs that the creative songwriting juice would run out. having different lead vocalists help switch things up in this three CD album. with the lead vocalist, i found myself reminded of leonard cohen often with that raspy voice.
Well, this was every bit as exhausting as I thought it would be. From a creative expression perspective, I can absolutely appreciate the creative endeavor of making 69 love songs, all of which seem to be short poems narrating the various aspects of love. The compositions are all fairly unique, but also seem to be fairly subdued, if not simplistic, almost as if to convey this idea of modern minstrel music. But being forced to LISTEN to 3 hours of this is an absolute chore.
random 1-2 minuutin pituisia kappaleita spämmitty oikeiden biisien keskelle.. koska pitää olla 69 konsepti, mutuaalinen suuseksi asentoesque album... hyviä pätkiä löytyy mutta niitä täytyy suurennuslasilla pyynätä kolmen tunnin mörkäleestä, ei kiitos.......vihaan kaikkia tällä sivustolla, myös itseäni. (i shat)ter
I hate other people on this site... tässä scar tyyppinen laulanta ironic.. hand up in the air laulanta...jalo... heh ... Biiseissä uskomattomia alkuja.. Mutta kaikki keskeneräisiä.. ja vituttaa miten paskasti soi.. mutta se vitutus on ihana tunne heh.. rakkauslauluthan kyseessä..
I made a mistake with my Minutemen album, and that was giving it a 5 because I liked many of the songs, missing the idea that I found much of the rest of the album forgettable. Well, I won't make that same mistake here, as I once again like a lot of tracks here, enough where I get why this would be here, but it is far too long, and much of it comes off as filler at best. It makes the good tracks stand out all the more, yes, but it leaves a good disc-and-a-half worth of songs feeling unnecessary, and it leads to an album that is definitively good, but could be better, such as what could've been an amazing video game only be good because it is open world. His voice is really impressive, but the female singer got on my nerves sometimes. In that way it is also right down the middle, but I'd say its quality overall is high enough to bump it up a bit.
way too long
Too many songs - even though some of them are pretty good. Sounds like an American version of The Divine Comedy - although not quite as good in my opinion. This felt like a bit of a slog at points; given it is basically three albums in one - and close to three hours long - this isn't much of a surprise. Enough there that I would be happy to hear more from them though - just not 170+ minutes at once!
Almost 3 hours Long album?! It has some weird songs
Well that was too fucking long.
Far too long!
impressive in quantity
This is WAY longer than the prince 1999 album but feels about the same length, which is more of a statement about the prince album than this. After a while it gets kind of samey for me but I enjoyed the lyrics, which isn't often something I focus on. The simple arrangements were pretty nice sometimes as well.
Thoughts before listening: This comes up a lot on best albums lists but I have never listened. I think that's mainly cause 69 songs is A LOT of songs and it just seems like a daunting task. Plus I have heard bits and pieces of the album and I don't really like what I've heard. Review: Wow, right out the gate this album has some really nice songs on it. Wonderful melodies and super catchy pop rock songs. Stylistically this is lo fi pop rock with a bunch of different influences on the songs: some remind me of the Smiths, some sound like Irish folk songs, there are some country rock tunes and some that jse electronic inspired instrumentation. There are definitely too many songs, and a lot of this feels like half assed songs thrown together to meet the silly 69 tracks concept. The highs are very high, but the lows are something I'd never go back to. Also, I don't have time for nearly 3 hours of music...I tried to listen all the way through, but once I realized there are some jokey throwaways on here I started skipping a lot. I tried to cheat a bit and looked up best of lists to help pick and choose tracks, but there is very little consensus. Tracks that were at the top of one list would be at the bottom of others. That certainly speaks to just how polarizing this album can be as well as the stylistic variation throughout. There are definitely highlights here: I Don't Believe in the Sun, All My Little Worlds, The One You Really Love, When My Boy Walks Down the Street, Long Forgotten Fairytale, Papa Was a Rodeo, Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side, and Death of Ferdinand de Saussure. Overall this is way too hit or miss to get a good score from me, although I will happily revisit the songs above that I added to the playlist.
1. cuckoo - 0 2. i dont believe in the zun - 0 3. all my little uuordz - 1 4. a chicken - 0 5. reno dakota - 0 6. i dont uuant to get over you - 1 7. come back - 0 8. the luckiezt guy - 0 9. bunny rabbitz - 0 10. the cactuz - 0 11. neuu heart - 1 12. book of love - 0 13. fido - 0 14. fucking romantic - 0 15. the one you really love - 1 16. punk love - 0 17. paradez go by - 0 18. boa conztrictor - 1 19. a pretty girl iz like - 0 20. zentimental melody - 0 21. nothing matterz - 0 22. zuueet loving man - 0 23. the thingz uue did - 24. rozez - 0 25. love iz like jazz - 1 26. uuhen my boy uualkz douun - 0 27. time enough - 0 28. very funny - 0 29. grand canyon - 0 30. no one uuill ever love you - 1.5 31. if you dont cry - 0 32. youre my only home - 0 33. not that crazy - 0 34. my only friend - 1 35. promizez of eternity - 0 36. uuorld love - 0 37. d.c. - 0 38. fairy tale - 0 39. kizz me - 0 40. papa uuaz - 0 41. my heart - 0 42. the zun - 0 43. azleep - 0 44. the zun goez douun - 0 45. the uuay you zay - 1 46. abigail - 0 47. i zhatter - 0 48. underuuear - 0 49. itz a crime - 0 50. buzby - 0 51. im zorry - 0 52. acouztic guitar - 0 53. the death of ferdinand - 0 54. love in the zhadouuz - 0 55. bitter tearz - 0 56. uuee bairn - 0 57. yeah oh yeah - 0 58. ezperimental muzic - 0 59. meaninglezz - 1 60. bottle of gin - 0 61. queen of the zavagez - 0 62. blue you - 1 63. cant touch you anymore - 1 64. tuuo kindz of people - 0 65. houu to zay goodbye - 0 66. the night - 0 67. king of boudouir - 0 68. ztrange eyez - 0 69. zylophone track - 0 70. zebra - 0
??????? Was ist das denn 😹 Jesus Es ist so seltsam 1
'Papa was a Rodeo' es suficiente argumento para la existencia de todo este proyecto
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
Album 250 of 1001 The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs Rating : 3 / 5 3 Hours of "silly" long songs, it seems. Interesting but that doesn't make it entertaining. I did half of it.
