I can see how some listeners might not like this CD. The styles are too broad for people with a narrow range of tastes, or for those whose definition of cutting edge music is limited to one genre. Beck has a relatively mellow style on this CD, as the title suggests, that might also put some listeners off. However, while the overall style is mellow, there are enough changeups in pace that this CD held my interest from beginning to end.

The lyrics owe more to blues than to pop or rock. Beck nearly always seems to want to tell a story or make a point. That doesn't mean the lyrics are sung in a blues style, only that Beck likes to have a purpose to his lyrics, which is a characteristic of blues. The only objection I have to the lyrics is personal, in that the CD I have is the explicit lyrics version, and I really didn't need the four-letter words to enjoy the music.

The music itself is wonderfully bizarre. The range and combination of instruments I can barely begin to guess at because Beck combines electronic effects with various combinations of instruments and frequently bizarre vocal effects to create a complex mix of sound that challenges my ability to decipher. Beck combines this mixture with the previously mentioned combination of styles to synthesize quirky, yet interesting sounds. For an example of what I'm talking about, listen to "Truckdrivin' Neighbors Downstairs (Yellow Sweat)". The principal instrument in this song is an acoustic guitar, but the vocals range from a falsetto to a bass in a bizarre combination. This last song might have been something that Frank Zappa might have sung, though without the four-letter words.

Perhaps the best-known song on this CD is "Loser", which received a fair amount of video airplay on MTV and VH1. The video was every bit as experimental as the remainder of the CD is musically. With elements of grunge and no real plot or theme, the video is impressionistic, and has more of a theme than a story. However, given the range of music on this CD, do not judge the CD by "Loser", because it is the only song like it on the CD.

"Steal My Body Home" sounds like psychedelic rock. Cool song, very slow, interesting electronic effects. Turn on the black lights! I had to mention this song because I like its combination of retro-psychedelic sound with grunge and other elements. The next song is "Nightmare Hippy Girl", which seems to fit with the psychedelic song just previous, but the styling of "Nightmare Hippy Girl" is more folk-rock than psychedelic rock. Yet, it fits.

My favorite song is "Blackhole". The progressive elements have tinges of The Moody Blues from the time of "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" and "Seventh Sojourn", but of course Beck has made this in a style all his own. At about five and a half minutes into the song, the music stops, and when it restarts it is no longer music, it is a bizarre combination of sound effects a la King Crimson, but sped up and with a greater range. It sounds weird, but interesting.

This CD is so weird that it may be inaccessible to some listeners. However, it is exactly this wonderfully strange and weird music that drew me to progressive music in the first place. Beck is a music artist, experimenting to create the unusual. He certainly does that here. I recommend this CD to those who like music as art, particular for those who like mellow progressive rock.


Beck's Best   April 19, 2000
 31 out of 32 found this review helpful

An early member of the straight-to-tape lo-fi marathon that is artists like Guided By Voices & Ween, Beck established his own style in addition to being quirky & reminiscent of those artists. Beck is sort of like a story-telling enigma, Bob Dylan to the next level, you might say. His songs can either be ironic & narrative or slapstick & bizzare. This is definitely evident in "Mellow Gold", which, in my opinion, is better and more artistic than "Odelay". A mixture of Dylanesque folk("Pay No Mind", "Whiskeyclone Hotel City, 1997", "Truckdriving Neighbors Downstairs", "Blackhole"), ambient psychadelic explorations("Steal My Body Home"), quirky hip-hop("Loser", "Soul Sucking Jerk", "Beercan", "Sweet Sunshine"), and a small touch of rock("F****ing With My Head", "Mother****er"). If you are interested in getting into Beck, "Mellow Gold" is the place to start.


Shows great potential, but...   May 6, 2003
 13 out of 32 found this review helpful

With the success of Beck's masterpiece Odelay, many people took listen to this album; which shows definite promise for what`s to come. But unlike Odelay and latter releases, this one has many flat-out bad songs. This is a very strange album to say the least. You can pretty much tell that just by reading the song titles. If you listen to Odelay before Mellow Gold, you will probably be a little let down with songs like "Soul Suckin Jerk" and "Steal My Body Home"; as they don't quite fit in with Beck's now prominent sound. Nevertheless, I will always cite "Loser" as his best song ever. And hidden gems like "Pay No Mind" and "Beercan" make this CD worthwhile and a must-have for every Beck fanatic out there. Here's an overview of each track:

1. Loser - 5/5 - suspicious lyrics and great guitar work easily make this the best Beck song available. I had not really noticed this song until Odelay came out; but I still found it better than anything on the 1996 album. The lyrics here are hilarious, yet they seem to be smart.

2. Pay No Mind (Snoozer) - 5/5 - this slow, acoustic gem is definitely my second favorite track on Mellow Gold. Again, the lyrics are out-there while still managing to be meaningful. The line `give the finger to the rock n roll singer / as he's dancing upon your paycheck' is great. Awesome harmonica solo!

3. Fxckin' With My Head (Mountain Dew Rock) - 3/5 - here's a song that is now uncharacteristic of Beck. I think he was trying to hard to fit in with that ill-mannered, vulgar crowd by using swear words. It's still pretty good though.

4. Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1997 - 2/5 - the scratchy guitar and sedated sound that "Whiskeyclone" offers doesn't let it amount to much. It kind of blends all the aspects the three previous songs had; and therefore it comes out sounding weaker.

5. Soul Suckin Jerk - 1.5/5 - Beck tries too hard to make a straight-up hip-hop song here. It's very hard to "get into" this song, as it doesn't really grab hold of you. The hip-hop feel is very ineffectual as it comes off sounding like a rap version of "Loser".

6. Truckdrivin Neighbors Downstairs (Yellow Sweat) - 2/5 - although the guitar featured in this song might be great, the lyrics are not. They are not well-rounded and don't attach themselves well to the music. It's really a hit-and-miss track.

7. Sweet Sunshine - 2.5/5 - the weird, echo-like lyric usage here is hard to enjoy. As with many of the other songs, the beat it good but the words are not. This may be a little better than tracks four through six, but it's still not great.

8. Beercan - 4/5 - with an approach similar to "Loser" (catchy, fast lyrics mixed with fun beats), "Beercan" becomes a hidden gem on the CD. If it weren't for the fact that "Loser" is so awesome, this song might've become more.

9. Steal My Body Home - 1.5/5 - this bad song (I say that lightly) just appears to be earlier songs slowed down to a crawl. It has no real beat, no guitar, and in turn becomes my least favorite song on the album. I don't know how you can enjoy this one.

10. Nitemare Hippy Girl - 3/5 - a more upbeat tempo make this song a lot more enjoyable than most. It has fun lyrics once again, and the music is tied to them very nicely. If it weren't so similar to the other good songs it might've been more likable, again.

11. Mutherfxker - 2.5/5 - this one is like "Steal My Body Home" and "Sweet Sunshine" put together. The chorus, `everyone is out to get you, mutherfxker' is fun and actually sounds good (as it's weird). But it's a bit too short to be considered great.

12. Blackhole - 3/5 - this is a somewhat fitting end to the type of CD Mellow Gold is. It's enjoyable with a fun beat and acoustic guitar, but the lyrics here are actually weak compared to many of the other tracks. Still, like the whole album, it shows promise.

Although the video for "Loser" was rather popular on MTV, this entire album was greatly overlooked until the release of Odelay. And I cannot emphasize enough how average Mellow Gold is compared to his latter CDs; and how weak these songs are compared to classics like "Devil`s Haircut", "Where It`s At", "Beautiful Way", and even "Hotwax". With music crossing folk, hip-hop, rock, and acoustic guitar resonance, Mellow Gold will go down as a great beginning to the career of Beck. But it may be nothing more than just that. The bad songs don't clash well with the good ones. And consequently, Mellow Gold becomes only a must-have for the diehard Beck fanatics who can't get enough of his crazed, acoustic beats.


Sweet sunshine   December 9, 1999
 10 out of 12 found this review helpful

Mellow Gold is the third best album of the '90s. As great as his post-Mellow Gold work is, Beck's first Geffen album really stands out. Back in 1994, this was a totally fresh sound, melding blues, punk, folk, and hip-hop into one strange, surreal package. Of course, now anybody with two turntables and amicrophone try to ape Beck's sound, but they never come close to what he achieved with Mellow Gold. Overshadowed by the tremendous hit "Loser", there is so much more to be savoured here. The songs are loose, rough around the edges, and damn funny to boot. The sense of sponteneity is really what sets this apart from Beck's other releases. I can honestly say that this album, more than any other, changed how I think about music, what I expect from music, and its brilliance really rendered most of what I had at the time obsolete.


Remove the "ec" in Beck,replace it with a "un"...   February 1, 2003
 9 out of 26 found this review helpful

...And you get a pretty apt description of this load of garbage. I'm sick of people making over Beck as if he was some kind of mystical unfathomable genius of our times...this is radio ready corporate garbage of the highest order...and it's all been done before.I think David Bowie was quoted as saying "It's not who does it first...It's who does it second"...a fitting quote in the context of this over-hyped over-played album.You see,Beck thinks he can take the "Salvador Dali" approach to his art...weird for weird's sake.Salvador Dali once drove a car filled up with cauliflower to a big event..."Look how strange I am everyone" and everyone thought he was some sort of mad genius. Beck tries to do the same with his idiotic stream of consciousness double talk he refers to as his lyrics.Dali was an icon of his particular artistic movement...Beck is not.Beck tries too hard to be weird(ever read or seen an interview with him?...what a pretentious jerk he was on Leno promoting odelay) and needs to learn a simple fact...If you have to try to be something...then you're probably not.What gets me is the people who grew up in the 90's listening to "alternative" radio thinking that when they heard "Loser" they were hearing the prophetic utterings of a new messiah.You really want eccentric?...Well you'll have to look a little harder.Try bands or artists that were never accepted by the mainstream (like the residents,Syd Barrett or R.Stevie Moore to name but a few)and never made a gazillion bucks off of corporate alterna-bilge radio.Odd doesn't always equal genius.In this case it just equals DUMB.