Midnite Vultures

Midnite Vultures
Studio album by Beck
Released	November 23, 1999
Recorded	July 1998 – June 1999 at Soft Studios
Genre	Alternative rock Dance-pop Funk rock
Length	58:24
Label	DGC
Producer	Beck Hansen, Tony Hoffer, Mickey Petralia, The Dust Brothers
Beck chronology
Mutations (1998) Midnite Vultures (1999) Sea Change (2002)
Music sample
"Get Real Paid" "Get Real Paid" by Beck

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
The A.V. Club	(positive)[2]
E! Online	[3]
NME	[4]
Pitchfork Media	(8.5/10)[5]
Q
Robert Christgau	[6]
Rolling Stone	[7]

Midnite Vultures is the seventh (and fourth major-label) studio album by American alternative rock artist Beck, released in November 1999 by Geffen Records. Though similar to most of Beck's previous albums in its exploration of widely varying musical styles, Midnite Vultures didn't achieve the same blockbuster success as his breakthrough, Odelay, though it was still critically and commercially well-received.

Midnite Vultures reached #34 in the US, where it went gold, and also hit #19 in the UK. As of July 2008, Midnite Vultures has sold 743,000 copies in the United States.^[8]

The album was praised by most critics; Rolling Stone, NME and Pitchfork Media gave it four-star reviews (8.5/10 on Pitchfork). It was awarded the status of 'Universal Acclaim' by MetaCritic with a score of 83/100, but in 2006 was named the 50th 'Worst Album Ever' by Q Magazine,^[9] despite the fact that they gave the album four stars.

Midnite Vultures was nominated in 2001 for Album of the Year at the 43rd Grammy Awards.

Several songs were directly inspired by other songs: "Get Real Paid" features a spiraling sequencer motif reminiscent of Kraftwerk's "It's More Fun to Compute"; a synth breakdown in "Milk & Honey" echoes a similar riff in Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's "The Message"; "Beautiful Way" came about after listening to The Velvet Underground's "Countess from Hong Kong"; and "Debra" was inspired by both Prince's hit "Raspberry Beret" and the David Bowie song "Win."

Working titles for the album included Zatyricon (the name of a song released in 2000 as a B-side on the "Nicotine & Gravy" single and later included on the Beck EP) and I Can Smell the V.D. in the Club Tonight (a line from "Milk & Honey").^[10]

The first 500,000 copies came in a digipak.

Track listing

All songs were written by Beck Hansen, except where noted.

1. "Sexx Laws" – 3:39
2. "Nicotine & Gravy" – 5:13
3. "Mixed Bizness" – 4:10
   • Ends with 25 seconds of noise (described as "robots doing the nasty").^[11]
4. "Get Real Paid" – 4:20
5. "Hollywood Freaks" (Hansen, John King, Michael Simpson) – 3:59
6. "Peaches & Cream" – 4:54
7. "Broken Train" (originally titled "Out of Kontrol") – 4:11
8. "Milk & Honey" (Hansen, Buzz Clifford) – 5:18
9. "Beautiful Way" – 5:44
   • Ends with 9 seconds of spray-painting effects.
   • Seemingly inspired by The Velvet Underground's "Countess from Hong Kong," a demo of which appears on the 1995 box set Peel Slowly and See. (Beck's bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen claimed they had been listening to the demo while recording the 1999 b-side "Halo of Gold.")
   • A sample song on Windows Media Player for Windows Millennium Edition.
10. "Pressure Zone" – 3:07
11. "Debra" (Hansen, King, Simpson) – 13:46
    • Ends with 7 minutes of complete silence, and then 1:04 of hidden electronic noise (fast-paced drumming, static, a lounge-like synthesizer scape, a reprise of the drumming and static, and some slowed down vocalizations).
    • Contains elements of "My Love for You" by Ramsey Lewis written by Ed Greene.

Limited Edition bonus disc

Initial versions sold at Best Buy stores came with a bonus disc that contained three songs.

