I met you...at JC POLLney - ILM Artist Poll #97 - BECK - the Results Thread

https://i.imgur.com/GjrpUMd.jpg

30 Ballots Received
161 Beck Songs
21 Album Ballots Received
14 Albums
6 Video Ballots Received
16 Videos

Thank you to all of you who voted! This poll is going to be so much fun.

HUGE thank you to One Eye Open my co-poll runner for doing the pictures, which will debut on Wednesday.

Spotify:ILM Beck

here we go!

will start with vidoes, a Top 5.

Make all the lesbians scream!

https://youtu.be/pyCkhPTU13w
5. Wow
96 Points, 2 Votes, 1 Number One

Hell Yes

I forgot about this video - not a fan of the song at all but the vid is cool, I like the quickdraw guy

https://youtu.be/YgSPaXgAdzE
4. Loser
124 Points, 3 Votes

decided not to embed these videos as it will make the beginning of the thread a bit buggy.

I opted not to do a videos ballot bc I didnt have strong memories of pretty much any of the videos, except for this one, which I remember seeing a lot at the time of & enjoying - the flaming squeegee and moving coffin both are embedded in my brain as quintessential beck imagery.

https://youtu.be/EPfmNxKLDG4
3. Where it's At
133 Points, 3 Votes, 1 Number One

https://youtu.be/uxugaMpt1vU
2. The New Pollution
136 Points, 3 Votes, 1 Number One

i did not do a videos ballot but "the new pollution" and "where it's at" were a p lifechanging series of images

https://youtu.be/aa3rBVb3v4g
1. Devils Haircut
146 Points, 3 Votes. 2 Number Ones

Videos:
1. Devils Haircut 146 3 2
2. The New Pollution 136 3 1
3. Where It's At 133 3 1
4. Loser 124 3
5. Wow 96 2 1
6. E-Pro 86 2
7. Girl 83 2
8. Guess I'm Doing Fine 50 1 1
9. Jack-Ass 46
10. Flavor (w JSBX) 43
11. Lost Cause 40
12. Beercan 38
13. Pay No Mind 38
14. Sexx Laws 38
15. Up All Night 38
16. 120 Minutes jam w Thurston & Mike D 36

looking back, videos is probably not the best idea.

will be back in a bit to start the album countdown.

Haha the 120 minutes jam, great idea. Dang now I wish I did a videos ballot!

I just heard a recent interview with beck where he said devils haircut remains his favorite of all his videos, a good #1

no E-pro in the top 5 is unforgivable!

Black Tambourine is a fav of mine too.

i just read where Beck is about to release a new album this summer. guess i jumped the gun on doing this poll a bit.

Top 10 Albums

https://i.imgur.com/8M0StE8.jpg
10. Colors
Released: October 13, 2017
149 Points, 4 Votes

i was not going to do a full Top 10 but not going to start tracks until tomorrow. so we have enough time to go ahead a do a full Top 10.

https://i.imgur.com/GjN4gEi.jpg
9. Modern Guilt
Released: July 8, 2008
One vote for the Acoustic version
219 Points, 6 Votes

a much better record than both guero and the information

Yeah it’s probably my fave of the post-90s albums. Can’t remember if it made the cut in my ballot or not but I like “Volcano” a lot, probably his best version of that type of song imo.

That acoustic version was a pleasant surprise, it’s cool he put that out, definitely superior versions of some tracks

...although I'll admit I still dont really get what people see in danger mouse or what he brings to the table as a producer, especially when it comes to beck, of all people - like having badfinger produce the beatles.

https://i.imgur.com/igHFwkb.jpg
8. Guero
Released: March 29, 2005
231 Points, 6 Votes

The last album of his I bought at the time of release. The back half >>>> the first half

also true

Hearing "E-Pro" depressed me. It struck me as a death rattle ("Back to THIS sound?").

I need to give this one another shot I think. I agree that Modern Guilt, which I checked out for the first time as a result of this poll, is better.

this one should make some people happy

https://i.imgur.com/WPjotWD.jpg
7. Stereopathetic Soulmanure
Released: 22 February 1994
246 Points, 6 Votes

guero is better than i remember. prob due to the back half being good, as mentioned.

"scarecrow" is really one of his absolute best songs

xxp so wild that 'Stereopathetic' was actually released the week before Mellow Gold

I love the whole thing unreservedly

yep

Couldn’t find the fridge for awhile

Stereopathetic is a wonder of an album, love it too (and ordered it thru cd-wow or some other late 90s online cd farm, after loving Mellow Gold)

https://i.imgur.com/yjFqko9.jpg
6. Sea Change
Released: September 24, 2002
370 Points, 9 Votes

this album is such a slug to get through these days. i did have to give it some points because of what it meant to me at the time.

Top 5

https://i.imgur.com/PFbnX60.jpg
Released: June 27, 1994
580 Points, 14 Votes, 2 Number Ones

big jump in points, as it actually should be.

This was my #2, by a very very close margin. I really think its a masterpiece.

Lance Bass looks great in that photo!

LOL Alfred

Also my introduction to Calvin Johnson's voice, and it was years before I heard Beat Happening and discovered that it belonged to an actual human and wasn't Beck's voice pitched way down with some crazy effect.

missed the title in that last one...

https://i.imgur.com/gwz0aft.jpg
4. Midnite Vultures
Released: November 23, 1999
600 Points, 14 Votes, 2 Number Ones

boooo too low

yap agree but totally understandable too

https://i.imgur.com/zTgQkM1.jpg
3. Mutations
Released: November 3, 1998
689 Points, 16 Votes, 2 Number Ones

my no. 1

it would have been mine too if I'd done an album ballot, but I doubt it would have changed the standings anyway

come on Mellow Gold...

love, love, love this one. i think more songs placed off this album than any other iirc.

So sad I missed the opportunity to vote in this. Close to my heart Beck will never be (ctrl+f's "scientology", 0 results. For one) but boy has he sound tracked my youth, and then some.

Time really is a piece of wax fallin' on a termite that's chokin' on the splinters.

to be fair the Sci thing was discussed in the previous voting thread, this thread is brand new

Ah ok, that is fair, I missed that and stand corrected

LBI you should check out the 2013 self-released singles (the extended versions), I was really impressed with those and even ended up voting for one

Ah cool, I will, thanks!

Listening to Odelay now again. It is like a freight train of cool riding over you.

https://i.imgur.com/I4QLCx4.jpg
2. Mellow Gold
Released: March 1, 1994
817 Points, 18 Votes, 8 Number Ones

https://i.imgur.com/9Ck1mXR.jpg
1. Odelay
Released: June 18, 1996
862 Points, 19 Votes, 7 Number Ones

this quote is ridiculous but also funny imo:

In a 1994 interview with Rolling Stone, Beck said of the album:

The whole concept of Mellow Gold is that it's like a satanic K-tel record that's been found in a trash dumpster, quite matter-of-factly. A few people have molested it and slept with it and half-swallowed it before spitting it out. Someone played poker with it, someone tried to smoke it. Then the record was taken to Morocco and covered with hummus and tabouli. Then it was flown back to a convention of water-skiers, who skied on it and played Frisbee with it. Then the record was put on the turntable, and the original K-Tel album had reached a whole new level. I was just taking that whole Freedom Rock feeling, you understand.

Was amazed to discover recently that the Odelay cover is an actual photo of a dog, and not a pic of some weird sculpture or model.

^^ Beck talks to Transformer xp

Did not expect Odelay to beat Mellow Gold!

Thought for years it was a photo shopped hay bale! xp

I really need to dig out and transcribe the 1996 Odelay review from Snipehunt magazine

yeap, surprising results when you think about it.

xxpost

From wiki:

The album's cover is a photo of a Komondor, a rare Hungarian breed of dog with a heavy, corded coat. The original photo was shot by canine photographer Joan Ludwig (1914–2004) for the July 1977 issue of the American Kennel Club’s Gazette.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ClQhGZrWMAAoamt.jpg

https://thefutureheart.com/2016/06/18/odelay-dog-akc-kennel-ludwig-komondor-beck-cover/amp/

That is a crazy story thanks for sharing.

Albums:

1. Odelay 862 19 7
2. Mellow Gold 817 18 8
3. Mutations 689 16 2
4. Midnite Vultures 600 14 2
5. One Foot in the Grave 580 14 2
6. Sea Change 370 9
7. Stereopathetic Soulmanure 246 6
8. Guero 231 6
9. Modern Guilt 219 6 (Acoustic)
10. Colors 149 4
11. Morning Phase 113 3
12. Golden Feelings 40
13. A western harvest by Moonlight 36
14. Record Club: Oar (2010) 36

plastic donut
can of spam
there's no kindness
in this land

Googling that Odelay cover led me to this interesting Twitter thread, hope I don't mess up the link:

The photo used on Beck's 1996 album Odelay was one of several that Joan Ludwig shot for the July 1977 issue of the American Kennel Club’s Gazette, one of which is shown below. The dog breed is Komondor. pic.twitter.com/AbQeA0Ebzu

— Vintage Wullie (@YoorWullie) August 11, 2018

You didn't

phew

ILM, you have no idea how excited I am about One Eye Open pictures. it's next level stuff like pplains contribution. we are in for such a treat.

I will see everyone tomorrow

Beck's 2019 album is going to be called Hyperspace.

i guess these results aren't too surprising considering the general preferences expressed in the voting thread but i still don't really 'get' pre-Odelay Beck much at all, like Mellow Gold has its moments but everyone else is clearly hearing something in it and One Foot In The Grave that i don't

OH YEAH IT'S TIME

Released: June 27, 1994
580 Points, 14 Votes, 2 Number Ones

I was one of these #1s btw

Pootations more like

Did not expect Odelay to beat Mellow Gold!

I'm enjoying this poll, didn't vote but if I did I would have voted for Mellow Gold over Odelay

Some clean up, where this all came from:

Cause when our POLL did meet, Girl you know I was packin' heat! - ILM Artist Poll #97 - BECK (Voting is open until Saturday, June 1, 2019)

I slightly prefer Mellow Gold to Odelay, only because it feels a touch more singular to me, an island unto itself. They're both great albums.

Just heard Where It’s At in the grocery store

I Got Two Turntables On Aisle Six!

