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DVDfever.co.uk – Beck: One Foot In The Grave: Deluxe Edition CD reviewElly Roberts reviews
XL Recordings
- Released: June 2009
- Rating: 8/10
- Tracks: 32, including Hes A Mighty Good Leader, Sleeping Bag, Whiskey Can Can, Close To God, Black Lake Morning
- Vote and comment on this album:View Comments
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 1994s Mellow Gold and his most impressive album (still) 1996s 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 wasnt cool to be doing this kind of stuff at that age or time, except if youre 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 cats whisker, is the joyful gospel thrust of Ive 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 Becks vocals and a thudding beat making it a haunting track.
Ironically, One Foot In The Grave wasnt included on the original album, and as it turns out its the best track here.Its 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 its time to give it some this time around.
The verdict Fascinating.
Weblink2:beck.com /myspace.com/beck
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Blood Oranges
2. That Old Sun
3. Vacationing People
4. Winter Games
5. Early Warnings
6. Cant Keep Time
7. Lions Share
8. It Grew On You
9. See Us Home
10. Wait In This ChairView the discussion thread.blog comments powered by Disqus= 0) {query += ‘url’ + i + ‘=’ + encodeURIComponent(links[i].href) + ‘&’;}}document.write(”);})();//]]]]>]]>
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.