Ladies and gentlemen, it is now official: Beck has transcended all musical genres.
The man with a "Devil's Haircut" is back with "Midnite Vultures," his fourth release. "Vultures" is the official follow-up to the wildly successful "Odelay," though "Mutations" was released earlier this year.
"Vultures" is easily the year's most electrically eclectic album. It is not a rock album, nor is it techno, jazz, rap, country, soul or funk. Yet all of these forms are represented on the album. One would need a very expansive thesaurus to describe Beck's sound on this record adequately, and even then it would be a difficult task.
The album opens with "Sexx Laws," which has been getting significant radio airplay. The song features a horn section, banjo, piano, tambourine, synthesizer and steel guitar. The result is a mixture of country, big band, rock and funk that sets the stage for the rest of the album.
"Nicotine and Gravy" is an incredibly bizarre song. Beck uses a violin and cello to create a sound reminiscent of Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" but adds the background vocals of Valerie Penkton to produce something different from, well, everything else. The "Kashmir" effect is laid over a funky beat that changes to disco during the chorus, and then back to funk. Rock aficionados of the 1970s should love this song.
These two songs also illustrate one of the album's chief strengths: its use of 26 different instruments. Beck called in his friends to add brass, strings, electronica, percussion and several different kinds of guitars to the album. The result occasionally is jumbled, but is often brilliant. Sometimes, it's both.
"Broken Train" is a fine example of this melding of different genres. Beck takes the sound of "Odelay" and adds various drums to shape the song into something different. The background vocals also change things up a bit by adding harmony and a choir effect, a technique used on virtually every song.
Beck's lyrics, however, are as bizarre as ever. Envision a more stable Sylvia Plath on "Hollywood Freaks," a pure rap song with extremely nonsensical lyrics: "Jockin my Mercedes / Probably have my baby / Shop at Old Navy / He wish he was a lady."
"Mixed Bizness" is another example of Beck choosing rhyme over reason. "I'm mixing fitness with leather / Homework with Heather / Freaks flock together / And make all the lesbians scream" is the song's final proclamation.
But Beck's experimental side hurts him in several cases. "Peaches in Cream" is terribly slow and boring while "Beatiful Way" is just terrible. In both songs, Beck seems to be living up to his leisure-suit-wearing image by producing mere lounge music. The songs are broken up by "Milk and Honey," a throwback to the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the savior of the second half of the disc.
Beck's greatest successes come when he calls on the rock greats of the 1960s and '70s for inspiration, which he does several times on "Midnite Vultures." The album is disjointed, however, because of Beck's continual obsession of constantly reinventing his sound with every release.
"Vultures" cements Beck's place as one of the most innovative people in music. Beck is willing to journey where none have gone before, even though the results are not always perfect.
Grade: B
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