Midnite Vultures Music

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by: Beck

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Customer Reviews
Average Rating: Rating: - Robo-Dance Innovator The multi-talented Beck Hansen has an uncanny ability to squirm out of any artistic pigeonhole in which he finds himself. Anyone who sees him primarily as the Gen-X poster boy of "Loser," or even the cut-and-paste artist of Odelay, is behind the times. Those impressions, after all, can be attributed more to the media than Beck himself, who remains elusive and consistent at the center of it all. That's at least partly the result of Beck's ability to funnel just about any style of music into his own creations, as last year's rich, organic Mutations proved. If that record was largely about finding subtlety and delicacy in Beck's trademark pastiche style, the new Midnite Vultures takes the opposite approach. An entertainingly excessive album, its libidinous funk mosaic finds Beck coming on like a master of ceremonies overseeing a sci-fi orgy. On "Nicotine & Gravy," Beck promises, "I'll feed you fruit that don't exist / I'll leave graffiti where you've never been kissed," inventing seductive invitations that never occurred to Barry White. A sex album meant to affect senses above the neck as much as below the waist, Midnite Vultures pairs Beck's R&B love-man shtick (so over-the-top as to be almost cerebral) with a full-band sound, layering its beats with everything from pounding bass to new-wave keyboards to Johnny Marr's guitar to, on more than one occasion, a banjo. It's simultaneously funny and funky, at once musically engaging and a continuation of Beck's mind-twisting campaign of musical appropriation. What exactly does it mean when a scrawny white guy promises to "make all the lesbians scream" on an album that borrows heavily from three decades of black music? There's no easy way to answer to that question, or to describe this relentlessly entertaining record. It might be better just to enjoy it for what it is and rest assured that the next one will sound nothing like it. Rating: - Amazing! Someone said this was the best album cover of the year and I'd support that comment to its the best album cover since the bizarre haystack thing jumping over the obstacle in "Odelay". Oh yes, I do have "Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic" and that whole album doesn't compare to a single track on Midnite Vultures. My personal favorite track is 5, "Hollywood Freaks". Why? Because it is theoretically the backbone of this masterpiece, satirizing all other sudden "hip" white people stealing from black culture, and Beck does so, but with his own eclectic style of nonsensically meaningful lyrics and varied instruments. My LEAST favorite, although still a great track, is "Sexx Laws". Despite this, its brilliant use of trumpets and banjos work fully. Some people may not like the sudden switch to R & B for Beck, but he is just evolving, as any good artists do. Actually, personally, his earlier albums such as "Mellow Gold" and "One Foot in the Grave" don't possess the same level of Beckness. All in all, MV is a classic: party music for people who don't go to parties. Rating: - "I Mix Bizness with Leather" The last great party album of the 90s? Maybe. I see stereos on Dec. 31 mixing "1999" and "Midnite Vultures" together, which is fitting, considering that many of the songs on "MV" are outright paeans to Prince ("Get Real Paid", "Debra", "Peaches & Cream"), or whatever you choose to call him. Does this show a lack of originality on Beck's part? To a point, yes, but these songs are so chock-full of wit, humor, excellent musicianship and clear production that it doesn't seem to matter. Beck sounds like he's living all of his funk soul-brother fantasies, and even though he knows he's not the genuine article, he's having great, infectious fun. Using his great band from the "Odelay" tour was an ace move; there's far more instrumental dexterity and skill on "MV" than any other Beck album--check out the insane bass parts on the outrageous "Sexx Laws", which sounds like a combination of Booker T. & the MG's, Prince (of course) and the 1967 edition of the Byrds--this is probably Beck's best use of genre splicing on the record. "Hollywood Freaks" might offend those who think Beck is appropriating hip-hop and other forms of popular music generally associated as being "black." Or one could see it as Beck's attempt to render these racial classifications meaningless. In any case, Beck spews so much hilarious verbiage in 4 minutes that it could be known only as a Beck creation. "Beautiful Way" kicks the partying down a couple of notches with a gorgeous, wistful ballad reminiscent of the songs on "Mutations." And "Debra" will be either the favorite or most despised song of "MV" in the eyes of many--it all depends on the opinion of Beck's falsetto, which is just absolutely outrageous in that he even attempts it, and then, incredibly, mostly pulls it off. Whatever he lacks in pipes he makes up in humor--it's easily the funniest song on the album in its straight-up homage to Prince classics like "The Beautiful Ones." Some folks may think Beck is taking a step backward from "Odelay." All I know is that "Midnite Vultures" is non-stop fun, all killer and no filler.

Midnite Vultures Music

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