Customer Reviews

Holiday

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mastermind Stephin Merritt has become a cult figure--and his lugubrious voice, his deadpan wit, and his sparkling arrangements make each of his bands' efforts distinctive and worthwhile. The lyrics are simple, literate, and evocative; the instrumentation lush and careful. Holiday is among Merritt's happier albums, but of course the requisite dark side lurks in every couplet. Sounds like practically nothing else except other Magnetic Fields, or Merritt's other projects: the 6ths, the Gothic Archies, and the Future Bible Heroes. "The flowers she sent / and the flowers she said she sent / are all equally dead / you don't care any more, she said / and the books she read / and the books that she said she read / are all spread on the floor / you don't get out of bed any more."

and arguably the best of the early ones (if not the best of all of his). Holiday is a wonderful synth pop album which ranks up there with 69 Love Songs as their best. This opened my ears to alot of synth pop music.

The album starts of with the 22 second long intro, which has a sixties-meets-synth sound to it (i think) and is followed by 13 brilliant tracks. All You Ever Do Is Walk Away is one of the best vocal performance from Stephin Merritt and also ranks as one of his best songs. Other highlights are Trouble I've Been looking For and Take Ecstacy With Me.

Buy this and 69 Love Songs for the perfect grasp of the best of this band.

This is probably my favorite album. This title along with 'Get Lost' is Magnetic Fields at it's peak. The title Holiday is a play on words because the album is both elating and depressing at the same time.

The lyrics are sad, brilliant...

i can show you sadder poetry
than you ever dreamed there could be
i know all the saddest people
most of them are dead now

...and are interesting play off the sometimes upbeat hooks. But, usually, the hooks also play off upbeat/downer off each other. Easy to say, hard to do.

There is so much texture and richness in this CD, I still hear new aspects in it after dozens and dozens of plays.

Also worthy of mention is the work with Susan Anway as vocalist on The Wayward Bus/Distant Plastic Trees albums. But, I recommend starting with this one.

Personally, I was less excited by Stephen's recent 'i' CD.

If you don't own Holiday...buy it.

-Pete

This album is my favorite of Merritt's older stuff. Starting out with the 22 second synth-pop "BBC Radiophonic Workshop", and then the loud "Desert Island", "Holiday" is surely not an album to pass up.

"Deep Sea Diving Suit" and "Strange Powers" were both excellent songs, and both were small small samples (though entirely grand) of what follows them: "Torn Green Velvet Eyes" is definately one of the best songs on the album.

And so on and so forth, the album offers excellent pop songs such as "Swinging London", "Sugar World" and "All You Ever Do Is Walk Away" (Merritt's voice on this one is amazing!), and it finally comes to an end with the sad, melancholy sound of "Take Ecstasy With Me", which drains all the delightful holiday-like fun to an end, as Merritt flows into another album.

"Holiday" is definately not an album to be listened to just for adults. Heck, I'm 14, and I love it!

if youre going to get a magnetic fields album... this is the one to get. its an amazing record you could never get tired of. the cd has an electropop indie rock feel that blends very well with steven merritt's voice. if you like them, try: belle and sebastian, the pet shop boys, the smiths, the velvet underground, sebadoh, helium, and even polvo. this album is AMAZING. so there.

I prefer this version of MF to the more pretentious incarnations of recent times. Put together a great melody, a funny/depressing/poetic lyric, over a casio sounding arrangement that sounds like the entertainment guy at the old folks home put it together, and what do you have? Brilliance. Absolute brilliance. So many great moments on this album.

This is one of musics best kept secrets. I would describe this album as a cross between "The Psychedelic Furs" and "Belle and Sebastian" except without the belle and seb pretentiousness.

Stephin Merrit can make a G chord sound like a masterpiece. Brilliant vocal melodies and a pristine production value. This album is worth every cent.

one of those peices of art I feel priveleged know of. About half the songs are instant classics and leave me in a sea of bliss. (see "Flowers..", "Stranger Powers","In my secret place", "Sugar World", "All you ever..", "Take Ecstasy..") The rest are quality too though. Don't know if I've ever heard the synthesizer put to such good use or if there's a voice (or mind for that matter) I'm more jealous of than Stephen Merritt's. Start here, then "Get Lost" ...

This album is definately what I would term a grower. Magnetic fields was always one of those groups I meant to check out but for whatever reason didn't until last April. Then, while browsing the racks at my local CD store, I noticed a copy of this for about 8 dollars, so I thought, eh, why not? The album is very poppy, in an almost smarmy manner. The lyrics are just this side of sappy, " I'm taking a ride to somewhere inside, where you never left and I never cried" which can get old. On the other hand, the guy can be quite funny " On a ferris wheel, looking out on Coney Island, under more stars than there are prostitutes in Thailand." Clever, no? People say his voice takes some getting use to, but it doesn't bother me, in fact, I like his voice. Kind of like a cross between Calvin Johnson and Ian Curtis. But ultimately, its the songs, the catchy songs, that matter. You will be humming these for weeks, and for that I say buy it.

holiday + the charm of the highway strip = a mighty pair -- on a roll, as they say. irony-free synthesizers for the 90s. merritt's voice a powerful/sad thing: lovesick always, but a hopeless addict. i think the point here is not so much the healing power of music, but merely an invitation to dance away the pain -- catchy, smart pop as emotional narcotic. here's your chance to score....