Product Description
Re-mastered limited edition (3,000) deluxe vinyl re-issue of their classic 1999 3-CD box set rumination on love. Funny, smart, dark, and memorable. Stephin Merritt solidifies his songwriting genius on his "most ambitious and fully realized work" - AMG. Beautifully packaged in a 10-inch slip case box with three double gatefold sleeves and the original booklet in 10-inch size. Includes coupon for MP3 download of entire album.

Amazon.com's Best of 1999
Singer-songwriter Stephen Merritt's ironically morose lyrics, Tin Pan Alley stylings, sugary melodies, and idiosyncratic sound have earned his band the Magnetic Fields cult status and the adulation of grad students everywhere. The ambitious, genre-hopping, and intensely heart-tugging three-disc set 69 Love Songs probably won't gain Merritt the wider recognition he deserves, but the clever misanthrope likely wouldn't have it any other way. --Mike McGonigal

Amazon.com
Initially conceived as 100 love songs arranged in alphabetical order for theatrical revue performance, Stephin Merritt--indie-pop songsmith and Magnetic Fields spearhead--downsized his ambitious concept project to 69 Love Songs, his first recording under this moniker in four years. Parleyed into three volumes, Merritt, as on other outings, is joined by a rotating cast of musicians including manager Claudia Gonson. These players take on the role of orchestra and cast to Merritt's madcap composer, librettist, and performer, augmenting his lo-fi electronic-based rock with sparkling instrumental touches and narrative vocals for a portion of his absurdly wondrous ditties. Endlessly intriguing, the Fields revisit not only earlier themes of love both shunned and requited, but continue to forge a seemingly impossible synthesis of country-tinged Euro-pop and old-school musical theater. No stranger to melancholy, Merritt's twinkly music-box world, in shades of resplendent violet, is beautifully peopled with incurable romantics who drop pop-culture references and shed gender identity as often as most folks change their underpants. Not surprisingly, 69 Love Songs is delicious defeat on the romance front while pulling ahead as Merritt's most coherently engaging listen. --Paige La Grone

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 136 reviews)

It's that good. by CRAZOTOLOGY (Joplin, MO. (USA))

5 Stars
February 25, 2009
There are verry few bands that truly amaze in modern music...The Magnetic Fields are one of those bands. Beautiful, dark, romantic, intellectual, and unusual in every way. The music on this box set (trilogy CD compilation) goes all over the spectrum of indie pop and experimental rock. At times, even a little raw dirty country...and a sprinkle of neo-classical down tempo who knows what. Great music...that all I can say. Amazing!

Whimsical, Affected, Catchy, Funny, Conceited, Clever... by Ian R. Bruce (Natick, MA United States)

4 Stars
February 13, 2009
...with 69 songs there's going to be something to love, and something to hate, on this 3 CD set. None of these songs have energy enough to rise above the crowd and be distinct and memorable, but a lot of the music is infectious, silly, inventive and sometimes beautiful.

WOW! by Shawn M. Brown

5 Stars
January 30, 2009
Wow! This is fantastic! I received it very promptly as well. The condition is next to none. Wonderful buying experience!! Thanks!

34 great love songs by Michael J. Brooker

3 Stars
December 21, 2008
I fall on the side of the fence that a lot of people do with this release, which is to say that there's a perfect album in here, but it's buried underneath a mountain of so-so material. To be fair it's pretty rare for an artist to release a double (let alone triple) LP and not have that sort of criticism thrown at them, but that doesn't make it any less valid. That being said Stephin Merritt did put forth a fine effort here and hell, even the Beatle's White Album wasn't perfect, so hats off to him for giving us what he did: An enormous amount of wonderful music. Anyway, we're lucky enough to live in an age of hard drives and CD burners which gives us the power to make our own mixes and leave what we don't like behind. I decided to give this a shot with 69 Love Songs and, surprise, my mix turned out to be exactly half as long as the original. I called my brand new, 2 disc, version "34 love songs" and have stuck with it since. Some people might say doing something like that makes you a butcher of artistic intent, but I honestly don't think there's anything wrong with cutting out the fat for the sake of good taste. I just wish Stephin decided to do a little more of that himself. For the sake of sharing, here's my annotated mix: Disc one: 1. Absolutely cuckoo 2. I don't believe in the sun 3. All my little words 4. A chicken with it's head cut off 5. Love is like a bottle of gin 6. I don't want to get over you 7. Nothing matters when were dancing 8. The luckiest guy on the lower east side 9. I'm sorry I love you 10. The cactus where your heart should be 11. World love 12. When my boy walks down the street 13. The book of love 14. Long forgotten fairytale 15. Abigail, belle of kilronan 16. My sentimental melody 17. The things we did and didn't do Disco two: 1. Roses 2. It's a crime 3. Busby Berkley dreams 4. The death of Ferdinand de Saussure 5. You're my only home 6. I can't touch you anymore 7. No one will ever love you 8. Epitaph for my heart 9. Asleep and dreaming 10. Crazy for you (but not that crazy) 11. Meaningless 12. Papa was a Rodeo 13. Love in the shadows 14. Yeah! Oh yeah! 15. How to say goodbye 16. Xylophone track 17. Zebra

Journey through the human heart by B. Martin

5 Stars
October 31, 2008
Who would have the creative energy and ambition to release a three disc set containing 69 songs all about the most complex of human emotions, while at the same time giving it a name that is a clever double entendre? Stephen Merritt, that's who. The gifted/eccentric pop auteur has delivered a stunning set of songs that examine love from every possible angle. This is no sappy collection of silly love songs. Merritt is concerned with more than just the superficial idea of love that we have been presented in movies, television, and, well...... music. The songs on this collection examine the countless effects that love can have upon us. There is the giddy joy of falling in love and developing a new relationship, the pain of realizing that love is fading from a relationship, the need for love, unrequited love, the pain of a failed relationship, clinging to falsely idealized love, etc. The list goes on and on. Sometimes the songs explore the intertwined natures of lust and love and sometimes they examine love in the purest sense. The course taken by these songs is never conventional and neither is the music. Just like love itself, nothing is ever predictble. Sometimes Merritt crafts pure pop songs, elsewhere he shows his Joy Division influence with syntheziers and distortion. But turn around again and he's churning out acoutsic folk or jazz influenced cuts. The reason that everything coheres so nicely is because Merritt has a singular artistic vision here. He works with a purpose on these songs and whether he's breaking your heart or making you laugh with his caustic with, he never resorts to cheap sentimentality or easy answers. We wouldn't want it any other way. Savor this album. We may never see it's like again.

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