69 Love Songs poll

this is one of my favorite albums but i think most of the "filler" is unlistenable after the third or fourth rundown. the imperfections make me like the album better... flawless albums are almost suspicious to me. albums don't need to be "total works" and in some cases it's better if they're not.

my controversial opinion on this thing is that busby berkeley dreams > the book of love

punk love fucking rules

busby berkeley dreams > the book of love

I can see why you might feel that way. There's an unmistakable sense of pathos and longing in BBD whereas BOL can be seen as tongue-in-cheek. Frankly I think Peter Gabriel did more justice to BOL by finding it's true emotional heart.

Abigail belle of kilroan might be the best

What a shame so few votes. I want a recount and I vote for "I Don't Want To Get Over You"

abigail belle of kilronan and papa was a rodeo are both based on very theatrical conceits -- he is singing from an assumed standpoint, and a kind of hackneyed one -- but also among the most heartbreaking songs on the album.

Abigail has always been my answer

Busby Berkeley, instinctively. I've not listened to the whole thing in over 10 years.

What a shame so few votes. I want a recount and I vote for "I Don't Want To Get Over You"

you're crazy if you think you'd get more than 83 ppl voting in 2018

So many standout tracks!

Could the 50 year one stand anywhere close on that score?

Underwear is underrated. Both in life and in song.

― Jeff, Thursday, October 9, 2014 6:32 AM (three years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think I’m changing my mind on this.

About life or the song?

I remember carefully ranking the 69 love songs for a list, and after that brain-rack someone just said the list could have been in any other order, and I had to admit that's quite apt.
Also had a brief "should we shouldn't we" romantic month with a girl abroad during an exchange, and after playing some songs from 69LS to her and despite this being long ago, ever since she's told me she plays them from time to time, and I think the power of nostalgia is very much in the songs (not me).
I know I pretty much haven't gone back to the band at all, neither for 69LS or the first two that were my true favorites.
No clue what song I could have elected.

Rather surprised "Nothing matter when we're dancing" finds itself without a vote.

Will mention: I don't want to get over you, Sweet-Loving Man, The Luckiest Guy, The Sun goes down... I really need to listen to it again

I don't like it when he sings in the higher register

I was just listening to this this morning and thinking about how I never listen to discs 2 or 3.

Amen re: "Abigail," definitely in my top 1 or maybe 2. I've always loved how disorienting it sounds on headphones. Also so many keepers among the 0 vote getters, "Grand Canyon" is a particular fave.

Could the 50 year one stand anywhere close on that score?

I'd say yes. Every song is musically striking and serves the project, and most are very good! Though I suppose the highs aren't as high.

did the same thing as above, and marveled at the 0 vote-getters.
Has Merritt ever had a more devastating song than "The Things We Did And Didn't Do"?

lol just saw this thread I had How Fucking Romantic stuck in my head this morning while making coffee and started singing it to myself, snaps included

For a few years, “how fucking romantic” was the only magnetic fields song I knew. A friend put it on a mix for me. I like it well enough, but I wish he would have chosen one of maybe 30-40 other songs off the album instead, because i wasn’t really motivated to investigate then any further at the time

I don't like it when he sings in the higher register

There’s another male singer, right? It’s kind of weird because on some songs it seems the other guy sings higher and it’s easier to tell them apart, and on others he sings as low as Merritt and it’s confusing. Either that or Merritt is the only male singer and I’m confused.

There are five singers on 69 Love Songs.

(and I'm startled that anyone could have been listening to the album for 18 years and never noticed.)

(Merritt is the lead singer on 41 of them, each of the four duets has a different partner)

it's not that startling. ld beghtol and dudley klute sound kind of like him, especially because all three singers slightly change their diction according to genre conventions.

I for one am startled, especially because I listen to it every day

ld beghtol and dudley klute sound kind of like him

wow, racist

does rip van wanko hate the higher, warbling voice he used on the first two albums?

would love to do a single disc poll for each. pretty sure it's format-wise, but even after the vinyl reissue i've always looked at each disc separately.

