LaRM day 32 (Beck)

Woah, between meetings and generally being busy there's not been much listening going on today, and I'm too tired to do much writing either, so briefly we have managed only two records today: One Foot in the Grave (1994) and Odelay (1996) by Beck. One Foot in the Grave was his last low-key, lo-fi record showcasing his interest in outsider folk and blues, and his homemade press play and record experiments. Released within two weeks of his first big budget record, Mellow Gold (which inexplicably I haven't got), it's kind of a deliberate challenge to his own big brother album. There are some fantastic tunes buried in amongst the mass of ramshackle indie messes, but on the whole it's too wilfully difficult to get a handle on (similar to, but nearly as difficult as, his other early albums, Golden Feelings and A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight (which I remember Adam Ball had a copy of, and that must now be worth some serious hard cash...)). Odelay of course is a huge mess, and a fantastic one at that, containing some blistering pop songs (the big guns 'Devil's Haircut' and 'The New Pollution') and some lesser known gems ( I really love 'Ramshackle' and 'Readymade'). As with much of Beck's work it all goes on for too long, but it really is a great piece of mainstream baiting experimental pop. However, speaking of going on too long, my copy is a deluxe reissue thing which goes on for nearly two and a half hours (and a lot of the extras are amazing - a great new 'Feather in Your Cap' and 'Thunder Peel' and naturally some are truly pointless), which of course has contributed to there being nothing else listened to. Hopefully things will be easier tomorrow when we can do the rest of the Beck sesh. See ya.