It's a lot of love songs. But I listened to them all. Sort of a hipster White Album. The filler is good, and some songs are great.
Too cringey and not good enough for me to listen through all two hours
I tried. I was determined to listen to them all and see if there was even a single good song, but then I got messed up where I was on the playlist in Spotify and I stopped. Most of them are boring, some of them are awful, and some are fine but not good. I heard at least half of them.
Så uendelig glad for at eg allerede har hørt detta i den andre generatoren, så eg aldri trenge å gjør da igjen
Erm….. Reno Dakota was fun, but this is a piss take album right? Bad enough it’s 3 hours long but this is such a mix of rubbish that I wish I could turn back the clock to get the time back that I wasted listening to this and full disclosure, those tracks that weren’t super short I started to listen to halfway before skipping so as to get through this. Shocking.
Well, YouTube music takes you through to My Generation by RMS. I haven't listened to that obviously, but after listening to 14 love songs I'm beginning to wish I had. I'm finding this album really annoying. They can both sing, the music is simple (like it's been knocked up in someone's bedroom on a bontempi kind of simple) but still quite good and varied. BUT 69 OF THEM!!!! F.O.Y.C. Makes me wonder how the hell the compiler of this list found it, and whether he included in a fit of pure sadism. If it was 15-20 love songs it would have probably got a high 2 to very low 3, but 69!....... I can only give it a very low 1.
Oh wow. Was interested by the concept but my interest soon disappeared. I tried to stick with it hoping to find some good songs, but no. I finished early. The irony of this is not lost on me.
2 hours and 52 minutes? First impressions: The word 'indulgence' springs to mind, as in both 'self' and 'over'. Started listening to this at work with just the phone speakers and had to stop when the other member of staff came back from lunch and I'm only 15 tracks in. Mr Deep voice is already grating on my shredding nerves. This album is causing me 21st century anxiety problems with the sheer thought of having to trawl through this in one day. When can I fit all in? A couple on the toilet, 15 while cooking, 8 while filling the dishwasher. See? It's causing me to be anxious about this magnus opus, who does he think he is, a modern day Richard Wagner? Music should be enjoyable not a chore. I wouldn't mind it if the material was consistently good, but it is not (the first Volume im judging at the moment). This could be the most stressful musical experience since I saw a band called Deaf Center who supported Slowdive in 2014 and It's not a good feeling. Too long, even if it was fantastic... However, I did think their 2008 LP Distortion was pretty good though. Furthermore, I do like the fact that they break up the potential monotony by having different lead vocalists. UPDATE: Now onto Vol.2 and stuck in traffic in Ampthill and I've got to say I've now started to break the back of this LLLP. The tracks on this part are much better, maybe due to better speakers? (Headphones, my car isn't advanced and only has a CD player and a clock!) Mr Deep voice has entered my DNA now, like stem cell treatment I'd imagine. Some pretty good tunes here starting with 'My Boy Walks Down the Street' and continues to be of a higher melodic standard until 'Epitaph for my Heart' followed by some interesting experimental violin stuff epitomised by 'I Shatter' which I really liked! UPDATE: after a shortish break to re-enter the real world, i started Volume 3. 'Underwear' is definitely sleazier than Pulp can manage! Next song 'its a Crime' sounds like Mr Sleazy Marc Almond! It could have only been done on purpose. Then followed by piano drivel. 'I'm sorry I Love You' garage/folk rock. Just by highlighting these few songs at the start of '3, shows their versatility in changing their sound. Like Vol.2, most of Vol.3 is class, is it because of the psycological light at the end of a tunnel effect? If I carry on writing then this review it will be nearly as long as the bloody album. When it's good it is excellent, but there are to my tastes, quite a few fillers. A nice try at a concept album, very clever, maybe a side or 3 too many. Some could be a 5 star and some a 1 star. I actually think there are more good songs than bad. But like all the best artists, it's not about money, it's about artistic integrity and releasing this in one go shows they have that in spades. I'm giving this a 4 for sheer bloodymindedness of their vision and that its actually good in more places than not.
Wow. I really enjoyed this. Holy shit is it long!! Challenging to get through 3 hours of music in a day but I didn’t really hate one song on here.
