Alt-rock troubadour and veteran road warrior, Beck Hansen, was virtually unknown prior to the release of the single, “Loser”, in
1993, but within a year of its release, he would be hailed as the new Bob Dylan (or at least a
successor to Kurt Cobain), all of which Beck understandably distanced himself
from as much as possible. 1994 was a gigantic year for Beck in which he released
three LPs (each on a different record label), two EPs, and several other tracks and went from anonymous folkie
weirdo to pop star who didn’t always know what to make of or what to do with his sudden
success. Eventually, Beck would partner with The Dust Brothers to create his
breakthrough LP, 1996’s Odelay, but his early, formative releases helped
introduce him to the wider modern rock audience and helped Beck discover the type
of artist and songwriter he wanted to be.
Stereopathetic Soul Manure
Beck’s first official release, following a cassette of
home recordings entitled, Golden Feelings, was a mash up of both studio
and home recordings, sound collages and experiments, samples, staged live
performances, and field recordings that was both noncommercial and remains one
of his most challenging to listeners. While the album could be neatly divided
into sections that include punk and noise rock, classic country, alt-folk, and…”other”,
the fact that everything is mixed up and mashed together for over an hour is
one of its most appealing qualities. Beck’s trademark humor comes across on “One
Foot in the Grave”, “Puttin’ It Down”, and “Satan Gave Me a Taco”, once in
heavy rotation on the Doctor Demento radio show. While Beck became tagged with
the slacker label of the early to mid ‘90s, his drive to experiment with
various instruments, genres, and styles of production were anything but lazy.
Sentimental country tunes, such as “Modesto” and “Rowboat”, which was later
covered by Johnny Cash, balance the screams and screeching of “Pink Noise” and
the bizarre tape experiments including recordings with traveling musicians
found on the street (or near train tracks?) and others that are simply short
readings of diary entries with affected vocal speeds. The collage nature of
this album recalls early records by Ween, The Flaming Lips, and elements of
Sublime’s Robbin the Hood, also celebrating 25 years in 2019. While most
listeners won’t equally enjoy all tracks, it’s safe to say there is something
for just about everybody in here somewhere. Be careful, however, not to get
lost in the 12 minutes of unlisted “bonus noise” at the end!
*Listen to Stereopathetic Soul Manure here.
One Foot in the Grave
Recorded before but released after Beck’s next album,
Mellow Gold, his second (or third?) LP is predominately acoustic folk, blues,
and country-influenced songs, including a few classic covers, and some featuring
members of Beat Happening, Built to Spill, Love as Laughter, and The Presidents
of the United States of America. While Beck’s style lends itself well to
collaboration, a fair amount of his early material was performed and produced
by him alone, so the inclusion of so many guests on one album is notable within
his catalog. While the album’s 16 songs are unique to this release, Beck begins
to play around with his already surreal lyrics and phrases to the point where
song titles and lines of lyrics from various songs begin to show up in more than one place
among this large amount of material, reminiscent of Frank Zappa or early They
Might Be Giants in some regards. The more one listens to these three LPs, the
more connections begin to appear. The title of the album itself is also the
title of a harmonica-driven Beck original, which appears in live form on his
previous album, but does not appear here at all. (Years later, on a deluxe reissue of One Foot in the Grave, a
discarded version of the song was finally included, though it does not improve
upon the live original.) Among the experimentation in style and production from
track to track are acoustic gems like “Hollow Log”, “Girl Dreams” and “Asshole”,
later covered by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Aside from a few noisy
interludes, One Foot in the Grave is a mostly quiet, sometimes personal, and introspective collection of Beck’s surreal alt-folk. It would remain his softest
album until 2002’s Sea Change.
*Listen to the deluxe/expanded edition of One Foot in the Grave here.
Mellow Gold
Beck’s major label debut, this collection of experimental
hip hop, alt-rock, folk, and noise starts off with the groundbreaking “Loser”,
built around loops and samples that are the style basis for more than half the
album. Beck’s surreal free-verse approach to writing lyrics lent itself particularly
well to rapping, even if the other noises layered atop the beats took the songs
out of the traditional hip hop arena. Three follow-up singles were released
after “Loser”, but none received much airplay. The folky, “Pay No Mind” became
a concert staple for years, and “Fuckin’ with My Head (Mountain Dew rock)”
plays around with the formula of “Loser” though with a different beat and a
different slide guitar sample. “Beercan”, a hit on 120 Minutes, summarizes the
album and era well in just a few heavily effected, sample-dense minutes. Sprinkled
with a few acoustic songs and a few much heavier moments to balance the fusion
of the other tracks, Mellow Gold sometimes comes across like a
better-produced and more focused take on a lot of what Beck was going for on Stereopathetic
Soul Manure, though without nearly as much variety and experimentation. The
final three songs alone jerk the listener from a pleasant acoustic jam (“Nightmare
Hippy Girl”) to noisy death rock (“Mutherfucker”) and then to heavily affected
12-string acoustic hypnosis (“Blackhole”). While it doesn’t last even a quarter
as long, there is even more unlisted bonus noise at the end of the album, this
time in the form of the insane tape collage, “Analog Odyssey”, that is bound to
clear a room when played among the uninitiated.
*Listen to Mellow Gold here.
Related materials
Amazingly, Beck produced so much material in late 1993
and early 1994 that each of the three releases discussed above could have been
a double LP. Most of these additional songs were eventually released on
singles, compilations, and after the fact in expanded reissues, most notably on
the EPs, Loser, Beercan, and A Western Harvest Field by
Moonlight. Another fan favorite, “Bogusflow”, was included on the DGC Rarities
vol. 1 compilation, also in 1994. While the supplemental material is not
quite as strong or memorable as the tracks that were selected for inclusion on
the albums, there are gems and nuggets scattered throughout that add-to the
experience that is Beck’s early official catalog.
Other albums celebrating 25 years:
Ween-Chocolate and Cheese
Meat Puppets-Too High to Die
Hole-Live Through This