1. "Salt in the Wound" – 3:24
2. "This Is My Crew" – 3:55
3. "Sexx Laws" (Malibu remix) – 6:52

Although these were part of the original pressings, they came in a standard jewel case. The bonus disc was enclosed in a cardboard sleeve outside the jewel case.

Additional recordings

The following songs were recorded during the Midnite Vultures sessions but did not make the album. Some appear on the limited edition EP Beck.

• "Almost a Ghost" (unreleased)
• "Arabian Nights"
• "Dirty Dirty"
• "Earthquake Weather"
• "Midnite Vultures"
• "This Is My Crew"
• "Rental Car"
• "Salt in the Wound"
• "Zatyricon"

Personnel

• Beck – synthesizer, guitar, piano, keyboards, programming, vocals, choir, chorus, producer, vocoder, horn arrangements, mixing
• David Campbell – viola, string arrangements, string conductor
• Larry Corbett – cello
• Joel Derouin – violin
• Brian Gardner – mastering
• Bernie Grundman – mastering
• Greg Leisz – pedal steel
• Jay Dee Maness – pedal steel
• Johnny Marr – electric guitar
• Michael Patterson – mixing
• Herb Pedersen – banjo
• Fernando Pullum – horn
• David Ralicke – trombone
• Joe Turano – horn, background vocals
• Arnold McCuller – background vocals
• Smokey Hormel – guitar
• Joey Waronker – percussion, drums
• Beth Orton – background vocals
• Chris Bellman – mastering
• The Dust Brothers – scratching, programming, producer, engineer
• Robert Carranza – string engineer
• Steve Baxter – horn, background vocals
• Justin Meldal-Johnsen – synthesizer, bass, guitar, percussion, background vocals, handclapping, shaker, upright bass
• Steve Mixdorf – second engineer
• Valerie Pinkston – background vocals
• Roger Joseph Manning Jr. – organ, synthesizer, piano, tambourine, background vocals, choir, chorus, clavinet, percussion, shaker, vocoder
• Mickey Petralia – programming, producer, engineer, mixing
• Shauna O'Brien – project manager
• DJ Swamp – scratching
• Eve Butler – violin
• Charlie Gross – photography
• Arroyo Bombers – choir, chorus
• Arroyo Tabernacle Men's Chorale – choir, chorus
• Jon Birdsong – trumpet
• Derek Carlson – second engineer
• Eye – artwork, art direction, design, collage
• Gimbop – layout direction
• Michel Gondry – collage
• Tony Hoffer – guitar, programming, producer, engineer, editing, mixing, wah wah guitar, sound design
• David Arthur Brown – tenor sax

References

1. ^ "Midnite Vultures - Beck". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/midnite-vultures-r444589. 
2. ^ "Beck: Midnite Vultures". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/content/node/12585. 
3. ^ http://www.eonline.com/Reviews/Facts/Music/RevID/0,1107,1582,00.html^{[dead link]}
4. ^ "Reviews". NME. http://web.archive.org/web/20021014212446/http://www.nme.com/reviews/3118.htm. 
5. ^ http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/15360/Beck_Midnite_Vultures^{[dead link]}
6. ^ "CG: Beck". Robert Christgau. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=Beck. 
7. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/beck/albums/album/96928/rid/5940462/^{[dead link]}
8. ^ "Ask Billboard". Billboard. 2008-07-18. Archived from the original on 2008-08-01. http://web.archive.org/web/20080801184958/http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/ask_bb/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003829442. Retrieved 2008-07-18. 
9. ^ Q lists - page3
10. ^ "Beck "Milk and Honey" Lyrics". Whiskyclone.net. http://whiskeyclone.net/ghost/songinfo.php?songID=189. Retrieved 24 November 2009. 
11. ^ Healy, Mark (1999-11-08). "Beck: The cut-and-paste whiz kid of Odelay grows up and gets in touch with his inner freak". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5922638/beck. Retrieved 2007-07-29. 

External links

• Midnite Vultures at MusicBrainz