> Switch to Advanced Search

New & Current Releases
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Music In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

64 A Camp
78 Akron/Family
73 Dave Alvin & the Guilty Women
74 Amazing Baby
62 Tori Amos
54 The Answer
74 Anti-Flag
74 Art Brut
71 Au Revoir Simone
65 Zee Avi
70 Bachelorette
77 Bat For Lashes
68 Big Business
76 Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses
67 Black Dice
57 Black Eyed Peas
74 Black Moth Super Rainbow
71 Blank Dogs
65 Booker T.
54 The Boxmasters
65 The Boy Least Likely To
74 Brakes [aka brakesbrakesbrakes]
68 British Sea Power
66 Jeff Buckley
75 Busdriver
59 Busta Rhymes
64 Cage The Elephant
82 Bill Callahan
80 Camera Obscura
68 Cam'ron
79 Casiotone For The Painfully Alone
58 Chester French
82 The Church
61 Ciara
72 Clues
69 The Coathangers
74 Jarvis Cocker
90 Leonard Cohen
70 Elvis Costello
66 Graham Coxon
76 Crippled Black Phoenix
71 The Crocodiles
69 Cryptacize
71 Crystal Antlers
56 The Crystal Method
69 Dananananaykroyd
76 Danger Mouse And Sparklehorse
71 De La Soul
77 Death Cab For Cutie
68 Deer Tick
81 Deerhunter
70 Depeche Mode
78 Dinosaur Jr.
85 Dirty Projectors
86 DJ Quik & Kurupt
77 Doves
68 Dredg
76 Bob Dylan
82 Steve Earle
70 Eels
62 El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez
58 Eminem
60 Empire Of The Sun
54 The Enemy
67 Jeremy Enigk
68 Nathan Fake
85 The Felice Brothers
79 The Field
65 Fink
60 Fischerspooner
77 Flatlanders
62 Flo Rida
64 Franz Ferdinand
77 Gallows
72 Melody Gardot
59 Ginuwine
71 Golden Silvers
61 Gomez
69 Grand Duchy
73 Great Lake Swimmers
59 Great Northern
72 Green Day
86 Grizzly Bear
75 The Handsome Family
69 Ben Harper And Relentless7
75 PJ Harvey & John Parish
66 Heaven & Hell
85 Levon Helm
74 The Hold Steady
79 Patterson Hood
75 Jon Hopkins
82 The Horrors
69 Hanne Hukkelberg
74 Ida Maria
65 Immaculate Machine
75 The Intelligence
76 Iron & Wine
79 Isis
68 It Hugs Back
88 J Dilla aka Jay Dee
61 Jadakiss
86 Japandroids
61 Joan Of Arc
84 Joe Lovano Us Five
72 John Doe & The Sadies
70 Joker's Daughter
62 Jonas Brothers
53 Mike Jones
71 The Juan Maclean
76 Junior Boys
68 Kasabian
74 Diana Krall
56 Lady Sovereign
43 Ben Lee
68 The Lemonheads
76 Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard
77 Lindstrom & Prins Thomas
65 Little Boots
79 The Low Anthem
67 Jason Lytle
75 The Maccabees
76 Magik Markers
80 Major Lazer
70 Malajube
71 Manchester Orchestra
85 Manic Street Preachers
57 Marilyn Manson
66 The Mars Volta
68 Dave Matthews Band
62 Maximo Park
70 Meat Puppets
80 Method Man & Redman
77 Metric
75 Micachu & The Shapes
69 Chrisette Michele
76 Miike Snow
67 Mika Miko
75 Rhett Miller
49 Mims
72 Mr. Lif
72 Moby
78 Moderat
70 Mandy Moore
80 Mos Def
70 Bob Mould
74 Nadja
72 New York Dolls
72 Nite Jewel
67 NOFX
76 Noisettes
60 Paolo Nutini
67 Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band
74 Papercuts
76 Passion Pit
74 Peaches
71 Pet Shop Boys
68 Peter Bjorn And John
82 Phoenix
76 Pink Mountaintops
63 Placebo
66 Pomegranates
64 Iggy Pop
67 Prefuse 73
81 Ramblin' Jack Elliott
76 Rancid
54 Rascal Flatts
68 Lionel Richie
77 Alasdair Roberts
73 Rick Ross
55 Asher Roth
72 Savath & Savalas
61 Polly Scattergood
65 The Shortwave Set
60 Shout Out Out Out Out
66 Silversun Pickups
85 Todd Snider
78 Sonic Youth
72 The Soundcarriers
61 The Sounds
74 Regina Spektor
63 Spinal Tap
65 Spinnerette
81 St. Vincent
59 Still Flyin'
58 Street Sweeper Social Club
87 Sunn O)))
82 Sunset Rubdown
84 Super Furry Animals
74 Richard Swift
78 Taking Back Sunday
85 Tanya Morgan
81 Otis Taylor
71 Telekinesis
70 Telepathe
80 Thee Oh Sees
79 The Thermals
74 Rob Thomas
64 Thunderheist
74 Tiga
57 Tinted Windows
72 Tortoise
82 Allen Toussaint
71 Trembling Bells
69 Two Fingers
84 UGK
68 Keith Urban
71 John Vanderslice
85 The Vaselines
74 The Veils
73 Viva Voce
63 Patrick Watson
79 White Denim
77 White Rabbits
57 The Whitest Boy Alive
74 Wilco
80 Wildbirds & Peacedrums
78 Wolves In The Throne Room
65 The Wooden Birds
67 Wooden Shjips
81 Yeah Yeah Yeahs
70 Pete Yorn
93 Neil Young
60 Neil Young
72 Yusuf

