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Realism | 
| Artist: The Magnetic Fields
Label: Nonesuch
Category: Music
List Price: $16.98
Buy New: $8.48
as of 7/29/2010 10:31 PDT details
You Save: $8.50 (50%)
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Seller: moviemars-cds
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 6188
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 075597982190
EAN: 0075597982190
ASIN: B002XZ62AW
Release Date: January 26, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | You Must Be Out of Your Mind | | • | Interlude | | • | We Are Having a Hootenanny | | • | I Don't Know What to Say | | • | The Dolls' Tea Party | | • | Everything Is One Big Christmas Tree | | • | Walk a Lonely Road | | • | Always Already Gone | | • | Seduced and Abandoned | | • | Better Things | | • | Painted Flower | | • | The Dada Polka | | • | From a Sinking Boat |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Magnetic Fields' third Nonesuch disc, Realism, is the flipside to the industrial pop of Distortion, the quartet's brilliant 2008 homage to, of all things, the clangorous sound of the Jesus and Mary Chain. While Distortion was recorded quickly and noisily in the stairwells and rooms of the New York City apartment building to which singer-songwriter-bandleader Stephen Merritt was about to bid adieu for California, Realism was cut in the distortion-free environs of a Los Angeles studio, and its sound is as pristine as a plein-air painting. There are no drum kits to be heard, and the fascinatingly varied instrumentation - guitars, accordions, violins, cellos, tablas, banjos, tuba, even a smattering of mellifluous falling leaves - did not need to be plugged in. And, as with Distortion, the album credits emphasize: No Synths.
With tongue only slightly in cheek, Merritt has taken to declaring Realism his "folk" album. To get the point across, there is an upbeat, sing-along number early in the set called "We Are Having a Hootenany." Merritt's inspirations, however, were the orchestrated, mostly British folk of the late sixties/early seventies--which owe as much to sixties psychedelia as to traditional music--and the work of Judy Collins, who stretched the boundaries of "folk" with the chamber-pop arrangements of such albums as In My Life and Wildflowers.
Like Collins, Merritt favors variety and theatricality. She skipped from Jacques Brel to the Beatles; he goes from the trippy, toy-box melodies of "The Dolls' Tea Party" and "Painted Flower" to the foot-stomping rhythms of "The Dada Polka" (for which one only has to get up and "do something"). There's even a deceptively festive holiday number, "Everything Is One Big Christmas Tree," featuring a lusty chorus sung in German -- Kurt Weill in a holiday mood. In content, Merritt's songs veer between longing and loneliness, desire and dismissal, romance and revenge. Reality is as distorted as ever, and the characters who populate his songs are never just plain folk. As Jon Pareles of the New York Times put it in a review of Magnetic Fields' 2008 Town Hall concert, Merritt's songs are "elegantly phrased, understatedly sardonic tales of disillusionment. The loftier the dreams, the greater the letdown, an insight he plays for both chuckles and heartache."
Along with his long-time band-mates Sam Davol, Claudia Gonson and John Woo, Merritt is joined again by vocalist Shirley Simms, (whose plaintive tone on Distortion lent poignancy to the murderous fantasy of "California Girls" and the erotic musings in "The Nun's Litany") and accordionist Daniel Handler (a/k/a novelist Lemony Snicket, with whom Merritt created the Gothic Archies' faux children's disc, The Tragic Treasury). Also on board: horn player Johnny Blood and violinist Ida Pearle, familiar to fans of Magnetic Fields' earlier, independently released work.
Album Description
2010 release from the Alt-Rock/Pop band led by Stephen Merrit. Described by Merritt as "my folk album", the instrumentation of Realism is largely acoustic, stark in contrast to the band's previous album, Distortion, released in 2008. Merritt said he "thought of the two records as a pair" and considered titling the albums True and False; ultimately, he couldn't decide which title would correspond with which album. Merritt avoided using a traditional drum kit, further separating the sound of Realism from the Noise Pop of Distortion. Along with Distortion and the 2004 album i, Realism was also recorded without the use of synthesizers, completing the band's "no-synth trilogy".
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
 a rewarding listen February 8, 2010
worldbeat23
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
I have put on this album several times since I bought it, and it has grown on me with each listen. I enjoy hearing artists I love change and grow musically and I agree with those who say it is a positive one. It is unfair to compare everything Stephen Merritt puts out to 69 love songs when he has done some truly beautiful work since. Realism brings you into the forgotten world of music before the era of rock n roll and jazz. Yes, folk music is at this album's heart. This means it is not an album for everyone, but what is?
What makes the album amazing is how Stephen Merritt manages to take classic folk themes and make them relevant to today. The songs may speak in terms of "hoedowns" and "pretty dresses", but they effectively and ironically present our modern issues of online dating ("We Are Having A Hootenanny") and the impossible expectations of women's appearances and actions ("Doll's Tea Party"). The love songs on the album are just as simultaneously beautiful and heartbreaking as they ever were in the Magnetic Fields incredible history ("I Don't Know What to Say", "From A Sinking Boat"). Give Realism a chance. Take it for what it is. A rewarding listen awaits you...and wondering what sort of journey Stephen Merritt will lead his bandmates into next.
