Before I bought this three disc set, I had downloaded some tracks from the collection and included them on various playlists. As a result, I had different favorites over time, falling in love with various tracks as they embedded themselves into my psyche. When I finally heard all the songs together I was blown away at the uniqueness of all these tracks. There's a lot here that works well together - simple instrumentation (some acoustic, some electro), alternating vocalists, dry humour, classic pop songwriting - Merritt is definitely one of the stellar songwriting voices of his generation. There's just the right amount of cheese here too, not too much but just enough to at least deflate things when they become too serious. Some favourites include "When My Boy Walks Down The Street", "Reno Dakota", "Washington DC" and "Zebra". Merritt should really turn these songs into some sort of musical because love is well..universal, and rightfully should be celebrated with song and dance. We see the theme of love here revealed, warts and all, with all its betrayals, bliss, rejection, infatuation, etc. This certainly isn't Julio Iglesias territory, although it would be nice to hear the famous Latin Lover croon his way through "How Fucking Romantic."
–Neal
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