Midnite Vultures
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''Midnite Vultures'' is the seventh studio album by American musician
Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...
, released on November 16, 1999, by
DGC Records DGC Records (an initialism for the David Geffen Company) was an American record label that operated as a division of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, which is owned by Universal Music Group. In 1999, after the PolyGram merger into UMG which crea ...
. While similar to most of Beck's previous albums in its exploration of widely varying styles, it did not achieve the same blockbuster success as his breakthrough album ''
Odelay ''Odelay'' is the fifth studio album by American musician Beck, released on June 18, 1996, by DGC Records. The album featured several successful singles, including " Where It's At", " Devils Haircut", and " The New Pollution", and peaked at num ...
'', but was still critically acclaimed and commercially successful.


Recording

Working titles for the album included ''Zatyricon'' (the name of a song released in 2000 as a
B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...
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").


Influences

Several songs were directly inspired by other songs: "Get Real Paid" features a spiraling sequencer motif reminiscent of
Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, ) is a Germany, German Electronic music, electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful a ...
's "Home Computer"; a synth breakdown in "Milk & Honey" echoes a similar riff in
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were an American hip hop music, hip hop group formed in the South Bronx of New York City in 1978. The group's members were Grandmaster Flash, Kidd Creole (not to be confused with Kid Creole), Keef Cowboy, ...
's " The Message"; "Beautiful Way" came about after listening to
The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1964. Its classic lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Lou Reed, Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and percussionis ...
's "Countess from Hong Kong"; and " Debra" was inspired by both
Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
's song " Adore" and the
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
song "Win".


Release

''Midnite Vultures'' reached number 34 in the US, where it went
gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
, and also hit number 19 in the UK. As of July 2008, ''Midnite Vultures'' has sold 743,000 copies in the United States. The first promotional shows for the album came in late 1999, including a headlining performance at the first
Coachella Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music festival, music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valle ...
festival on October 9 alongside
The Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands in Manchester in 1992. They were pioneers in bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture. Originally known as The Dust Brothers, th ...
,
Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to Rage) was an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1991. It consisted of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim ...
and
Tool A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by animals, animals use simple tools, only human bei ...
. Beck had also appeared on the
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
episode (dated December 4),
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the fourth and sixth installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Jay Leno, it aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009, replacing ''The Ton ...
, and the VH1! Fashion Show. During the following year
Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...
continued to tour, playing in the U.S., Japan, and at large European festivals such as Bizarre Festival, Reading and Leeds Festival and more, playing about 80 shows from January '00 until September '00. The "Vultures" tour was also the last tour featuring DJ Swamp as a part of Beck's touring band, which he had been a part of since 1997. The first 500,000 copies came in a
digipak Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage. Jewel case A ...
. A thirty-second segment of "Beautiful Way" has been bundled with
Windows ME Windows Me (Millennium Edition) is an operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of Microsoft Windows operating systems. It was the successor to Windows 98, and was released to manufacturing on June 19, 2000, and t ...
as a demo song for
Windows Media Player Windows Media Player (WMP, officially referred to as Windows Media Player Legacy to retronym, distinguish it from Windows Media Player (2022), the new Windows Media Player introduced with Windows 11) is the first media player (application soft ...
7, under the name "beck. asf". The song showcased Media Player's Internet integration by displaying a clickable image link.


Critical reception

''Midnite Vultures'' was praised by most critics, and the album holds a score of 83 at
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Jon Pareles Jon Pareles (born 1953) is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of ''The New York Times''.Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' remarked that on ''Midnite Vultures'', Beck "plays the insider, riding the executive plane through the good life with every need fulfilled." Richard Cromelin of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' 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". The ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'' felt that the album, while narrower in scope than ''
Odelay ''Odelay'' is the fifth studio album by American musician Beck, released on June 18, 1996, by DGC Records. The album featured several successful singles, including " Where It's At", " Devils Haircut", and " The New Pollution", and peaked at num ...
'', is "more immediate in impact". '' 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." In a mixed review,
Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...
of
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
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."
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...
of ''
The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...
'' felt that "his problem isn't that he tries to be funny, but that his jokes are as forced as his horn charts", later giving it a one-star honorable mention rating and remarking that it "does eventually get funky, if anybody cares but me." ''Midnite Vultures'' was nominated in 2001 for Album of the Year at the
43rd Grammy Awards The 43rd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 21, 2001, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 2000. Several artists earned three awards on the night. Steely Dan's haul ...
. In 2006, ''Midnite Vultures'' was named the 50th "Worst Album Ever" by '' Q''. Conversely, in 2013, ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'' ranked the album at number 307 in its list of
the 500 greatest albums of all time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indu ...
.