It's 69 love songs
Sorry not listening to a 2 hour album that’s a movie. Yeah yeah the time will pass anyway
Twenty-three years before, in 1976, Paul McCartney wrote a song called Silly Love Songs, taking to task those who had pigeonholed him as a certain type of doe-eyed softie, wondering what was wrong with singing love songs. Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields took this premise to its absolute zenith in 1999 with the release of 69 Love Songs. Nice. 69 Love Songs run the gamut in regards to creative ideas about love, mainly focusing on a wide spectrum of guys from the perspectives of same and opposite sex relationships. An absolutely daunting task from start to finish, it requires time to dig through and assess; any attempt to listen to all 69 (!) songs in one sitting is tantamount to madness. But, then again, this whole thing is madness of the best kind. It loses steam towards the end but the fact that it exists is a success in itself. If there were one Magnetic Fields record to add to the collection, this is the one. Favorites: Disc One Absolutely Cuckoo, I Don't Believe in the Sun, A Chicken With its Head Cut Off, I Don't Want to Get Over You, Come Back to San Francisco, The Luckiest Guy in the Lower East Side, Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits, I Think I Need a New Heart, The Book of Love, How Fucking Romantic, Parades Go By, Boa Constrictor, Nothing Matters When We're Dancing. Disc Two: When My Boy Walks Down the Street, Grand Canyon, No One Will Ever Love You, (Crazy for You But) Not That Crazy, Washington D.C., Kiss Me Like You Mean It, Papa Was a Rodeo, I Shatter. Disc Three: Busby Berkeley Dreams, I'm Sorry I Love You, The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure, Bitter Tears, Meaningless, I Can't Touch You Anymore.
3 hours is too long. This guy sounds like emo Elvis, but I dug this for the most part. "Chicken with its Head Cut Off" was my favorite track, but there were several similar, "sweet and funny" songs like that.
The length affects this album greatly. Fair play making that many songs for one album though, even if most are garbage.
I own this set. After many listens to all 69 Love Songs — and again today — I can confidently run the numbers: I Love 21 Love Songs I Like 13 Love Songs I Meh 27 Love Songs I Dislike 8 Love Songs
Pretty cool
I did it, I did it! All 69, all 2.5+ hours. Am I better for it? Not really. The songs are mediocre, which made me kind of mad. What hubris to put out almost three hours of mediocrity! There were great moments and ultimately I wish this was boiled down to ten stellar songs. As it is, a harsh rating for the sheer audacity of this project!
This is like an MFA thesis. Quite an accomplishment, but that doesn't mean it's any good. I'll be more charitable than I was initially thinking - there's more than a decent album among these "69 Ideas for Love Songs in Various Stages of Final Draft." Maybe a decent double album. But it's quite a bit too much as 69. Also, the ABCB rhyme scheme in 50+ of them is a big part of overstaying the welcome.
And then the doorbell rang and the trance was broken. Got just about half way. Quite a scatterbrain collection. This is car journey stuff at best where one needs something light heading up the motorway. As it is so long one might even create a playlist from it picking a select bunch of tunes. That seems the best option for repeated plays.
3.5
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
I think I hate it. 1/5
They should have listen to their own lyrics because this album is long and boring. I listen to a couple of songs but no way am i listening to 3 hours. The book of love is an okey track but other than that this feels just like a boring joke about having 69 songs. Writing songs is not that hard, writing good ones are
Distinctly average with some very uninspiring lyrics, simplistic to a fault
Truly awful album.
I’m not listening to 69 love songs if they are sung by that voice.
Well, not my idea of Love Songs apparently. I didn't like the style , the simplicity, and the vocal, just terribly not my type of music. I tried to listen to at least 10 songs, to make an opinion (out of 69, which is actually unbelievable), but it was quite repetitive, so no reason to listen to it in whole. Bad match.
69 songs is a lot. I nearly didn't even attempt it but I swore I'd listen to all these albums. I didn't enjoy it 95% of the time, and as you'd expect it is massively quantity over quality... but it's not the worst thing i've heard on this list - and it blows my mind that nearly 3 hours later I'm willing to give more than 1 star
3 hours of crap
I got about 20 songs in. Tedious. I'm terrible at music so I wouldn't even be able to write one of these songs admittedly, but I can't help but feel any musician who's half decent could knock up a similar set of 69 unfleshed out ideas within 24 hours. How is this even anywhere near the 1001 list.
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.
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.
I am shocked this album reached this list. Growing up, we were always taught that quality over quantity was always better. There's no way I'd be able to listen to this for 2 hours and 45 minutes without falling asleep or going insane. I had no enjoyment while listening.
Another slow type of album that I’m just not looking for. After listening to the songs, I do not think that any of them are worthy of being added to the playlist. So for now I give this album a low score on my list.