Even though I know the real lyrics are “two turntables and a microphone” my addled brain always translates it to “two cheeseburgers and a microphone”

two cheeseburgers, both with provolone

My addled brain always sings "I come from the land of the ice and snow / With the jigsaw jazz and the get-fresh flow"

how'd you pass up "Stereopathic POLL Manure" for the thread title?

xpost and my brain follows on with "but we did nuthin, absolutely budkiss that day.."

Was the Information left off the album list in error?

Didn't vote cuz I didn't feel like diving back into Beck right now. Interested to see song results!

Vultures > Mellow >> Odelay >> other things

i still don't really 'get' pre-Odelay Beck much at all, like Mellow Gold has its moments but everyone else is clearly hearing something in it and One Foot In The Grave that i don't

― ufo, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 00:42 (eleven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Same here - definitely some good songs but I've never been able to get into either of those albums properly.

the Ktel quote above puts the appeal of the early material pretty well,I think. That was great, hadn't heard that. Also maybe you "had to be there" to some degree, throwing chicken in a bucket

I find Odelay pretty tough to get through now. it's dated in a way most of his other work isn't, somehow. It's still fun but, I dunno very much of its time. The sound of being the coolest thing going in 1996? It's not exactly the Dust Brothers sound I'm talking about (have never gotten tired of Paul's Boutique)

I rate Odelay less these days because the songs work if your patience extends to an album length of obscurantic readymades infused by hip-hop whereas Mellow Gold has recognizable love songs and skewed narratives in a folk tradition. That's partly why I like Guero's "Scarecrow": it melds the hip-hop and folk sensibilities.

and besides, Cibo Matto were cooler

the songs work if your patience extends to an album length of obscurantic readymades infused by hip-hop

You say that like it's a bad thing!

I get what you mean though. I rate Odelay higher but thats a good point about the difference between it & Mellow Gold, for all the clutter & sonic craziness most of the songs still have some identifiable narrative or lyrical point of view.

I should've mentioned that I bought MG in 2002, years after Odelay, so I was more struck by their differences.

And, no, I didn't mean my criticism as dismissal -- I don't mind obscurantism.

Midnite Vultures, then (ahem), is the perfect synthesis of Cool Beck and Don't Care Beck. Resulting in our one proper artifact of Party Down Beck.

It should've gotten better reviews. People bashed it for not caring enough, for being silly while being funky. think what we could have had. You monsters. All of us.

Also maybe you "had to be there" to some degree, throwing chicken in a bucket

eh i didn't listen to mellow gold until 2002. can't say i immediately loved everything on it but the weird coherently-incoherent sensibility behind it + the tunes kept me coming back

mellow gold turns to the insanity rather than the homeliness of rural america and renders it in space-age technicolour. it's backwards folk-art by a sophisticate who understands his subject and it's so good that its inauthenticity isn't even a concern

i quit my job blowing leaves

y'all on the same wave in 2002

maffew12 otm re:vultures. There was a good interview with beck in pfork a few years ago where vultures comes up and beck is kind of apologizing for it, almost sounds a little embarrassed, like "yeah we were trying to do something and experimenting, maybe it didnt work but it was a certain time & place, etc". And the interviewer says that vultures is a favorite of his (not even THE favorite, but just A favorite) and beck reacts with surprise and says that he's never heard anyone say that. And it's just like, really? You've never heard anyone say that this record is one of their faves? Is it possible that he really doesn't have an idea of how good that record is, and considers it a failed experiment? He seems to have such a strange perspective on his own work.

What. It's worse than I thought. Damn it!

Beck is a Scientologist -- he hears what he wants to hear.

The one time I saw him live was around Guero. Fun little show. That album actually sounds like him trying to have as much fun as he can within the parameters we've allowed.

I weep!

i think the sound of Mellow Gold is really cool but i don't really care for the tunes that much so it's just a fascinating mostly impenetrable mess of sound to me

I like MG’s shotgun scattershot sonics over Odelay, which sounds pretty uniform in its production approach

xp That's kind of how I feel about the other pre-Odelay material. Have you heard that stuff?

I've been a bit hard on Old Beck. Colors is pretty damn good at this point.

never really given One Foot In The Grave a fair go btw so that's what I'll do now

this album has some cool chords!

I made a music video for “Sweet Sunshine” in eighth grade for some kind of project

i originally was going to do a Top 40 but i liked the 41 - 50 so much i asked One Eye Open if he could put together 10 more images. he agreed and now we have a Top 50 countdown.

hell yeah

Spofity is collaborated, can people help out with keeping it up to date? thanks!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ji3OOkQQzplwXxyZZFt49?si=1NvF9IOtSDaeVVwX-SloZA

https://i.imgur.com/KxZmGg1.jpg
50. Peaches & Cream
From: Midnite Vultures
Released: November 23, 1999
133 Points, 5 Votes

Awesome visuals 📶📶📶

ooh ooh ooh!

oh peaches, they're going to do you like that?

I should've taken part. Be back at the end!

"You make a garbage man scream
Come on girl it's a dream"

one of my favorites and this one did make my ballot.

good percussion

I shoulda voted for it but just could not find the space, I love this one

Man, the Midnite Vultures stuff did not age well, I'm sorry

xp thanks calstars. Beck's album art & videos bring up so many distinct visual themes in my mind - the junk sculptures of Mellow Gold, the 70s ads & formica of Odelay, country & western swag, the more melancholy surrealism & pastel vibes of his 2000s stuff - it was fun to mash all those together and mix them up.

xpost to me

I mean, to think that, like, one year year later, Pharrell would be making some of the sickest actual rap and R&B music out with actual funky beats and a this same quasi-ironic falsetto and off-kilter outlook, idk

You make a dead garbage man scream come

Man, the Midnite Vultures stuff did not age well, I'm sorry

― Detective Picacho (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, June 5, 2019 10:31 AM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i think the more straight up electro pop moments aged extremely well cf. "get real paid"

indifferent to the idea of aging beyond that anyway

i guess i get that the attitude behind some of the songs aged incredibly poorly but again, i feel like that is mainly isolated to "hollywood freaks"

i like the idea of still needing 5 votes to get into the Top 50.

https://i.imgur.com/G9KnCB0.jpg
49. Thunder Peel
From: Stereopathetic Soulmanure
Released: 22 February 1994
136 Points, 5 votes

I'm not the biggest fan of Midnite Vultures and it does feel a bit like the beginning of the end in some ways...but much of it is still quite good imo

oh what's this

glad you went with a top 50 as i would've been devastated to miss "thunderpeel" in the countdown xp

Stereopathetic Soulmanure not being on Spotify is argument No. 501 on why throwing away your CDs is stupid

both versions whip ass but

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiQVyxguc2s

Peaches & Cream didn't make my ballot in favor of some of the more bonkers MV tracks, but does have some of the best & weirdest lines on that record

Someone on youtube should do a supercut of Beck's end-of-song noise jams, like his version of that Neil Young feedback album.

OK why haven't I heard Stereopathetic Soulmanure before

it rules

Thunder Peel rules, I saw him do it live on the Odelay tour and it smoked

wow yes imago i recommend that you listen to that music album

can't remember where Thunder Peel was on my ballot but it was def in the top 15

"I come from the land of the ice and snow / With the jigsaw jazz and the get-fresh flow"

Nice! I used to go around singing "I got two Clark Gables and a David Cone."

Yeah, Stereopathetic Soul Manure was No. 2 on my albums poll. A great companion to Mellow Gold!

https://i.imgur.com/1aiNduD.jpg
48. Chemtrails
From: Modern Guilt
Single Released: June 22, 2008
140 Points, 6 Votes

very excited that this one made the Top 50.

Ah man these images are stellar

my favorite track on modern guilt, love the prog beck it hints at

Yeah easily the standout of MG. Joey Waronker is just completely bonkers on this. Would love a whole album of tunes in this vein.

I think I cut Chemtrails from my ballot at the last minute, glad it made it.

only song from Modern Guilt that made my ballot, such a good late era song from Beck.

https://i.imgur.com/zGUh7an.jpg
47. Little One
From: Sea Change
Released: September 24, 2002
146 Points, 5 Votes

no sea change songs made my ballot but "little one" was on there for a few of the early drafts. easily my favorite song on the record, think the production on the chorus is perfect

https://i.imgur.com/Xi97uEY.jpg
46. High 5 (Rock the Catskills)
Released: June 18, 1996
161 Points, 6 Votes

One Eye Open is hitting them out of the park!

xp Little One and paper tiger both have that dark-orchestral-psych thing going on and kill it, the most successful songs on Sea Change. Interesting hearing it back to back with Chemtrails

Little One always reminded me of Neil Young’s There’s a World, but that could be my addled mind acting up again

HIGH 5
MORE DEAD THAN ALIVE

Little One was one of two SC songs on my ballot :)

https://i.imgur.com/AahMkl5.jpg
45. Sunday Sun
From: Sea Change
Single Released: September 24, 2002
162 Points, 6 Votes

the other sea change song i love!

never got the love for High 5, maybe my least favorite Odelay track?

Re:High 5 that was the case for me too for a long time, but as the years have gone by I'm come to love it, especially for its placement on the album. Its like all the chaos and layers and samples and noise finally become too much and the album just explodes and breaks down completely.

i forgot "Sunday Sun" was one of the singles from Sea Change. i think i voted for it at number 25 or right around there.

yep it's a victory lap + spontaneous combustion, and it's so fun xp

Hi 5 is on Mellow
It’s a good companion piece to Mountajn Dew rock

https://i.imgur.com/1HYKuKo.jpg
44. Sing It Again
From: Mutations
Released: November 3, 1998
163 Points, 5 Votes

these last three songs each had just one point to separate them from each other.

Hi 5 is on Mellow
It’s a good companion piece to Mountajn Dew rock

― calstars, Wednesday, June 5, 2019 12:20 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

cals take a look at that tracklist again

"sing it again" is so lovely and i'm sorta glad it beat those sea change tracks

First track I voted for to show up. I had it high, top 10 I think

hi!

and if it's meant, some accident, some coincidence
crumbs fall out of the sky when you wander by

i mean come on

i agree, such a great song. was number 14 on my ballot.

https://i.imgur.com/4U1raHB.jpg
43. Blackhole
From: Mellow Gold
Released: March 1, 1994
179 Points, 5 Votes

really wonderful run of songs today

Sing It Again probably would have been top 5 for me if I had voted, i've always loved just the sound of the words in that song ("The misers wind their minds / Like clocks that grind their gears")

Hi 5 is on Mellow
It’s a good companion piece to Mountajn Dew rock

― calstars, Wednesday, June 5, 2019 12:20 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

cals take a look at that tracklist again

― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, June 5, 2019 3:25 PM (twenty-one minu

Credibility shot

Gave Blackhole a whole load of points, but if a song was on Mellow Gold it had a high chance of getting points. One of the better tracks though

This one was v close to the top for me. Have a vivid memory of listening to Mellow Gold on headphones for the first time and hearing this song and having one of those moments where I realized I'd been standing completely still holding my breath, just completely absorbed by it. Incredible recording.

really wonderful run of songs today

it really is and speaks volumes of the depth of his catalog. when i finally got the results you can now see why i had to add ten more songs. these extra ten songs had to make this countdown!

