| 50 Song Memoir | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 10, 2017 | |||
| Genre | Indie pop | |||
| Length | 150:51 | |||
| Label | Nonesuch | |||
| Producer | Stephin Merritt Thomas Bartlett Charles Newman | |||
| The Magnetic Fields chronology | ||||
| ||||
50 Song Memoir is the eleventh studio album by American indie pop band The Magnetic Fields, released on March 10, 2017. 50 Song Memoir is an autobiographical concept album that chronicles the first 50 years of lyricist Stephin Merritt's life, with one song for each year that he has lived. [1]
The album was produced by Merritt with additional production by Thomas Bartlett and Charles Newman. [2] Merritt sings on all fifty tracks.
The fully staged live shows in support of 50 Song Memoir were directed by José Zayas [3] with an expanded Magnetic Fields lineup that included three additional musicians for the tour for a total of seven musicians, each playing a different instrument. On the tour the band played the entirety of 50 Song Memoir in two halves across two nights at each venue. [4]
50 Song Memoir is available in five-L.P. and five-C.D. editions that include an interview by Daniel Handler and facsimile handwritten lyrics by Stephin Merritt, and as a bound book.[ citation needed ]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 8.2/10 [5] |
| Metacritic | 86/100 [6] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [7] |
| The A.V. Club | A− [8] |
| The Guardian | [9] |
| The Independent | [10] |
| Mojo | [11] |
| The Observer | [12] |
| Pitchfork | 7.4/10 [13] |
| Q | [14] |
| Uncut | 9/10 [15] |
| Vice | A− [16] |
Upon release, the album received near universal acclaim, with the average critical score being an 86 out of 100 according to review aggregator website Metacritic. [6]
| Publication | Accolade | Year | Rank | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Independent | The 20 Most Underrated Albums Ever | 2024 | 7 | |
| Uncut | Albums of the Year | 2017 | 67 |
All tracks are written by Stephin Merritt
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "'66 Wonder Where I'm From" | 2:44 |
| 2. | "'67 Come Back as a Cockroach" | 2:34 |
| 3. | "'68 A Cat Called Dionysus" | 2:46 |
| 4. | "'69 Judy Garland" | 3:17 |
| 5. | "'70 They're Killing Children Over There" | 2:36 |
| 6. | "'71 I Think I'll Make Another World" | 2:57 |
| 7. | "'72 Eye Contact" | 2:55 |
| 8. | "'73 It Could Have Been Paradise" | 3:07 |
| 9. | "'74 No" | 2:57 |
| 10. | "'75 My Mama Ain't" | 3:01 |
| Total length: | 28:54 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "'76 Hustle 76" | 3:16 |
| 2. | "'77 Life Ain't All Bad" | 4:16 |
| 3. | "'78 The Blizzard of ’78" | 3:15 |
| 4. | "'79 Rock'n'Roll Will Ruin Your Life" | 2:58 |
| 5. | "'80 London by Jetpack" | 2:58 |
| 6. | "'81 How to Play the Synthesizer" | 3:06 |
| 7. | "'82 Happy Beeping" | 3:10 |
| 8. | "'83 Foxx and I" | 2:43 |
| 9. | "'84 Danceteria!" | 3:09 |
| 10. | "'85 Why I Am Not a Teenager" | 3:07 |
| Total length: | 31:48 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "'86 How I Failed Ethics" | 2:58 |
| 2. | "'87 At the Pyramid" | 3:10 |
| 3. | "'88 Ethan Frome" | 2:24 |
| 4. | "'89 The 1989 Musical Marching Zoo" | 3:06 |
| 5. | "'90 Dreaming in Tetris" | 3:21 |
| 6. | "'91 The Day I Finally..." | 2:20 |
| 7. | "'92 Weird Diseases" | 3:10 |
| 8. | "'93 Me and Fred and Dave and Ted" | 3:08 |
| 9. | "'94 Haven't Got a Penny" | 2:53 |
| 10. | "'95 A Serious Mistake" | 3:13 |
| Total length: | 29:43 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "'96 I'm Sad!" | 2:12 |
| 2. | "'97 Eurodisco Trio" | 3:15 |
| 3. | "'98 Lovers' Lies" | 3:06 |
| 4. | "'99 Fathers in the Clouds" | 2:52 |
| 5. | "'00 Ghosts of the Marathon Dancers" | 3:05 |
| 6. | "'01 Have You Seen It in the Snow?" | 2:51 |
| 7. | "'02 Be True to Your Bar" | 3:34 |
| 8. | "'03 The Ex and I" | 2:59 |
| 9. | "'04 Cold-Blooded Man" | 3:06 |
| 10. | "'05 Never Again" | 3:19 |
| Total length: | 30:19 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "'06 "Quotes"" | 2:17 |
| 2. | "'07 In the Snow White Cottages" | 2:52 |
| 3. | "'08 Surfin'" | 2:47 |
| 4. | "'09 Till You Come Back to Me" | 2:29 |
| 5. | "'10 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" | 3:03 |
| 6. | "'11 Stupid Tears" | 2:45 |
| 7. | "'12 You Can Never Go Back to New York" | 3:12 |
| 8. | "'13 Big Enough for Both of Us" | 3:04 |
| 9. | "'14 I Wish I Had Pictures" | 3:07 |
| 10. | "'15 Somebody's Fetish" | 3:45 |
| Total length: | 29:21 | |
The Magnetic Fields
Additional personnel
| Chart (2017) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [19] | 155 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [20] | 77 |
| Portuguese Albums (AFP) [21] | 29 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC) [22] | 96 |
The Magnetic Fields are an American band founded and led by Stephin Merritt. Merritt is the group's primary songwriter, producer, and vocalist, as well as frequent multi-instrumentalist.
