The Charm of the Highway Strip
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Charm of the Highway Strip | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by The Magnetic Fields | |||||
Released | April 18, 1994 | ||||
Genre | Indie rock | ||||
Length | 33:15 | ||||
Label | Merge Records MRG055 |
||||
Producer | Stephin Merritt | ||||
Professional reviews | |||||
The Magnetic Fields chronology | |||||
|
The Charm of the Highway Strip is the fourth studio album by The Magnetic Fields, released in 1994. It is the first Magnetic Fields album to have its original release with Merge Records. Its title, lyrics and musical styling are a nod to country music, though the songs of Stephin Merritt remain rooted in classic pop and drenched in synthesizers. Virtually every song deals with roads and travel.
The title of the album comes from a quote by J. B. Jackson, 1959: "Let us hope that the merits and charm of the highway strip are not so obscure but that they will be accepted by a wider public."
This is the group's second album in which songwriter Merritt does all of the singing.
The album will be released on vinyl for the first time on May 6, 2008 via Merge Records. This marks the very first appearance of a Magnetic Fields album on vinyl.
[edit] Track listing
All tracks written by Stephin Merritt.
- "Lonely Highway" – 3:06
- "Long Vermont Roads" – 3:27
- "Born on a Train" – 3:46
- "I Have the Moon" – 2:37
- "Two Characters in Search of a Country Song" – 3:33
- "Crowd of Drifters" – 3:36
- "Fear of Trains" – 3:15
- "When the Open Road Is Closing In" – 3:39
- "Sunset City" – 4:05
- "Dust Bowl" – 2:20
[edit] Personnel
- Stephin Merritt - vocals, instrumentation
- Sam Davol - cello
- Claudia Gonson - management
|