Beck
Mellow Gold (DGC) (STAR)(STAR)(STAR)
Beck Hansen’s “Loser” is the most overplayed hit of ’94, though its spluttering invitation to “get crazy with the Cheez-Wiz” still has its charms. The rest of “Mellow Gold” is a good deal messier, noisier and stranger, with bows in the direction of Ween, the East Village anti-folk scene, and the entirety of Kramer’s Shimmy Disc catalog. A handful of tunes evince an unexpected melodic kick, especially on the shambling, bonged-out blues of “F…in With My Head” and “Truckdrivin’ Neighbors Downstairs,” sort of a white-trash cousin to the Seeds’ “Hey Joe.” Even better is the way Beck slips from whininess to unexpected poignance on “Pay No Mind (Snoozer),” while “Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1987” finds a strange beauty rising out of its ghostly, subway train mist.
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Ratings: Excellent (STAR)(STAR)(STAR)(STAR) Good (STAR)(STAR)(STAR) Fair (STAR)(STAR) Poor (STAR)
