Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Not the Magnetic Fields again ...

I've had "Holiday" in heavy rotation, and it's now obvious to me that no band has ever produced so many outstanding two minute songs as the Magnetic Fields. "69 Love Songs" is full of them, and what's more, they're some of the strongest songs on the album. The roller arena rush of "You Me and the Moon" (from "Get Lost") had already been perfected with the beguiling "Deep Sea Diving Suit", which is 2:05 of buzzing disco bliss. Although both albums cover similar lo-fi cheap electronic ground ("Get Lost" is a denser, more kitchen sink affair, in large part due to the greater prevalence of guitars), "Holiday" generally feels like a brisker record, which is certainly because of the greater number of songs with the maximum 2:30 running times. And the best songs are the shortest ones, which isn't true for "Get Lost". Maybe this explains why I've taken so strongly to these particular MF records and not others -- more (and better) < 2:30 songs? "i" has three of them, and only "I Die" come anywhere close to the apex of that album. "The Charm of the Highway Strip" has only one such song, etc.

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