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Amazon.co.uk Review
Review
All those years spent in the lo-fi bedroom were now discarded 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 Nicotine 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
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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.
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.
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