Well, that would be too easy.

Everyone please spread this information far and wide, and try to find someone who has, or knows more about this tape.

What are your favourite of Stephin's albums, j_brodu?

Pertaining to the Buffalo Rome cassette:

If anyone lives in or near the Boston area, PLEASE TELL ME IMMEDIATELY. You can help in finding the cassette in ways that most others cannot. Please let me know.

Me? My favorites are probably the 7"s, and his hands-down best albums are The Charm of The Highway Strip and DPT. I like Future Bible Heroes, I'm not their biggest fan, The 6ths are wonderful (Hyacinths and Thistles is another one of my favorites).

But if the question is what I listen to most frequently, it is without a doubt the live bootlegs I have. They're just amazing live. I'll try to get those to you at some point.

...What are your favorites?

The Wayward Bus is my personal favourite, but I also really, really love Distant Plastic Trees, Distortion and the Charm of the Highway Strip as well as Future bible Heroes' Eternal Youth and the 6ths' Wasps' Nests. Tbh, the only release I don't really like is that silly Lonely Robot EP from FBHs.

I much prefer the synth-pop work to the guitar/ukulele stuff, bar Distortion which is a bit of a move away from the rest of his work. Stephin writing synth-pop is basically the best thing ever, that;s why I can't wait for the new album which is going to be almost all synths!

I would love those live bootlegs! Thank you.

I, too, would love to hear those. The only one I have in full is 7/29/94 and it's one of my favorite live recordings by anyone.

I'm getting them ready right now, I only have a few, but will share more as I obtain them (B&P is a hassle.). Do you guys mind if I share via torrent? That's by far the easiest way to do it, uploading to MediaFire takes a long time and takes up lots of bandwidth.

I'm looking forward to the next 'Fields album that is to 'exclusively feature synthesizers', hopefully it'll be better than Realism. With the exception of Distortion, I think they haven't done great in the last decade; I think they made a huge mistake by switching to Nonesuch. Stephin has much less freedom on there, he'll ever be able to create music as brilliant as he did in his mid-'90s heyday. That said, I still eagerly anticipate the next album.

Nah, torrent is fine.

I agree, I can't wait for the synth album. Stephin should have realised by now that's what he's best at.

I liked Realism though, I think I actually prefer it to Holiday and I by this point.

What are your guys thoughts about the lyrics to "Take Ecstacy with Me"?

I can't decide whether it's supposed to be an upbeat love song about how it doesn't matter what people think of their relationship because they're together, happy and in love and that's all that matters. Or whether it's a sad song, looking back at that relationship and how strong and amazing it was and what it could endure, but the sadness now that it's gone.

I always thought of it as more the latter, myself. There's 'used to', used multiple times, meaning he doesn't anymore, and the whole song seems to be sadly retrospective. There's a very interesting discussion about that over at http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/ ... 858526935/

Yes, that's what I think is the most likely, because the verses are all in the past tense. I always picture of it of more the narrator is fantasising about a lost love and the "take ecstacy with me" bit is just a wishful scene he's playing in his head wishing that he could be with his partner again.

I like the interpretation on songmeanings that they were childhood friends who grew up and fell in love. Never thought about it before but that first verse does seem to be talking about a childhood friend whereas the second verse seems to be talking about a lover as an adult, even though he's talking about the same person.

It's an absolutely beautiful song either way.

Here you guys go: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L314157N . In addition to the full live bootlegs, there's also a compilation of misc. live performances put together by the wonderful smokeandmirrors of The Mythic Signifier blog. Pay special attention to 'Amnesia': this is one of Stephin's most beautiful songs, never released, this bootleg is the only recording there is of it.

You may or may not already have this, but http://isyes.blogspot.com/2009/04/magne ... -1989.html is a wonderful compilation of B-sides and rarities worth checking out.

Enjoy!

It always brought me to tears, even the first time I heard it and was unsure of what it even meant.

What version do you prefer? I always preferred Anway's vocals on that song myself.

I think that's the one song I don't prefer Susan's vocals.

I think Susan may well be my favourite vocalist ever, her voice gives me the absolute chills, but there's just something about the way Stephin sings on TEWM. That song and the subject matter just suits his voice perfectly imo, I reckon it's definitely his most moving vocal performance for me.

It's true, that's a very good point. I've always just stubbornly favored Susan on everything she sung, but listening to the two versions of Take Ecstasy With Me side-by-side now, I'm rethinking that.

I'm very sad Susan left the band. I love their other vocalists, but I think she could've made a wonderful addition to some of their other albums, in particular, Charm of The Highway Strip - despite being one of my favorite Magnetic Fields albums, I do think that would've been better if Stephin hadn't been the only vocalist.

By the way, I'm very sorry about how slow the torrent is, my upload speed is horrendous.