Beck's Japanese eight-song B-sides collection Stray Blues is a short but sweet reminder of all the different sounds and styles he's capable of embodying and combining. It's especially refreshing after the somewhat forced, funk-soul-brotha vibe of Midnite Vultures to hear reflective, stoner-folk epics like "Totally Confused" (which features three-quarters of That Dog on violin and backing vocals), "Brother," and "Feather in Your Cap" next to noisy workouts like "Lemonade," the deadpan hipster-hop of "Clock," and a surprisingly straight mariachi version of "Burro." His groovy, Odelay-style pastiche is in full effect on the '60s pop send-up "Electric Music and the Summer People" and the rambling, ultra-psychedelic cover of Skip Spence's "Halo of Gold," which originally appeared on the Spence tribute More Oar. Impressively, most of these songs were recorded years apart from each other and with different musicians, but Stray Blues holds together nearly as well as any of Beck's proper albums, proving that he's at his best when he's at his most eclectic. The album's Japanese-only release (and corresponding priceyness) is frustrating because Stray Blues deserves to be heard by more people than just die-hard fans (who may already own most of this material anyway). Not only is this collection a reminder of Beck's impressive diversity but of how necessary a domestic B-sides collection is to his discography.
Tracklist
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts of the Week
-
Do you ever dream that you are dancing like a professional dancer on a dance floor? Then, you'll fall in love with Soft Cell The Twelve ...
-
History They originally called themselves The Reactionaries , with additional band member and singer Martin Tamburovich. According to Watt, ...
-
Gothic is the second full-length album released by British doom metal band Paradise Lost. It is a seminal work, being one of the major infl...
-
Wheatus is Wheatus' first album, released on 15 August 2000. Three singles were released off the album: Wheatus' biggest hit "...
-
Demon Days is the second studio album by the supergroup Gorillaz, first released in May 2005. It is the band's first studio album of ne...
-
Nirvana's Nevermind may have been the album that broke grunge and alternative rock into the mainstream, but there's no underestimat...
-
The Jesus And Mary Chain - Psychocandy About a decade after its release, William Reid of the Mary Chain described Psychocandy as "on...
1 COMMENTS:
01. Totally Confused
02. Halo of Gold
03. Burro
04. Brother
05. Lemonade
06. Electric Music and the Summer People
07. Clock
08. Feather in Your Cap
Post a Comment