Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75728 in Digital Music Album
• Released on: 2002-08-19
• Running time: 2354 seconds

Customer Reviews

Stephin Merritt has done better...
And admittedly, he has also done worse, if we want to go on a song-by-song basis. True, the lyrics are still wry and the rhymes are clever, but unlike other albums, I didn't catch myself singing memorable little lines back to myself like I usually do after first listening to a new Stephinn Merritt-related album. I think my biggest problem, personally, may have been the lack of Stephinn's vocals. I felt that The Magnetic Fields made a turn for the better when he took over the singing duties many years ago. It's fine to delegate, but his misery-laden crooning is one of the things I like most about The Magnetic Fields. Claudia Gonson sometimes sounds bored or overwhelmed while singing, which works fine for some songs, but not for all of them. If you're not overly familiar with Merritt's generous output, I wouldn't start here, and if you're not a rabid collector of all things Merritt, you wouldn't miss too much by not having this album.

Digital Sunset
As a longtime Magnetic Fields fan, I have come to expect each CD to be fairly different. Especially with Stephin's "side" projects, the 6ths, the Gothic Archies and Future Bible Heroes. Usually FBH are the furthest off from the tree, as it involves Chris Ewen in the writing process instead of solely Stephin.

Everyone is always saying how Stephin uses so many casio keyboards, but Future Bible Heroes is where the electronic blips, squelchy keyboards and other synthetics really knock over your light-bright(tm).

If I had to compare this CD to previous releases, of course I'd compare it to the FBH debut "Memories Of Love", but it is really more akin to a poppier version of the 6ths CD "Hyacinths and Thistles". Lyrically, and the fact this is the first CD since "Wayward Bus/Distant Plastic Trees" to feature solely one female vocalist, I am reminded of the debut MF CD: "WB/DPT".

The lovely Miss Claudia Gonson sings all the vocals on this CD (10 vocal tracks, 6 ewen-strumentals) More moody than "Memories of Love", the cohesiveness of having only one vocalist adds to the dream like quailty of the CD. Stephin doesn't come out of the hazey keyboard fog to spook you. It's Claudia, being fun, feisty, far-off and far-out.

In more than one place, this CD reminds me of Mimi's CD "Soak", surreal vocals, dreamy atmospherics,clashing electronics but with more pop elements than "Soak".

Losing Your Affection - Safety-dance sort of love song.

Doris Daytheearthstoodstill - imagine being a tentacled alien on a far off radiation drenched planet, watching old transmission of Earth 60's b-movies and beach boys songs.

A Thousand Lovers In A Day - possibly the most downbeat Merritt song since "Crowd of Drifters".

I'm A Vampire - the pop-hit single sort of song.

The World Is A Disco Ball - Are disco balls Stephin's new recurring theme?

All in all, was expecting something a few notches poppier, but NOT disappointed.

Buffy, this Spike's for you
Okay all you Buffyheads, if you liked anything you ever heard by Steve Merritt and friends, you'll find this witty, sometimes poignant, unexpectedly tuneful song collection a CD you'll play more and more as time goes by. I know I have.

It's not all about vampires, but many songs are, and most of the rest touch upon time passing, death looming, and, of course, love. Like a lot of Lou Reed, sometimes these songs are as musically sweet as ABBA, and yet they're edgy, sometimes dark, and mordant. "Losing Your Affection" still has the power to make me smile after two years of regular play. But behind the exuberant word play, the underlying bittersweet sentiment remains true for anyone who has ever been deeply in love and had it returned. "Thousand Lovers in a Day" just seemed perverse on first hearing. On rehearing, it became a mournful and defiant response to the recognition that youth is rushing by way faster than we want. One or two tracks remain a bit weak, but for me (an admitted Merrittmaniac and Buffybrain) this CD remains one that sometimes I just have to play right-this-minute.