Track Listing

1. I Die
2. I Don't Believe You
3. I Don't Really Love You Anymore
4. I Looked All Over Town
5. I Thought You Were My Boyfriend
6. I Was Born
7. I Wish I Had An Evil Twin
8. If There's Such A Thing As Love
9. I'm Tongue-Tied
10. In An Operetta
11. Infinitely Late At Night
12. Irma
13. Is This What They Used To Call Love
14. It's Only Time

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14029 in Music
• Released on: 2004-05-04
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Album Description
The long-awaited follow-up to the acclaimed 1999 release 69 Love Songs, i finds singer/songwriter Stephin Merritt in full possession of his acerbic wit. Featuring lyrics ripe with melancholy and bittersweet imagery, the record's fourteen tracks are possibly the most personal Merritt has created to date -- a departure from the many voices on 69 Love Songs.

Customer Reviews

Impressed is Imminent
Something that always is impressive about Stepen Merritt is his bravery in bringing pop music out of it's dull, repetition and into a brilliant ride of lyrical bliss and musical genius. His use of everything from the cello to the banjo on the latest work of The Magnetic Fields 'i' is both deep and catchy. With poppy songs like "I Don't Believe You" and "If there's Such a Thing As Love" put into a mix with the odd "In an Operetta", with the bitter breakup tune "I Thought You Were my Boyfriend". The Cd ends with the beautiful "It's Only Time" which is the highlight of the CD, both lyrically and with it's lovesick tune.

This is an album that has no bad songs at all and never disappoints, even with it's experimental adventures.

Better than 69
I hold a minority view: I think this album is better than the 69 Love Songs. The lyrics are at least as good -- clever, heartbreaking, insightful, ironic, funny. The biggest improvement is better musical composition. As in good classical music, the accompaniments have become interesting. "I Die" is almost a duet for voice & cello. "I Thought You Were..." has a haunting counter-tune in the treble. "Tongue-Tied" uses pauses as cleverly as Haydn. "Infinitely Late" is spare and rich simultaneously.

Brilliant, but too much filler
This is an unusual CD, with a lot of things to recommend it. Stephin Merritt has the ability to write catchy tunes in many different styles, always showcasing his smoky baritone voice. "I Don't Believe You" is a witty and up-tempo quasi-love song. "I Wish I Had An Evil Twin" reminds one of They Might Be Giants, while "I'm Tongue-Tied" is a honky-tonk lament in the style of "Crazy."

I don't even want to talk about the "I" theme, but it does not seem forced, and does not detract from the album.

My main criticism of the album is that tracks 10-14 are fairly un-memorable. They are pleasant and hum-able, but to me they seem like filler.

This is definitely a must-have CD for anyone with a particular interest in great song-writing, but it is not a masterpiece.