Product 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.

Track Listing

1. Cold Brains
2. Nobody's Fault But My Own
3. Lazy Flies
4. Canceled Check
5. We Live Again
6. Tropicalia
7. Dead Melodies
8. Bottle Of Blues
9. O Maria
10. Sing It Again
11. Static
12. Diamond Bollocks
13. Runners Dial Zero

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3975 in Music
• Released on: 2002-12-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 52 minutes

Amazon.co.uk 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

Customer Reviews

Another set of new influences make mighty tuneful music
Mutations is Beck's most melodious and accessible album, but that doesn't mean he's copped out. Beck is a sponge - yet to settle down into a style of his own, but absorbing influences from all everywhere, and fashioning his own versions of them all.
Although the pundits appear to think this album occupies the semi-acoustic rock territory ruled by REM etc, to me it feels mainly rooted in the 70s - think Led Zep and you have the sitar & hurdy-gurdy laden second track 'Nobody's fault but my own' , mix in Lindisfarne's blokiness and you have 'Bottle of blues'. In between you have some pure C&W in 'Cancelled check', bossanova fun in 'Tropicalia', and a waltz Tom Waits would be proud of in 'Sing it again'.
But there are still more gems - 'Diamond Bollo**s' has a wonderful 60s harpsichord intro before diving into heavy fuzz guitars and Dylan harmonica, and the final track 'Runners dial zero' is early Pink Floyd to me.
Beck may be a sponge, but he's soaking up all the right music.

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Mutations is a terrific album. I'm a big fan of Beck anyway, but I think this one was a slow burner. My two favourite Beck albums remain the hip-folk classic "Mellow Gold" and sprawling Prince-esque "Midnite Vultures", but this one is a long term gem. It's so mellow and considered, yet contains plenty of emotion - something that was missing from the last album, "The Information", and also seemed strangely absent from "Sea Change" - Beck's most similar release to this one.

For me, the best thing about this record is the simple, catchy tunes and lyrics that stay with you and invite you to sing along every time you hear it. "Cold Brains", "Nobody's Fault By My Own", "Cancelled Cheque", "We Live Again", "Bottle of Blues", "O Maria"... they are all low-key classics, and there's nothing really like them in the rest of my record collection.

In summary, a very good record that, despite it's melancholy feel always picks me up and makes me feel light.

Beck shows his true colours
I never had much time for Beck. I found Mellow Gold to be an unfocused, sprawling mess and after initial enthusiasm, the smart-alec aspects of Odelay left me cold. A gifted songwriter, but one that needed to find his true sound. Then he released Mutations, supposedly a collection of demos, and it has redefined him in my eyes as some kind of cosmic country cowboy, mixing beats and breaks with acoustic guitars and his uniquely jaded, mournful voice.

Cold Brains is better than anything from the patchy Odelay album, while Beck's sorrowful laments (Nobody's fault but my own, We live again, O Maria) are beautifully conceived and delivered ballads. Even the up-tempo tracks such as Cancelled Check and Tropicalia are played in a similar style that owes equal debts to the alternative country movement and the psychedelic rock period of the late 1960s. Sitars and flutes drone in the background - there's even a marimba on a couple of the tracks - but the influences gel together perfectly into a unique and consistent musical blend that suits his vocal style and songs perfectly.

I'd rate this as Beck's best album, though Sea Change is equally good if bleaker and a little less experimental. If you want to see what the fuss is about, or if you were put off by his hit and miss studio albums, give this a try and you may see things very differently.