Midnite Vultures

Super!

Brilliant album

Good producer of work over the year's, funky and cultured. A lot of change between each of his albums which brings you back to a man that keeps re innovating. recommend for a night out.

Great album!

This, I think, is still Beck's finest musical excursion to date. I've read a lot of the other reviews, and I understand some people's reservations about it, and that they prefer other Beck records, but this one is just a maze of audacious musical twists and turns. The attention to detail is just astounding. A while ago I read that Beck would spend 8 hours making just 16 seconds of the music on this record. It shows. It's so intricate, there are so many sounds and frequencies intertwining yet never getting lost, never growing confused, never sounding out of place that I can't help but be amazed.When I heard comparisons to Prince on it's release I wasn't thrilled. But you don't have to like that style of music to enjoy this record. This record transcends genre, and is thrilling to those who are fascinated by the possibilities of music. It contains some of the most creative music I have ever heard, but don't worry if you don't like it - it's ok, you're just wrong. Criticising Beck (like criticising the Beastie Boys or Neil Young), is like saying to God, "yeah, I like mountains, trees and rivers... but wasps!?! They're just crap!"

Beck's music has always been characterised by the effortless fusion of diverse musical genres, while still retaining an unmistakeable Beck blueprint. Having wowed all and sundry with his masterpiece Odelay, and then hinted at a more introspective side with Mutations, Midnite Vultures sees Beck slipping into a lurid purple catsuit and getting all dirty funky on our asses.From the joyous horn ejaculation of single 'Sexx Laws' right through to the gorgeous tongue-in-cheek Prince pastiche of 'Debra', Beck is having a lot of fun and it's difficult not to get carried away by it all. Between these two beauties we're treated to electro, rock, folk, funk and hip-hop. In particular, the standout 'Hollywood Freaks' is utterly, utterly fantastic and very funny. He's got groove in his heart.Some may question Beck's authenticity, wondering whether he puts any of himself into the music: it's easy to feel insecure when listening to this record, uncertain whether you've been reeled in by some bad joke. Beck does tend to come across at times like some clever spoilt brat. He's smart and mischievous, smashing up post-modern culture into spiky and difficult pieces before deftly rebuilding them into beautiful and complex musical shapes. He speaks a strange language, is simultaneously happy and sad, knows who he is yet constantly toys with his identity, and wears so many colours that they eventually become back and white. And this time the black and white reads 'Genius at Work'. Get down or get out.

Has Mr. Hanson turned into the Purple one? Is this an album of lost Prince tapes I wonder? Midnite Vultures takes you back to the mid 80's when Prince was at his peak. The squawking vocals on Debra, could be straight from Sign of the Times, whilst Nicotine and Gravy from Diamonds and Pearls. A fantastic tribute to Prince if ever I heard one.I can only think this was intentional of Beck, as previous recordings show he has many more facets to his music, than this collection of tracks would have us believe. Mutations being one of the best albums of all time, I eagerly awaited the release of Midnite Vultures rather hoping a for more of the same genius, but alas not so. My recommendation, dust off your old Prince albums, and play those, you can't get better than the original.Don't be put off, Beck is one of the times great musical talents, buy early albums if you haven't got them already, and try to see him live, his performances will blow you away

Want to hear what sort of a sound Prince would have made if he had been born white? Beck's latest foray will certainly fill that gap! Stuffed to the brim with funky little anecdotes, some dead cheap guitar work and fortifying the whole cocktail with snappy, elastic jazz bass playing that will nail you to the seat unless you get up and boogie, Midnite Vultures hosts some of the most funked up, bluesiest guitar playing you'll hear from awhite guy this side of 1974. Beck's also revelling in-newly found sleaze -- and its a treat for the listener.Now this is *not* a low-fi extravaganza. There's a lot of very precisely recorded material stuffed onto this disk that will keep you reaching for the volume knob. Percussion fills are honed to the point almost painful precision while the initially incongruous addition of cheap 60s synths makes the Jackson 5 falsetto laughable if it wasn't all so good. Beck's characteristic guitar work and doubled (and tripled!) voices slide around the 11-song soundscape depicting a world of cheap hookers, scam merchants and odd chracters that appear around almost every corner. There's hommage to The Osmonds (love that Crazy Horses riff!), the O-Jays, and Grand Master Flash to be found in just about every track -- if you listen hard enough.Throughout Midnite Vultures are big, fat funky horn stabs and guitar chops that keep the mood sleazy enough for even the most cynically entrenched techno listener. Your journey starts with the relative hard techno and stax-style soul combination of Sexx Laws through to the distortion and railyard clatter of Broken Train "did you ever let a cowboy sit on your lap? (ladies)"... Ending with a beautiful but untitled Track 12.Following on from Beck's spectacular Odelay! Midnite Vultures takes what he's started and continues to develop it. Midnite Vultures is an excellent showcase for Beck's continued growth as a songwriter. Its a cheap throwaway thrill, but even Beck's cheapest thrill carries a fine melody when its done right.

What more could I say that hasn't already been said about Beck. He's the King of cool. He's the Icon of Eclectic stylistic motif.Whether it's the languid melodic liquid mercury of Beautiful Way, or the wry humour of Loser, or the quirky playfulness of Where It's At, Beck is in every instance an artist's artist.

Álbum nominado en los Grammys como Mejor del Año en su momento y que no pude encontrar físicamente por años.No pude hacerme de él hasta ahora.Me ha agradado muchísimo y agradezco al vendedor por hacerlo posible.

