Every now and then, the pop world produces an individual who is so good at writing songs that it's easy to imagine him or her coming in to a studio cold, being given a simple prompt and somehow coming out with a hit album. Stephin Merritt is one of those individuals, with a twist. Merritt has been in the business for over 20 years now and yet he's not widely known as the pop music machine that he truly is. His main gig is with The Magnetic Fields, a band he put together in 1989 after realizing that his solo studio project "Buffalo Rome" couldn't go on the road as a one-man show.

In 1999, The Magnetic Fields released 69 Love Songs, a triple album that, all things considered, still comes out to a double album's worth of top-notch pop when all the condensing is done. Every single track (and there literally are 69 of them) was written by Merritt, though some of them are sung by longtime band mate Claudia Gonson or a guest vocalist. I want to start Stephin Merritt Condensed with 69 Love Songs because there is no better showcase for Merritt's innate songwriting abilities. It's stunning that the whole thing doesn't collapse under its own weight or that it doesn't even have a trace of hubris. Sure, there are plenty of throwaway tracks and it could be argued that any number of artists could make sprawling triple albums with what they leave on the cutting room floor. Then again, most artists don't make this many good songs in their entire careers. What follows is the bare minimum from 69 Love Songs, the keepers that could all, in their own way, be the centerpiece for a whole album.

• All My Little Words

Disc One of 69 Love Songs is the most naturalistic of the three. This harmony-driven alt-country track is the first of many stand-out songs on the album.

• I Don't Want To Get Over You
• Come Back From San Francisco
• The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side

Approaching the music of Stephin Merritt is like a puzzle. Let's put together the pieces to figure out why he isn't a bigger star. "Luckiest Guy" is the kind of sunny, mildly gimmicky song that pop charts just love. So, why wasn't it #1 for a few weeks in the Summer of 1999? Well, Merritt is wryness personified and this track has just the right amount of weird ticks to be mildly off-putting. Maybe Wes Anderson will grab it for a new movie.

• I Think I Need A New Heart
• The One You Really Love
• Parades Go By
• Nothing Matters When We're Dancing

Sentimentality is ridiculously difficult to do right. Class, listen to this song and take notes.

• Sweet-Lovin' Man
• The Things We Did And Didn't Do
• Roses
• When My Boy Walks Down The Street

I've said it before and I'll say it again; there are not near enough gay-themed pop songs.

• Grand Canyon
• No One Will Ever Love You

While the first two Magnetic Fields albums had a female vocalist and wanted for Merritt's droll baritone, every now and then a more recent track benefits from a softer, higher register. I can't imagine this track working with Merritt instead of guest vocalist Shirley Simms.

• My Only Friend
• Washington D.C.
• Long-Forgotten Fairytale

Hand it to Stephin Merritt for making synthesizers sound campy.

• Papa Was A Rodeo

Gay cowboy song that's cheeky but can still be taken seriously. Wow factor of 10.

• Epitaph For My Heart
• The Sun Goes Down
• Underwear
• Busby Berkeley Dreams

69 Love Songs began as a theatrical concept. If any song on the album would sound great on a stage, it's this one.

• The Death of Ferdinand de Saus
• Wi' Nae Wee Bairn Ye'll Me Beg
• Yeah! Oh, Yeah!

Supposedly inspired by the sounds of The Jesus and Mary Chain, this may be my favorite track from the entire triple album. It has everything, really. Merritt and Gonson singing together (a rare event), Merritt's just-clever-enough lyrics, and a heck of a melody.

• Meaningless

The most uplifting nihilism-themed song ever written.

• How To Say Goodbye
• Xylophone Track

The end of Disc Three sounds as tired as one might expect, at least in a theatrical sort of way. Yet, going through this album as a listener is far from exhausting. It has all the energizing power great pop music is supposed to have.

Though I've condensed it down to just 28 tracks, I highly suggest giving the full album a listen. Just because a song doesn't appear on the above list doesn't mean it isn't good, just not completely essential. There are plenty mood-setters and funny lyrical jaunts among the other 41 tracks I didn't include. We'll be looking at some of Stephin Merritt's other work later this week, then we'll jump into his main oeuvre with The Magnetic Fields either next week or in a future entry. Until then, listen well.