SOUNDTRACK: BECK-Mutations (1998).
This is the first album that shows a wholly different side to Beck. It is pretty much an entirely traditional album. There’s no samples, just consistently strong songwriting. The overall feel is mellow and it comes as quite a shock after the chaos of Odelay!
Although the album has a very consistent vibe, it’s not all samey. There’s a lot of different instrumentation like the harpsichord on “Lazy Flies,” and the old-timey piano and slide guitar on “Canceled Check” which has a very country feel. It’s not all simple and normal though, as “Check” ends with a strange musical breakdown that keeps it from being a smooth song. “We Live Again” is a very mellow track with Beck singing sweetly over the waves of music.
As befits the name “Tropicalia” has a very tropical feel, it’s totally danceable and was a very wise choice as a sample. “Dead Melodies” has a classical music feel (with vocals of course). “Bottle of Blues” is, unsurprisingly, a somewhat rowdy blues song. “O Maria” is a slow but upbeat piano song that also feels old timey. “Sing It Again” has a melody that is similar to “Norwegian Wood,” but the song is nothing like that Beatles classic. This is gently sung and played acoustic guitar number. And “Static” is a quiet disc ender.
This disc also feature a “bonus” track, and this is the first one that is actually enjoyable. It is a fleshed out song (and a good one at that). It is comparatively rambunctious and noisy and quite different from anything else on the disc. It’s called “Diamond Bollocks” and has a great bass line and cool backing vocals. This song could easily have been a hit if it weren’t tucked away at the end of the disc. (Well, and there are some weird moments to, but overall, easily a hit).
Despite all that Beck is known for his crazy songs and samples, Mutations is an extremely cohesive record with enough diversity to keep it from ever getting dull. It’s a great record and is somewhat overlooked in his catalog.
[READ: March 16, 2014] The Unknown University
This is a collection of almost all of Roberto Bolaño’s poetry. Some (but not all) of the poems from his collection The Romantic Dogs are included here, although some of those are apparently modified a little. It also includes what was earlier released as Antwerp but is here called “People Walking Away.” (I found Antwerp and “People” to be quite unusual and would never remember what is the same in the two. But translator Laura Healy says that she more or less uses Natasha Wimmer’s translation of Antwerp for the parts that are the same (a task which must have been harder than it sounds if the two pieces weren’t exactly the same).
This book is 830 pages with facing pages of Spanish and English. According to the publisher’s note, this collection was found on Bolaño’s computer as is—a collection of all of his poems from throughout his career.
Most of the early poems were written when Bolaño was young (in his 20s). Even at such a young age, he writes powerfully. Not all of his poems are great of course (how could they be when there are so many) but there are dozens and dozens of poems that I thought were fantastic. I’m going to include some below, but I also wanted to get some criticisms out of the way too.
He tends to revisit ideas quite a lot, which is normal for a poet, but it seems weird to revisit an idea in subsequent poems (especially when the poems are just a few lines long each). It almost feels like he fixated on a subject and thought of a number of ways to work with it and rather than make one long poem, he made several short ones. Like this strange occurrence: (more…)
I Just Read About That... 