Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
|
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
One of pop’s most skilful musical conceptualists, Stephin Merritt’s new album Distortion has been hailed as an attempt to build an album in the mould of The Jesus and Mary Chain’s feedback-strewn debut Psychocandy--although naturally, there’s also another reason: Merritt is a sufferer from "hyperacusis", a sensitive hearing condition, and these sweet-sung songs of love, alcohol, and heartache are designed to give you a glimpse into his experience of sound. If the thought of songs played through a curtain of shrill distortion is an upsetting proposition, fear not–-you’ll return with eardrums intact. Rather, the high-end is just an eccentric sort of frame for some of Magnetic Fields’ more approachable, arch, and all-round loveable songs. "California Girls", sung by collaborator Shirley Simms is shimmering West Coat pop spiked with strychnine ("See them on the big bright screen/Tanned, blonde and seventeen ... I hate Californian girls"). "Too Drunk to Dream" is a sashaying ‘60s pastiche that finds Merritt extolling the virtues of a life spent "shitfaced", while "The Nun’s Litany" sees Simms playing a woman of the cloth that dreams of shedding her habit: "I want to be a topless waitress/I want my mum to shed one tear". --Louis Pattison
Review
Seemingly Stephin Merritt, the brains (and virtually the entire musical brawn) behind The Magnetic Fields cannot commit music to tape without having some kind of concept to hang it all on. His previous effort, i, featured songs that began with the selfsame letter, while 69 Love Songs was exactly what it said it was, stretched over three discs. It's almost as though Merritt's like some post-modern Todd Rundgren. A maverick so bored with his own innate abilities that he has to rouse himself with some kind of weird self-inflicted challenge.
Distortion, as the title hints, attempts to recreate the halcyon days of the Jesus And Mary Chain, circa Psychocandy. The difference is, of course, that although the Reid brothers may have been iconoclasts of the first water, they never had Merritt's god-given gift for song writing. The two strands make for unlikely bedfellows. Like Gershwin drenched in feedback in Phil Spector's echo chamber, each of these songs is a lyrically barbed (and sexually charged) exercise in melodic subversion. It's a partially successful experiment. The opener, "Three-Way" is a jaunty near-instrumental that puts one in mind more of the avant pop of another 80s outfit, The Associates. yet when Merritt gets out his mannered baritone on songs like "Mr Mistletoe" it's a little like hearing a hardcore Divine Comedy. It's clever but not ultimately satisfying for the soul.
Perhaps the trouble is the Goth/reverb overkill. Certainly "Too Drunk To Dream"'s celebration of intoxication is a hilarious evocation of Spector's Big Apple pop in the service of modern hedonism and "Please Stop Dancing"'s guitars are a real visceral thrill. But too often you sense that under the sheen of pastiche lies some wonderful craft that would benefit from clarity, not fuzztone mayhem. It's never less than fascinating, but not something you'd return to again and again... --Chris Jones
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This album has has Jesus & Mary Chain comarisons left right and centre, but, for me, it's much more than that. The difference being that early JAMC wrote punk-pop songs, then immersed then in screeching feedback.
This album employs a similar tactic, but, the feedback is soft focus, recalling My Bloody Valentine, or even Slowdive as much as the JAMC.
The production is nearer that of early Magnetic Fields albums such as 'Distant Plastic Trees', but with soft voices over loud-ish music. Despite that, it is a POP! (with big letters - POP as in great catchy songs written from the heart, as opposed to X Factor) album. The more poppy it gets, the better it gets!!! 'Too Drunk To Dream' is Merritt at his best, pondering his own broken heart, along with one he lost, or can't have, and concluding that the only way to get rid of the pain is to get completely wasted. We've all been there. The typical Merritt themes are the same as ever - after over a dcade, would anyone expect otherwise...
'California Girls' sounds saccarine sweet, but, is a dig at a certin type of girl...
I could go through this album song by song...but, instead, I'll say that this is a brilliant album....if you're already familiar with The Magnetic Fields, this is essential. If not, get '69 Love Songs' first, then get this album...
This album employs a similar tactic, but, the feedback is soft focus, recalling My Bloody Valentine, or even Slowdive as much as the JAMC.
