Tag Archives: Midnite Vultures

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Song of the Day #4,538: ‘Get Real Paid’ – Beck

It’s been awhile since I’ve given Beck’s 1999 album Midnite Vultures a thought, let alone a listen. In fact, the last time was probably when it showed up on another Random Weekend nearly four years ago.

This is one of Beck’s wildest, most inventive albums, and one of his best. It found the versatile artist channeling Prince at one minute and Kraftwerk the next, and throwing the kitchen sink into the production mix. Sandwiched between Mutations and Sea Change, two very subdued and melancholy albums, this was a blast of pure adrenaline.

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Song of the Day #3,144: ‘Peaches & Cream’ – Beck

midnitevulturesWhile we wait patiently for Beck’s 13th studio album, his first since 2014’s Grammy-winning Morning Phase, let’s enjoy a blast from the past in the form of ‘Peaches & Cream,’ a cut from his 1999 album Midnite Vultures.

Midnite Vultures, released in the midst of Y2K paranoia, before we lost our national innocence on 9/11, is a blissed-out vision of white boy funk on which Beck very effectively channels Prince.

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Song of the Day #2,066: ‘Milk & Honey’ – Beck

midnitevulturesLast week I bought Beck’s new album, Morning Phase, a sequel of sorts to 2002’s sublime break-up record Sea Change.

Morning Phase has the same somber tone and cry-in-your-beer lyrical style as Sea Change but goes in some different melodic and production directions, with some of its songs reminding me of everything from Simon & Garfunkel to Pink Floyd.

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Song of the Day #518: ‘Hollywood Freaks’ – Beck

Having slowed down and mellowed out a year earlier on Mutations, Beck reversed course in 1999 and released Midnite Vultures, a neon slice of pure electrified funk.

More than anything, he spends the length of this fabulous album staking his claim as the white Prince, especially on epic closer ‘Debra,’ an homage to every smooth R&B booty call song ever written (though certainly the first to feature the lyrics “Lady, step inside my Hyundai”).

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