BECK/MUTATIONS

• Artist :
• Label :
• Date : 23/12/2002 00:00:00
• UPC : 720642518427
• Format : Audio CD
• Condition : New

Review
On his 1996 breakthrough album, Odelay, Beck Hansen surprised a sleepy music community by blending funk, rock, rap, alternative, and electronica in ways that were both startlingly innovative and irresistibly catchy. Mutations is equally attention-grabbing but not in the gangbusters-pimp-rock-meets-indie-geek style you might expect. Reflective and plaintive, the album reveals Beck's more sentimental side with an eclectic collection of acoustic-based songs that will sound familiar to anyone who cherishes his indie-rock effort One Foot in the Grave. And don't think just because Beck's gone soft, he's become boring. From one song to the next, the chameleonic guru strums pensively, shimmies to a bossa nova rhythm, swirls on a psychedelic cloud, plucks Baroque strains from a harpsichord, and weeps countrified tears into a rusty tin bucket. On Mutations, Beck proves that an undistorted guitar and a bit of creativity can easily sound as exciting as two turntables and a microphone. --Jon Wiederhorn

CD Description
With ODELAY, Beck's second helping of sampladelic, hip-hop inflected alt-pop, Beck took his white-kid-with-a-sampler schtick as far as it could go (which in his capable hands, wasfarther than anyone else could have taken it). An artist ofcommendable taste and natural instinct, he followed it up by going the only route possible--straight-ahead singer/songwriter pop/rock. That's not to say this genre-hopper doesn't take a few interesting left turns, as on the Brazilian-flavoured "Tropicalia", but gone are the hip-hop beats, sampled backdrops and semi-raps of the past. In their place are solid, inventive, pop/rock arrangements played by Beck's regular touring band.
And the irrepressible Mr. Hansen inserts more melody into the songs here than anyone would have thoughtlikely; he's just plain singing more. Though there's no lack of humor inherent in MUTATIONS, Beck's dropped the off-handed jokiness of his previous work as well, coming as close to earnestness as a postmodernist like him can. The amazing thing (and the testament to his enduring artistic worth) is that he pulls it off so well. In its own way, MUTATIONS is every bit as rewarding as MELLOW GOLD or ODELAY.