Cool idea for an album, I'm just not listening to all that shit. I don't know if their idea transitioned into the actual creation as well as they would've liked, but still thought provoking. I hate that to find a good song or 2, you have to sift through 50-60 shitty fillers. Granted, this was created as a theatrical performance type of album, so it's more understandable when you know that. I didn't listen through every song but I read through a lot of the lyrics. There aren't a lot of love songs in this love album, just an album full of random genres with lyrics loosely pertaining to love in a not so direct way (aside from a few). All in all, it could've been good if it wasn't for its ridiculous length and collection of unthoughtful fillers. Personal Favorites: The book of love, All my little words, I don't want to get over you, I think I need a new heart
Actively didn't like - every song grated on me, either twee or boring which is strange as it had a really wide style of songs. however every one of them seemed to succeed in annoying me. Singer sounds like Divine Comedy' Neil Hannon but without the cheeky wink meaning it's dull vocals on top of annoying music 1.3
will ich mir echt nicht geben
What an odyssey! It's lofi and quirky throughout, but the variety in sounds, styles, and sentiments kept me on the edge of my seat through all 69 tracks. No aspect of love goes unaddressed.
This album got me thinking. What is a “song?” “Music” is somewhat easier to define; it’s an intentional manipulation of rhythm, timber, and pitch changes. But when does a melody turn into a song? Upon listening to many of these tracks, my first thought was that these were more akin to an exploration of 69 musical ideas, stretched out to 3 minutes apiece, rather than full polished songs. They felt incomplete. Many of the lyrics start with a theme but never go on a journey or provide any sense of resolution. They seem to just orbit that same central thought. At times it almost feels like one of those persuasive essays you were asked to write in school where you had your central thesis, and then each paragraph was meant to support that thesis. Similar to the lyrics, each musical idea seems to center around a core refrain, but rarely in a way that builds or releases any musical tension. The vocal performances were varied and performed by multiple members of the band. Some are more talented vocalists than others. Most of them seemed to have this “local musical theatre company” quality to them rather than anything rock and roll. With all of that being said, I found some genuine interesting things on this album. “Absolutely cuckoo” was a fun introduction. It uses a lyrical style that’s refreshing and is easy to listen to. “Let’s Pretend We’re Bunnies,” my personal favorite, was one of the closest to what my gut tells me is a complete polished song. In all, I found this a long but easy listen. I didn’t struggle through this album. However I was left with a feeling of incompleteness, like I wasn’t listening to “songs,” whatever that means.
Not quite "so bad that it's good" but maybe "so long that it's short" as I had to really force myself to carry on. Anyone who listens beyond "Love is like jazz" must be persuing some sort of vendetta against themselves.
Absolute bear! Actually 69 total songs. Style, instrumentation, singers, messages, and lengths change constantly. It has perfect songs for love in different situations but as a whole, it cannot be actively consumed in a setting. It is a full tome of various vignettes or short stories to be consulted for comfort, anger, joy, or to feel any of the other feelings of love.
I mean, with song titles like "A chicken with it's head cut off" and "Let's pretend we're bunny rabbits," what's not to love, right?! The lyrics are interesting across the board, obvious song-writing talent here. It was lengthy and admittedly I did not get through all 69 songs, but fortunately it came for me on a day off so I had plenty of time and enjoyed the listen.
ambitious? yes. a feat of arrangement and writing? yes. but man... i just feel like if you're gonna try to churn out that much music, you're gonna get a lot of tunes that are ideas as opposed to songs. i'd rather hear twenty well executed songs than 3 hours worth of cool ideas. but could i embark on this kind of project and get anywhere remotely close to this quality? absolutely not.
When I first saw this album name, I (with the sometimes-maturity of a 14-year-old boy) chuckled. Clever use of an album name to make a joke, I thought. Then I realized the album was actually 69 songs deep. I really enjoyed it. I think most songs in the world drag on too long. We need to bring the 2-minute songs back! I did not think I’d be rating this a 5-star before I started.
Rubbish singing, rubbish lyrics, rubbish tunes, only thing I appreciated was the commitment to the number 69
It is just too long. There were a couple of okay songs in there and if it were condensed down to a normal album size it might have been okay. But there was far too much rubbish
Listened to all 2h50 of this stuff. Very average and as Yam said, very self indulgent The song lyrics aren’t always upbeat and the male singer doesn’t have range and is bad This was just not a good one, even as far as indie songs go. My least favourite was “love is like jazz”
Songs were very much a 3/5 average not bad, but to make 3 hours of them is self indulgent and a waste of everyone's time
Waste of 2+hrs of my life
Too long and too twee Tried to listen to this back in the day on pitchfork's recommendation and could not get through either
This was awesome. I freaking love this concept. I love the more fledged out and simpler songs. They're just songs! No overworked production, just enough to get the point across where needed at times. Real music and thoughts by real people. I'm sure I'll come back to it <3
Whew, just finished listening to this whole thing. It’s interesting, I’m glad it exists because I know some people really love it. And it’s a neat idea. But personally I find his singing and lyrics overwrought, and most of the songs just sort of blend together.
Sounds like something Matthew would like
Trop long, trop cheesy, trop générique, non merci
It was very enjoyable, not enough time to give it a serious listen as there are 69 songs and 3 hours long but I greatly enjoyed it.
I feel like John belushi, I want to smash these guitars and stop them from singing.
Too long, simple and lyrics that sound like a child wrote them. It is not smart, interesting or original....so, a no for me.
I appreciate the effort of this project but 69 songs that are all short are just too long. This makes this album even for a background listen too annoying after a while. The theme love is also a bit, well, overdone, innit?
It so unjustifiably long.....