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

69 Love Songs
by Magnetic Fields


9.8

based on 16 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 22 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Distortion
i

MUSIC:

Official Artist Site

The title says it all. This 3-disc set indeed contains 69 love songs, all penned by Stephin Merritt (whose other projects include The 6ths, Future Bible Heroes, and the Gothic Archies). The Magnetic Fields have evolved into a real "band," including keyboardist Claudia Gonson (also Merritt's manager) and multi-instrumentalist John Woo, and Merritt alternates on vocals with Gonson and additional singers. Despite the almost encyclopedic variety of styles and huge volume of songs, there is surprisingly little filler here.

LABEL:	Merge
RELEASE DATE:	07 September 1999
DISCS:	3 discs
GENRE(S):	Indie, Pop, Rock

NOTES: The three CDs are sold separately in addition to being grouped together in a box set (with book).

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Alternately recalling the best work of Blondie, Leonard Cohen, Depeche Mode, and dozens more, 69 Songs About Love is a sprawling masterpiece of White Album-like proportions.

100

Entertainment Weekly

69 elegant observations by a pop master.

100

Village Voice (Consumer Guide)

Even the "jazz" and "punk" cuts are good for a few laughs -- total losers are rare indeed.

Village Voice

Like a great romance, it's consistently lovable even when stupid or frustrating, and its best moments are absolutely breathtaking.

CDNow

The merely wonderful arrangements pale next to the songs themselves.

Pitchfork

Each song contains its own small epiphany, but they never quite add up to the one big sweeping epiphany that you'd hope for.

All Music Guide

Stephin Merritt's most ambitious as well as fully realized work to date, a three-disc epic of classically chiseled pop songs that explore both the promise and pitfalls of modern romance through the jaundiced eye of an irredeemable misanthrope.

E! Online

There are plenty of throwaway tunes, and the sound quality is decidedly lo-fi, but what's most surprising about this three-CD collection is the number of good songs.

PopMatters

For its epic length, the collection occasionally (rarely) drags, but when it does, it doesn't for long.

Q Magazine

A boundlessly entertaining expose of what happens when you mix fine words with excellent melodies to make great songs.

New Musical Express

In the hands of someone less witty and schizoid, a near three-hour epic would be unforgivable, but Merritt at play is frequently magical.

Armchair DJ

Unabashedly beautiful tunes like "I Don't Believe in the Sun" and "Come Back from San Francisco" provide provide ample payoff for the arduous process of listening to the collection in total.

Sonicnet

By my count, you've still got 50 keepers out of 69, give or take a few songs. And about a third of those sound like classics.

Almost Cool

He jumps styles of music effortlessly, all the while managing to pull things together with touching and inventive lyrics.... One of the best releases of the year.

L.A. Weekly

After three discs, Merritt's mesmerizing display of sustained inconsequentiality starts to seem like one of those Guinness Book of World Records stunts, impressive but pointless.

Rolling Stone

Merritt's compositions have a tossed-off, barely produced quality and are held together by sturdily constructed melodies that hark back to Eighties synth poppers like Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark.

The average user rating for this album is 9.8 (out of 10) based on 22 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jim gave it a10:
Rolling Stone is wrong again. A great album

Wayne W. gave it a10:
This album is just a fun album to listen to. Stephin Merritt writes incredible lyrics!

David C. gave it a10:
Completely amazing album. Probably one of the best pop album in the 90's. Very clever lyrics.

Gary O. gave it a10:
Absolutely supreme.

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
I need a cigarette! That's how good this album is

alex f gave it a10:
A wonderful album.

Raj S. gave it a10:
One of the top 5 albums of the 90's.

69 Love Songs by Magnetic Fields

69 Love Songs
by Magnetic Fields