Published on Apr 19, 1997
It has been a tough few days here at “The Daily Vault.”On
Wednesday, I forgot to build the hyperlink on the home page for
that day’s review. Yesterday, I slipped and forgot to change the
date on the Body Count review.
And now, to top it off, I choose an album that defies a typical
review – Beck’s
Mellow Gold. Whatever was I smoking this week?
Beck Hansen rose to fame with the surprise hit of 1994, the
slacker anthem “Loser.” Through what sounds like non sequitur
ramblings passing for vocals and a hypnotic chorus, Beck captured
the attention of the alternative world and set it on its ear. The
release of
Mellow Gold was one of the most anticipated of the year.
And when I first listened to this album three years ago, I was
disillusioned. There was little I heard to demonstrate that “Loser”
was not a one-off fluke hit. So, away went the tape into the Pierce
Memorial Archives (sorry, no vacancy) and was forgotten.
Ah, but the recent resurgence of Beck and his critical success,
including two Grammies, caused me to give this album a second look.
What
Mellow Gold proved to me is that it is not a one-listen
album. Instead, you need to listen to it several times – and even
that doesn’t guarantee you’ll capture all the nuances.
I guess you could classify Beck as acoustic industrial. Sound
crazy? One listen to the track “F___in’ With My Head (Mountain Dew
Rock)” will confirm this.
Beck relies – and often overuses – vocal masks. The heavy
distortion often leavs the vocal unintelligible, though at times it
proves to be an interesting effect. “Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1997”
and “Motherf__ker” (not my censorship) are prime examples of how
Beck uses technology to his favor. And while it stretches a bit
long, “Steal My Body Home” is a solid track, as is “Blackhole.”
The rest of
Mellow Gold often dives into the beatbox weirdness that is
Beck’s trademark. “Pay No Mind (Snoozer)” was not the best choice
of tracks to follow up “Loser” – the songs are polar opposites of
each other style-wise. “Nitemare Hippy Girl” doesn’t develop the
way other songs on the album did, while “Soul Suckin’ Jerk” falls
just short of the mark, though it does have its moments.
And this is the problem with
Mellow Gold – it tends to be a mood ring of an album. What I
may think is crap today I may find irreststable in a month or so.
Each time one listens to the album, their likes and dislikes shift
a bit. I used to like “Loser,” for example. Now, I can live without
it (though I appreciate it for its past).
I do think that
Mellow Gold is worth listening to and experiencing, though I
can’t say if the album is for everybody. If you keep an open mind
while listening to this one, you will probably be in for a decent
trip. And it does serve as a pointer to the direction Beck’s music
has travelled to this point.