Product Description

From the Stax-fried greasy horns that power the opening "Sexx Laws" to the falsetto-delivered slow jam of the closing "Debra", MIDNITE VULTURES is Beck's blatant funk-soul-brotherturn. Having pillaged, plundered, cut, and pasted the scopeof American heritage musics throughout his short extraordinary career, the slacker boy-wonder has made a party record to end the millennium, lascivious to the bone, and groove-ingto the core.
Whether he's blowing up Kool Keith-meets-Kraftwerk beats and rhymes on "Hollywood Freaks", getting intoPrince-ly funky rock on "Peaches & Cream", or rocking the old-school electro on "Get Real Paid", this year's Beck modelis more about mixing sci-fi R&B bizness with leather than staring down folk-derived dead ends. But don't believe he's forgotten how to masterfully collage his on-going postmodern pursuits into his new fashion--"Peaches & Cream" is self-conscious enough to quote Mississippi Fred McDowell, but as a sly sexy come-on, and repeated lyrics of juke-joint R&B standards help weave a thematic thread throughout MIDNITE VULTURES. Such sharp details help turn Midnite Vultures from a great celebratory mix-tape into one of the finest albums of 1999.

Track Listing

1. Sexx laws
2. Nicotine and gravy
3. Mixed bizness
4. Get real paid
5. Hollywood freaks
6. Peaches and cream
7. Broken train
8. Milk and honey
9. Beautiful way
10. Pressure zone
11. Debra

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8543 in Music
• Released on: 2002-12-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 58 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
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. "Sexxlaws" is a catchy melange including horns and down-home banjo picking, the inexplicable "Nicotine And Gravy" harks back to George Clinton's early P-funk, while the superlative "Milk And Honey" steals knowingly from Grandmaster Flash's "The Message", alongside electro beats and a huge rock chorus. Throw in pretty country ("Beautiful Way"), nasal G-funk ("Hollywood Freaks"), Tom Waits-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

Customer Reviews

fantastic
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!"

nearly great!
not as good as odelay or mutations but still better than most of the crap out there. It can get annoyingly like prince at times and hollywood freaks is pure pretentious lame-rap garbage. however nicotine and gravy is amazing and is worth as much as the whole album.

nearly great
midnite vultures has good and bad songs. milk and honey stands out while hollywood freaks is pure pretentious crap. in short a good album but with some setbacks.