When I saw the Magnetic Fields (twice) in San Francisco, I had a nice chat with their great merch people. After a while I asked if they knew if there were any plans to release Distortion on vinyl. They told me that Stephin was actually talking with Merge about getting all of his back catalogue on that most special of formats. They said one of the only holdups was that Merge wanted to save money on 69 Love Songs and squish it onto five records, but Stephin wanted it to be 6 — two for each disc of the album.

While that gets sorted out, we can rejoice in one thing: the Magnetic Fields are finally on vinyl. Charm of the Highway Strip, the MF’s 1994 full length, is available on vinyl at your local indie shops. Since they’re one of my all-time favorite bands, I figured this is as good of an excuse as any to share some thoughts.

MP3: The Magnetic Fields - Fear of Trains
Aside from being an under-appreciated gem of the Magnetic Fields’ discography, “Fear of Trains” is special for another reason. It’s one of the few MF songs I can think of off hand that isn’t a me/you type of song, but rather it focuses on a third party — a beautiful girl of native american descent. Charm of the Highway Strip is all about country and travel, and this song could be its most defining moment. Sure, the wanderlust of “Born on a Train” is clearly its finest song, but the lo-fi Kris Kristofferson of the 1990s feel that this song takes on could be crib notes for the rest of the record.

Here’s a recording of the Magnetic Fields playing a radio station in 1998. If anyone has any other MF bootlegs (especially either of the San Fran shows from this year), email me and I’ll be glad to host them.

The Magnetic Fields @ KVRX Studios 8/3/98
MP3: Magnetic Fields - I Don’t Believe You
MP3: Magnetic Fields - Smoke and Mirrors
MP3: Magnetic Fields - All the Umbrellas in London
MP3: Magnetic Fields - Aging Spinsters