On the contrary: it speaks to the shallowness of his catalog. He knows what he knows, and that's fine with me.

I love Blackhole but (again) could not make room for it, I just love the way the thing sounds, all reverbed out and deep and cavernous

https://i.imgur.com/hlyf02H.jpg
42. Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1997
From: Mellow Gold
Released: March 1, 1994
230 Points, 8 Votes

My #2. Could have been 1. Unbelievable piece of music

oh shit, messed up the points

180 Points, 6 Votes

That’s the companion to Mountain Dew ^

Like, how can something be so wrong, so fucked, so hopeless, and yet also sound like a giant eternal warm cosmic bath? It enters the heart of America and threatens to live there forever, with the ocean and the bees...

This line in Blackhole guts me every time: Little boy, little boy / Layin in a sleeping bag / Watchin, watchin / through the cracks in his eyelids

Love the droning guitar playing on Whiskeyclone

https://i.imgur.com/zEegfY9.jpg
41. Mutherfuker
From: Mellow Gold
Released: March 1, 1994
181 Points, 5 Votes

EVERYONE'S OUT TO GET YA MUTHERFUKER

these images

*satan voice* hey mr. asshole what's your dirty hassle

thank you, i will have another

Top 40

https://i.imgur.com/MsNocLG.jpg
40. Soul Suckin' Jerk
From: Mellow Gold
Released: March 1, 1994
182 Points, 6 Votes

meh

Mutherfucker was top 5 for me, pure anarchy

mellow gold getting a collective TOO LOW right about now, although I'm aware half of it will place higher. didn't actually vote for this one but it's great fun

Agreed with Alfred about soul suckin jerk

He was to improve on it massively on Odelay

(albeit without a carnival breakdown)

I love the sound of Beck's downpitched voice

Motherfucker is the only Mellow Gold track that I don’t love tbh, always felt a bit too much like a genre exercise to me. Soul Suckin Jerk on the other hand - junkyard rap about burning down your shitty fast food job - what’s not to love?

When dat BEERCAN gonna hit doe

hopefully in the top five

I gave it a bunch of points for sure

in need of a left turn

https://i.imgur.com/ltuSmgr.jpg
39. Get Real Paid
From: Midnite Vultures
Released: November 23, 1999
189 Points, 6 Votes

one of my last cuts, just couldn't squeeze it in.

I want to know if I'm worth your time
There's so much to do before you die

Placed sing it again high. Arresting feel.

https://i.imgur.com/v5K6C1D.jpg
38. Truckdrivin Neighbors Downstairs (Yellow Sweat)
From: Mellow Gold
Single Released: March 1, 1994
191 Points, 7 Votes

From Wiki:

The song begins with a sample of a fight that Beck recorded of his two abusive neighbors. Beck recalls,

When I was recording the song in my living room and they were out front screaming at each other and I couldn't...I had to stop recording my song. And it was strange because I was recording the music for the song; I hadn't written words yet. And I couldn't record anymore because they were too loud and I just left. I had to leave 'cause it was too hectic. When I came back I had all this...I had the song and then after they had this argument...it's too bad I lost the tape that has the original argument 'cause the argument went on for 40 minutes. It was unbelievable. I put 2 seconds of it on there. Pretty classic. But somebody out there has it.

Beck also called it "a special tape, filled with horrible things that will destroy your destiny if you know what it is."

He also said: "I was so shook up by the thing that I pulled over on the freeway and I just wrote the lyrics out and then the next day came back and sang the lyrics over the song. It was one of those experiences where life writes the songs. Which is good.

Why don’t you call your mommy?

I wonder if anyone voted for “bad energy.”

downpitched beck and uppitched beck in a duet for the ages here

love the agreeing yeahs in the first chorus

“get real paid” was in my top three. a throwback kraftwerk jam that is also at least two other things

junkyard rap about burning down your shitty fast food job - what’s not to love?

otm

https://i.imgur.com/JYV5fLB.jpg
37. I Won't Be Long
From: I Won't Be Long single
Released: July 8, 2013
One vote for the Extended version
192 Points, 7 Votes

Beck also called it "a special tape, filled with horrible things that will destroy your destiny if you know what it is."

Beck looking at his future from the vantage point of 1994.

This was my favorite of those 3(?) singles, nice to see this place

this sounds like MGMT! in a nice way

no need to be insulting

One vote for the Extended version

i didn’t specify but i voted for this

this was cool but I liked the long "Gimme" even more

I wonder if every song from Mellow Gold is gonna place... I could see "Nitemare Hippy Girl" getting the shaft.

This was my favorite of those 3(?) singles, nice to see this place

same, and the only one of those that i voted for.

xp fwiw I voted for that but not any of the others that have placed so far

last one for today, i will start a bit earlier tomorrow. will also do another 15 tomorrow and finish off the Top 20 on Friday.

https://i.imgur.com/TV15NWI.jpg
36. Paper Tiger
From: Sea Change
Released: September 24, 2002
198 Points, 6 Votes

I voted for the extended version of "I Won't Be Long" (as the lowest ranked of the three 2013 extended version singles. . . loved those)

Surprised to see 5 of my top 25 ranked already, all between 43rd and 36th. Thought my rankings were a bit idiosyncratic. . .

From Wiki:

_The song begins with a sample of a fight that Beck recorded of his two abusive neighbors. Beck recalls,

When I was recording the song in my living room and they were out front screaming at each other and I couldn't...I had to stop recording my song. And it was strange because I was recording the music for the song; I hadn't written words yet. And I couldn't record anymore because they were too loud and I just left. I had to leave 'cause it was too hectic. When I came back I had all this...I had the song and then after they had this argument...it's too bad I lost the tape that has the original argument 'cause the argument went on for 40 minutes. It was unbelievable. I put 2 seconds of it on there. Pretty classic. But somebody out there has it.

Beck also called it "a special tape, filled with horrible things that will destroy your destiny if you know what it is."

He also said: "I was so shook up by the thing that I pulled over on the freeway and I just wrote the lyrics out and then the next day came back and sang the lyrics over the song. It was one of those experiences where life writes the songs. Which is good._

I Won't Be Long made it onto the last revision of my ballot, I do prefer the extended version but it works well as a normal-length song too.

Paper Tiger is very nice to listen to but after I heard Melody Nelson it seemed a bit shameless.

It's about the most overt homage I've ever heard in music--so what's shameless? Haven't read interviews form the era, but I feel like Beck would've practically used it as an excuse to talk up Serge/Vannier?

Looking up interviews, there’s this:

But when we were making the record, I wanted to do something with strings that was very dramatic. And we were listening to that. And (he chuckles) we ended up with something that sounded exactly like it (Melody Nelson). I didn't intend that. But we did it and it came out so good, in my opinon, it sounded like a tribute. But it transcended that. And it was a good song. I remember, my producer is very particular about that kind of thing. I was like: 'I don't know, can we put this out?' And he said: 'It?' fine. It's a good piece of work.' But yeah, I love the way Gainsbourg uses the orchestras. It's not afraid to be dramatic and bold and emotional. There's something really cool about the sound too."

I’m not sure he’s right that it transcends being a tribute. The chorus sounds great on listening again though.

Catching up with today's tunes, magazines and free soda, trying hard not to think.

"Get Real Paid" way too low -- a top 20 Beck song that becomes a top 5 Beck song in its final 30 seconds (if that makes sense).

Recap:
36. Paper Tiger 198 6
37. I Won’t Be Long 192 7 (Extended)
38. Truckdrivin' Neighbors Downstairs (Yellow Sweat) 191 7
39. Get Real Paid 189 6
40. Soul Suckin Jerk 182 6
41. Mutherfucker 181 5
42. Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1997 180 6
43. Blackhole 179 5
44. Sing It Again 163 5
45. Sunday Sun 162 6
46. High 5 (Rock the Catskills) 161 6
47. Little One 146 5
48. Chemtrails 140 6
49. Thunder Peel 136 5
50. Peaches & Cream 133 5

Quite clearly I need to revisit Mellow Gold.

a lot of great tracks so far:
-Brad really captured the appeal of "peaches & cream" in the voting thread - a prince song sung over a mellow gold groove - but it's even more than that with the glorious outro with all the overlapping vocals and the horns! way too low
-"chemtrails" is a late period highlight - i love the drumming and bass playing and the guitar solo that fades back in at the end
-"sunday sun" is really pretty and a great arrangement, i love the slow build and the way it sort of falls apart at the end
-"i won't be long" just missed my ballot but i'm really glad to see it show up
-"paper tiger" was in my top 10 - i don't really care if it's derivative but those immense strings over the rest of the track's relaxed groove works wonderfully

also fantastic work on the images One Eye Open!

The thing I love about Beck that he seems like someone who had an extensive run of bootleg Celebrity Bowling videotapes taped off 3 AM showings on the Z Channel or something.

Yeah, Soulmanure's version of "thunder peel" rules. They have it on YouTube if you don't have the CD.

RockTheFuckOut

ready for another day? let's get rolling...

https://i.imgur.com/XlZ3bYq.jpg
35. Sweet Sunshine
From: Mellow Gold
Released: March 1, 1994
202 Points, 6 Votes, 1 Number One

lets roll up the windows and let the nitrous go

hey, it's my no. 1

way too fuckin low

i see from the top 6 albums i havent missed much post-2002

I love that it got a #1. How do you even describe this song? Tribal folk-metal?

there are a few highlights but not a lot

xpost

https://i.imgur.com/NVAHPQ3.jpg
34. Lost Cause
From: Sea Change
Released: September 24, 2002
205 Points, 6 Votes

pfft too high

yup

Yeah sea change is generally a dirge.

we need some coffee...

https://i.imgur.com/qPypaeq.jpg
33. Tropicalia
From: Mutations
Single Released: 7 December 1998 (UK)

213 Points, 9 Votes

did not vote for this song i love

i love the way "sweet sunshine" is the bones of a really good pop song fed through an industrial nightmare machine

same, great song that didn't make my ballot.

xpost

yeah for all the damaged/junkyard/thrift store aesthetics of mellow gold, sweet sunshine is the only song on it that sounds like it is literally being sung & performed by some kind of living trash pile

"Lost Cause" is the only SC track to make my ballot.

