The Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs (6x10" Limited Boxset)

3 stars out of 5 - "...His grandiose, bare-assed lyrics can be catty, crude and sometimes full of sappy goo, but they usually contain a little universal truth....melodies that hark back to Eighties synth popper like Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark..."
10 out of 10 - "...a grand gesture and a brilliant joke; art about the most personal emotion stamped out in bulk; and a love offering in its own right....pop has not seen a lyricist of [Stephin] Merritt's kind and caliber since Cole Porter..."
"...69 elegant observations by a pop master, employing myriad genres, instruments, and neuroses. All charm, but by set's end, you're ready for more." - Rating: A
4 stars out of 5 - "...This is a boundlessly entertaining expose of what happens when you mix fine words with excellent melodies to make great songs."
4 out of 5 - "...against all odds it shines form beginning to end....[Stephin] Merritt's most ambitious, eccentric and eclectic recording to date..."
Ranked #16 in CMJ's "Top 30 Editorial Picks [for 1999] - "...a reminder that a finely rendered pop song, no matter how cynical, can approach the status of art."
4 stars out of 5 - "...You'll find yourself immersed inthe richest of musical tapestries, spotlighting every single aspect of love, from infatuation to splitting up....This is approaching genius."
Ranked #59 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "Stephen Merritt's magnum opus."
"...An album that could easily occupy your whole life with its witty, intellignet, infuriating, smug and brilliant ways, a dazzling mass of contradictions that you can't help but love..."
Ranked #46 in NME's "Top 50 Albums Of The Year".
8 out of 10 - "...If he isn;t the greatest songwriter of his generation, he's certainly the greatest sponge."
Paste (magazine) (p.90) - "[W]hile the dramatics are fun, the set's lasting power comes from how Merritt so consistently relates these brutal love stories with such an incredible economy of language."