Hyacinths and thistles
Stephen Merritt is a bit of a hidden treasure of pop. Those who know of him love him, but they are relatively few. The Magnetic Fields albums, particularly 69 love songs, are fantastic showcases of his songwriting talent and nouveau crooner's voice, velvety and deep, a more soulful Leonard Cohen. The songwriting is on display in his 6ths project, although mostly others do the singing. I think that the project lacks a little on account of that, because Merritt's voice is so suited to his songs, and he picked such a lifeless bunch for this album. Given the talent on display, I found the album a bit disappointing, and have only listened to it a couple of times. Only the Sarah Cracknell track had any real Oh wow factor, and I put a lot of that down to the shock of recognition (possibly lacking with Marc Almond because his track is so weak and it doesn't dawn on you that it's him; you know it from the first note).If you're a connoisseur of adult pop, you might find a place in your heart for this, but you're more likely to love the Magnetic Fields, where Merritt's range and invention are much more rewarding. It's not a bad album, but you aren't missing much if you never hear it.
posted by Dr Zen @ 8:31 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home