Midnite Vultures

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Product description ------------------- DISC 11. SEXXLAWS2. and#38; GRAVY3. MIXED BIZNESS4. GET REAL PAID5. HLWD FREAKS6. PEACHES and#38; CREAM7. OUT OF KONTROL8. MILK and#38; HONEY9. BEAUTIFUL WAY10. PRESSURE ZONE11. DEBRA .co.uk ------ Beck Hansen's sixth album again demonstrates his unparalleled ability to mix and match genres without overwhelming his essential style. Midnite Vultures is his peculiar tribute to the pre-hip hop American urban music of the Eighties, not a million miles from the peaks of that other wilful eccentric, Prince ( /exec/obidos/artist-search/Prince/${0} ). "Sexxlaws" is a catchy melange including horns and down-home banjo picking, the inexplicable " And Gravy" harks back to George Clinton ( /exec/obidos/artist-search/George%20Clinton/${0} )'s early P-funk, while the superlative "Milk And Honey" steals knowingly from Grandmaster Flash ( /exec/obidos/artist-search/Grandmaster%20Flash/${0} )'s "The Message", alongside electro beats and a huge rock chorus. Throw in pretty country ("Beautiful Way"), nasal G-funk ("Hollywood Freaks"), Tom Waits ( /exec/obidos/artist-search/Tom%20Waits/${0} )-style dissonance ("Out of Kontrol", where he asks "Did you ever let a cowboy sit on your lap?") and the relentless funk of "Mixed Business" and you have nothing less than another eclectic masterpiece. --Steve Jelbert P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); Review ------ By 1999 Beck Hansen had established himself as the king of cut 'n' paste hip-pop. His eclectic sampleology, mixed with a canny ear for a folk lope had made both Mellow Gold and Odelay into massive testaments to slacker culture and were the apotheosis of post-modernism in popular music. With a mild diversion into tropicalia and blues with Mutations he'd briefly wrong-footed his fans and proven that he was an extremely versatile little Scientologist. But with Midnite Vultures he was to turn into ...well, Prince. All those years spent in the lo-fi bedroom were now dided as Beck went out on the town and celebrated sexuality, albeit in his own collage-based way. Yes, Midnite Vultures is Beck's sex album. The lyrics remain as delightfully obtuse (has anyone ever worn a ''hepatitus contact lense''?), yet it also proved that the mutant funk evident on the best cuts of Odelay were no accident. Numbers like And Gravy or Sexx Laws showed the boy to be as danceable as hell. While the final cut: the marathon lovefest, Debra showed him taking a stab at Al Green or James Brown territory. It's a feisty and fun jaunt through the imagination of an imp just as perverse as the Purple One. --Jerome Blakeney Find more music at the BBC ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/syn//albumreviews/-/music/ ) This link will take you off in a new window See more ( javascript:void(0) )