beating ebay

I spent the better part of two years trying to track down a copy of Where’d You Learn to Kiss That Way, the incredible two-disc compilation of underrated UK group the Field Mice. It was the early ’00s and I’d somehow missed its brief lifespan on the record shelves, and so now I was relegated to trolling around eBay and watching, forlornly, as prices steadily escalated from a manageable $20 to an absolutely obscene $120. There was no finding it used, either — anyone who’d bought a copy knew exactly what they were buying and weren’t going to give it up without a fight. I was stuck with a dubbed cassette copy from an ex-girlfriend that, ironically enough, I wore down to breaking when that very same girl and I split up. And now, about 9 years later, in yet another incredible eMusic coup, Where’d You Learn to Kiss That Way has arrived on the site. It’s still the best Field Mice comp around, and still an absolute must for anyone who likes Belle & Sebastian, New Order or The Smiths. And — shockah! — it’s still going for stupid amounts of money.

The Field Mice are best at writing songs about relationships that either haven’t started or are just ending. Leave the in-between parts to someone else. No one’s ever in love in Field Mice songs — they’re either crushing out or being crushed, making impossible promises or making overdue apologies. Bob Wratton’s voice is small and whispery, peeking out shyly from behind a tangle of guitars. You can hear traces of smallish trends in their music (”Coach Station Reunion” has the loopy bass and tremolo guitars of Madchester), but mostly their music is their own, terrifically twerpy and unabashedly twee. There’s something here to satisfy almost every indie inclination. Like the haunted folk of Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon? Try “And Before the First Kiss.” Go in for the stately classicism of The Magnetic Fields? “Emma’s House” is for you. Is your collection full of old R.E.M. and the Smiths? “September’s Not So Far Away” is your new favorite song.

The Field Mice eventually imploded, and Bob Wratton went on to form the almost-as-good Trembling Blue Stars. But Where’d You Learn to Kiss That Way stands as his greatest collection of songs, two solid discs of high points — at long last within reach.