No, that’s really not a typo. Over the course of two consecutive nights, the Magnetic Fields performed the entirety of their seminal 1999 album 69 Love Songs in order at the Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh (and yes, I really have been there four nights on the trot now).
Lead singer and songwriter Stephin Merritt (that’s not a typo either) conceived the album as (well, you guessed it) 69 love songs in a variety of styles including punk, country, soul and jazz. Musically the Fields might well be described as being the point at where indie-pop meets chamber pop – and that was evident right from the beginning with their debut single ‘100000 Fireflies‘ back in 1992.
Given the part that all five members play in the execution of these two evenings, it’s very clear that the Magnetic Fields are most definitely a band and not a solo act. Whilst Merritt leads proceedings, the importance of singer and mandolin player Shirley Simms, singer and guitarist Anthony Kaczynski, keyboardist Chris Ewen and cellist Sam Davol should not be underestimated in executing what is an ambitious production.
Of course, it was ambitious even when it was conceived and over the years it’s probably become the Magnetic Fields’ best-known work. Over the course of the two nights it’s clear just how well-written these songs are and how well-regarded they have become. Given that there’s 69 of them, that’s no mean feat. Right from the opening ‘Absolutely Cuckoo’ there’s scarcely a wasted moment. And of course there’s Merritt’s deadpan humour, which seems to be very East Coast, and very droll, Max. “There’s a lot of people with hair,” he remarks, looking at the audience and commenting that it’s changed the acoustic in the hall since they soundchecked, and that they’ve considered becoming an Oi! band (for those who don’t get the reference, Oi! bands tended to have skinhead haircuts, or very close).
There are occasions you might wonder whether Merritt is taking the mickey; ‘Love Is Like Jazz‘ – the idea being that you make it up as you go along, treads a very close line between being clever and descending into self-indulgence. But some songs do genuinely make the audience laugh, and others are genuinely weepies. Needless to say, he says has a trick for not getting too emotionally involved, which is to imagine Dick Van Dyke singing the song in a terrible cockney accent.
It would be wrong to simply edit the list of songs down, and I’m glad that the band have been given the chance to perform the songs in order, in full. Over the course of the two nights it may be a little exhausting for this reviewer, but that’s probably true for the band as well. Trying to pick highlights is almost pointless, but ‘Papa Was A Rodeo,’ ‘Busby Berkeley Dreams‘ ‘I Don’t Want To Get Over You‘ and ‘The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side,’ were pretty special. This album deserves its place on the many best ever albums lists it appears on.
Now: the six LP set of the album was retailing for a mere £120 in the foyer. Would anyone like to buy me it for Christmas?
Photo courtesy of Edinburgh International Festival website
