It's taken god-knows-how-long and uncountable delays, project shelvings and cancellations, but finally the MBV back catalogue has got the remastered treatment that everyone has been waiting for.
All the EPs, 1988's 'Isn't Anything' and the seminal 'Loveless' all get the reworks from Kevin Shields, also we are treated to a new track called 'Good For You', recorded around 89.
All available on iTunes
The Magnetic Fields is the songwriting and recording project of New York native and LA resident Stephin Merrit. Having existed since the early nineties, it was 1999's triple-concept album '69 Love Songs' that broke them into the mainstream; after thirteen years of listening I'm still digesting most of it. It's more unwieldy than The Clash's 'Sandinista', some songs pack more humour and wit into their two minutes than most songwriters manage to work into their entire discography. The album's defined by Merrit's dry humour and love songs that bend genre roles, with Merrit's voice moving between the feminine and masculine, and exist in a timeless state that shifts incongruously between the modern day and a romanticised past somewhere between New York and Paris. New track 'Andrew In Drag' from his upcoming record 'Love At The Bottom Of The Sea' returns to these obsessions and styles after released three albums in the past decade comprising mainly guitar based work.
Below are two of his finest moments, one from 1994's 'Holiday'
album, the other from '69 Love Songs' although choosing just one
track is incredibly difficult. Both showcase his wit, oddness, and
subtley infectious songwriting ability.
Today is apprently 'Blue Monday' - the most depressing day of the year. Three weeks after Christmas, January proving as miserable as ever, we're all feeling glum, and it's Monday, couldn't get much worse. So in order to cheer you all up a bit, here's New Order's most beautiful love song, 'Temptation'. Nine minutes of arpeggiating synths, Bernard Sumner's plaintive cry of 'I've never met anyone quite like you before' and Hooky's pulsing bassline. So if you're feeling a bit down, and this doesn't cheer you up, then there's no hope.
(I've listened to this three times already today.)