Sprawling—hard to judge with just one listen tbh
Oh god, here we are. Aside from Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book, this is the longest album on the list. It is, true to it's name, 69 songs. Nearly 3 hours split over 3 discs, this is better heard in sessions rather than in one sitting. It's much easier to tackle 23 tracks three times rather than 69 tracks once. Something to consider. As for the music, it manages to stay consistently interesting with lots of variation. Stephin Merritt will go from a bouncing indie pop song to a sensual baritone serenade with finger-picking guitar. It's filled with beautiful little moments that feel like memories of a life lived with love, loss, and missed connections. Not every song lands, but 69 Love Songs manages an impressive batting average for an album with 69 songs.
Highlights book of love, fido Lowlights long
It took me a month to listen to this album. A lot of songs aren't that good. That being said, the ones that are distinct. It's a cool concept, even when you don't like a song half the interest is figuring out what's going on. There's these squelch-y synths on some tracks that kinda get me. BT - Sweet Lovin' Man - If You Don't Cry - You're My Only Home - My Only Friend - Papa Was a Rodeo - Underwear - It's a Crime - Bitter Tears - I Can't Touch You Anymore
Disjointed and annoying and long
Holy fuck, this was a 2 hour and 53 minute death march. It definitely has 69 tracks with music and words and I genuinely believe it could be used as a torture instrument if someone had to listen on a loop. For the rest of you that share my experience, I will be starting an "I survived 69 Love Songs" support group that will meet Wednesday evenings in the basement of the Baptist church. Cookies, cakes, coffee, and tea will be served. In trauma, we stand together.
Long and weird... some okay tracks
Surprisingly. 2 yr old enjoyed.
Some great stuff on this, but oh my word it is just too exhausting. 33 would have been too much for one album.
This monster of an album is a darling of rock critics everywhere. One Christgau gave it an A+, the rock nerds came running and boom, it landed on this list. I've tried to listen to this album in earnest at least 5 times in my life and I've never made it past the first CD. My brain goes numb somewhere around Punk Love and I just can't recover. This time I made it to Promises of Eternity before tapping out. It's a damn shame too because there are several tracks in the first 10 songs that are legitimately interesting and engaging. If only they made this a normal LP length.
there were some decent songs on here. it’s actually kind of impressive how eclectic this album is, so many different styles of music are represented. many of the songs are intentionally tongue in cheek, some more clever than others. overall, this album was about 3x as long as it should have been, too much filler. it was too gimmicky to have an album that was almost 3 hours long full of love songs, 69 to be exact.
I'm not going to listen to 3 hours of love songs from a no-name band
I’m really questioning on why I should listen to these 1,001 albums. This one was ok for a bit but 3 hours?
Boring and samey. Is there really three lots of 23 songs to endure? I sure wouldn't like to actually listen to these. Concentration over that period of time is a legitimate chore, however just having this playing along in the background isn't actually objectionable. It does seem like a lot of effort to go to for such a juvenile joke, though.
I won’t lie, this album dragged on. It got very slow at points, but had extraordinary highs. It’s difficult to attribute length as a fault for this album, considering it wouldn’t have worked as a short release. The purpose of Merritt’s statement was to create a vivid portrayal of “love” as a concept. This thing is as detailed as any album can be with how much it commits to its concept, and it’s incredible how many of the songs pay off.
Longest album ever
Listened to the three volumes in three different sessions because I am NOT subjecting myself to 3 hours straight of music (also I think that’s actually how you’re supposed to listen to it) The album’s concept is definitely executed well enough here and I really like the variety in some of the songs, which keeps the experience fresh Might’ve needed a bit longer than a day to digest this, but my overall first impression of this is quite positive
Man, hell no. Pretentious nonsense.
It's a great concept and they pull it off, but obviously it is way too long to listen to in full unless it's a rare occasion. There's just too many amazing tracks to give it less than a 4 though. Papa Was A Rodeo is especially a highlight for me, tears me up everytime it's so beautiful. Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side, Long Forgotten Fairytale, I Think I Need a New Heart, Book of Love, do I need to go on?
Ugh
I feel like this could be reduced to 10 songs.
Why write 10 love songs when you can write 69? Shame 65 of them are awful. 1.8
My hate for this knows know bounds. I had to search a picture of Stephin Merritt just so I could channel my disdain toward something. He looks, by the way, exactly like someone who would have the sheer audacity to not only create this atrocity, but to feel like he rightfully deserves the misguided critical acclaim that this car crash of a 3 hour misery tour received. The caricature of an out-of-touch, elitist liberal, created by angry hillbillies inciting comment wars on social media would listen to this, and then look for any possible opportunity to insufferably discuss it's "genius" with anyone bored enough to listen. As my other half so eloquently stated, it is the banana, duct taped to a wall, masquerading as "art". This isn't good. It's not creative, it's not groundbreaking. It's indulgent and grating. No stars. And a slap in the face. I don't care for whom, just a violent, open handed slap.
3 songs into 69…69!!! Hard no. Not into the singers voice, or love songs, so I’m not committing 172 minutes of my life to get through this album. Listen again: no Purchase for my collection: no Favourite Song:
This record is hilarious and totally-overblown, but a few classics can be culled from the track list: 'I Don't Believe In The Sun', 'The Book of Love', and 'Papa Was A Rodeo' amongst others.
