Search - Beck :: Stereopathetic Soulmanure

You'll be strange.

Johnny Heering | Bethel, CT United States | 07/14/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is collection of random stuff recorded by Beck between 1988 and 1993. It features folk music, country music, guitar freakouts, spoken word tracks and some indescribable weirdness. One of the odd things is some random guy named "Ken" singing a few lines from the Jimmie Rodgers' song "Waiting For a Train". "Rowboat" is a country song (written by Beck) that was famously covered by Johnny Cash. There are two unlisted bonus tracks on the CD. Track 24 features someone saying "Stuck out here in the sand, they shot my mule and burned my wagon. Ran out of sourdough two days ago. Ain't got no more lard. God bless all you folks." Track 25 features five minutes of silence followed by twelve minutes of noise. Serious Beck fans will enjoy this CD, but it may be too "out there" for some people."

I don't get it... (2.5 stars)

Zen Station | The Graceful Swans of Never | 07/17/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"You know, Beck is respectable but it doesn't mean that I enjoy all of his albums. I mean, nothing by him touches Odelay but there's still other works I enjoy (Mellow Gold, Midnite Vultures, Sea Change, Guero). However, this release is just strange and I wonder how even the biggest fans of the record can listen to each song the whole way STRAIGHT from beginning to end. Sometimes, I view this as a mixtape and One Foot as a demo collection.



The biggest put-off for me is probably the song titles. There are three untitled songs that thereby screw up the rest of the track listing. "No Money No Honey" is listed as track 7 but is really 8, etc (there's two more untitled mystery tracks later, too!). And that one seems like a joke I'd like to use for a song, but it's just a guy saying that for TWO MINUTES! I kid you not.



What I do like is the first two songs, "Pink Noise (Rock Me Amadeus)" and "Rowboat." The former has this cool garage-ish riff and some of his most intense music while the latter is a more steel pedal-infused old-fashioned type country song. It's also somewhat interesting on the fourth track where they have that sample about the aliens, which almost feels like something tied in with the first three date-based titles.



Every time I've tried to listen to it the full way through I've had to hit the skip button before a song ends. I don't know if I think it's creatively brilliant or just outright garbage sometimes. Both sides tell me it's not perfect and both sides agree that the record has some moments. So that's a constant. There's also this pointless noise part that is hidden at the very ending of the album. There's so much you have to get past that I don't know if it's worth it for a casual. It's lo-fi trash vibe has charm but goes over and crosses the line to annoyance at times.



If you get it, just beware."