Description BECK Midnite Vultures ORIGINAL RELEASE MINT UNPLAYED VINYLFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to navigationJump to searchMidnite VulturesStudio album by BeckReleasedNovember 23, 1999RecordedJuly 1998 – June 1999 at Soft StudiosGenreFunk rockR&B[1]Length58:52LabelDGCProducerBeck HansenThe Dust BrothersTony HofferMickey PetraliaBeck chronologyMutations (1998)Midnite Vultures (1999)Stray Blues (2000)Singles from Midnite Vultures"Sexx Laws" Released: October 25, 1999"Mixed Bizness" Released: March 7, 2000"Nicotine & Gravy" Released: July 2000Midnite Vultures is the fourth official studio album and seventh overall by American alternative rock artist Beck, released in November 1999 by DGC Records. While similar to most of Beck's previous albums in its exploration of widely varying musical styles, Midnite Vultures did not achieve the same blockbuster success as his breakthrough album Odelay, but was still critically acclaimed and commercially successful.Contents1Recording2Influences3Release4Critical reception5Track listing6Additional recordings7Personnel8Charts9Certifications10References11External linksRecording[edit]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").[2]Influences[edit]Several songs were directly inspired by other songs: "Get Real Paid" features a spiraling sequencer motif reminiscent of Kraftwerk's "Home Computer"; 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 song "Adore" and the David Bowie song "Win".Release[edit]Midnite Vultures reached number 34 in the US, where it went gold, and also hit number 19 in the UK. As of July 2008, Midnite Vultures has sold 743,000 copies in the United States.[3]The first 500,000 copies came in a digipak.A thirty-second segment of Beautiful Way has been bundled with Windows ME as a demo song for Windows Media Player 7, under the name beck.asf. The song showcased Media Player's Internet integration by displaying a clickable image link .Critical reception[edit]Professional ratingsAggregate scoresSourceRatingMetacritic83/100[4]Review scoresSourceRatingAllMusic[5]Alternative Press5/5[6]Entertainment WeeklyA−[7]The Guardian[8]Los Angeles Times[9]NME8/10[10]Pitchfork8.5/10[11]Q[12]Rolling Stone[13]Select5/5[14]Midnite Vultures was praised by most critics, and the album holds a score of 83 at Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[4] Jon Pareles of Rolling Stone remarked that on Midnite Vultures, Beck "plays the insider, riding the executive plane through the good life with every need fulfilled."[13] Richard Cromelin of the Los Angeles Times wrote that he gives the album "a cinematic richness, depth and detail with an array of mutations and surprises, from banjo hoedown to electronic effects".[9] The NME felt that the album, while narrower in scope than Odelay, is "more immediate in impact".[10]Q praised Midnite Vultures as an often "musically dazzling" album, while noting that "the one criticism that can be still levelled at Beck is that his songs remain strangely soulless, failing to ever really grip the emotions or stir the soul."[12] In a mixed review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic states that while the album's initial songs are "tight, catchy, and memorable, the production dense", the "awkward, misguided shift in tone" of "Hollywood Freaks" gives the rest of the album the impression that "for all the ingenuity, it's just a hipster joke."[5] Robert Christgau of The Village Voice felt that "his problem isn't that he tries to be funny, but that his jokes are as forced as his horn charts",[15] later giving it a one-star honorable mention rating and remarking that it "does eventually get funky, if anybody cares but me."[16]Midnite Vultures was nominated in 2001 for Album of the Year at the 43rd Grammy Awards.In 2006, Midnite Vultures was named the 50th "Worst Album Ever" by Q.[17] Conversely, in 2013, NME ranked the album at number 307 in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[18]Track listing[edit]All tracks written by Beck Hansen, except where noted.No.TitleLength1."Sexx Laws"3:392."Nicotine & Gravy"5:133."Mixed Bizness"4:104."Get Real Paid"4:445."Hollywood Freaks" (Hansen, John King, Michael Simpson)3:596."Peaches & Cream"4:547."Broken Train"4:118."Milk & Honey" (Hansen, Buzz Clifford)5:189."Beautiful Way"5:4410."Pressure Zone"3:1411."Debra" (Ed Green, Hansen, John King, Michael Simpson; "Debra" ends at 5:42, an untitled hidden track starts at 12:42)13:46showJapanese release bonus trackshowBest Buy limited edition bonus discAdditional recordings[edit]The following songs were recorded during the Midnite Vultures sessions but did not make the album. Some appear on the limited edition EP Beck as well as other singles from the album."Almost a Ghost" (unreleased)"Arabian Nights" (appeared as a Japanese bonus track)"Dirty Dirty""Earthquake Weather" (initially an untitled instrumental, later reworked for Guero utilizing elements of the original version)"Midnite Vultures""This Is My Crew""Rental Car" (later reworked for Guero utilizing elements of the original version)"Salt in the Wound""Zatyricon"Personnel[edit]Beck – synthesizer, guitar, piano, keyboards, programming, vocals, choir, chorus, producer, vocoder, horn arrangements, mixingDavid Campbell – viola, string arrangements, string conductorLarry Corbett – celloJoel Derouin – violinBrian Gardner – masteringBernie Grundman – masteringGreg Leisz – pedal steelJay Dee Maness – pedal steelJohnny Marr – electric guitarMichael Patterson – mixingHerb Pedersen – banjoFernando Pullum – hornDavid Ralicke – tromboneJoe Turano – horn, background vocalsArnold McCuller – background vocalsSmokey Hormel – guitarJoey Waronker – percussion, drumsBeth Orton – background vocalsChris Bellman – masteringThe Dust Brothers – scratching, programming, producer, engineerRobert Carranza – string engineerSteve Baxter – horn, background vocalsJustin Meldal-Johnsen – synthesizer, bass, guitar, percussion, background vocals, handclapping, shaker, upright bassSteve Mixdorf – second engineerValerie Pinkston – background vocalsRoger Joseph Manning Jr. – organ, synthesizer, piano, tambourine, background vocals, choir, chorus, clavinet, percussion, shaker, vocoderMickey Petralia – programming, producer, engineer, mixingShauna O'Brien – project managerDJ Swamp – scratchingEve Butler – violinCharlie Gross – photographyArroyo Bombers – choir, chorusArroyo Tabernacle Men's Chorale – choir, chorusJon Birdsong – trumpetDerek Carlson – second engineerEye – artwork, art direction, design, collageGimbop – layout directionMichel Gondry – collageTony Hoffer – guitar, programming, producer, engineer, editing, mixing, wah wah guitar, sound designDavid Arthur Brown – tenor saxSACharts[edit]Charts (1999)Peak positionAustralian Albums (ARIA)[19]34Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[20]41Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[21]32Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[22]26Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[23]88French Albums (SNEP)[24]19German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[25]46New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[26]33Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[27]3Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[28]29Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[29]42UK Albums (OCC)[30]19US Billboard 200[31]34Certifications[edit]RegionCertificationCertified units/SalesCanada (Music Canada)[32]Platinum100,000^Japan (RIAJ)[33]Gold100,000^United Kingdom (BPI)[34]Gold100,000^United States (RIAA)[35]Platinum1,000,000^^shipments figures based on certification alone