Beck said that "Tropicalia"'s inspiration was "I've always loved a lot of different exotic music. I've been listening to Brazilian music since I was a kid, but I haven't really felt it was something that would come naturally until the last few years. I think for something like 'Tropicalia' I needed to go to places where that music existed in order to get to the point where I could do it myself. I wrote it in the back of the bus on tour, and then later I put lyrics to it. A lot of times I write the melody and the chords of the songs sometimes years before I ever get around it writing lyrics, so it just sits there incubating."

Beck does not play any instrument in the song.

"Love is a poverty you couldn't sell" is a wonderful line that makes no sense.

https://i.imgur.com/bPJBdjZ.jpg
32. We Live Again
From: Mutations
ReleasedL November 3, 1998
214 Points, 7 Votes

for a while this stately little thing was my favorite Mutations track.

ended up voting for this one. #teamharpsichord

I haven't revisted Sea Change but I remember Lost Cause was far and away my favorite thing on there back when it came out, nice to see it place.

It's the only track that belongs on Mutations because he sings with an ironic lilt. The rest is a travesty against sincerity.

Sweet Sunshine was quite high for me, it's pretty staggering

"we live again" was on my ballot til the very end, beautiful song

I always loved the way We Live Again goes into Tropicalia on Mutations, they sound perfect sequenced together like that

"We Live Again" ended the first side iirc

https://i.imgur.com/E6l2su8.jpg
31. Lonesome Tears
From: Sea Change
Released: September 24, 2002
215 Points, 8 Votes

oh for fuck's sake

this better be the last one

Sea Change is a plague
in a mixmatch parade

By far my favourite on SC and was my #8, sorry everyone. Sweet Sunshine was my #7 at least

It's all about that keyboard that sounds like a cross between ship's horn in fog and a sad computer

Ha, yes! This was the highest Sea Change track on my ballot too.

("Ha, yes" to Imago's description of that synth sound btw)

speaking of...

https://i.imgur.com/tTz8riy.jpg
30. The Golden Age
From: Sea Change
Released: September 24, 2002
218 Points, 8 Votes

OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE

Haha.

did 16-year-old me submit a ballot

Lol. It's not that bad!

Lonesome Tears and Sunday Sun are the SC songs I went for—LT has a grandeur that the rest of the album doesn’t have

I almost voted for this one too but yeah, would have been my inner teen speaking. I do like the closing drone though

The Flaming Lips cover of "The Golden Age" is really good too...makes it even more Harvest-y.

This probably holds up the best of any of the Sea Change songs for me tbh, to my ears its the best version of that kinda song on the album. It was a memorable moment in the couple shows that I saw on the Flaming Lips tour, he would start the show doing it solo acoustic and then on the second verse the band all came in at once and a scrim would suddenly lift up revealing them, it was a neat effect

Couldnt find it on youtube, but justfound this fun clip of him doing while the band plays spoons & plates. Justin Meldal-Johnsen on the tuned water glasses!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvoU7nSpO0w

Timothee Chalamet looks good at the mike!

I way prefer his live vocal take there to the snoozy one on the album (almost the whole album)

I don't get the sea change hate and references to teenage response like it carried no weight. It came out in my mid 30s when a close friend was going through a divorce and just tore us all to pieces. Golden Age is a stunning opener. Sounded amazing on tour tour too. Did it just get lumped in with morning phase or something in retrospect?

actually, everything about that live version is unironically better than the studio one xp

https://i.imgur.com/pTg4Djb.jpg
29. Milk & Honey
From: Midnite Vultures
Released: November 23, 1999
221 Points, 8 Votes

i thought i voted for this but it's not on my ballot.

this is a great run for me. my #10 and by a distance highest MV track. it's so prog, I love it :D

The outro is ammaaaaazzzing

If "Nicotine & Gravy" is still forthcoming (which it had better be) then at least we got the "(x) and (x)" MV songs in the right order

N&G was my other MV vote obviously but this one clinches it for me

I apologize in advance, only voted for two MV tracks now that I check my ballot but it's my favorite album, go figure

(and yes, one was N&G)

I don't get the sea change hate and references to teenage response like it carried no weight. It came out in my mid 30s when a close friend was going through a divorce and just tore us all to pieces. Golden Age is a stunning opener. Sounded amazing on tour tour too. Did it just get lumped in with morning phase or something in retrospect?

BrianB, I think thats true a bit. I think there was some disappointment when people realized "fun Beck" wasn't really coming back

Was listening to Milk & Honey in the car yesterday and thought it sounded like if the radio somehow got jammed between 3 stations at once, just total overload. Love it.

https://i.imgur.com/CNWenlG.jpg
28. Fuckin with My Head (Mountain Dew Rock)
From: Mellow Gold
Single Released: March 1, 1994
230 Points, 8 Votes

fuck yeah (with my head)

another one for me :) i just love mellow gold what can i say

yeah, great album and i'm really happy that a lot of tracks from it made this poll.

Results need more Hollywood Freaks

I wrote the Apple Music blurb for Mellow Gold if any nerds care

https://music.apple.com/us/album/mellow-gold/1440636547

LOL shoutout to Bran Van 3000, nice whiney

nice work Whiney expect it doesn't say anywhere that you wrote it.

https://i.imgur.com/RpQBZTp.jpg
27. Guess I'm Doing Fine
From: Sea Change
Released: September 24, 2002
248 Points, 9 Votes

and were back to SC, this is actually the only track i voted for off of it.

guess I'm going to immolate myself

I'm not surprised by so many SC songs but I am surprised this one ended up so high

Sea change is a snore and an amateur Nick Drake homage

yeah this is not one that i would have guessed would place, much less break the top 30

it's the Spike Jonze video that i remember most about this song.

I think there was some disappointment when people realized "fun Beck" wasn't really coming back

― One Eye Open

speaking for myself, yeah. here is my chronology:

1994-95 this is the greatest shit I've ever heard in my life
1996 (listening to Odelay) this is pretty good but those samples are like the whole song sometimes
1996 (after live show) that was one of the greatest shows ever
1997 wow these b-sides are great *buys in multiple formats*
1998 this is kind of depressing *continues buying odds & ends*
1999 YEAH FUCK YEAH PARTY BECK
2000-2001 hello???
2002 well this is a bummer
2003-2019 (bits and pieces sound cool/look cool, hard to keep up, multiple formats)

I started to vote in this but didn’t have time. Dug through the catalog a bit for the first time I awhile and noticed how he went from a sometimes great lyricist to being a really subpar one right around SC.

is GIDF the video where he ended up playing soccer with the kid? that was cute

yeap, it is but not on-line anymore.

https://i.imgur.com/dyPnd7N.jpg
26. Hotwax
From: Odelay
Released: June 18, 1996
255 Points, 9 Votes

yay!

yeahhhh one of my fave Odelay trax, slinky

Sleeve otm with that chronology
Fun Beck > austere sad wise Beck

Great track!

Karaoke weekend at the suicide shack
Community service and I'm still the mack

Never saw that Guess Im Doin Fine video before & found it here It's funny. Hadnt heard the song in a while and had a moment where I as like "is this right, or is it playing at half speed?"

The ending is so great as well. "I'm the enchanting wizard of rhythm"

Some of the best lines of that album are on Hotwax.

Who are you
I'm the enchanting wizard of rhythm
Why did you come here?
I came here to tell you about the rhythms of the universe

Top 25

https://i.imgur.com/uaHWjWK.jpg
25. Asshole
From: One Foot in the Grave
Released: June 27, 1994
257 Points, 9 Votes, 1 Number One

i love that this got into the Top 25. it also had a number one vote.

Tom Petty's cover is excellent.

shouts to Tom and Rick Rubin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RNldXEVlfc

awesome

you guys are taking the piss right?

no way, this is prime downer-folk Beck just the way I like it

I think it was cut from my ballot at the last minute but I'm down with this placement

The song is fine but Perry’s version is a limp turd

i sort of liked OFITG when i heard it the other day but no one song stood out. 'cyanide breath mint' almost i guess

https://media4.giphy.com/media/Cc3MoTIyJM39S/200w.gif

The song is fine but Perry’s version is a limp turd

― calstars, Thursday, June 6, 2019 4:59 PM

Well, you're a -- well, no.

My Beck chronology was
1) Loser on mtv/radio seemed like a novelty/joke for kids younger than me but the Allman Bros sample is dope.
2) a friend played me the rest of mellow gold & it blew my mind!
3) checked out ssm & ofitg and thought he was the gonna be the new Dylan watershed.
4) odelay was everywhere all the time until I got sick of it - I actually interviewed for a staff writing job at amg when their office was a house in central Michigan and they were playing it during the interview and asked me what I thought the album of the year should be and I said car button cloth by the Lemonheads to be contrary and didn't get the job.
5) mutations blew my mind again, he's genius!
6) I got married, got a real job
7) Debra - unbelievable! - he's changing again and nailing a funny falsetto torch song! The rest of MV was fun, but again it felt like novelty for someone younger than me.
8) I moved on, had kids
9) sea change - see my post above, it tore us up, like he was one of us at the time.
10) the information - had stickers for the kids to play with on the cover, but I guess the his genius has run dry.
11) guerro, why bother? Modern guilt - didn't even buy.
12) morning phase - yawn. I'm old and boring and so is he.
13) colors - my teenaged kids don't walk out of the room when I play it, I guess it's cool for dad rock.

and I said car button cloth by the Lemonheads to be contrary and didn't get the job

harsh imo :)

Great post though.

I got married, got a real job

haha, life!

https://i.imgur.com/Hizebnr.jpg
24. Ramshackle
From: Odelay
Released: June 18, 1996
260 Points, 8 Votes, 1 Number One

6) I got married, got a real job

blowing leaves?

Ramshackle is a perfect closer after all the wizardry of Odelay

blackhole: slight return

that's a bit harsh tbf

Petty’s version of Asshole never sat well with me, hearing those lyrics come from an old guy kind of changes the song in a way I don’t love

well, he'd have experience with being an asshole.