Another solid entry February 12, 2010
Rodney Bucket
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The Magnetic Fields have to be one of the most eclectically producing musical groups in existence. Whenever I recommend them to someone and they ask me what kind of music they play, I never know what to tell them. When I'm trying to pick a song to introduce someone to the band, I never know which one to pick. It's all so different, but it's all so good, and the fact that a single band covers such expansive ground with such consistent quality truly speaks to their talent.
"Realism" has one thing in common with the rest of TMF's albums: it sounds almost nothing like any of their other albums. The best way I could describe the album is as quirky folk music, and I won't deny that it takes some getting used to. I wasn't sure about it after the first play-through, but after a couple more spins I realized the song is another solid entry in the Fields' zany oeuvre.
As is always the case, some of the tracks are better than others. The album is bookended by two excellent songs, from its opening cut, the hilariously bitter "You Must Be Out Of Your Mind" to its pretty closing tune "From A Sinking Boat," and in between are 11 other tracks that run a gamut of style and themes and emotions, and yet somehow flow together quite well. My particular favorites (in addition to the opening and closing tracks) are "I Don't Know What To Say," "Everything Is One Big Christmas Tree," "Always Already Gone," and the inexplicably nutty "The Dada Polka." But the true standout from the album is "Walk A Lonely Road," a track whose beautiful and haunting qualities make it the best song on the album, and among the Fields' greatest hits. I truly cannot stop listening to that song.
This album is classic Fields. Quirky, zany, funny, poignant, pretty, sad... the usual gamut of emotions that they somehow manage to cram into their short albums. But most of all this album is fun. If you're a fan of the Fields, it's definitely worth the pick-up, and if you're new to them, it's a great place to start. Don't miss this one.
The Magnetic Fields - Realism January 26, 2010
Andrew Vice (Plano, TX)
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
I've read that Realism is intended as the non-electric counterpart to 2008's Distortion, and I have to say that the comparison is extremely apt. Strip away the fuzz and volume from Distortion and you essentially have Realism, and for me, it's a blessing. I loved Distortion, and Merritt is once again in top form in terms of songwriting, and the singing duties are nicely spread out amongst the band. The songs are quick, spry, and compelling, with the expected tropes of love and relationships. The lyrical content may not be anything new for Merritt, but he does it so well I see no reason for him to want to shake up his knack for narrative imagery. The record is overflowing with beautiful string arrangements, and you can always count on the band for dense, beautiful arrangements. This is a great album for Magnetic Fields fans, but I'm not positive about the strength of its appeal to the first-time listener. To anyone wanting to get into the band, I'd recommend you give Distortion a spin in conjunction with this album, and I think you'll get why Merritt and Co. have such a devoted following.
Merritt does it again. March 22, 2010
A. Garcia (Oklahoma)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Stephen Merritt and company's folk album is fantastic, one of the best albums released in this short year, lyrics impeccable as always. The Magnetic Fields are one of the top five bands around today and I'm not just saying that because I'm a fanboy.
 3.5 stars-An album as puzzling as its creator January 28, 2010
B. Martin
13 out of 19 found this review helpful
The Magnetic Fields' latest album has been described as a companion piece to 2008's "Distortion" and labeled as a "folk" album. But the best way to describe it is to say that it is as beguilling and difficult to pin down as Stephin Merritt himself. That is not necessarily a bad thing since those qualities compel the listener to keep coming back to the album in order to decipher its many possible meanings.
Realism does away with the distorted guitars of the band's last effort and finds them returning to the chamber pop sound of 2004's "i". The songs are full of acoustic guitars, strings, piano and other natural instruments that lend the music a more realistic (a hint at the album's title perhaps?) feel. But while the music sounds beautiful and pristine, the songs are a bit befuddling. Like Merritt himself, they are a mixture of sincerity, irony, caustic wit and whimsy. Merritt loves to keep his listeners off balance and guessing at the meanings behind his compositions. The album's opener, "You Must be out of Your Mind" is a straightforward, beautifully honest tune about the futility of trying to outrun one's demons, whatever they may be. But after that, we get songs like the catchy but goofy "We are Having a Hootenanny" and "The Doll's Tea Party" which I swear seems like a song Syd Barrett might have dreamed up. There is also a Christmas song featuring a German chorus. Is Merritt being cynical or playful on these songs? Part of the allure of "Realism" is trying to figure out his true intentions.
The album is also just enjoyable to listen to. After the murky mess of "Distortion", it's refreshing to hear Merritt rehoning his pop songwriting skills. The songs on "Realism" aren't as collectively excellent as on the gruop's best efforts, but they're still a delight to listen to and they keep drawing you back for repeat listens. That is the signature mark of a good Magnetic Fields record, and "Realism" is no different.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
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