Published on Oct 25, 1999
Success can be a bitch. And there’s no better way to ward off
those pesky bandwagon jumping fans than than to release something
that can send those fans back to clamoring for the latest Bush or
N’Sync release. Nirvana did it (helllllo
Incesticide or
In Utero), Faith No More did it (
Angel Dust) and to a certain extent, Nine Inch Nails did it
(
Broken).
The problem is, should an artist risk their creative future just
to piss off some fans? A point can be made that all the former
albums listed could have been genuine artistic statements, but
there was some aching in those releases to weed out the casual
fans.
Beck fits right into this artistic dilemma.
Mellow Gold did bring in some cashola, but
Odelay sent Beck into icon status. Any fan who has scrapped
up enough cash to get some of his more experimental b-side releases
will vouch that the guy can just be plain weird sometimes. So, in
1998, Beck released
Mutations, a not-exactly b-sides collection, but definitely
not a follow-up to
Odelay.
Like an anti-social friend or a hip, but weird uncle,
Mutations is more than a tad off-setting at first. But the
more times you listen to
Mutations, the more you are rewarded. The weird, very ’60s
psychedelic groove of “Lazy Flies” and “O Maria” are the furthest
thing from anything off of
Odelay.
However, anyone who purchased
Mellow Gold or
One Foot In The Grave can tell you that Beck has no interest
staying in one particular genre. “Canceled Check” and the
irresistible blues swagger of “Bottle Of Blues” show Beck would fit
right at home in your standard blues joint on open mike night.
At the helm for
Mutations is Nigel Godrich, the producer of Radiohead’s 1997
masterpiece,
OK Computer, another album that refused to be pegged down in
one particular music genre. Godrich is able to give
Mutations a unified feel, despite its creator’s manic,
“throw everything to the mix board and see what happens” style of
approach. For as unconventional an album as
Mutations can be, it has this organic beauty to it that
cannot be denied.
People who miss the waist-shaking-funk-fest of
Odelay need only to wait a couple of weeks until Beck
releases his new album. Or they can listen to the hidden track at
the end of
Mutations. Oops, sorry, I didn’t mean to give that away.
Mutations takes a lot more work than
Odelay to get to know. But listeners should understand that
Beck has made a near-perfect imperfect album. Too professional to
give a symbolic middle finger album to thin the herd and too
uncompromising to give his audience a bunch of
Odelay outtakes,
Mutations will eventually stand as a fully regarded album in
Beck’s catalog. Not bad for something that was meant to just “tide
over” fans.