Have a listen to Violator to hear them at their best. Phenomenal piece of work. Picked up the vinyl at HMGav a few weeks ago.

VR sex with Taylor Swift? Where can I buy that?

Tempy wrote:

did you listen to the new Divine Comedy which snuck out last year Tin?

Sorry Temps, missed this post before.

Yes I did - I quite liked it at the time, but it's far from his best.  It's basically an album about how much he adores Cathy Davey, which is fair enough really, but I prefer him when he's telling stories.  I actually preferred the bonus disc that came with the album, which was an epistolary operatta(ish).  It's lingered longer in my memory than the well crafted but ultimately throw away tunes of the main album. 

I did see him live as well, and he was on really good form.  (On a good day he's second only to Cocker when it comes to entertaining the audience...)

Meanwhile I have now listened to the new Magnetic Fields album enough times to start to formulate an opinion.  (This is harder than it sounds, as the thing's 2 1/2 hours long).  It's easily his best thing since 69 Love Songs, and is destined to be endlessly compared to it - not just because of its insane length and ambition.  As mentioned before it's called "50 Song Memoir" and is just that - a song for, and about, each of the 50 years of his life.

Merritt's albums have long been about the framing gimmick (love songs, distortion, the letter "i" etc) - but in reality the songs have tended to be more about his own cleverness than anything else.  By explicitly turning the spotlight on himself, this time it actually feels like the songs have a bit more weight and meaning to them.  (Though for the most part he remains as dour and cryptic as ever.)

Whilst it's tempting to do a 69 love Songs and pull out favourite tracks to make a single "best-of" album of sane length (surely I wasn't the only one to do that), this record's structure resists that slightly.  By virtue of the framing device there's a clear progression through them, child, to teen, to failing artist, to established career and reflective contentment.  The songs also generally echo the period (though Merritt explicitly rejects this is the very-much-worth-reading liner notes).  The childhood songs are often pretty simplistic, 80s songs sound like, well 80s songs and...  Well let's just say he clearly wasn't having a very nice time in the 90s.  As such the whole thing is oddly satisfying as a whole. 

Ultimately though, it's still a Magnetic Fields album - in love with language, dancing, romance, disco and despair.  There are lines that'll make you laugh, and an infuriating insistence on burying potentially great pop tracks under squelchy noises just for the sake of it.  If you like his previous stuff you'll love this, if you find him a pretentious miserablist there's nothing much here to change your mind (though you may just find yourself feeling like you understand him a little better.)

Oh, and if anyone's thinking of picking it up, I'd recommend getting a physical copy - even if it's just the book with the download code - as the accompanying interview between Merritt and Daniel Handler (of Lemony Snicket fame) is both fascinating and entertaining.

Tempy wrote:

I ended up really loving How Can You Leave Me On My Own? more than should be agreeable, it and I also really like Catherine the Great.

 

I was a bit snooty about How Can You Leave Me... at first, then suddenly found I was happily humming it to myself at work.  I also really like "Other People" including, and perhaps even because of, its ridiculous ending.

Tempy wrote:

I have never listened to Merritt's stuff beyond an attempt at 69 Love Songs years ago. I should probably try again.

He's worth another go, although the miserable sod doesn't necessarily make it easy for people.  He's arguably one of our best living songwriters (certainly one of the finest lyricists), but he also a weird tendency to try and hijack his own work.  (I think it's an attempt to keep himself interested.  In the 50 Song memoirs interview he readily admits to seriously considering quitting music entirely, half way through making 69 Love Songs.)

Still, if you want to give him a go, 69 Love Songs is still considered the best starting point (though the new one would arguably work too.)  Alternatively, as a Divine Comedy fan you could track down the stuff he's done with Neil Hannon.  The Divine Comedy's covered a lot of his songs - specifically "Famous", "Love is Lighter Than Air" and "With Whom To Dance".  Hannon also turns up on one of Merritt's many side projects - The Sixths - doing a Merritt trademark atheist ditty called "The Death Only Quickly".

(Or if you drop me a PM I'll bung some samples from the whole back catalogue at you, and you can see what you like...)

Tasty

He sounds like a baby

It's the fact that JK is such a huge tosser that I can't get over.

Agreed.

Christ Ed Sheeran's new 'tune' is fucking abysmal..it's a new low water mark even by his previous terrible standards.. There's even a fucking irish flute on it.. just to make sure we know he's singing about a Galway girl.. fuck off already.



Feast your eyes on that.

Skondo wrote:

Have a listen to Violator to hear them at their best. Phenomenal piece of work. Picked up the vinyl at HMGav a few weeks ago.

Love Violator just as much as Songs of Faith and Devotion.


 
  1. I Feel You
  2. Walking In My Shoes
  3. Condemnation
  4. Mercy In You
  5. In Your Room
  6. Get Right With Me
  7. Rush
  8. One Caress
  9. Higher Love
  10. Judas

'In Your Room' - quintessential Mode

I read somewhere that it was basically written by committee, designed to appeal to teen girls and be a sing along thing. Whatever it is, it's certainly a pile of shite.

I just need to see the title and I start going CONDEMN-AAATIONNNN WHYYYYYYY

V glad more and more people are being #woke on Ed Sheeran. Still far and away the biggest selling cd in the world this year and will probably end that way, but still.