Thursday, July 14, 2005

Whittling down "69 Love Songs" is the new whittling down "The White Album"

I've had 69 Love Songs by the Magnetic Fields on my listening pile for quite some time, but only recently delved into the 3 disc set. I like it a lot, but there is some filler, IMO. It could be an absolutely brilliant album if some of it was excised. So, like some music geeks (myself included) do with White Album, I pared it down to one excellent 80 minute disc. The sequencing is pretty much random except for the first and last songs ("Absolutely Cuckoo" is a great introduction and "Zebra"...well, it starts with a Z).

1. "Absolutely Cuckoo"
2. "Meaningless"
3. "Acoustic Guitar"
4. "I Don't Want To Get Over You"
5. "Promises of Eternity"
6. "All My Little Words"
7. "I Don't Belive in the Sun"
8. "Reno Dakota"
9. "Two Kinds of People"
10. "The Book of Love"
11. "Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits"
12. "My Only Friend"
13. "A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off"
14. "Queen of the Savages"
15. "Washington, D.C."
16. "I Think I Need a New Heart"
17. "Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side"
18. "It's a Crime"
19. "Very Funny"
20. "Long-Forgotten Fairytale"
21. "Busby Berkeley Dreams"
22. "Bitter Tears"
23. "Papa Was a Rodeo"
24. "If You Don't Cry"
25. "Abigail, Belle of Kilronan"
26. "Kiss Me Like You Mean It"
27. "(Crazy For You But) Not That Crazy"
28. "Wi' Nae Wee Bairn Ye'll Me Beget"
29. "The Night You Can't Remember"
30. "Zebra"

I'm not the only one doing this apparently. Stylus Magazine and The Believer both have features that whittle down the album (the former says that "Washington, D.C." is about a lesbian affair, but it seems pretty sexual orientation-neutral to me).

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How could you forget, "Holiday," with the most comedic, yet romantic lyrics ever contained in the same song:

"We'll develop muscles from cracking coconuts
Let our clothing drop off feel each other's butts
Start a better country where we can get things done
Make a fortune turning sand to silicon "

I mean, it's probably not on 69 Love Songs but damn, it should be.

Michelle said...

I love 69 Love Songs and the Magnetic Fields. it's so great, even my kids love it. I think I'm going to have to dig out my copies, I haven't listened to them in forever.

did you see them when they were at the Alrosa a few years ago?

spydrz said...

Is this some WDCE music?

Micah said...

kris - I haven't heard that one (it's not on 69), but now I want to. I'm just now getting into this band.

michelle - I've never seen them live, so no I didn't catch them at the Alrosa. Did you go? I made my brother and nephews a copy of "30 Love Songs" - they'll dig it since their tastes are pretty good (I mean, my 9 year old nephew's favorite movie is Lost in Translation. How cool is that?)

spydrz - In a word, yes.