It is really impressive that they managed to write that many songs without that much perceived repetition - each one is like a unique small observation on the topic of love. A few songs have actually great quips that made me laugh. The diversity of musical sound is more limited, but it is utilized well by putting tracks in different styles next to each other. Overall, this album achieves a balance that alternative bands sometimes struggle with: being quirky and artsy without taking things too seriously.
I blanched in horror at the sight that this is a triple album, since I usually struggle with double albums. And I'll just admit right now that I'm not going to listen to the entire album. I just don't have all fucking day for this. However, I really enjoy this album. The songs each have their distinctive flavors, and there are lots of cool electronic sounds built in with the acoustic instruments. The album seems like a gimmick, but they sure executed the shit out of it. Having both male-led and female-led tracks also helps keep it interesting. 4/5, But I'm also going to turn it off after the first disc, and just assume that the rest of the album is as good as everything I've heard
Brings together echoes of the Velvet Underground, Leonard Cohen and at times the Beach Boys.
The platonic ideal of a 5.
The soundtrack to when my wife & i started dating.
Klasičan stari indie pop, rock.
Lange plaat, maar leuke mix tussen grappig & sad
Honestly, there's enough ok to decent songs on here to make it not a terrible album but holy shit 69 songs is way too long for this quality of music. 3 hours is a complete slog to get through. I'm still listening but this will probably be my first DNF. The album title is self explanatory. Some people got together and wrote 69 simple love songs and threw them all together on this album. Many of them (if not most) sound like they were written in an hour. They're simple little hippy era accoustic things with simple singing over the top. The guys voice kind of sounds like Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros and sometimes the music gives the same vibe but, with much less thought put into it. (I feel like this comparison is an insult to Edward Sharp) This HAS to be a background album while you're doing other things to enjoy it. Some stuff is pretty good like "No One Will Ever Love You" "Long Forgotten Fairy Tale" I thought were pretty good. And a few others had some quality to them but on the whole its just mostly half-assed filler. There's probably enough decent songs on here to make a mediocre 3 star album but as it stands with the length of this thing and the amount of filler junk on here its like a 1.5 - 2 star album.
1st September 2023 Took 4 days to complete this. Really enjoyed it at first, liked the range of styles and the humour (shades of Beirut) but the length of time has knocked it down for me.
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.
A bit too indie band for me. I quite like Merritt's voice though.
2 uur en 45 minuten van deze schijt?
Kon hier niet veel Kaas van maken.
Dit was wel veel teveel om in 1x weg te luisteren maar ik heb toch best wel wat hele aardige goeie liedjes langs horen komen.
Flinke zit, maar best ok eigenlijk.
definitely too long
nice.
Te lang, waardoor het op den duur wel wat begint te vervelen. Terwijl het op zich niet zo'n slechte muziek is
I wasn’t expecting 69 songs….surprise! As witty as it was full of heart and synth, I found myself marking track after track as favourite. It got a little repetitive, but wow what an album from a band I knew little about.
wow, a lot of songs to listen to twice. Highlight tracks were; All My Little Words, I Don't Want To Get Over You, The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side, The Book of Love, Nothing Matter When We're Dancing, Papa Was a Rodeo.
this is an album i have heard of for years and have never dove into. i think a big part of it is the runtime, and boy howdy, yeah... this is a long one. obviously the concept is interesting, especially with the length involved, but i think due to this, the quality is a bit hit or miss. i mean, realistically, how could you write 69 incredible songs in such a time period for one project? and there is some fun stuff on here. there's also a bunch of not so fun stuff on here. mostly it's just an overly long quirky indie album. it's pleasant but boy it is a lot.
I didn't care much for the shorter songs (not really substantial, which makes sense), and the vocals could drone on and on - you know which singer I'm talking about. But honestly? This made for pretty good background music. I don't mean to be judgmental, but sometimes music doesn't have to be super serious. That being said, entire parody albums still don't do it for me. Anyway, if it helps at all, I listened to this album over 3 listening sessions and not all at once.
Ugh there are some nice tunes in there and I dig the indie pop aesthetic. But throwing in fillers to a 3 hour playtime is torture. I couldn’t finish it and ended up listening to John Mayer.
meh
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)
Huge artistic feat and honestly impressive how consistently interesting the songs are.
Interminable opera magna de Magnetic Fields (amb el permís de '50 Songs Memoir'), amb 69 esbossos de cançons fent referències i acceptant influències de multitud de géneres i autors. Hi ha uns quants encertos i l'exercici mereix respecte, però és massa llarg i malauradament els resultats estan força lluny de l'esforç que requereix la seva escolta
Speaks to the diversity of songwriting and skill of the artists here that I was able to make it through this one without feeling fatigued. Wasn’t expecting the more country-esque instrumentation that’s scattered throughout, but aside from that I generally enjoyed what was going on with the arrangements and production. Also impressive that they put 69 songs about the same (already tortured) subject on here and not one covered a similar facet or felt repetitive - loved the exploration of both the good and twisted sides of love and how out of the mold all the takes felt. Definitely suffers a bit from quantity over quality, but overall this is an impressive piece of work and an art piece in its own right.
Lovely and weird. 69 stars!
Anything good about this album is buried under hubris and volume.
Tentativa patética de meter um conceito de safadeza no indie.
First off this is insanely long.