I Ramshackle was top ten for me, one of those closers that’s so good it puts a whole different cast on what came before it

https://i.imgur.com/1YWgdVx.jpg
23. Lazy Flies
From: Mutations
Released: November 3, 1998
262 Points, 8 Votes

I didn't vote for it but hell yeah

i think the voting thread really propelled this song to this placement. no number ones but still enough to get past a few number one votes.

and these pictures have been genius

my #4! it's so good. one of his best melodies

Karaoke weekend at the suicide shack
Community service and I'm still the mack

― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, June 6, 2019 1:29 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

probably my favorite couplet of his in this style

btw I rechecked my ballot and I did vote for The Golden Age after all, right down at the bottom. sorry everyone :D

Lazy flies was my mutations vote, serious Syd Barrett energy

Always liked Waronker’s drums in this one, great feel.

Gotta be some of his weirdest lyrics and that’s saying something, for him. All those mangroves and magistrates and disreputable trawlers and none of it makes a shred of sense and I love it.

proper psychedelia, proper lyrics

def one of my favorite Mutations tracks and yeah it's weird one

'Lazy Flies' definitely a highlight of Mutations for me, such a nicely offbeat pop song. Have been trying to remember what the chord progression reminds me of and it's 'Amazing Journey' by the Who.

https://i.imgur.com/hBIujm3.jpg
22. Rowboat
From: Stereopathetic Soulmanure
Released: 22 February 1994
272 Points, 8 Votes, 1 Number One

nice surprise!

now this I voted for! love the pedal steel guitar

Aww a number one vote! That's great, lovely song.

My number one vote, glad it placed. Some of my ballot-ordering was strategic, but not this, my #1 fave Beck song. It's one of those songs that feels like he's covering a timeless old country classic, it's weird to think that he just wrote it.

Also the craziest story - supposedly he just wrote it superfast on his way to the studio, to give the pedal steel player something to play at the session.

Pallette cleanser cover for Tom Petty's asshole: https://youtu.be/yY6pMTPkUL8

Johnny Cash talks about Beck: https://youtu.be/Nf5mJTuR04c

Johnny Cash "I especally liked "Rowboat" it sounded like something I might have written or done in the 60s."

Pretty amazing he was covered by a Highwayman AND a Willoughby.

last one for the day, thanks everyone for hanging out today. hope it was fun?

https://i.imgur.com/iL8M5Od.jpg
21. Mixed Bizness
From: Midnite Vultures
Released: 7 March 2000 (US), 27 March 2000 (UK)
One vote for the Cornelius remix
276 Points, 10 Votes

what a way to end the day, this was right around the same spot for me.

These days his falsetto irks the fuck outta me

never heard the Cornelius remix before...

oh wait i have, own the US CD single. lol

oh right I did vote for 3 MV songs! (I voted for the remix)

Do you want to ride on the Baltic Sea
I'll be your mistress C.O.D.
I'll comb your hair
Re-write your diary
Pour champagne on a honey bee

The Baltic Sea line is maybe my fave from MV, it pops into my head a lot. With “Lazy Flies” I was just thinking about that line “the skin of a robot vibrates with pleasure” ... like how is that NOT a midnite vultures line?

Fun rollout today Bee, thanks!

Who are you
I'm the enchanting wizard of rhythm
Why did you come here?
I came here to tell you about the rhythms of the universe

You know this is a sample right

yeah but I don't think the gorgeous hypno-vibe music under it is from the same sample, right?

I mean yes there are critiques that can be made about Odelay's sampledelic approach, but in that particular case it works for me

Yr right those are different samples. The vocal sample is from Mandrill

Props to Bee dog

xp whoa I would not have guessed that, thought it came from a kid's record or TV show. do you know what the instrumental bed is?

xp "Asshole" is my #1 Beck song. Voted it #1 and no I'm not "taking the piss" lmao

Up On the Hill by Monk Higgins is most of it

Xp

The synths n sitar stuff is probably overdubbed by Beck and co., dont think those are a sample. None of this is meant as a criticism of the song on my part btw

I've seen the Beck Futurama episode so many times, it's taken over all previous associations I had with this song.

That was a washboard break!

Recap:
Recap
Recap:
21. Mixed Bizness 276 10
22. Rowboat 272 8 1
23. Lazy Flies 262 8
24. Ramshackle 260 8 1
25. Asshole 257 9 1
26. Hotwax 255 9
27. Guess I’m Doing Fine 248 9
28. Fuckin With My Head (Mountain Dew Rock) 230 8
29. Milk & Honey 221 8
30. The Golden Age 218 8
31. Lonesome Tears 215 8
32. We Live Again 214 7
33. Tropicalia 213 9
34. Lost Cause 205 6
35. Sweet Sunshine 202 6 1
36. Paper Tiger 198 6
37. I Won’t Be Long 192 7
38. Truckdrivin' Neighbors Downstairs (Yellow Sweat) 191 7
39. Get Real Paid 189 6
40. Soul Suckin Jerk 182 6
41. Mutherfucker 181 5
42. Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1997 180 6
43. Blackhole 179 5
44. Sing It Again 163 5
45. Sunday Sun 162 6
46. High 5 (Rock the Catskills) 161 6
47. Little One 146 5
48. Chemtrails 140 6
49. Thunder Peel 136 5
50. Peaches & Cream 133 5

sorry for the triple post, that's weird.

didn't mention this before but for a while Mountain Dew Rock was my most-obsessed-over song on MG, a perfect angry breakup jam, it was in my top ten

i still don't quite get all the Sea Change complaining, i largely agree that the album's too much of a dirge as a whole and his lyrics were much more interesting when they weren't so sincere, but most of the tracks on their own are good to great - well arranged, pretty melodies etc. it doesn't even seem like anything from it is going to make the top 20!

but then again i still don't quite get Mellow Gold either, i can respect the idea of "Sweet Sunshine" but it's not something i'm ever going to want to listen to unfortunately

Melodies?! If I want pretty melodies, I'll listen to Britney. Beats, baby!

Rowboat
Fuckin With My Head
Sweet Sunshine
Motherfucker
Thunder Peel

Most happy to see these so far. I had no idea what to expect.

Doesn’t look like my #1, a deep cut from Guero (which has otherwise never been a favorite record), has a chance of making it, unfortunately.

i still don't quite get all the Sea Change complaining, i largely agree that the album's too much of a dirge as a whole and his lyrics were much more interesting when they weren't so sincere, but most of the tracks on their own are good to great - well arranged, pretty melodies etc.

You're not wrong ufo - most of the songs are pretty good on their own, and nothing on it is really embarrassing or terrible. I think if he had released a highly regarded album of loud weird funky party jams the year after it people would probably have a bit higher esteem for Sea Change now, and look at it as a tasteful addition to his discography rather than an inflection point where he Got Serious.

This poll has inspired me to give a close listen to a lot of sea change tracks for the first time in a long long time, and made me realize that for me, a lot of the issue isn't necessarily the material, but the production, which sounds extremely dated to the early 2000s in ways that dont hold up for me. Listening to Lost Cause when it came up in the poll, I was simultaneously thinking that the song was better than I remembered, and also couldnt believe how distracting all the constant whooshing noises and bleeps and blorps and snippets of distorted vocals and backwards moans were, filling up every inch of the mix and every moment when Beck's not singing. For my ears, they just went way overboard with that stuff in a way that really pegs it to that time period of people going bananas with ProTools. Thats why the live versions of a lot of those songs sound a lot better to me. And I get that they were going for that, but I just think the shelf life of that sound has ended up being pretty short for me.

thewufs I placed a Guero deep cut very high on my ballot, curious to see if we picked the same one

I hope so!

my own #1 is technically a deep cut but it's definitely placing

one eye open otm about sea change's production

I really liked the production at the time! And I'm still a proponent of maximalism obviously - but yeah, much of the album comes off a tiny bit stodgy these days

again it'd be great in isolated moments but it's one huge yawn over 52 minutes

i love "lonesome tears" though and i'm glad it placed, i could not fit it into my ballot at all but i'd say it was the beck song that was stuck in my head the most during this process

first, thanks to those who have been keeping Spotify up to date!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ji3OOkQQzplwXxyZZFt49?si=kFH3qAtASoC3CwXdQRUZaA

Top 20

https://i.imgur.com/QgWn6Tf.jpg
20. Sissyneck
From: Odelay
Single Released: June 17, 1997
287 Points, 9 Votes, 1 Number One

Before performing the song in concert in 1997, Beck said, "This is a song about not being afraid to be whack."

He also said of the song, "It's the morning after a full night of line dancing and cocaine. It's the achey-breaky heart after the triple bypass. It's a get-together at the recreation center Ping-Pong tournament."

"Cause everybody knows my name
At the recreation center"

heyyy my number one. it snuck up on me during the voting process. the sly stone sample is so joyful. beck has a kinder interpretation of the song than i had when i was listening. i thought it was about a total toolbag who thinks he's hot shit

https://i.imgur.com/1SaDEQ4.jpg
19. Hollow Log
From: One Foot in the Grave
Released: June 27, 1994
293 Points, 10 Votes

my #2, perfect in every way

thats funny voodoo -- i guess youre right, but still feel like its kind of a warm portrayal. Like the singer is a blowhard bending your ear at the bar who everyone rolls their eyes at, but he's funny and him and his dumb friends have a good time at the rec center, no harm no foul

glad to see hollow log made the top 20, totally haunting

also, this one of my fav beck lyrics:
If I could only find a nickel I would pay myself off tonight
Cause nobody knows when he good times have passed out cold

one eye open, i guess that's true--the sly stone sample makes it seem like he's a bit of a clown, but a fun one. amazing song, either way.

hollow log was my #5

https://i.imgur.com/zItRSdr.jpg
18. Girl
From: Guero
Single Released: 4 July 2005 (UK)
340 Points, 11 Votes

a jump in points.

one of the best Guero tracks for sure

i had to make room on my ballot for "Girl," i just had to.

The music video for "Girl" was directed by Motion Theory.