Stephin Merritt is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the songwriter and principal singer of the bands the Magnetic Fields, the Gothic Archies, and Future Bible Heroes. He is known for his distinctive bass voice.
69 Love Songs is the sixth studio album by American indie pop band the Magnetic Fields, released on September 14, 1999, by Merge Records. As its title indicates, 69 Love Songs is a three-volume concept album composed of 69 love songs, all written by Magnetic Fields frontman Stephin Merritt.
Get Lost is the fifth studio album by American indie pop band The Magnetic Fields, released on October 24, 1995.
i is the seventh studio album by American indie pop band The Magnetic Fields. It was released on May 4, 2004, by record label Nonesuch. The songs of the album all start with the letter "i" and are all sung by Stephin Merritt. The songs are also in alphabetical order.
The House of Tomorrow EP is the third major release by The Magnetic Fields, and the first with Stephin Merritt as the main vocalist. Merge Records reissued it in 1996. The EP's five songs are built on both musical and vocal repetition, so much so that the sleeve reads "five loop songs" as a pun on "five love songs". The cover depicts the St. Louis World's Fair (1904)
Red Dirt Girl is the nineteenth studio album by American country artist Emmylou Harris, released on September 12, 2000 by Nonesuch Records. The album was a significant departure for Harris, as eleven of the twelve tracks were written or co-written by her. At the time, she was best known for covering other songwriters' work. Prior to this album, only two of Harris' LPs had more than two of her own compositions. Her next album, Stumble into Grace, was also written by Harris. The album contains "Bang the Drum Slowly", a song Guy Clark helped Harris write as an elegy for her father. The album peaked at number 3 on the Billboard country album charts and won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 2001.
Pieces of April is the soundtrack to the film of the same name. Written by Stephin Merritt and performed by his various bands, it was released on November 4, 2003 on Nonesuch Records. Three of the songs were previously released on The Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs, and "As You Turn to Go" and "You You You You You" were previously seen on The 6ths' album, Hyacinths and Thistles.
Distortion is the eighth studio album by American indie pop band The Magnetic Fields. It was released on January 15, 2008 on Nonesuch Records.
No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems is the sixth studio album by American country music singer Kenny Chesney. It was released in April 2002 via BNA Records. It became Chesney's first album to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and produced five singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart between 2001 and 2003 with "Young", "The Good Stuff", "A Lot of Things Different", "Big Star", and the title track. A live performance music video was made for "Live Those Songs", which charted at number 60 without being released as a single; the song also became a concert tour opener for Chesney for several years. "On the Coast of Somewhere Beautiful" was also made into a music video, without being released as a single. "The Good Stuff" was the biggest hit of Chesney's career at the time, not only spending seven weeks at the top of the country charts, but also becoming Billboard's Number One country single of 2002 according to Billboard Year-End. In 2004, the album was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over four million copies in the United States.
Sara Watkins is the debut solo album by Sara Watkins. It was released by Nonesuch Records on April 7, 2009. The album reached No. 13 on the Heatseekers Albums chart at Billboard magazine.
Realism is the ninth studio album by American indie pop band The Magnetic Fields. It was officially released on January 26, 2010 by Nonesuch Records.
Love at the Bottom of the Sea is the tenth studio album by American indie pop band The Magnetic Fields. It was released in the U.K. on March 5, 2012 by record label Domino and in the U.S. on March 6, 2012 by Merge.
Here is the second album from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. It was preceded by Up from Below. Recorded at Adios Studios, a.k.a. the Ed Shed in Ojai, California and at Studio in the Country in Louisiana, it was released on May 29, 2012 by Vagrant Records and Rough Trade Records. It received mostly positive reviews, ranking #7 on Rolling Stone's Best Albums of 2012 list, saying "Frontman Alex Ebert sings earnestly about love and spirituality, letting his mind wander pleasantly over the band's homespun harmonies and easy-going folk-psych instrumentation."
The Music Is You: A Tribute To John Denver is an album consisting of songs originally performed by country and folk singer-songwriter John Denver. It was released on April 2, 2013 by ATO Records. Denver died in October 1997 when the single engine plane he was piloting crashed off the coast of California. The album has been praised by some as a way to help Denver's catalogue reach a new, younger audience.
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros is the third album by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. It was released on July 23, 2013 in North America and was released on July 29, 2013 around the world through Vagrant Records, Rough Trade Records and Communion Records. Frontman Alex Ebert stated that "These songs mean everything to me - It's the rawest, most liberated, most rambunctious stuff we've done."
Lullaby and the Ceaseless Roar is the tenth solo album by English rock singer Robert Plant. It was released on 8 September 2014 on Nonesuch/Warner Bros. Records. It was also Plant's first studio album with his backing band the Sensational Space Shifters, although the band is not credited on the front cover.
Paradise Is There: The New Tigerlily Recordings is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant, released on November 6, 2015 by Nonesuch Records. It is a collection of new recordings of the songs from Merchant's solo debut, Tigerlily (1995).
Real Friends is the third studio album by American country music singer Chris Janson. It was released via Warner Records Nashville on October 18, 2019. The album contains the singles "Good Vibes" and "Done" and "Waitin' on 5".
Quickies is the twelfth studio album by The Magnetic Fields. The album consists of 28 songs, each of which is between 0:17 and 2:35 in length. For the album's concept, Magnetic Fields singer and songwriter Stephin Merritt was influenced by the short fiction of Lydia Davis and the writing of his own book of Scrabble poetry.
