Primer: Beck Part 6- Midnite Vultures

There are certain albums that I'm embarrassed to play, not because I don't think I should like them but because other people will get the wrong idea about me. It's all well and good to say that what you like doesn't determine what you are like, but it has to have some bearing on your personality, doesn't it?? I like Midnite Vultures but I don't like it as an ironic wink-and-an-eyebrow-raise to sexy music. I like it because, somewhere deep inside of all of us, there's a sexy freak waiting to bump and grind in dance clubs and take off his or her clothes while purring dirty things to strangers.

So, yeah, Midnite Vultures is embarrassing to play with other people in your car or the same room. I suspect it could go either way with a girlfriend, though it never occurred to me to see when I had them. This album is embarrassing because, even in today's increasingly more open social atmosphere, sexuality is still a very private thing. It's something you mostly do alone, or with one other person (maybe more than one, if you frequently attend orgires or one of those guys I see in male/female/female threesome videos). In the same way that you can be totally absorbed in a romantic scene in a movie and have it ruined when someone else walks into the room, Midnite Vultures seems overblown and ridiculous when someone who isn't feeling it happens by and gives you a critical glare.

But let's push aside the naysayers and put on some cologne (or perfume) and our sexiest silk boxers (panties), because when you are ready to get down--whether this means dancing or knocking boots...well, I'll leave that to you--then Midnite Vultures will be ready for you. The album can be lazily summarized as Beck's exercise in funk, R&B, electronic music (mostly 'Get Real Paid'), and soul. However, the result is less pastiche and more his unique take and reconstruction than anything else. The closest the album comes to obvious-ness is 'Debra', an over the top slow jam about wanting to get with a girl named Jenny and her sister, who he thinks is named Debra. Purportedly, on tours during this era, a bed was lowered from the ceiling for this song. Classy.

Midnite Vultures quickly makes its intentions known with the opener 'Sexx Laws', in which Beck confesses/brags that he's a full grown man who's not afraid to cry, but that he also wants to defy the logic of all sex laws. Metaphorically speaking. Er, wait, no, literally speaking. 'Sexx Laws' is the perfect way to kick off the record because while it seems obvious and easy on first listen, it soon reveals interesting touches, like the banjo during the outro. 'Nicotine & Gravy', despite having an booty shaking groove, also manages to rhyme 'Israeli' with 'lazy' and 'gravy. 'Get Real Paid' recalls both Daft Punk and Kraftwerk, only, you know, sexy. Sexier?? Ah well. Any song with a roboticized Beck pleading with you "touch my a$$ if you're qualified" is a good one. 'Hollywood Freaks' brings in a shot or two of hip hop to keep the party bouncing, while 'Beautiful Way' is a soulful late-album ballad with Beth Orton dueting in her sultry way.

All told, Midnite Vultures is an almost masterpiece, and an interesting left turn from an artist who's entire career seemed to be built on odd left turns. If Midnite Vultures doesn't quite stand up to repeated listens like Odelay and Mutations do, well, it's not supposed to. This is an album you throw on when you're in the mood, or trying to get someone else in the mood. This also happens to be the last wholly party-centric Beck album; later Odelay-sequels Guero and The Information add noticeable shades of darkness and sobriety. But we'll get to that later. For now, pour another drink, loosen your tie, and have fun.