In the video, Beck gets a limousine advertisement entitled "Lester's Big Ass Limousines...Moving Party For Hire" which folds to become "Less Is More". Later on, Beck is in a pharmacy, buying an over-the-counter drug. When he is looking at it, the walls and floor fold, making a skull with red eyes on the shelves and a sign above that saying "Side Effects: Death". The next fold is at what seems to be a garage sale. There is a painting of the Virgin Mary on the wall, which then folds. In the foreground, two toy cars have been folded together. Beck is seen later on in the video driving the car that looks like the car that this fold makes. The next fold takes place on a sidewalk, where a little girl is doing a chalk drawing. She sets down the chalk and walks away, the side walk folds and it takes the form of human outline, with police and the yellow tape around it. The fold after this one is a homeless person begging on the corner when Beck is driving by. The man holds a sign in his hand which says "Loose Change OK Allan's Anyway". The man proceeds to fold the sign, which now reads "Look Away". Later in the video, a sign is folded together to form the words "Where It's At" with 2 records and a microphone, which is in reference to the Beck song of the same name.

The 1972 El Camino Beck is driving in the video has the license plate "3CK 61RL".

MAD references in the video
When Beck is looking at the TV, when the screen's image folds in it says "Al Jaffee", and at the very end where he sits on the bench, the fold-in reveals an Alfred E. Neuman smile. The very use of fold-in scenes is itself a tribute to MAD, which features a fold-in on the back inside cover of every issue.

listening now to remind myself - it's an effective pop song

HEYYYYY MASONNA GIRL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylDuOmEoZx0

A word about the chorus is necessary. Initially, we had a report of a song called "Summer Girl." Then when the unmastered version of Guero leaked, we matched it to this song, naturally. Only thing was, Beck doesn't really sound like he's singing "summer girl." So, confusion.

Then when Guero was officially announced, the title was changed "Girl." Clearly, that's an inferior title to "Summer Girl," so fans were baffled. Or at least I was. Anyway, we still weren't sure what the chorus was! Beck.com confirms that the early name of the song was indeed "Summer Girl," but it's fairly clear now that is not the chorus.

Beck led us on, as in the liner notes of the album, the chorus is printed as "My...girl." Like that, ellipses and everything. Thanks Beck.

So now we're stuck with lots of theories until someone can straight-up ask Beck, and gets a real answer in return. I'm kind of feeling that it's "cyanide girl" from listening to a bootleg or two; it fits the lyrics, imo. Since this is my site, that's what I'm putting in the lyrics above. Others hear "sun-eyed," or "sinner," or even "cyan eyed." Also one theory is that it's "Masonna girl." Some probably still hear "summer."

UPDATE: Beck was finally asked by a journalist about the lyrics. He's not talking. Neither is his keyboardist, Brian LeBarton, by the way. This is what was written:

Equally unclear is the chorus to Beck's current single, "Girl," a lovely summertime jam which appears to be about killing a girl. In the Guero liner notes, the lyric is written as "Hey, my ... Girl," and Beck isn't about to fill in that ellipsis. In fact, in traditional Beck style, he's claiming that the whole thing is the result of a stream-of-consciousness, off-the-cuff ad lib. Which he decided to leave in, since it fit with the song's overall vibe.

"In the studio I was just vocalizing, 'cause I have the melody but hadn't written the lyrics. Sometimes when I have the microphone I just make up words and I try to go with what sounds good. So that was just me improvising, and we ended up leaving it like that. So what you hear is basically the first time I recorded it," Beck said. "It's kind of a love song, mixed in with some grit and some mystery. Using different words and images to describe the feeling. It's a raggedy love song."

"my sonar girl" - the song is sung from the perspective of a blind man who uses his partner's high-pitched clicks and squeaks to echolocate his way around

https://i.imgur.com/Nz5k3EW.jpg
17. Steal My Body Home
From: Mellow Gold
Released: March 1, 1994
341 Points, 10 Votes, 1 Number One

There it is, my #1. Goes from awesome terrifying freaked-out horror-psych Americana to...junkyard carnival party grinning insanity, seamlessly, and it's like that bone becoming a spaceship, it's perfect. Sweet dreams!

great choice for a number one, seems like a imago pick. :-)

it has all the qualities of great literature in the music, let alone the words! it finds some fundamental quality of human darkness! well done Beck!

from YouTube:

I'm surprised the story has been lost that this is a reworking of "In the pines" by Leadbelly, from the point of view of the headless body.

He mentions losing his head under the train wheels, he mentions the pines, and the song finishes with him playing the chords to the original song.

Almost my number one. I love when he busts out the sitar. Good description imago. It almost feels like some kind of thesis statement for the whole album - rustic mardi gras emerging from futuristic bleakness

whoa @ that youtube comment o_0

Do not understand the love for all these Sea Change and Mellow Gold tracks

YEAH THAT'S MY SHIT

The change-up on this song is amazing

I'll never understand how any Beck fan doesn't "get" Mellow Gold.

https://i.imgur.com/7EAY0c1.jpg
16. Deadweight
From: A Life Less Ordinary Soundtrack
Released: October 27, 1997 (UK)
358 Points, 12 Votes

i forgot all about this song despite having the CD single.

yay I voted for this, a great one-off single

love the lounge vibe

and the organ parts

From Whiskeyclone:

Beck has mentioned that this song was a part of his "Brazilian trilogy" (along with "Tropicalia" and I guess later on "Missing"). Unlike "Tropicalia," which is a bossa nova song, "Deadweight" uses its Brazilian influence more as part of a larger funky brew. Beck is almost a one-man band here, playing bass, keyboards, drum machine, and all the guitars; though the scratching is uncredited, it was most likely one of the Dust Brothers. Nonetheless, it's a stunning recording, and rates high among Beck's best songs. As Beck said in USA Today (July 11 1996), "I'm trying to get to a place where this merging of styles is so fluent and natural that you don't notice the different snippets, a musical consciousness where there's no preconceived ideas." With "Deadweight," I think he got there.

TOO LOW!

Somehow I still have this soundtrack. At the time "Deadweight" probably helped my young brain make the transition from Odelay to Mutations.

I like Mellow Gold fine but it is what it is, a relatively half-assed debut album powered by a justifiably huge hit single, a couple other decent songs, and a bunch of hastily slapped together filler

so wrong

I don't think that's even accurate? Beck had like multiple albums worth of material at that point

yeah the "filler" is on Stereopathetic, where it actually works

but hey I don't like Mutations or Sea Change, people clearly see very different things in this guy's work

mellow gold is a coherent and inspired artistic statement

He had several albums worth of material cuz he was going for quantity over quality and had a very low bar for what he considered worthy of release ie noize jams w no ideas, endless lyrics that were just lists of food products etc

noize jams w no ideas, endless lyrics that were just lists of food products etc

you say those like they're bad things

also Spanking Room and Steve Threw Up weren't LP tracks

Everything he does is TO TRY TO FUCK YOU UP!!!

'94 BECK is just not for all tastes. No big wup.

Steve Threw Up was very high on my ballot btw

https://i.imgur.com/W1LxWNV.jpg
15. Cold Brains
From: Mutations
Single Released: 1 March 1999 (UK)
361 Points, 12 Votes

So I def think there’s great tracks from that period, just that there’s a lot of crap too

Xp

Initially, "Cold Brains" was meant for the sequel album to One Foot in the Grave, but when that never happened, Beck rescued it for Mutations. It's always been a relatively simple and pretty folk song, but for the album, it was decorated into one of the finest recordings he's made. Beck himself played all the guitars, harmonica, a little piano, and even some glockenspiel.

Uncharacteristically, the lyrics remained pretty much unchanged from the first known version in June 1996, through until the recorded version in March 1998. The prevailing image in "Cold Brains" is death. A more specific interpretation would be the death of inspiration, writer's block. To a prolific songwriter like Beck, what could be worse?

The first verse begins with an evocative, rhythmic description of his current state of mind: "unmoved, untouched, unglued." He is struggling with creating, his brains are cold, he has "no thoughts, no mind." The next verse goes further in describing his unsuccessful attempts at finding inspiration. Here, he describes inspiration as a "field of green," he longs for it. Unfortunately, he is on the gravel. Even with a "worm of hope," he still fails ("a hangman's rope pulls me one way or the other").

The last verse is the most depressing. All the unsuccessful attempts have ended up quieting the "bird of song," and is most likely a self-reference to the singer himself. Most shocking is the conclusion that "it doesn't matter": to the writer? to fans who will just move on? This is quite the existential question for a creative writer.

When Beck was asked about the bleakness of "Cold Brains" (and most of Mutations), he said he actually found the lyrics to be funny.
I don't know. I think of it as mostly playful, but then I think Leonard Cohen is a humorous song writer. In "Cold Brains" when I say, "The fields of green are obscene and I lay upon the gravel," (sic) there's just this demented auto-erotica that I think is hilarious. It's not meant to necessary bring anybody down or bum anybody out.
And in that sense, he's right. While "Cold Brains" is not a light-hearted song (the images throughout are quite bleak), it is not a bummer or overly depressing about the situation. (Maybe a little.)

Beck explains it this way, "I think there's a certain world-weariness to the record, but I just think of it as being part of the condition of our whole way of living. I don't know anybody who doesn't reach a point of exhaustion on a regular basis. We don't know how to live anymore." On "Cold Brains," he explores what it's like to reach that point.

And my #3! This one's simply a banger. Amazing tune, lovely production. When I was 16 this was my favourite song of all time :)

Steve Threw Up was very high on my ballot btw

haha awesome, I don't think it made mine but I do love it. I see yr point I just think MG is way more consistent than you're giving it credit for.

Haha yeah I actually like Steve Threw Up a lot too. It's true he did record joke songs, novelty songs, tossed off goofs and etc, but he also clearly knew the difference - its not an accident that Steve Threw Up isn't on Mellow Gold

Cold Brains is such a jam - one of those ballads thats secretly a stadium anthem

amazing how a piece of shit like A Life Less Ordinary had a soundtrack with all-time greats for at least two acts (see also: Ash)

I really liked that Ash song too

"Girl" was the last time Inheard him on the radio iirc

Looks like Intergalactic Sonic 7"s has never been polled? I'd lose sleep over that.

sorry for the delay...

https://i.imgur.com/WM8hZeU.jpg
14. Diamond Bollocks
From: Mutations (Hidden Track)
Released: November 3, 1998
375 Points, 11 Votes, 1 Number One

YES!

best hidden track of all time

(my #1)

Top ten for me, wild that this was a bonus cut

loved that it got a number one vote and loved that it got this high on the countdown. of course it also made my ballot, right at 10.

