Beck: Classic Or Dud

Otm

CHOKING ON THE SPLINTERS

I don't give a shit about his beliefs. I just want him to focus on his lyrics. Dudes a poet

We haven't had that spirit here since One Foot in the Grave.

no money no honey

The thing I like about the Earth is the range of colors, fantastic to mundane, brilliant to dull.

I do like the lines "Getting fat on your own fear / bring that beer over here."

lol!

All around the water tank

Mellow Birds Gold

Give the finger to the rock 'n' roll singer, as he's dancing upon your paycheck. The sales climb high through the garbage-pail sky. Like a giant dildo crushing the sun.

That's why.

but i will still rep for all that stuff posted in the 2012 revive, that is some seriously good shit there

yeah - where did that come from - so unexpected and ephemeral

One Foot in the Grave has a deluxe edition! Haven't heard the extra tracks yet but the titles are promising:

"It's All in Your Mind"* – 2:54
"Whiskey Can Can"* (Beck/Calvin Johnson) – 2:12
"Mattress" – 2:31
"Woe on Me" – 3:10
"Teenage Wastebasket" (electric & band) – 2:28
"Your Love Is Weird" – 2:27
"Favorite Nerve" – 2:05
"Piss on the Door" – 2:05
"Close to God"† (Beck/Calvin Johnson) – 2:28
"Sweet Satan" – 1:45
"Burning Boyfriend" – 1:12
"Black Lake Morning" (Beck/Sam Jayne) – 2:25
"Feather in Your Cap"* – 1:13
"One Foot in the Grave" – 3:18
"Teenage Wastebasket" (acoustic) – 1:27
"I Get Lonesome" (alternate version) – 1:56

report back, that's my favourite Beck record

just ordered - thanks

a bunch of those extra tracks were singles/b-sides (I don't have them all but I do have a bunch) - good period for him

Give the finger to the rock 'n' roll singer, as he's dancing upon your paycheck. The sales climb high through the garbage-pail sky. Like a giant dildo crushing the sun.

― Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, August 3, 2016 2:12 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol I quoted this to my favorite English prof in college -- he was one of those "I don't watch TV or listen to popular music" types and I wanted to show him that there are like artists today who get it, man, or something.

Lol. That takes me back. Didnt have internet in '94 yet. Me and a pal were listening to Loser on my walkman during biology class, trying to decipher and write down the lyrics (they were in the Mellow Gold cd booklet we got a month later). Got suspended for not paying attention.

What did your teacher make of your effort?

I think he wrote back (email) "Sounds like this Beck is one of us," or something to that effect. I don't think he would have said anything quite as corny as "one of us." He was a fan of Mark Leyner and had this one Jerry Garcia quote about poetry that he would refer to a lot even though his cultural knowledge otherwise stopped at the moment Dylan went electric, so I thought maybe he'd like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v_dng3X7mk

It's just the shit-kicking', speed-taking'
Truck-driving' neighbors downstairs
Yeah...yeah

Whiskey-stained buck-toothed
Backwards creepw
Grizzly bear motherfucker
Never goes to sleep

Literary my own neighbour. I'll give him that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmCcCrPmyAQ
my favorite thing of his. everything after mellow gold is supremely uninteresting imo.

Odelay has its moments. And his channukah rap was sublime. But that's about it.

"Go on mutherfucker! Put your clothes on!"

I always wondered if this was an actual fight B had in pre-fame LA slumming it phase

I believe its for real, but Beck was not involved.

was quite surprised to see our boy featured on the Flume record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_6In1gr36A

not sayin' it's good or anything. It does amuse me. I mean.. imagine making a dance record, ponderin' who we gonna call. we need a great singer. Beck!?!?!

Mellow Gold is my fav Beck record. Have a soft spot for Midnite Vultures

Midnite Vultures is probably my favorite, some worthwhile stuff after Sea Change as well but I have mostly lost interest

yeah i have no interest in hearing anything post-Sea Change, for some reason. his 90s work still sounds fabulous, though. personal favorite definitely Odelay. i recall Stereopathetic Soul Manure being completely batshit and sprawling and fun but it's been a long time since I last heard it.

Stereopathetic Soul Manure

his most "lol 90s" record imo. Reflects that intersection of amateurish flailing + willful sloppiness + "check out how annoying THIS sound is"-style pseudo-avant-garde shenanigans to "freak out the squares" that was in vogue and registered as "challenging" at the time. Contains a lot that qualifies more as sound collage or noise experiment than song, and feels like it's trying to be confrontational as a result. I like a fair chunk of it, but it's more interesting as a cultural relic than as a collection of music that is enjoyable to listen to.

Supposedly the argument from "Truckdrivin Neighbors Downstairs" was a portion of one of many, many actual arguments had by Beck's downstairs neighbors at the time. This particular one got so loud and violent he couldn't record anything in his apartment, so he recorded the fight instead. Legend has it that the fight ended in the street, with a battle axe involved.

yeah i have no interest in hearing anything post-Sea Change, for some reason. his 90s work still sounds fabulous, though. personal favorite definitely Odelay. i recall Stereopathetic Soul Manure being completely batshit and sprawling and fun but it's been a long time since I last heard it.

― brimstead, Thursday, August 4, 2016 10:02 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Same. Love everything up until Sea Change, but with that record it all became full circle: he'd recorded everything, every style, he is capable of. Everything after that has always felt like repetition of something he's done already. But everything up to and including Sea Change is classic imho.

Remember ordering Stereopathetic cd at my go to record store. It was like they were trying to find the holy grail, lol, took absolutely aaaaages for them to finally get that imported.

I'm an alien from another sphere

kind of want to revisit One Foot In the Grave now -- deeply loved that album in college and then somehow just tossed it and never thought about it again.

Extra tracks on that one kinda forgettable but one track, Your Love is Weird, includes some low energy beer/fear and cash/stash couplets

One Foot in the Grave is also v lol 90s but has actually good songs on it

Beck sort of invented lol 90s

Stereopathetic will probably always be my favorite, if only for the juxtaposition of the absolutely chaotic swirling conclusion of "Pink Noise (Rock Me Amadeus)" into the smooth classic Nashville sounds of "Rowboat", one of the best songs he ever wrote

Johnny Cash thought so, too.

odelay dates a bit better if you delete all the songs with rapping.

Modesto is pretty nice as well. love that pedal steel.

Beck had an awesome ear for sounds

Anyone ever heard this Lonnie Smith album Boogaloo to Beck?

https://open.spotify.com/album/5kyJQJqRYP2TlCtvwprAkf

what the hell leave lonnie smith out of the beck thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyCkhPTU13w

...

o_o

cool video. too bad about the song tho

was trying to think of what the beat reminded me of - "Drop It Like It's Hot"?

disappointing

yeah it's the Neptunes-fill. very generic, at this point.

i feel like Beck channeling Madonna's Don't Tell Me with his lasso moves.

He was briefly a lot of fun, wasn't he?.

Good write-up and fine choices if Mutations hadn't been made ;)