'69 Love Songs' by Magnetic Fields (1999)
It might seem strange to wax poetic about something a comedian said, but studies have shown that statistically the most intelligent profession when give IQ tests were comedians, and in this age, we don't have activists like Thomas Paine, considered to be the voice of a revolution. We have people like Jon Stewart, Lewis Black, Patton Oswalt, Chris Rock and rest in peace, the late George Carlin. There are no better social commentators than comedians. And, to be honest, I don't even know if he came up with this concept, but Russel Brand can be a mini-philosopher up on that stage. He was making a joke about threesomes and said something about how we live in a secular age and as opposed to in times past, most try to find salvation through love. I've never been in love. I've had some girlfriends and some one night stands that we both regretted the next day while our heads were throbbing and we got dressed. And the fact that I've never been in love scares me, because I am a sentimentalist at heart, despite being a pessimist and a fan of entropy and seeing society break down and riots form, I am a sentimentalist. Steven Spielberg films touch me, his best ones anyway. Yet I still face the facts, that I'm not certain whether or not I believe in the concept of a true love. Of fate and you having no control over it. The concept of true love is really ingrained in our society, but I pose you this conundrum, if there was truly someone out there meant for you, why would it be so hard to find that person. After all, if you're rational and believe in science, we're in essence animals. Our DNA have such miniscule differences that it's hard to comprehend so many divorces.
Vonnegut posited that the reason marriage is breaking down is because there is a break down of the family and extended family all staying together in the same area, all living near each other. Most of my family is in Seattle or New Orleans. Vonnegut said that in the old days, when you got married, the man had more people to have beers with, tell jokes to and play cards with. And that the woman had more people to talk to and have more friends. Essentially in the olden days when you got married, one of the great benefits is that there were more friends for each spouse, and you could confide in them, hang out with them, essentially taking a break from your spouse, but still being in the same family. And these days, in marriage, you essentially gain one more person to talk to, and being with the same person every day for the rest of your life is really damn boring and can make the most personable and rational person frustrated. Another interesting thing, Chris Rock, one of the great social commentators of our time, said that you haven't been in love with a person unless you've seriously contemplated murder. And though it was meant as a joke, I see a grain of truth in that.
But what about Magnetic Fields? These guys believe in love. And to them, love is brilliant, painful, but most important, essential. This is an album that could have easily succumbed to hubris, but fortunately, it is unpretentious and heartfelt, throughout the entire album. And let's be clear, even if this album wasn't as good as it was, it would still be worth a listen, because of the sheer accomplishment. 69 songs, all mostly full length songs, so they don't do the Guided by Voices thing, with 29 songs but being about 40 minutes long. This album is eight minutes short of being three hours long. In fact, the
highlights of this album could make a double album. For instance, here is what that double album would look like, based just on my personal taste Another thing that is interesting, is that the singer reminds me of Leonard Cohen in his tone, but he's a better singer. All the songs on this album are great, but some aren't just my type. All of them I respect, but I'll point out the particularly best ones:
Disc One
1.Absolutely Cuckoo
2.I Don't Believe in the Sun
3.All My Little Words (I love the, banjo I think, such a great melody)
4.Reno Dakota (absolutely amazing 1 minute spitfire of a song)
5.I Don't Want to Get Over You
6.Come Back From San Francisco (beautiful, should have been written in the late 60s, really reminds me of the era, except for the word disco, but oh well)
7.The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side (great song, great lyrics)
8.I Think I Need A New Heart
9.The Book of Love
10.The One You Really Love
11.Punk Love (something about this is insanely catchy.)
12.Parades Go By
13.Boa Constrictor
14.A Pretty Girl Is Like...(absolutely wonderful and catchy, and sort of humorous)
15.My Sentimental Melody (I'm sucker for any instrument that sounds like a carnival or a circus instrument, and the main instrument sounds exactly like that. I don't know what it is.)
16.Nothing Matters When We're Dancing
17.The Things We Did and Didn't Do (absolutely one of my favorites on the album)
18.Roses
19.When My Boy Walks Down the Street
20.Time Enough For Rocking When We're Old
21.Very Funny (classic short little pop ballad sound)
22.Grand Canyon (brilliant)
This list can go on, I haven't even reached some of my favorites, but, you know what, I think I've proven my point.