This shattered my time rules and I didn’t have a track number rule but since it’s 69 I think no ruling is necessary. Album is actually a pretty cool idea and the sounds are enjoyable even after 2.5 hours. I really would like Ben Folds to do an album of covers off of a select number of these
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.
J’apprécie l’ampleur du projet et leur dévouement. J’ai vu le souci de la variété dans les arrangements. Certains textes sont bien ficelés, d’autres plutôt convenus (ce qui est prévisible quand on tente d’épuiser le sujet de l’amour). Cependant, je dois avouer que j’ai trouvé le tout long et que j’aurais volontiers pris un album simple des meilleures pièces plutôt que l’intégrale.
Very ambitious, and took too big of a swing
I love this album. It isn't just nice to listen to but it makes me want to write and record music. I'm going to share a kinda name-droppy story that might mean something to you if you were into mid-90s alt rock. I went to a wedding in, I think, 2003 for a very good friend of mine. He was marrying an amazing woman. Someone came to the wedding dressed in a full body rabbit costume. The whole thing was pretty awesome. Anyway, at the end of this service a guy gets up with an acoustic guitar and sings a couple of songs for the newlyweds and the folks assembled. He sings 'The Book of Love' and the whole time I'm thinking "Man, he's got a really distinctive voice, this guy." I felt like I'd heard something like it before. So anyway, reception, toasts, food. Fun is had by all. And then the groom comes up to me and asks if I can give this singer guy, Mike, a ride to his hotel and I say sure. So we pile into my little Honda Accord and off we go. And we chat it up. He asks what I do and I tell him about me and I ask what he does and he says he's a musician. And I'm like "Cool, like are you a solo guy or do you have a band?" And he says "Yeah, I front a band called Soul Coughing." Anyway, it was Mike Doughty, whose music I knew pretty well already but I just didn't know what he looked like. He was a nice guy, thanks for reading.
very unserious album in the best way. love these quirky lil songs
3.25
Really good album.
That sure was 69 songs. 3.5/5
Thats a lot of songs
4.5 the bangers make this worthy of a 5 but it is simply too long
Wow, it's really 69 songs... in 3 albums... ok. I mean, I kind of like this simplified style, and I appreciate the ability to write and record so many songs... but it's a little like going to the Golden Corral--lots of food, but no single item is all that amazing. I'd rather go to Ruth's Chris and get a couple of unforgettable items.
Sure it's witty and clever and different, but 43 or even 17.5 would have been more than enough.
Very good! Extremely long, but very good
ukulele, Funny Music Production sounds/samples
Ok the average rating on this belies just how specific this album is to a certain generation of American millennials: if you were in college between 2000 and 2008 and chased anything resembling \"indie cred\" then at least one track from this album would be a staple of the mix cds you sent your crushes. Were you twee? Then you know this one. Now here's the thing: when my older sister came back from college and had this among the cds she'd burnt for me, only disc one made it to my hands. That's the first 23 songs, Absolutely Cuckoo through The Things We Did and Didn't Do. I probably never pursued discs 2 and 3 until after college, and by then I'd lost The Glow and none of the songs hit the same as those first 23. It felt like a joke: Merritt had made one amazing album and then phoned in two more, daring the listener to actually spend time with those other 46 love songs. So this is my first actual listen to all 69 love songs, and I gotta say disc 2 starts off so rocky I thought I was right. The ship rights itself and a few good songs stand out, but the presence of obnoxious filler gets more and more obvious. By the time you hit "Zebra," the joke isn't funny anymore, and it hasn't looped around to being funny again yet.
Never heard of this before. Pleasant surprise. Really liked how eclectic this was without being annoying or dis-harmonious. Reading about the project was interesting as well
3+ hours? no thanks.
this album sucking its own dick
I am reminded of the story of a young man who went to a brothel and asked the madame for a girl to try '69' with. The madame only had one girl available, but she had just come back from a Mexican restaurant. They got into position and were just starting to get busy when the girl passed some mean gas. They kept at it and in a few minutes the girl tooted again. A few coughs and tears later the guy went back to it and was soon greeted by one of the most horrendous farts ever dealt. Finally, after gagging to the point of almost upchucking, the guy rose and put his clothes back on. The girl was aghast as she never before had someone quit in the middle of an encounter. The guy wiped a few more tears away and said, "Darling, I am sorry but I don't think I can take another 66 of those." For this album, quirky as it was, I tapped out at ten.
Of all of the albums I have listened to, this is one of them.
Not for me
mye rart, noe kjempe bra noe sæært
I'd never heard of The Magnetic Fields before today, except that I knew that this album is second longest on this list (Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Gershwin Song Book is 3hrs and 15 minutes). The genre of music is chamber pop/indie pop/indie folk. It kind of sounds like Walmart brand Leonard Cohen. Stephin Merritt's bass vocals are really smooth and beautiful. The album was originally conceived as a music revue. The lead singer, Stephin Merritt was listening to a pianist interpret Stephen Sondheim songs in a gay piano bar when the idea came to him. He was familiar with Charles Ives' album: 114 Songs, but felt that 114 was too many songs, so opted to go with 69. Overall, I was impressed with the record. It suffered, of course, from overstaying its welcome, but if you can get past the length of the record, and just have it on as background music, it is great! I wouldn't want to just sit and listen to this because my attention span wouldn't allow it. For that reason, I will score this a 3. If it had been a 30-40 minute record, it 100% would have been a 4. Favourite songs: Papa Was A Rodeo, Acoustic Guitar, Kiss Me Like You Mean It, "Fido, Your Leash is Too Long", I Don't Believe In The Sun, All My Little Words, The Book of Love, You're My Only Home, "Washington, D.C.", Long-Forgotten Fairytale, The Sun Goes Down and the World Goes Dancing, "Abigail, Belle of Kilronan", Wi' Nae Wee Bairn Ye'll Me Beget Least favourite songs: Absolutely Cuckoo, Reno Dakota, The Cactus Where Your Heart Should Be, Punk Love, Love Is Like Jazz, I Shatter, Experimental Music Love, Blue You, Strange Eyes 3/5
Not a huge fan of this one.