The production is nearer that of early Magnetic Fields albums such as 'Distant Plastic Trees', but with soft voices over loud-ish music. Despite that, it is a POP! (with big letters - POP as in great catchy songs written from the heart, as opposed to X Factor) album. The more poppy it gets, the better it gets!!! 'Too Drunk To Dream' is Merritt at his best, pondering his own broken heart, along with one he lost, or can't have, and concluding that the only way to get rid of the pain is to get completely wasted. We've all been there. The typical Merritt themes are the same as ever - after over a dcade, would anyone expect otherwise...
'California Girls' sounds saccarine sweet, but, is a dig at a certin type of girl...
I could go through this album song by song...but, instead, I'll say that this is a brilliant album....if you're already familiar with The Magnetic Fields, this is essential. If not, get '69 Love Songs' first, then get this album...
Format:Audio CD
I apologize for the pun, but it has to be said that if 69 Love Songs proved anything, apart from Stephin Merritt being a prolific and witty song-writer, its that genre doesn't mean much to TMF: at the heart of whatever premise of style that's been chosen to dress up the music in is a knack for writing entertaining, occasionally sublime pop songs. To judge Distortion against the behemoth that was 69 Love Songs is a bit unfair because they're not quite the same thing: Distortion is a regular 45 minute long-player, the kind most bands release during their careers, whereas 69 Love Songs is a three hour artistic statement; a tour-de-force of songwriting that, lucky for us, 'hit' far more often than it missed.
The 'pared down' aesthetic extends beyond reduced running time: all of the songs are based on a simple electric guitar, bass, drums and piano format, with the occasional organ, played at feedback inducing volume; all the songs are sung alternately by Merritt and co-vocalist Shirley Simms, with the exception of mass 'shout-a-long' 'Three-way', and 'Please Stop Dancing'; and there isn't a synthesizer in sight (the biggest shock of them all if you ask me)!
As themes go, 'Distortion' is a suitably open-ended one that doesn't intrude on songwriting subject matter, doing away with the awkward constraints of their previous album 'I' whilst providing a unifiying aesthetic for Merritt's songs of millionaires, zombies, starlets and drunkards.
Most, if not all of the songs are excellent, but don't be surprised if you find the yourself singing the up-tempo 'California Girls', 'Drive On, Driver' and 'The Nun's Litany', all sung by Simms, whilst driving to work, doing the washing up, or whatever at the expense of the others. The tunes sung by Merritt tend to be of a more deflated, if not morose vein, suiting his deep, lugubrious voice as he sighs to 'Mr.Mistletoe', 'wither and die / you useless weed / for no-one have I'. But if there is one thing TMF do well, its hurt and lovelorn, and there is plenty of that on the album.
I won't go as far as to say that this is the best thing TMF have ever done: it probably won't shock too many die-hard fans, and will win some new ones hopefully. You certainly can't accuse the Fields of being inaccesible. The disappointing moments are those when Merritt chooses to fall back on simplistic repetition ('Please Stop Dancing') or hummable but uninspired melodies ('Till the Bitter End'), both of which smack of 'auto-pilot'. As for the generous helping of feedback that comes with the songs, well, I like it. Far from obscuring the lyrics, I think its always kept at a respectful level in the mix and rarely intrudes on the listening experience - except for one instance when it actually enhances it on the delicate 'Courtesans', a hazy pillow of sound which I sink into each time I listen to it. The couplet, 'if no-one loves them when they're old / they'll sit and count their chains of gold' kills me every time. I hold it as one of Merritt's greatest songs to date.
The 'pared down' aesthetic extends beyond reduced running time: all of the songs are based on a simple electric guitar, bass, drums and piano format, with the occasional organ, played at feedback inducing volume; all the songs are sung alternately by Merritt and co-vocalist Shirley Simms, with the exception of mass 'shout-a-long' 'Three-way', and 'Please Stop Dancing'; and there isn't a synthesizer in sight (the biggest shock of them all if you ask me)!
As themes go, 'Distortion' is a suitably open-ended one that doesn't intrude on songwriting subject matter, doing away with the awkward constraints of their previous album 'I' whilst providing a unifiying aesthetic for Merritt's songs of millionaires, zombies, starlets and drunkards.
