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Album Review

Stephin Merritt
Obscurities Domino

Article written by James S - Oct 28, 2011

Stephin Merritt -Obscurities

Nobody likes being taken for a sucker. And yet how often do we as music fans get unnecessarily excited when one of our favourite artists deigns to release that unholy trinity: previously unreleased tracks, alternate versions and rarities? Yep, we're suckers alright.

But this is Stephin Merritt so it'll all be fine, won't it? On his day, the Magnetic Fields et al's front man is quite possibly the greatest songwriter alive and his 1999 masterpiece '69 Love Songs' isn't just one of the best albums ever made – it's three of them. Well, that may be true but many of these tracks, which all pre-date that magnum opus, were clearly not written or recorded on Merritt's day.

The five previously unheard songs presented here are a mixed bag to say the least. Sure, When You're Young And In Love benefits from Merritt's trademark droll delivery and some lovely harmonies and the gently affecting Forever And A Day could've sneaked on 69LS at the expense of, say, Experimental Music Love, but the awkward delayed rhyme structure of actual 69 reject The Sun And The Sea And The Sky was rightly confined to the cutting room floor. Slightly silly sci-fi tale The Song From Venus is moderately sweet at best and the only thing remarkable about Scream (Till You Make The Scene) is quite how brazenly Merritt rips off Gary Numan's Cars.

A selection of early b-sides do little to get the heart racing either, with When I'm Not Looking You're Not There in particular sounding like a five year old pressing all the buttons marked 'funny noises' on a Fisher Price keyboard. Two alternate versions of more familiar tracks pale in comparison to their better known brothers – an early 7” version of I Don't Believe You is horridly hurried and the original recording of Take Ecstasy With Me ruins any improvement that Susan Anway's vocals offer it by including what appears to be a pan pipe.

Anway does have a large part to play in the record's best moment, however. Her version of Plant White Roses, dating back to pre-Magnetic Fields days as Buffalo Rome, deserves a fresh airing after years of deletion. The trouble is that you just can't say the same about much else on 'Obscurities'. For avid fans and suckers only.

Links:
http://www.houseoftomorrow.com/
http://www.dominorecordco.com/
http://www.myspace.com/themagneticfields