Midnite Vultures

Midnite Vultures —in Spanish: Buitres de medianoche— is the seventh studio album by American musician Beck, released on November 23. of 1999 through DGC. It was recorded at Beck's home and produced by the artist himself, Mickey Petralia, Tony Hoffer, John King and Mike Simpson. With this album produced by the Dust Brothers, Beck manages to definitively enter the musical map as one of the most innovative singers of the moment. Singles from this album like the lush funk "Sexx Laws" they were a success and gave the singer greater popularity throughout the world.

History

Recording and concept

Midnite Vultures, the album that arrives just for the end of the millennium with the conviction of being the last great album of the year, is the direct continuation of Odelay, as well as Odelay was by Mellow Gold. In a report after the release of Mutations , Beck stated that his next record would be a “completely danceable record, with silly songs and silly lyrics”. This is seen in phrases like “I want to challenge the logic of all sexual laws”, from “Sexx Laws”, the first track on the album, or “I'm mixing fitness and leather / so that all lesbians start moaning” (“ Mixed Bizness”, second cut). More than any other, this is a physical record, plagued not only by dance and sex but also by smells and flavors: “Nicotine & Gravy” (Nicotine and Dressing), “Peaches & cream” (Peaches and cream'), “Milk & Honey” (Milk and honey) are three almost consecutive songs.

The album is an apology for excesses, narrated through images as if taken from a pure dream of the best in Las Vegas or Los Angeles. Like three images set to music, "Nicotine & Gravy" exquisitely ups the ante, "Mixed Bizness" messes it up, "Hollywood Freaks" It adds flavor to the plastic utopia of the rich and famous world, being the first signs of a light and effervescent spirit. It had an initial printing in digipak format limited to the first 500,000 units. In the song "Beautiful Way" Berth Orton appears as a background vocalist, Johnny Marr (ex-guitarist of the Smiths) appears in "Milk and Honey". The album also includes the song "Debra" also known as "I Wanna Get With You (And Your Sister Debra)", a classic on tour since 1996 but which Beck did not include on his album Odelay for considering that it did not fit in it.

Influences

Several songs were directly inspired by other songs: "Get Real Paid" features a spiral sequencer reminiscent of "It's More Fun to Compute" from Kraftwerk; a "Milk & Honey" resonates similar to a riff from "The Message", by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five; "Beautiful Way" came about after hearing the song "Countess from Hong Kong" from The Velvet Underground; and "Debra" was inspired by the songs "Raspberry Beret" of Prince and "Win" by David Bowie. However, despite the fact that everything you hear was taken from the '70s and early '80s (the newest would be the electro circa 1982 of “Get Real Paid” and the oldest, the Motown-style soul circa 1972's “Debra”) the record doesn't sound like Lenny Kravitz, Jamiroquai or other artists with a retro fixation.

Launch and reception

Midnite Vultures peaked at #34 in the US, where it went gold, and also peaked at #19 in the UK. As of July 2008, the album has sold 743,000 copies in the United States. The album was praised by most critics, with Rolling Stone magazine, NME and Pitchfork Media giving it four stars (8.5/10 reviews on Pitchfork). It was granted "universal acclaim" by MetaCritic with a score of 83/100, but in 2006 it was named number 50 on the "Worst Album Ever" by Q Magazine, despite the fact that the album was given four stars. Pitchfork Media listed it at number 5 on their "Top 10 Albums of 1999" (Top 10 Albums of 1999). Midnite Vultures were nominated in 2001 for "Album of the Year" at the 43.os Grammy Awards.

Song List

Limited Edition Bonus Disc

Initial versions sold at Best Buy stores contained a bonus disc with three additional songs. The album was packaged in a standard plastic box and the bonus disc in a separate cardboard sleeve.

Additional recordings

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

• «Almost to Ghost» (unpublished)
• «Arabian Nights»
• «Dirty Dirty»
• «Earthquake Weather»
• «Midnite Vultures»
• «This Is My Crew»
• «Rental Car»
• «Salt in the Wound»
• «Zatyricon»

Staff

• Beck – synthesizer, guitar, piano, keyboards, programming, voice, choir, producer, vocoder, wind arrangements, mix
• David Campbell – viola, string arrangements, orchestra 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 - mix
• Herb Pedersen – banjo
• Fernando Pullum – tube
• David Ralicke – trombone
• Joe Turano – horn, background voices
• Arnold McCuller – choirs
• Smokey Hormel – Guitar
• Joey Waronker – percussion, battery
• Beth Orton – choirs
• Chris Bellman – mastering
• The Dust Brothers – scratch, programming, producers, engineers
• Robert Carranza – engineer
• Steve Baxter – horn, background voices
• Justin Meldal-Johnsen – synthesizer, bass, guitar, percussion, choirs, palms, shaker, bass
• Steve Mix.dorf – second engineer
• Valerie Pinkston – choirs
• Roger Joseph Manning Jr. – organ, synthesizer, piano, pandereta, choir, clavicordio, percussion, shaker, vocoder
• Mickey Petralia – programming, producer, engineer, mix
• Shauna O'Brien – manager of the project
• DJ Swamp – scratch
• Eve Butler – violin
• Charlie Gross – photography
• Arroyo Bombers – choirs
• Arroyo Tabernacle Men's Chorale – choirs
• Jon Birdsong – trumpet
• Derek Carlson – second engineer
• Eye – artwork, art direction, design, collage
• Gimbop – design address
• Michel Gondry - collage
• Tony Hoffer – guitar, programming, producer, engineer, edit, mix, guitar wah wah, sound design
• David Arthur Brown – saxo tenor