From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Midnite Vultures
Midnite Vultures
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
The A.V. Club (positive)[2]
E! Online [3]
NME [4]
Pitchfork Media (8.5/10)[5]
Q
Robert Christgau [6]
Rolling Stone [7]
Midnite Vultures
"Get Real Paid" by Beck
Midnite Vultures is the seventh (and fourth major-label)
studio album by American alternative rock artist Beck,
released in November 1999 by Geffen Records. Though
similar to most of Beck’s previous albums in its explo-
ration of widely varying musical styles, Midnite Vultures
didn’t achieve the same blockbuster success as his break-
through, Odelay, though it was still critically and com-
mercially well-received.
Midnite Vultures reached #34 in the US, where it went
gold, and also hit #19 in the UK. As of July 2008, Midnite
Vultures has sold 743,000 copies in the United States.[8]
Studio album by Beck The album was praised by most critics; Rolling Stone,
NME and Pitchfork Media gave it four-star reviews (8.5/
Released November 16, 1999
10 on Pitchfork). It was awarded the status of ’Universal
Recorded July 1998 – June 1999 at Soft Studios Acclaim’ by MetaCritic with a score of 83/100, but in 2006
was named the 50th ’Worst Album Ever’ by Q Magazine,[9]
Genre Alternative rock
Dance-pop despite the fact that they gave the album four stars.
Funk rock Midnite Vultures was nominated in 2001 for Album of
the Year at the 43rd Grammy Awards.
Length 58:24
Several songs were directly inspired by other songs:
Label DGC "Get Real Paid" features a spiraling sequencer motif rem-
iniscent of Kraftwerk’s "It’s More Fun to Compute"; a
Producer Beck Hansen, Tony Hoffer, Mickey Petralia, The
Dust Brothers synth breakdown in "Milk & Honey" echoes a similar
riff in Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s "The
Beck chronology Message"; "Beautiful Way" came about after listening to
The Velvet Underground’s "Countess from Hong Kong";
Mutations Midnite Vultures Sea Change
(1998) (1999) (2002)
and "Debra" was inspired by both Prince’s hit "Raspberry
Beret" and the David Bowie song "Win."
Working titles for the album included Zatyricon (the
Music sample name of a song released in 2000 as a B-side on the "Ni-
"Get Real Paid" cotine & Gravy" single and later included on the Beck EP)
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Midnite Vultures
and I Can Smell the V.D. in the Club Tonight (a line from • "Almost a Ghost" (unreleased)
"Milk & Honey").[10] • "Arabian Nights"
The first 500,000 copies came in a digipak. • "Dirty Dirty"
• "Earthquake Weather"
Track listing •
•
"Midnite Vultures"
"This Is My Crew"
All songs were written by Beck Hansen, except where • "Rental Car"
noted. • "Salt in the Wound"
1. "Sexx Laws" – 3:39 • "Zatyricon"
2. "Nicotine & Gravy" – 5:13
3. "Mixed Bizness" – 4:10
• Ends with 25 seconds of noise (described as
Personnel
"robots doing the nasty").[11] • Beck – synthesizer, guitar, piano, keyboards,
4. "Get Real Paid" – 4:20 programming, vocals, choir, chorus, producer,
5. "Hollywood Freaks" (Hansen, John King, Michael vocoder, horn arrangements, mixing
Simpson) – 3:59 • David Campbell – viola, string arrangements, string
6. "Peaches & Cream" – 4:54 conductor
7. "Broken Train" (originally titled "Out of Kontrol") – • Larry Corbett – cello
4:11 • Joel Derouin – violin
8. "Milk & Honey" (Hansen, Buzz Clifford) – 5:18 • Brian Gardner – mastering
9. "Beautiful Way" – 5:44 • Bernie Grundman – mastering
• Ends with 9 seconds of spray-painting effects. • Greg Leisz – pedal steel
• Seemingly inspired by The Velvet Underground’s • Jay Dee Maness – pedal steel
"Countess from Hong Kong," a demo of which • Johnny Marr – electric guitar
appears on the 1995 box set Peel Slowly and See. • Michael Patterson – mixing
(Beck’s bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen claimed • Herb Pedersen – banjo
they had been listening to the demo while • Fernando Pullum – horn
recording the 1999 b-side "Halo of Gold.") • David Ralicke – trombone