Nice music, pleasant arrangements, brilliant lyrics, but ludicrously long. Didn’t make it all the way through.
a thoroughly exhausting album to listen to. depressing song after depressing song and most of them not even very good. the reason i’m giving it a 3 star rating is because i have to appreciate making a 3 hour long album of 69 love songs. every once in a while there’s a really good song too which made it kinda seem like a needle in a haystack type thing. definitely interesting how the vast majority of songs are on the sad side. but that’s what love is. right? for every happy ending, there are 50 sad endings. idk i have complicated feelings on love as a whole which made this album even more interesting to listen to.
What a great concept and what a great album! Love the voices, love the diversity, I was never bored and I was often delighted
I got to around 50 before it finally ground me down
some good some bad some meh
True garbage. Not capt beefheart level but pretty bad. Why is it always the worst musicians who are the most pretentious
There is a special place in hell for this band. I struggle to even call this an album because there is no artistic motivation here at all. It's just a bunch of douchebags who thought it would be funny to have 69 songs on a project. There are no interesting songs here--its just either formulaic bullshit or the most basic version possible of a differing genre. Fuck this band, fuck this "album", and fuck whoever thought this was essential listening.
When I first saw a three hour run time I was about to nope the fuck out but then I saw it was broken down into three 23 track albums so I listened to 1 a day. It’s at least listenable too but definitely an exercise in endurance.
Idk what this was….
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.
listened
Awful
Too long man
Ambitious but overwhelming
Aside from the obvious callout which creates redundancy (how could it not), this was actually pretty cool. It started as a 5, and then got shaky in the 2nd section, but came back. The tracks flew by, and the uniqueness, humor, and diversity of the vocals carried me through.
Didn’t have the time or motivation to listen to 69 songs. What I did listen to didn’t “grab” me. 2*
It was OK at first... can see this song in a snarky Indie rom-com etc... about 8 songs in I thought it was fine if a bit samey... how long left on this album.... another 61 songs! All basically the same! Musically not too bad but just why does this exist? Its not some amazing concept or a musical journey just an exercise in self-indulgence. Take the best 10 songs and you have a middle of the road album... I didn't need 7x that amount.
Finally, the day that I was dreading. A nearly 3 hour album. I already knew a couple songs from this album, and liked them, but was expecting to write a slightly cynical review about this being overly indulgent and what are they a bunch of 13 year old boys because they had to do 69 songs? But I have to say, this is pretty impressive. There aren't many throwaway songs (definitely a few though), and each song stands on its own and is fairly unique. Some very nice and sweet songs in fact. Will I ever listen to the whole thing again? Probably not, but I'm glad I listened to it once, and I added quite a few songs to my playlist to hear again. 4 stars.
Alt for langt!
Predictable review alert. Gotta admire the ambition. But despite few good songs, 3 hours ( which I didn't listen to) is too much. There is a lot of meh songs.3 hour 3 stars.
The sum is not greater than its individual parts, all of which suck.
Quirky, poppy, okay songs but I'm really not so sold on this that I am going to listen to almost 3 hours worth of this. Life is too short
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.
I knew and adored this album before entering this list. It sounds like a torture purely due to it's length, but it is not. The songs are quite varied. Several musical styles, tempos and moods. And the lyrics are so funny and witty. Songs about loving a city (in the end because her boyfriend lives there), being a girl magnet (because you have a car), warn a girl (because you are crazy and your friends will blame her and not you). First half is slightly better than the second half. Then again, I just experienced the second half in a live gig last year and it was one of the funniest and fulfilling music concerts I have been to. Everyone downvoting this album due to it's length is "Absolutely Cuckoo". If there is an album that proves that albums over 50 minutes are worth your time, this is it.
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.
This album, despite how long it was, really wasn't that bad No songs sounded the same but they weren't all different from eachother Vocals and meaning behind the lyrics were good Not an album I would come back to but it was a good listen
Boy, this was long! At least most of the songs were short. This was an interesting collection of songs. Some were pretty good, but most were just alright to me. Enjoyable, but I'm not going to come back to a lot of songs from the album. My favourite songs were Absolutely Cuckoo, No One Will Ever Love You, and I Can't Touch You Anymore.
Magnetic Fields have always been a "small doses" group for me due to the vocals and maudlin nature of their sound. So the prospect of listening to 3 hours of not-very-curated output from this band was several giant leaps beyond my tolerance. Did I listen to all of it? Of course not. I read reviews and picked out about 1/4 of what seemed to be the best-regarded. A few were clever. Most were meh. I don't feel particularly bad about missing the rest.