Uno dei migliori album di Beck,da avere!!

One of his best. Musical genre straddling like no other artist can accomplish, this album has songs that are groovy, driven, funky and utterly unique. From beginning to end, this is an album that begs to be heard in its entirety, rather like some of Air's albums (10,000 Hertz Legend, for example). Prior to the song "Sexx Laws," I don't think anyone would ever have expected to hear a banjo break in the middle of a synth-pop-muzak alt-rock hit song on Top 40 radio.That's the kind of thing Beck can not only get away with, but succeed at. I think it's because all the songs on this album, and the album as a whole, manage to replicate &/or sample and then combine sonic bits of several decades of popular music. And if you've been a fan of wildly different genres of popular music across that span of time, you will hear it in his songs, but combined to beautiful effect like never before, almost as an homage. Everything from girl-group harmonies, Prince-like R&B falsetto, disco synth and hooks, hard rock guitars, brass sections, Stevie Wonder-like keyboards, Zappa-like jazzrock bits, R&B groove, Pink-Floyd-Wish-You-Were-Here acoustic guitar, Neil Young-ish country rock melancholia, Parliament/Clinton-esque funk and sax, Air-like synths, 80s/early 90s video game synth sounds, Steely Dan-session jazz-pop musician perfection, electronica, synthpop, blues harmonica, and country twang is represented here. Beck and his producer are the maestros conducting a fabulous orchestra made up of the last 40-50 years of American music. It will move your feet and your soul and make you think -- and parts are absolutely gorgeous. The electro-trip-hop-country-rock-pop combination of musical genres is a pastiche that is rich and satisfying, lyrically compelling, with a nearly non-stop SERIOUS GROOVE from beginning to end. The sampling, the instrumentation, the combination of old school analog instruments (including brass and strings) with 21st century synths, technology, and sampling -- it's utter genius. The songs and the production, when you listen to the entire thing all the way through, may make you feel like you just had a few puffs off a bong packed with high quality medicinal... even though you haven't.Track listing (*** are my faves -- there are a lot):Sexx Laws <--the hit single: pop, synth, muzak, and a strangely perfect banjo-synthesizer break in the middleNicotine & Gravy*** <--lovely funk hereMixed Bizness*** <--fun, funny, funky and groovingGet Real Paid <-- electronica with drum machines and video-game synth soundsHollywood Freaks*** <---dystopian groove with Beck's rhyming and rappingPeaches & Cream*** <---AMAZING, hilarious TRIP-HOP GROOVE (w/tiny bits of Pink-Floyd Wish-You-Were-Here-like acoustic guitar)Broken Train*** <--psychedelic. The bass and dropped-in sax funk it up (& the ascending "sha-la la-la la-la-laaaah" refrain)Milk & Honey <--strangely hard rock edge here with Zappa & the Mothers jazzy instrumentation -- yet groovyBeautiful Way*** <--SIMPLY GORGEOUS melancholic trip-hop with country twang, harmonica, beautiful harmoniesPressure Zone <---catchy synth-pop with fuzzy guitar and fantastic chorus that slips in and out of a grooveDebra*** <--a gorgeous, sexy, silly groove with horns, string bass, Moog, and Beck's falsettoThere's also an Untitled track following Debra that seems to start KMFDM-ish industrial, go through Zappa-influenced muzak, back to 90s Ministry industrial.Some of Beck's song lyrics here describe a near-future fascinated-but-angry trappings-of-wealth-and-celebrity-obsessed contemporary society with dystopian cyberpunk scifi poetry -- a cross between a Cronenberg film like Crash (the *other* Crash that erotified car accidents and their brace-wearing, crutch-using survivors), Bruce Wagner (screenwriter of Cronenberg's viciously satirical film Maps To The Stars) and William Gibson or Paulo Bacigalupi. Lyrics such as: "Wearing hepatitis contact lens" . . . "I'll feed you fruit that don't exist" . . . "we drop lobotomy beats evaporated meats on hi-tech streets...neon mamacita eat at taqueria pop lockin' beats from Korea" . . . "You look good in that sweater and that aluminum crutch" . . . "the snipers are passed out in the bushes again. . . . there's only rehashed faces on the bread line tonight, soon you'll be a figment of some infamous life; billionaires smile like weapons passing out platinum pensions". . . "in the aluminum sunset drinking from a drain. . . .No it isn't funny living in a garden of sleaze Bangkok athletes in the biosphere Arkansas wet dreams we all disappear Kremlin mistress she slips me roofies". . .Seriously. Buy this. If you like Beck, you will LOVE THIS. Even if you are kind of "meh" about Beck except for his hits -- you'll probably still really like this, because it's just that good.

For me this album doesn't have a bad track on it, some great tracks with the highlight being 'Debra' which I first heard on the excellent 'Baby Driver' movie Soundtrack. However I don't rate the sound quality, it sounds very compressed to me, to my ear the soundtrack version of 'Debra' has a better sound, not by a lot but noticeable nonetheless. The cd was made in Mexico which may be a factor and I'm not even sure if the cover art is true to the colour of the original. One other thing that is a little weird, when the last track, 'Debra' finishes at about 5.35 min's the laser continues to track in silence for almost another 6 min's befor a burst of unrelated sounds and music is heard for give or take a minute, not sure if this is on the original cd's or not, I know artists sometimes put hidden tracks on albums. I only have one other Beck album, ' Odelay' which I think is an Okay listen but I'm far more impressed with this album, very talented artist and I should probably explore more of his extensive discography.