Cons: A couple of distorted breaks in the mood, seriously lo-fi
The Bottom Line: This is lo-fi singer-songwriter goodness that would never have seen the light of day had Beck never become a Big Star. The world is better for its existence.
shilmafone's Full Review: One Foot in the Grave by Beck
Sea Change changed it all.
The release of that album this past Fall pushed Beck from the "brilliant novelty act" category to the "serious and legitimate artist" category in the eyes of much of the record-buying public. Beck's categorization as a party-boy has always been a little bit inaccurate, however--there have always been many sides to Beck Hansen. Before he broke into the scene with "Loser", Beck made a whole mess of crude homemade demos of his original folk songs. When all is said and done, he's probably got more man-and-his-guitar-style folk songs out there than party anthems--it's just that nobody paid attention before Sea Change.
One Foot In the Grave was released a mere five months after Beck's Geffen debut Mellow Gold was unleashed upon the world, and quite frankly, nobody cared. There's no "Loser" on this album, heck, there's nothing that could even remotely come close to passing for a single. Guitars are out of tune, things are recorded in one take, voices break, the performers cough. All of it is captured for the listener, and it can be incredibly disconcerting for someone expecting the sort of polished production his major-label discs put on display. Instead, the music is the star of the show. Remarkably simple, endearing melodies and acoustic guitar lines dominate the sound, with a couple of spontaneous moments of lo-fi overdriven near-punk-rock thrown in for good measure...you know, just in case we were getting too comfortable in the mellow acoustic vibe.
Defiantly beginning the proceedings is "He's a Mighty Good Leader", which is actually a Skip James song ever-so-slightly rearranged by Beck. The lightly plucked guitar line is the star of the show here, as the low notes buzz against the guitar and Beck manages to keep rhythm in a free-form sort of way. "Sleeping Bag" and "I Get Lonesome" follow, "Sleeping Bag" ambling along at a moderate pace with some fairly humorous lyrics and "I Get Lonesome" drowning in sorrow as the simple one-note-at-a-time guitar line pushes the proceedings slower than any music really has a right to go. Calvin Johnson's bass backup vocals add to the mood and push the song even deeper into the muck--it's not pretty, but it's got feeling, you've got to admit that.
Then there's "Burnt Orange Peel", which is a minute and a half blast of punk rock with unintelligible vocals saying things like I've got a garden hose and a color TV! It's a hell of a wakeup call after the lull of "I Get Lonesome".
"Cyanide Breath Mint" is my favorite track on the album, mostly for the lyrics, which seem a bit like a snide commentary on the music industry:
Going down to the sea, they got people to meet
Shaking hands with themselves, looking out for themselves
Even the more bizarre lyrics like I've got a funny feeling they've got plastic in the afterlife seem rife with cynicism, even if it's a bit more abstract than those other two lines would indicate. "See Water" is even slower than "I Get Lonesome", which most normal human beings probably wouldn't think possible. Then there's "Ziplock Bag", which my brother happens to like, but I think is a tuneless, loud, distorted mess that should never have seen the light of day. To each their own, I suppose. "Hollow Log" is a Beck folk classic, with lyrics vaguely alluding to homelessness, and "Forcefield" is a longer (if less noteworthy) slice of folky goodness. "Fourteen Rivers, Fourteen Floods" brings back the blues, but this one's "fi" is just a little too "lo" for me I think. Beck sounds like he's in the next room, guitars slide all over the place, occasionally hitting the right notes, and Beck's either smacking the guitar or stamping his foot for rhythm, but it's just a constant dull thud that doesn't add up to much. I could do without it, really.
"@$$hole" is probably the most famous song from the album, thanks mostly to the fact that it was covered by Tom Petty for the She's the One soundtrack. Really, it's a great, poignant song that happens to have a disarmingly honest and funny chorus. Here are some lyrics, because I like them so much:
Your brains went black when she took back her love
and put it out into the sun
The birds all did fly when the heavens all went dry
and the cigarettes were smoking by themselves
She'll do anything, she'll do anything,
she'll do anything to make you feel like an @$$hole
Yeah, good stuff! Tasty Beck nuggets! Then he follows it up with the fantastic acoustic gospel ditty "I've Seen the Land Beyond", and you feel like you're partying around the campfire with your boy Beck Hansen. That's the level of intimacy so much of this album strives for, and largely achieves.
The final four tracks, "Outcome", "Girl Dreams", "Painted Eyelids" and "Atmospheric Conditions" are all pretty run-of-the-mill folk tunes. "Painted Eyelids is my personal favorite, as it's another wistful ode to homelessness, sung in such vivid colors as to make it seem like paradise. "Outcome" features a rather prominent in-studio cough, as if to prove that anything went in these sessions--if it happened, it's there. "Girl Dreams" is a pretty straightforward forlorn love song (You're just the girl of my dreams / But it seems my dreams never come true). The album finally closes with "Atmospheric Conditions", a two minute ode to, um, the atmosphere, with more of Calvin Johnson's deep bass vocals.
When I bought this album, I hated it.
See? I can admit that. Years later, though, I put it in, and either I've gotten stupid in my old age or my musical tastes have matured more than a little bit. I can stomach Beck without the hip-hop and the party, or even the production. These are fantastic songs with just enough grit behind them to make them believable. One Foot In the Grave is not an album for the Acoustic Beck newbie--even acoustic offerings Mutations and especially Sea Change would be better options for your first foray into Beck's serious side. If you're done with those and you've got the hankerin' for more, check out One Foot In the Grave to see where it all came from--I have a feeling you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Recommended to anyone looking for an unexpectedly nice, concise folk album.
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