Track listing

;Notes


Personnel

*
Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...
– vocals, production; keyboards (tracks 1, 6, 7, 10), guitar (tracks 2, 6, 7, 9, 10), synthesizer (track 2, 4, 8), piano (track 2), vocoder (track 3, 8), choir vocals (track 4), bass synthesizer (track 5), backing vocals (tracks 6, 7, 10), handclaps (track 6), marimbas (track 7), harmonica (tracks 7, 9), acoustic guitar (track 8), bass (track 9), programming (tracks 1-4, 6-8, 10), mixing (tracks 1-6, 8), horn arrangements (tracks 1, 3, 6) *
Justin Meldal-Johnsen Justin Meldal-Johnsen (born March 26, 1970) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter and musical director. He is best known for his work with artists such as Beck, Nine Inch Nails, M83, Air, St. Vincent, Wolf Alice, and Deafheave ...
– bass (tracks 1-8, 10), synthesizer (track 2), backing vocals (track 3), shaker (track 3), percussion (tracks 6, 7), handclaps (track 6), guitar (track 8), noise (10), upright bass (track 11) * Roger Joseph Manning Jr. – synthesizer (tracks 1-8, 10), piano (tracks 1, 2, 8, 10), tambourine (tracks 1, 9, 10), shaker (tracks 1, 10), clavinet (tracks 2, 7, 8), vocoder (track 3, 8), backing vocals (track 3, 10), choir vocals (track 4), organ (track 6, 11), percussion (tracks 6, 7), handclaps (track 6), acoustic guitar (track 7), guitar (track 8), electronic drums (track 8), keyboards (track 9), Fender Rhodes electric piano (track 11) *
Smokey Hormel Smokey Hormel (born circa 1959)Cohen (2017) quotes Hormel as saying he was "4 or 5 ears old when "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles was "a big hit on the radio"; the song was released in America in December 1963. is an American guitarist ...
– guitar (tracks 1, 3, 8, 11) *
Joey Waronker Jon Joseph Waronker (born May 20, 1969) is an American drummer and music producer. He has performed with acts including Beck, R.E.M., Oasis and Roger Waters, and is a member of the experimental rock bands Atoms for Peace and Ultraísta. Back ...
– drums (tracks 3, 7, 8, 10, 11), percussion (track 10) * David Arthur Brown – tenor sax (tracks 1, 2, 3, 6) *Jon Birdsong – trumpet (tracks 1, 2, 3, 6) *David Ralicke – trombone (tracks 1, 2, 3, 6) *
Tony Hoffer Tony Hoffer is an American record producer, songwriter, and music mixer. Career Hoffer is credited for his work on multiple platinum-selling albums including Travis, The Kooks, The Thrills, Beck, Supergrass, Turin Brakes and Air. His reco ...
– co-production (tracks 3, 4, 8, 10), mixing (tracks 3, 4, 8, 10), programming (tracks 3, 4, 5, 8, 10), sound design (4, 10), engineering (track 3, 4, 8, 10), guitar (track 3, 8) * David Campbell – viola (track 2), string arrangements (track 2), string conductor (track 2) *Larry Corbett – cello (track 2) *Joel Derouin – violin (track 2) *Brian Gardner – mastering *Bernie Grundman – mastering *
Greg Leisz Gregory Brian Leisz ( ; born September 18, 1949) is an American musician. He is a songwriter, recording artist, and producer. He plays guitar, dobro, mandolin, banjo, lap steel and pedal steel guitar. Biography Leisz grew up in the garage ba ...
– pedal steel (track 9) *Jay Dee Maness – pedal steel (tracks 1, 9) *
Johnny Marr John Martin Marr (Birth name#Maiden and married names, né Maher; born 31 October 1963) is a musician, songwriter and singer. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has sinc ...
– guitar (track 8) * Michael Patterson – mixing (tracks 1-6, 8, 11) *
Herb Pedersen Herbert Joseph Pedersen (born April 27, 1944, in Berkeley, California) is an American musician, guitarist, banjo player, singer-songwriter, and actor who has played a variety of musical styles over the past fifty years including country, blueg ...
– banjo (tracks 1, 2) *Fernando Pullum – horn (track 11) *Joe Turano – horn (track 11), backing vocals (track 11) * Arnold McCuller – backing vocals (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5) *
Beth Orton Elizabeth Caroline Orton (born 14 December 1970) is an English musician known for her "folktronica" sound, which mixes elements of folk and electronica. She was initially recognised for her collaborations with William Orbit, Andrew Weatherall ...
– backing vocals (track 9) *Chris Bellman – mastering * The Dust Brothers – production (tracks 5, 11), scratching (track 5), programming (track 5), engineering (track 5) * Robert Carranza – string engineer (track 2) *Steve Baxter – horn (track 11), backing vocals (track 11) *Steve Mixdorf – second engineer *Valerie Pinkston – backing vocals (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5) * Mickey Petralia – programming (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9), production (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9), engineering (tracks 1, 2, 4, 7, 9), mixing (track 1, 2, 6-10) *Shauna O'Brien – project manager * DJ Swamp – scratching (track 2) *Eve Butler – violin (track 2) *Charlie Gross – photography *Arroyo Bombers – gang chorus (track 5) *Arroyo Tabernacle Men's Chorale – choir (track 6) *Derek Carlson – second engineer *
Eye An eye is a sensory organ that allows an organism to perceive visual information. It detects light and converts it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons (neurones). It is part of an organism's visual system. In higher organisms, the ey ...
– artwork, art direction, design, collage *Gimbop – layout direction *
Michel Gondry Michel Gondry (; born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker and producer noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. Along with Charlie Kaufman, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one o ...
– collage *SA


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


References


External links

* * {{Authority control 1999 albums Beck albums Albums arranged by David Campbell (composer) Albums produced by Tony Hoffer DGC Records albums Albums produced by the Dust Brothers Microsoft Windows sample music Albums produced by Beck Albums produced by Mickey Petralia