• A sample song on Windows Media Player for • Joe Turano – horn, background vocals
Windows Millennium Edition. • Arnold McCuller – background vocals
10. "Pressure Zone" – 3:07 • Smokey Hormel – guitar
11. "Debra" (Hansen, King, Simpson) – 13:46 • Joey Waronker – percussion, drums
• Ends with 7 minutes of complete silence, and • Beth Orton – background vocals
then 1:04 of hidden electronic noise (fast-paced • Chris Bellman – mastering
drumming, static, a lounge-like synthesizer • The Dust Brothers – scratching, programming,
scape, a reprise of the drumming and static, and producer, engineer
some slowed down vocalizations). • Robert Carranza – string engineer
• Contains elements of "My Love for You" by • Steve Baxter – horn, background vocals
Ramsey Lewis written by Ed Greene. • Justin Meldal-Johnsen – synthesizer, bass, guitar,
percussion, background vocals, handclapping,
Limited Edition bonus disc shaker, upright bass
Initial versions sold at Best Buy stores came with a bonus • Steve Mixdorf – second engineer
disc that contained three songs. • Valerie Pinkston – background vocals
1. "Salt in the Wound" – 3:24 • Roger Joseph Manning Jr. – organ, synthesizer,
2. "This Is My Crew" – 3:55 piano, tambourine, background vocals, choir, chorus,
3. "Sexx Laws" (Malibu remix) – 6:52 clavinet, percussion, shaker, vocoder
Although these were part of the original pressings, they • Mickey Petralia – programming, producer, engineer,
came in a standard jewel case. The bonus disc was en- mixing
closed in a cardboard sleeve outside the jewel case. • Shauna O’Brien – project manager
• DJ Swamp – scratching
• Eve Butler – violin
Additional recordings • Charlie Gross – photography
The following songs were recorded during the Midnite • Arroyo Bombers – choir, chorus
Vultures sessions but did not make the album. Some ap- • Arroyo Tabernacle Men’s Chorale – choir, chorus
pear on the limited edition EP Beck. • Jon Birdsong – trumpet
• Derek Carlson – second engineer
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Midnite Vultures
• Eye – artwork, art direction, design, collage [7] http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/beck/
• Gimbop – layout direction albums/album/96928/rid/5940462/
• Michel Gondry – collage [8] "Ask Billboard". Billboard. 2008-07-18. Archived
• Tony Hoffer – guitar, programming, producer, from the original on 2008-08-01.
engineer, editing, mixing, wah wah guitar, sound http://web.archive.org/web/20080801184958/
design http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/ask_bb/
• David Arthur Brown – tenor sax article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003829442.
Retrieved 2008-07-18.
References [9] Q lists - page3
[10] "Beck "Milk and Honey" Lyrics". Whiskyclone.net.
[1] "Midnite Vultures - Beck". Allmusic. http://whiskeyclone.net/ghost/
http://www.allmusic.com/album/midnite- songinfo.php?songID=189. Retrieved 24 November
vultures-r444589. 2009.
[2] "Beck: Midnite Vultures". The A.V. Club. [11] Healy, Mark (1999-11-08). "Beck: The cut-and-paste
http://www.avclub.com/content/node/12585. whiz kid of Odelay grows up and gets in touch with
[3] http://www.eonline.com/Reviews/Facts/Music/ his inner freak". Rolling Stone.
RevID/0,1107,1582,00.html http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/
[4] "Reviews". NME. http://web.archive.org/web/ 5922638/beck. Retrieved 2007-07-29.
20021014212446/http://www.nme.com/reviews/
3118.htm.
[5] http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/
External links
record_review/15360/Beck_Midnite_Vultures • Midnite Vultures at MusicBrainz
[6] "CG: Beck". Robert Christgau.
http://www.robertchristgau.com/
get_artist.php?id=Beck.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Midnite_Vultures&oldid=462646344"
Categories:
• 1999 albums
• Beck albums
• Albums produced by Tony Hoffer
• DGC Records albums
• Albums produced by the Dust Brothers
• Microsoft Windows sample music
• Albums produced by Beck
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