The Book of Love - Magnetic Fields - Massacred by Cosmicmechanic

suziko
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Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:01 pm

Pierre, that was wonderful. I am a big Magnetic Fields fan and just today was playing and singing "Chicken with its head cut off" and thinking that it would definitely NOT be appropriate to post on TG! ;) But this song is most definitely appropriate and beautiful. And as for your voice, well I like Stephin Merritt's deep voice, but oftentimes his songs are more appreciated when interpretted by someone else. This is one of those cases, in my opinion. I really enjoyed your singing.

NOw I need to go find the TAB for this song and learn it!


haoli25
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Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:17 pm

Hello Pierre. I agree with Al, just like Matt, you over-delivered. That was great. I really liked it. Tough luck for you though, you'll have to go buy your own tomatoes, you are not going to get any from TG! Thanks for posting your video.



Bill Image


BobR
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Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:18 pm

Pierre,
Massacre? Not at all. I thought you did a great job.

Thanks for posting.


Bob


cosmicmechanic
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Mon Feb 08, 2010 11:40 pm

Thanks to all for your kind responses, clapping hands and all, I see you people are quite understanding.
I was hoping to make an egg tomato salad ... I guess bread and water will have to do for now :)

As to particulars:

Marc: I finally settled on the capo on the 4th fret that day ... another day, who knows, what with puberty coming on?

Tony, d_dog: Yeah, my webcam is (bleep), gotta improve my recording setup.
The hiss seemed way less on playing it once uploaded, I was hoping it would be like that for all.
On my computer, different players also had variable playback quality.

Al: I think just "thumbing" the chords is a way of "no-braining" the execution of a song in order to relax as much as possible.
Even using the "invisible pick" takes a greater degree of precision, using joined fingernails of index and thumb.
So yes I agree, your way of expressing it is a logical conclusion ... using the thumb alone is automatic pilot, more intuitive rhythm.

Suzi: Glad to discover a Magnetic Fields fan here!
Stephen Merritt's voice has deepened to a surprising degree in the last few years, and it is really a great improvement. He is now actually in a completely different vocal range, quite unique and I think it is now hard for anyone to do better than he does on his own songs.
If you're interested I've got a good quality live audio of a 2007 show (promoting album titled "i") that really highlights the voice change.
How about getting the tab for "I Wish I had an Evil Twin"?
I dare you ! :side: (just kidding)


unclewalt
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Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:08 am

I'm frankly shocked, and pleased, to see the Magnetic Fields even mentioned in here. I'm guessing the lack of slurs -- so far -- is thanks to the slurrers not knowing anything about the group (dude.) By the way, there's a documentary coming out about them (him):

http://bit.ly/cN9uvD


cosmicmechanic
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Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:19 am

Hi UncleWalt,

Nice to see ya surprizzzed, I had a glance at the link you posted, thanks, will study it for sure.

I can't help it, here is a crummy live cam (all I could find) of the Magnetic Fields doing a great song: "I Wish I Had an Evil Twin".

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 1813192363#


unclewalt
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Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:28 am

Cool. You've inspired me to pick out Book of Love, maybe add some flourishes if I can. Or take the capo way up to mock the sound of the original a bit. By the way -- is that youtube link of it the album original? Because it sounds a bit different to me.

Other songs that would be great here in some form (though I won't hope for any lessons on them): "Acoustic Guitar," "The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side," "I Think I Need a New Heart," and "Papa Was a Rodeo."


cosmicmechanic
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Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:42 am

Walt,

I have no idea about the source of that video, it's just surprising to me that I haven't found any good quality live performances by this band on ANY "Tube".

I agree the material you mentioned is worth learning, but here's what I find quite wonderful about Merritt's songwriting: as far as I can tell, he is the archetype of the composer that uses the simplest chords to somehow make endless variations of melodies, his voice being at the forefront.

I can see taking embellishments that are in a slew of TG songs already and adding them to these melodies that have very basic chords. Lots of fun ahead!

Pierre


unclewalt
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Tue Feb 09, 2010 1:01 am

Agree totally -- simplest songs in the world (well, most of the time), but he does all kinds of stuff with them (arrangements, instrumentation, etc.), and there's all kinds of stuff *we* can do with them.


BigBear
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Tue Feb 09, 2010 1:20 am

Pierre- Remarquable ! Fantastique ! I really enjoyed that! I don't know that song at all but you rendered it well. Thanks for also posting the other versions, that helped a lot.

I agree with Tony, your voice sounded great but I couldn't hear it very well. Same for your guitar playing. Strumming with your thumb basically mutes all the high notes so without a really good microphone most camcorders won't be able to pick it up clearly.

I hope you post another song soon. You are much better than you give yourself credit for! :cheer:


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