Looks like Intergalactic Sonic 7"s has never been polled? I'd lose sleep over that.

this is a good idea, esp with summer starting up

While keeping an eye on this thread I just set up some nice new speakers and have been testing them out by cranking Mutations start to finish really loud with the speakers on opposite sides of the room and we're gonna have to re-do this poll bc I want to change my ballot, sorry all

lol

i have found a treasure trove of information on Beck.

Beck explained this amazing recording's inspiration when he was on KCRW in 1998:

["Diamond Bollocks"] happened because we'd been in [the studio] about 10 days, I think, doing all these waltzes and dirges and all these 3/4 songs. And I came into the lounge and everybody was watching these acid rock videos, Justin and Roger and everybody were. I think we all just needed to rock out for a minute because we'd been, like I said, in the slow lane for awhile. And the studio is fairly sedentary and we needed to get our cockles warm, just kinda kick it into gear a little bit.

Later Beck described the process with a little more detail. "We literally, in one night, recorded eight songs, then took the 24-track tapes and cut them all up on a tape and created this crazy song. It was more about the process than the actual song, but I ended up liking the song too," he explained.

And what a fantastic recording it is! The band wanted a change of pace, and they sure got it. Opening with a little carnival beat, which in a way predicts the whirlwind pace and structure about to follow, the song blasts off. The gallimaufrey goes something like this:

carnival-esque harpsichord intro (with panting) to choral bridge [:00-:27]

the big rock guitar riff, borrowed from "Megaboob," and first verse (with

lyrics from "Erase the Sun") [:27-1:22]

band jam, with Joey Waronker's phenomenal drumming [1:22-1:52]

birds tweeting [1:52-1:57]

Justin's bass solo mixed with Roger's harpsichord [1:57-2:23]

Beck's middle "Lonesome Whistle" section [2:23-2:53]

a noisy bridge [2:53-3:07]

the "Megaboob" rock section, and end verse [3:07-4:12]

a calm harpsichord chorus ("Looking back at some dead world...") [4:12-4:54]

one last rock blast, with more mad drumming from Joey [4:54-5:36]

a synthesizer coda [5:36-6:01]

So if this was literally 8 songs combined (that seems slightly high hyperbole to me), I guess they could include "Dead World," "Megaboob," "Erase The Sun," and "scented eunuchs" sections.

Lyrically, the song is a dazzling mix of creative phrases, probably just spun together randomly. In 1995, Beck recorded a b-side called "Erase the Sun" which included a number of these lines and phrases, such as "choice cut meets from derelict boulevards," "dazzlements of accidents," "hari-karis," "spinning round the golden looms," and "offices and fountains they named for you."

The initial idea was to put the song as track two on Mutations, but Beck changed his mind and moved it (on American versions of the album) to be a hidden track at the end of the album. He explains, "It's part of the record, but it's like the wayward son at the Thanksgiving dinner who just doesn't really fit in with the family anymore, is the black sheep. So you put him at the end of the table..."

Over the years, Beck has on occasion returned to "Diamond Bollocks" on stage a few times. It's never been played a lot, but a few times in 2006, once more in 2012. Beck drops a lot of his old songs completely, but "Diamond Bollocks" seems to be a song and recording of which he is proud, an ambitious, over-the-top, and fun track.

My #6! When I discovered it I lost my fucking mind. Progge on high!

https://i.imgur.com/mwTEKqU.jpg
13. Lord Only Knows
From: Odelay
Released: June 18, 1996
387 Points, 11 Votes

^^^^ fun jam to sing in the car imo

Another one I gave a whole bag of points to. Best opening line in music

highlight of odelay for me, only 1 song from that album placed higher on my ballot

same. wonder if it's the same song (yet to place, will place)

fantastic melody

I shoulda voted for Lord Only Knows, it kinda slipped by me but it really is great and very catchy

"Going back to Houston
To the hot dog dance
Going back to Houston
To get me some pants"

sorry for the delay, again.

"Going back to Houston
To the hot dog dance
Going back to Houston
To get me some pants"

― a large tuna called “Justice” (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, June 7, 2019

that fuzz guitar is something

https://i.imgur.com/rjN4Rv4.jpg
12. Nicotine & Gravy
From: Midnite Vultures
Single Released: July 2000 (EU)
388 Points, 12 Votes, 1 Number One

my number 11, so catchy

too low!

nicely daft song that i voted for

incredible song

xp "Lord Only Knows" was my favorite at the time (or at least the one whose lyrics I was most determined to fully transcribe, after "Loser"), but I went with the melodically sorta similar "Sleeping Bag" for my ballot.

https://i.imgur.com/GaLYcKN.jpg
11. Sexx Laws
From: Midnite Vultures
Single Released: 25 October 1999
397 Points, 10 Votes

got ahead of "Nicotine & Gravy" even tho it got two less votes and no number ones.

Beck said of the song's lyrics:

Its me playing with the ridiculousness of those entrenched ideas about what a man does and what a woman can do. A lot of soul music comes from a real masculine strength, but there's also this intense vulnerability about it. You have the masculine tough-guy exterior and the emotional openness, which is feminine, as well. I wanted to have fun with that, turn up that contrast a little bit without getting bogged down into preciousness and psychobabble.

Of the song's music, he said:

I think my main interest in using the horns was for uperformance - so much music today is so guitar heavy. I sought other places to get muscle into the music. Many bands rely heavily on guitar to pump up the sound, but I thought it would be interesting to make the horns into the guitars. I think it was the L.A. Rams. I used to watch them when I was growing up, and it just reminded me of Monday Night Football in 1978.

i also voted for this, was heavy on side one from MV.

pre-emptively annoyed at how high debra is going to place

I'm holding out hope that my #1 could still pop up

This has been a fun rollout though!

thanks!

Top 10

https://i.imgur.com/FeDzUj2.jpg
10. Nobody's Fault but My Own
From: Mutations
Single Released: April 21, 1999
452 Points, 14 Votes

surprised this one made it so high, i do like it but didn't make my ballot.

14 Votes is a high, so far, too.

This indie club we frequented in the early '00s played "Sexxlaws" on the dance floor all the time. We can dance cuz were Latino.

"Nobody's Fault" is so lumbering and dour that it lives and dies by the arrangement, and it's got an excellent one.

I wish Chris Cornell had covered it.

https://i.imgur.com/HJisKRE.jpg
9. Devils Haircut
From: Odelay
Single Released: December 11, 1996
480 Points, 15 Votes

Devils Haircut" shows off the Dust Brothers' production techniques at their finest. The song is a mixture of samples, but to their great credit, the song still sounds very much like a band performance.

A quick breakdown of the samples turns up three main ones (there's probably some minor ones!). First is the four-note guitar riff which leads the song. Like some of "Jack-ass," this comes from Van Morrison's great '60s group, Them. They did a lot of covers, and one was a groovy song called "I Can Only Give You Everything." Beck and the Dusties did not literally sample this song, however, but just replayed the riff, giving it more muscle and a fuller sound. Yet another Them cover, this one of James Brown's funky classic "Out of Sight," was also used. From this, they get the drumbeat heard during the verses of "Devils Haircut." During the choruses (and "good drum breaks") though, the drums are courtesy of another song, Pretty Purdie's "Soul Drums." Purdie is a jazz drummer, who calls himself the "most sampled drummer ever."

On top of all this, Beck sings some unique and bizarre lyrics. A bevy of grotesque, Beat-poetic images like "discount orgies," "bleeding noses," "garbage man trees," and "stealing kisses from the leperous faces" are relatively off-putting. Beck uses them to evoke a feeling, a sense of disorientation, "a devils haircut in my mind," the blues.

And it is in true blues fashion that the song is open to so many interpretations. How do you define "the blues"? Its definition seems to vary for listeners and artists. Beck noticed this "vague" quality himself. When asked, he's offered up numerous possible interpretations (from the silly, to the obscure, to the possible). Beck even made fun of it during his appearance on the TV show "Futurama": "What was that song about?"

"Devils Haircut" does contain a number of references to travel or touring, and it has been reported that the song was written just after Beck finished the difficult Lollapalooza tour, which had given him a few months break during the recording Odelay.

One intriguing comment from Beck was that the song was a rewriting of the famous "Stagolee" blues myth:

I don't know if I ever HAD any youthful purity, but I can understand that you might be tempted to make commercial shit and compromise to do it. I try not to compromise on anything. I think we associate becoming an adult with compromise. Maybe that's what the devil is. In 'Devils Haircut' that was the scenario. I imagined Stagger Lee . . . I thought, what if this guy showed up now in 1996. The song had this Sixties grooviness, and I thought of using him as a Rumplestiltskin figure, this Lazarus figure to comment on where we've ended up as people. What would he make of materialism and greed and ideals of beauty and perfection? His reaction would be, 'Whoa, this is disturbing shit.'

He explained the song further as being "a really simplistic metaphor for the evil of vanity."

But of course, in the same interview, he said the song wasn't planned out at all: "I thought 'Devils Haircut' was a really bad lyric. If I can't finish a song, I'll just put in something temporary. That's what 'Loser' was. Then the temporary one always becomes the best one, because it wasn't all thought out."

"Nobody's Fault" is so lumbering and dour that it lives and dies by the arrangement, and it's got an excellent one.

https://i.imgur.com/xTzJ7s1.jpg
8. The New Pollution
From: Odelay
Single Released: February 28, 1997
485 Points, 15 Votes, 1 Number One

"The New Pollution" is one of Beck's hit singles from his 1996 album, Odelay.

Beck was once asked what the new pollution was. His reply, "Human radios, sex with machines, mad eunuchs." Cryptic, but it makes a little sense. He is observing that in modern times, technology and information can drive you mad. It's everywhere, bombarding your senses.

The woman he is singing about in the song, then, is admirably unaffected by the new pollution, and somehow remains pure. Beck himself called it a "love song," and surely there's some admiration, if not actual love throughout the lyrics. It is a great way to frame his point about modern information.

In Rolling Stone in 2008, it was written that Beck was "trying to evoke the Sixties glamour of femme fatales from Nico to Brigitte Bardot" in the line about having a cigarette on each arm. The ability to "throw her troubles to the dyin' embers" is admirable. The image of her being a boat alone in a "stripmine ocean" is wonderful. There's something very comforting in that, if at the same time, slightly dangerous. This is a slanted, but effective, portrait of a femme fatale.

