| This Week's Highlights |
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analysis w/e 14.5.11 |
DVDs out 9.5.11 |
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@ DVDfever Youtube |
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May 11 2011 
DVDfever co uk
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The new West Coast sound. Cool, very cool. Cyanide Breath Mint, Hollow Log, Girl Dreams, Painted Eyelids, ‘One Foot In The Grave’ could have been ‘Two Feet In The Grave’ for Beck Hansen. Wedged between 1994’s Mellow Gold and his most impressive album (still) 1996’s Odelay, this low-fi alt folk explosion (well mostly, if you discount a few, like the ragged rocker Burnt Orange Peel) did little to harm his credentials, but it was one mighty risk. When you look at the time, Bek David Campbell aka Beck Hansen aka Beck, was just 24 years old. It wasn’t cool to be doing this kind of stuff at that age or time, except if you’re a luminary like Eric Clapton who released Unplugged two years earlier. One thing it did at the time was not to pigeon-hole Beck too soon. Much of the stellar Odelay was/is both curious and vibrant, whereas One Foot…sees the American troubadour excelling himself with stripped back acoustic gems, well in most part anyway. There are some screwball efforts too – Outcome, I Get Lonesome, the horrendous Ziplock Bag (ARGHHHH!!!) and wacky P**s On The Floor. In addition to the original 16, we get 16 more.
The first half, so to speak, is made up of some really good tracks straddling folk and blues. One of the standout tracks is the delta blues inflected Fourteen Rivers – Fourteen Floods where Beck tackles a steel guitar like his life depended on it. It really is fantastic stuff lasting nearly three minutes. Beating that, by a cat’s whisker, is the joyful gospel thrust of I’ve Seen The Land Beyond. This is where he reveals his fragile soul, or at least on the song he does. Shifting style, we get a great bluesy –country- pop groove for the laidback Sleeping Bag. On part two, we go the opposite end of the scale for psych-blues classic Close To God with distorted vocals and piercing wah wah (unusual at any time since the late 60s early 70s). The gospel inflected Sweet Satan is an absolute killer song, just Beck’s vocals and a thudding beat making it a haunting track. Ironically, One Foot In The Grave wasn’t included on the original album, and as it turns out it’s the best track here. It’s the kinda simple blues that Seasick Steve is now making his new found popularity out of, and to some degree Jack White in the White Stripes. There was little if any fanfare when it first came out. Perhaps it’s time to give it some this time around. The verdict – Fascinating.
Weblink2: beck.com / myspace.com/beck
The full list of tracks included are :
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B 37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier. PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
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Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.