Could the 50 year one stand anywhere close on that score?

I'd say yes. Every song is musically striking and serves the project, and most are very good! Though I suppose the highs aren't as high.

― geoffreyess, Sunday, September 30, 2018 4:53 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Thanks, see that's the thing...

CD 2 was the one where I remember playing it going "mmm yeah OK" until "Papa was a rodeo" at which point I went wo. Subsequent plays I love those other songs too, but the 50 collection needs highlights too, it helps when slogging through the set for the first time.

There's so much great stuff on this set, I think if I narrow it down to my three most favourites, they all come from CD2:
-Epitaph For My Heart (dramatic and pessimistic over-the-top lyrics over a warm cheerful melody, so fun that it somehow ends up being almost heartwarming)
-Asleep And Dreaming ("I don't know if you're beautiful, because I love you too much." - how can such soberness still be so adoring?)
-You're My Only Home (a very powerful piece - perhaps more than any other song on this set a 'song about love' with the casual appearance of a 'love song')

enjoying listening to 69LS again. Surprised some one like Kacey Musgraves hasn't turned 'Sweet-Lovin' Man' into a hit.
That melody...

I retroactively change my hypothetical vote to Epitaph For My Heart, forgot how great it was. And another argument for Stephin never not singing in that basso

Who’ll take it’s ashes and singing fling
Them from the top of the Brill building?

Asleep and dreaming makes me cry xps

Surprised some one like Kacey Musgraves hasn't turned 'Sweet-Lovin' Man' into a hit.

Ha, I said something like that on the Musgraves thread. "Lonely Weekend" was giving me "Sweet-Lovin' Man" vibes.

see that's the thing...

Yeah, but 69 Love Songs is like the apotheosis of standout-tracks-ness. Forgot to say that 50 Song Memoir has a pretty similar ratio of excerptible tracks. My big five: A Cat Called Dionysus, No, Foxx & I, Dreaming In Tetris, Have You Seen It in the Snow? Shall we poll it?

I'd vote in that poll but I'm kind of wondering how many other people have even listened to the whole thing. There's some really good stuff on there and I think it's the closest we're ever going to get to another 69 Love Songs, BUT the highs aren't as high and there are fewer of them IMO. If anyone hasn't checked it out, I'd recommend listening to it once all the way through and then listening to it on shuffle. Definitely took me back to my heavy 69LS-listening days for a bit.

I like what I've heard. Charming stuff but it's somewhat a case of been there done that.

we should poll this one by disc

see that's the thing...

You are probably right..

I was tempted to go Spotify, but I'm just gonna have to get one and do as before, really, aren't I?

is there a Wasps' Nests poll

I put "69" on my Spotify, just got through it.

It's funny, the highlights are all the ones I remember, but a whole chunk I didn't remember at all.

"Blue You" I'd have said was Nick Cave.

Saturday is the 20th anniversary

gather ye rosebuds

Agggghh 20 years! Finally the anniversaries coincide with some actually good memories. I’ve been waiting for this.

I saw them perform the entire set over two nights. One of my all-time favorite gigs.

So did I … three times.

https://www.talkhouse.com/stephin-merritt-the-magnetic-fields-talks-with-daniel-handler-lemony-snicket-for-the-talkhouse-podcast/

we should poll this one by disc

― nba jungboy (voodoo chili), Tuesday, October 2, 2018

I tried!

I'd swap "Chicken" and "Parades" but yeah.

Busby Berkeley?

Listening to this in the first time in years after transferring "just the good ones" to my music player. Thought these would amount to 20-25 songs but I ended up with 40 (including a few I almost left off tbf).

with his choice of voices that didn’t automatically code “gay”

Idk, Flare bear's voice doesn't code "gay" enough on its own?

Who'll take its ashes and
Singing, fling them from the top of the Brill Building