50 Song Memoir is as much the story of Stephin Merritt’s life as it is a love letter to song. It is a certifiable masterpiece and one that music lovers ‘round the world will not soon forget.
By virtue of its lyrical openness and the fact that the album cycles through more than 100 instruments, 50 Song Memoir, despite having fewer tracks, eclipses 69 Love Songs in terms of its ambition. And though it lacks its predecessor’s immediate accessibility, it benefits from an aesthetic texture that’s grander, darker, and more satisfying, if only for the sense that memoirs don’t have to be confessional; they can tell a life’s story through tone and structure in addition to words.
Merritt has lifted the curtain JUST enough to draw us that bit more into his world, while still maintaining both his brilliantly singular world-view and style AND enough distance for us to look on in abject admiration.
What lingers, along with the musical brilliance and uncharacteristic openness of his 50 Song Memoir, is Merritt's humour; his distinctive baritone delivering countless witty sardonic kernels, sometimes assisted by a well-timed dramatic pause, all wrapped up in catchy, unforgettable songs.
It’s an audial autobiography, an optimistic rarity with fulfilling results.
I could fruitlessly compare it to its spiritual predecessor all day, but I’ll say this instead: if you compiled every other album The Magnetic Fields has released since 1999 into one 55-track album, 50 Song Memoir would absolutely blow it out of the water.
There are very few working songwriters who could have pulled off this sort of a project this well, and even fewer who could make this giant-sized song cycle feel so intimate and accessible. 50 Song Memoir is a rare example of Stephin Merritt offering a look into his offstage life, but just as importantly it's a reminder of why he's a truly great songwriter, and this ranks with his finest work.
By the album’s end ... the songs begin to lack the cultural context that distinguished the earlier ones, and 50 Song Memoir borders on morphing into just Several More Love Songs.
While not a full commitment to its titular concept, 50 Song Memoir is The Magnetic Fields' most charming and ambitious album in over a decade.
50 Song Memoir might not lift itself into the same orbit of greatness as its gargantuan twin, but it’s still a strong work from one of the most singular songwriters of the last 30 years.
It was kinda hard rating this one, but I went and did it. There isn't a terrible song on this, but the overall vibe wasn't perfect. The songs rated "not sure" are just more gloomy ones that I need to be in the mood for.
Good Songs: 30/50
Not Sure: 20/50
Bad Songs: 0/50
Stephin Merritt's The Magnetic Fields return with another huge, incredibly ambitious new album, this time as a semi-auto-biographical project that loosely recalls each year of the artist's life in hedonistic, satirical ways, always counting on his expressive baritone vocal work and with an outstanding, over 100-instruments arsenal that slowly, patiently build his own version of the world, everyday events and relationship evaluations. Well, listening to 50 Song Memoir in its entirety is ... read more
Ambitious and grand, I really enjoyed listening to this front to back and the concept behind the record, obviously there's bound to be quite a bit of filler between the 50 tracks provided here but the overall feel of this record is pretty damn great.
Best Track: '76: Hustle 76
Worst Track: '91: The Day I Finally...
I love this album, the idea of looking back at a year in your life and making a song about it is just a great concept that should be done more.
It was kinda hard rating this one, but I went and did it. There isn't a terrible song on this, but the overall vibe wasn't perfect. The songs rated "not sure" are just more gloomy ones that I need to be in the mood for.
Good Songs: 30/50
Not Sure: 20/50
Bad Songs: 0/50
#3 | / | The Atlantic |
#4 | / | Vulture |
#7 | / | Gigwise |
#9 | / | Slant Magazine |
#15 | / | Pretty Much Amazing |
#17 | / | Diffuser |
#34 | / | MOJO |
#35 | / | musicOMH |
#67 | / | Uncut |
/ | Slate |