"The New Pollution" is an amazing song, and Beck seems quite proud of it: "...a song like 'The New Pollution,' I mean, pollution, it's a presence in our lives. And isn't it interesting to use a word like that-something with such horrible connotations-in the context of a love song? That's where you create friction. That's where you can start to get someplace where you aren't dealing in the banalities of everyday, pedestrian rock lyrics. Not that I mean to be snobby about it, I can appreciate the good ol' song, and I still like to write that way sometimes." It's interesting to note that Beck uses this type of contrast often, including songs like "Asshole" or "Sweet Sunshine."

Integral to the song's core is the sublime sax sample. It makes the song what it is. More generally, Beck calls the song "inverted funk." He explains, "Some of the other songs are a little bit too loose. We had to pull in the reins, make it a little more tight, bring in the Mormon feel. Mormons are funky."

"Diamond Bollocks" as track 2 might have stuck Mutations with comparisons to OK Computer simply based on its sequencing. I wrongly assumed it was a leftover from Odelay.

Well I know "Fume" and "Forcefield" and "Totally Confused" and about 9 other picks of mine are not making it LOL.

I think it's time for a complete BECK go around for me. Just like I found out with Prince, I think I'm missing out on some jems.

Hey! My #1!

I like Mellow Gold fine but it is what it is, a relatively half-assed debut album powered by a justifiably huge hit single, a couple other decent songs, and a bunch of hastily slapped together filler

You might not like Beck.

Hearing the Jack Ass arpeggios in Them’s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” Dover was a real mindfuck for me

is there a comprehensive list of Odelay samples anywhere?

XP to that Devil’s Haircut blurb

i didn't vote for these last two hit songs, i have just heard them enough as great at they are. i just preferred to use more deep cuts when it came to my votes off this album.

NFBMO was down in the lower reaches of my ballot. it's totally not my sort of thing...except somehow it is. way weirder and more luminous than first meets the eye

/ear

https://i.imgur.com/X10zjn3.jpg
7. Debra
From: Midnite Vultures
Released: November 23, 1999
519 Points, 16 Votes, 2 Number Ones

for all the haters, this video is so great and had to repost:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwXeCuhEch8

Simon H at least it's not #1!

shit, my #5 is either not here at all or it's gone the fuck off

debra is good, memorable, a bit embarrassing etc, didn't vote for it but i respect it

Step inside my Hyundai

good placement imo, not too low & not too high

saw him do this live in '96 and lived on my memories until Midnite Vultures came out, one of the longest times I've ever waited to hear a studio version of a tune I first heard live (see also Pink Martini, who waited for years and years before releasing 'Hey Eugene").

also I fucking love it so so much, the whole "I think" thing totally makes the song (i.e. "I think your nametag said Jenny")

plus "lady, step inside my Hyundai" xp!

very much enjoying the song notes today, Bee

which features a fold-in on the back inside cover of every issue.

pfft at this bullshit though. since 1964 there have been SEVEN issues which did not feature a fold-in!

(one got pulled for school-shooting-related reasons in 2013, but finally run this year: this was the first time since 1997 that the now-98-year-old Al Jaffee had not written and painted a new fold-in.)

Debra is awesome—Clearly inspired by Prince’s Adore, and it gets much closer to the original than it seems like it should

Wasn't the "That was a good drum break" bit borrowed from The Frogs' "I Don't Care If U Disrespect Me (Just So You Love Me)"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lysotgmS9FY

where's it at

i was one of the number one votes for "Debra." seeing it live is what put it over the top for me as well.

Beck had originally attempted to record "Debra" with the Dust Brothers for Odelay, but was either not happy with the recording, or felt it didn't fit on the album, or both. ("I thought it was too jokey," Beck once admitted.) But the song was a natural for the stage: "What happened is we started playing it live and it became the centerpiece of the whole set. It was the song that people would react to more than the songs that they'd heard on the radio. So we kept playing it and playing it." It took on a life of its own, and the energy that was breathed into the song was clearly noted. "I think its life began as being tongue-in-cheek and silly, but somewhere along the way, like the way we performed it every night, it acquired some other dimensions," Beck explained.

When Beck put together the Deluxe version of Odelay in 2006, he mentioned including the original recording of "Debra" as a bonus treat. However, it did not end up there: whether he could not find it or what happened to it, I do not know. Hopefully, he still has it and it can be released sometime.

Anyway, after playing the song live for a few years, Beck went and recorded the song again for Midnite Vultures. In fact, I would not be surprised if the live success of "Debra" drove the direction of Vultures: both the song and album are melanges of soul, funk, humor.

Still, in many ways, the album version does not compare to the excitement of live versions, which could and would go off on tangents on Beck and the band's whims. Nonetheless, "Debra" still shows off many dimensions, including Beck's "seventeen-octave vocal range," his humor, his natural ability with melody, his ease at absorbing influence. The song, as often thought, isn't a mockery either, but a tongue-in-cheek ode to the R&B phenomenon. Maybe it was borne as a bit of a joke, but it ended up more a tribute. As Beck explained, "It's fascinating to me, these guys singing R&B with a very sweet, smooth groove, but they're singing about how they want to get some girl's panties off and do them real good. Very explicit, but very sensitive at the same time. It's a really weird juxtaposition." Musical juxtaposition is basically Beck's main goal (especially on Midnite Vultures), so the song fits perfectly.

"Debra" has grown a lot over the years. One constant (besides the lyrics) is the skanky bass riff, which was lifted from a Ramsey Lewis track called "My Love For You" on his album Funky Serenity. On record, Justin Meldal-Johnsen plays the lick on his upright. I have a feeling that David Bowie's own Vultures-soul record, Young Americans, was a big influence on the sound here, especially the song "Win." Beck has mentioned numerous times R. Kelly's song, "I Like The Crotch On You" being an inspiration, and lo and behold, one of the first lines of that song is "I wanna get with you." Not there originally, the "Lovely lady / Girl you drive me crazy" coda developed on stage, and was lifted in from Kool Keith's "Lovely Lady." Beck of course uses all of these as launching points for his own tale of seduction, and over time, it surely has become one of the classics of Beck's career.

holy heck, "Orphans" hasn't surfaced yet?

is there a comprehensive list of Odelay samples anywhere?

https://www.whosampled.com/album/Beck/Odelay/

Yeah I'm happy to see Debra place where it did. I feel like it nails the sweet spot of what Midnite Vultures was going for, it's funny without being a parody, but also just a really joyful celebration of what's fun about a certain kind of song. I get why some people think why Midnite Vultures might veer too close to mockery or w/e, but imo its impossible to listen to Debra and not think that it was made by musicians who really love that sound

xp thanks!

obligatory:

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

Didnt know about the version from the Odelay sessions mentioned in that blurb! I'd be curious to hear it, but I can also imagine it being a little too much on the jokey side at that point. It's hard to imagine a better version than the Vultures recording

nicely said One Eye Open.

xxxpost

https://i.imgur.com/tzUvJ0u.jpg
6. Pay No Mind (Snoozer)
From: Mellow Gold
Single Released: April 1994
521 Points, 16 Votes, 1 Number One

Debra is awesome—Clearly inspired by Prince’s Adore, and it gets much closer to the original than it seems like it should

Great song, weirdly haunting, had to vote

I hate Debra.

I love "Win."

this was number 12 for me, so this placement makes sense.

And the drugs won't kill your day joooooob

Said to be one of the oldest songs on Mellow Gold, Beck has claimed that he wrote it as a struggling musician, at the age of 18 or 19. Beck claimed that the song originally had ten verses, which were cut down for commercial release. On a limited number of Mellow Gold 12" vinyl albums, one can hear a version with an added stanza, which is inserted between the first and second verses of the standard Mellow Gold version.[1] It should also be noted "Got No Mind," a re-recorded, electric full-band arrangement of "Pay No Mind,", features three of the seven verses of "Pay No Mind" that were cut on Mellow Gold and is included on the single for "Beercan."

https://i.imgur.com/qskm80o.jpg
5. Novacane
From: From: Odelay
Released: June 18, 1996
563 Points, 17 Votes

Haha yesssss!! My #5 and the poll's too. What a goddamned trip

WELL HANDLED

Forgot to vote for "Modesto"

fuck yeah

"Novacane" is a blast of energy in the middle of Odelay; ironic because novacane is a numbing drug, the opposite effect of a blast of energy. Beck uses a punk rock riff to explore the thrill of touring, while his lyrics convey the opposite side�that constant touring can also be numbing. And to top it off, Beck explained, "We needed to subvert the aggro posturing, so we put in disco horns."

The initial title of the song was "Novacane Express," which clarifies the subject of the song even more, if the constant highway/truck/travel images weren't clue enough.

The attitude is of the song is clear. "On that tune I was down with Ice Station Zebra and Convoy," explains Beck, "kicking ass Antarctica-style." (Ice Station Zebra being a war film, and Convoy a movie about truckers.) Before playing the song in 1995, Beck said "This is called 'Novacane Express,' it's about the last convoy!"

More recently, in 2008, Beck reminisced again about this Convoy film: "Spike (Jonze) and I talked about doing a video together for ten years before we actually ever did one. One of our first conversations was about the movie Convoy � he was obsessed with it. He wanted to do a video where I was in a convoy, so I wrote all this truckers-going-into-oblivion imagery."

An interesting note on the recording is that his vocals were apparently done via walkie-talkie, for that full on CB radio effect.

MISSION INCREDIBLE UNDERCOVER CONVOY
Full-TILT CHROMOSOME COWBOY
X-RAY SEARCH AND DESTROY
SMOKESTACK BLACKTOP NOVOCANE BOY

simon otm

Forgot "Puttin It Down" as well.

"So what
I lost my job at the hut
My ass got cut
But I'll be better at kissing
When my teeth are all missing
And the silverware's burnt
And I'm eating with my fingers"

The recorded Debra is a fine pastiche, but it was a joy explosion live in 1997.

Top 4

https://i.imgur.com/IXkqrAc.jpg
4. Beercan
From: Mellow Gold
Single Released: 1994
648 Points, 18 Votes, 4 Number Ones

yep. big points from me. undeniable. swirling chickens caught in flight. and more!

Apparently I need to go stream/buy a cheapie CD of Mellow Gold.

BTW, "Got No Mind" got 2 votes and 58 total points...

This song and the title track off the album would twist my arm, and encourage me to have that first beer.

Is every track from MG gonna place cuz this is ridiculous

Great, innit? Either our nitemare hippy friend is in the top three or she's dealing with her Texas-sized tofu issues

That said, the top three is obvious

I guess the album is not called "Loser"

Fuck man BECK is a "trigger" for m e.

this placement is a surprise to me