Most, if not all of the songs are excellent, but don't be surprised if you find the yourself singing the up-tempo 'California Girls', 'Drive On, Driver' and 'The Nun's Litany', all sung by Simms, whilst driving to work, doing the washing up, or whatever at the expense of the others. The tunes sung by Merritt tend to be of a more deflated, if not morose vein, suiting his deep, lugubrious voice as he sighs to 'Mr.Mistletoe', 'wither and die / you useless weed / for no-one have I'. But if there is one thing TMF do well, its hurt and lovelorn, and there is plenty of that on the album.
I won't go as far as to say that this is the best thing TMF have ever done: it probably won't shock too many die-hard fans, and will win some new ones hopefully. You certainly can't accuse the Fields of being inaccesible. The disappointing moments are those when Merritt chooses to fall back on simplistic repetition ('Please Stop Dancing') or hummable but uninspired melodies ('Till the Bitter End'), both of which smack of 'auto-pilot'. As for the generous helping of feedback that comes with the songs, well, I like it. Far from obscuring the lyrics, I think its always kept at a respectful level in the mix and rarely intrudes on the listening experience - except for one instance when it actually enhances it on the delicate 'Courtesans', a hazy pillow of sound which I sink into each time I listen to it. The couplet, 'if no-one loves them when they're old / they'll sit and count their chains of gold' kills me every time. I hold it as one of Merritt's greatest songs to date.
Format:Audio CD
The whirring, droning distortions providing a carpet for the songs on this album do without doubt evoke memories of the Jesus and Mary Chain's debut. Very house proud, those Jesus and Mary Chain boys; they hoovered the studio whilst recording their album. And a dust-free legend was born.
Like the Reid brothers, Magnetic Fields also have an ear for a tune so the tracks are all pretty melodic and some downright catchy. "Three-Way" is a triumphal, almost instrumental (bar the chanted title) entrance, leading into the humorous (and only a little venomous) "California Girls". If Johnny Rotten was the anti-Christ, Stephen Merritt must be the anti-Brian Wilson.
There is no shortage of wit and sharp observation in the lyrics generally. Frank Zappa (RIP) would have been proud. Some of the high points, lyrically and musically, as well as "Three-Way" and "California Girls" are "Too Drunk to Dream", "I'll Dream Alone" and "The Nun's Litany". One or two tracks do not quite make the grade, particularly "Old Fools" and "Mr Mistletoe". Magnetic Fields don't quite have Swans' magic touch with these more funereal numbers. But the album holds up very well overall and works best in its more uptempo and twisted (distorted, even!) pop moments.
Like the Reid brothers, Magnetic Fields also have an ear for a tune so the tracks are all pretty melodic and some downright catchy. "Three-Way" is a triumphal, almost instrumental (bar the chanted title) entrance, leading into the humorous (and only a little venomous) "California Girls". If Johnny Rotten was the anti-Christ, Stephen Merritt must be the anti-Brian Wilson.
There is no shortage of wit and sharp observation in the lyrics generally. Frank Zappa (RIP) would have been proud. Some of the high points, lyrically and musically, as well as "Three-Way" and "California Girls" are "Too Drunk to Dream", "I'll Dream Alone" and "The Nun's Litany". One or two tracks do not quite make the grade, particularly "Old Fools" and "Mr Mistletoe". Magnetic Fields don't quite have Swans' magic touch with these more funereal numbers. But the album holds up very well overall and works best in its more uptempo and twisted (distorted, even!) pop moments.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
wilfully disabled.
Merritt is a lyrical god, there is no doubt about that. He's blessed with a natural genius for pairing exquisite words with catchy tunes yet - sometimes unwilling to 'just be what... Read more
Published on 4 Mar 2008 by St. Mym
Worthy addition to the Magnetics collection.
Its not that good that you you should be rushing out to get it right now but its got some good points to it. Read more
Published on 6 Feb 2008 by Mr. D. Thompson
Positive Feedback
To those of you familiar with the Handicapping system in horseracing, it is as if the music industry's powers-that-be have issued Messrs Merritt et al with an ultimatum regarding... Read more
Published on 24 Jan 2008 by Maelstrom
Fuzzy Logic
The Magnetic Fields' 2004 album, i, may have been pretty good, but no one seemed to care because it wasn't 69 Love Songs. Read more
Published on 17 Jan 2008 by Sordel
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
