One Foot In The Grave: Beck: Amazon.ca: Music

1. He's A Mighty Good Leader

2. Sleeping Bag

3. I Get Lonesome

4. Burnt Orange Peel

5. Cyanide Breath Mint

6. See Water

7. Ziplock Bag

8. Hollow Leg

9. Forcefield

10. Fourteen Rivers Fourteen Floods

11. Asshole

12. I've Seen The Land Beyond

13. Outcome

14. Girl Dreams

15. Painted Eyelids

16. Atmospheric Conditions

Product Description

From Amazon.com

Before "Loser" skyrocketed him into the pop-star stratosphere, Beck recorded this album of lo-fi tunes and ballads in the basement of K Records founder Calvin Johnson. This largely acoustic LP is a snapshot of the troubadour life Beck led when he was more likely to be found Dumpster-diving than predicting the Zeitgeist. The backwoods folk of "He's a Mighty Good Leader" and Delta blues of "Fourteen Rivers Fourteen Floods" shows past intent study of American traditional music, whereas the cynical critique of California culture voiced in "Cyanide Breath Mint" highlights the lyrical agility of a postpunk poet. In a tribute to the virtues of this album's simplicity, rocker Tom Petty covered "Asshole" with remarkable restraint, leaving the pleasures of the three-chord lament intact. As Beck morphs his way into the cultural landscape, this record lets us know that at least he has roots somewhere. --Lois Maffeo

Album Description

Stripped of the intoxicating production that dominated 'Mellow Gold', songs here prove to be wonderful, vibrant tunes, teeming with emotion, haunting wordplay and simple, memorable melodies. K Records.

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Customer Reviews

53 Reviews

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

Average Customer Review

4.2 out of 5 stars (53 customer reviews)

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Most helpful customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars One of my comfortable favs of Beck, Oct 3 2006

By

C. Gibbons (Toronto) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: One Foot In The Grave (Audio CD)

Seriously, I always thought of this album as something he recorded in his basement, due to the very crude production quality of the recordings. But that's not a bad thing, because if you can imagine sitting in while some guy just grabbed a guitar in the basement and started playing this stuff, and putting together these recordings, you would recognize the raw talent. The talent is what compensates for lack of polish, and believe me, today there is waaaay too much polish compensating for lack of talent out there. They will put lipstick on any dancing pig to sell records these days, but I digress... This is not a party album, at least not a 50 people in the house party. Be it alone, or partaking with a few friends at 2:00 am, and put this on while everyone is mellowed out, and you will find Beck some new fans. Some of the lyrics are slightly tilted, and I'm not sure sometimes if it's intentional or he's just a bad poet, but I let it slide because the music makes up for it. This guys has a keen grasp on the different genres of music, and he's not afraid to explore that way, even with less "cool" sounds like Gospel or other folksy stuff.

Anyway, Beck's not for everybody, he will go over the heads of the thicker skulled out there, so it's best you give an honest listen to his stuff alone at first when you have some quiet time, to prevent any mouth breathers in the room from wrecking the experience. Check it out. You have nothing to lose except a few bucks.

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3.0 out of 5 stars She'll do anything, July 8 2004

By

Johnny Heering "trivia buff" (Bethel, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: One Foot In The Grave (Audio CD)

This is a low-fi recording by Beck. It's mostly acoustic, with a few electric performances. It has a feel like "Beck got together with some of his non-professional friends and played some songs". This album could actually be mistaken for a collection of demos. It features Beck's usual kind of oddball songwriting. People that are already Beck fans should enjoy it, but other people might not find it too interesting.

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5.0 out of 5 stars my favorite beck album. . ., Jun 17 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: One Foot In The Grave (Audio CD)

and they're all great. this minimal, cheaply recorded collection of songs features some of beck's most memorable songs. in my opinion, the limited production values just make it easier to apperciate the raw genius of beck's songwriting.

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Most recent customer reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars woah...
ok, right. the musicality of this record is terrible. everything is so incredibly out of tune and off key you'll be cringing and gritting your teeth the entire time. Read more

Published on Jun 21 2004

2.0 out of 5 stars I goofed!
Oops, did I ever goof! A girlfriend left Odelay in my car after we went mall shopping one weekend. I hated it when I first heard it, it sounded like weak Kid Rock, but after a... Read more

Published on Jun 4 2004