I'll give Beck a lot of respect for what he's accomplished over the last few decades but to be honest, I've never been that crazy about anything he released after Mellow Gold. Sure, ¡Odelay! wasn't bad and there are various songs here and there that I've dug but Gold was definitely where it's at, to coin a phrase. In addition to Gold, several CD maxi-singles (ahhh, those were the days mang!) were released on the heels of the "Loser" video breaking big on MTV. The singles were released in the UK and Canada (finding their way to our shores via the brutally overpriced "imports" rack) and were slam packed with some great unreleased material - not the typical filler "live" dreck that usually populated these releases. I've gone ahead and merged the two singles since they both had different tracks entirely - stuff that easily matches the caliber of songs on Mellow Gold. You got the epic trip-hop anthem "Corvette Bummer," the weird acoustic/tribal/experimental "Alcohol" and a six-minute "reject" version of Gold's "Soul Suckin Jerk" (while I prefer the LP version, this is a cool snapshot of Beck fucking around with everything in the studio). "Fume" is a fantastic ode to huffing, "Totally Confused" originally found itself on his 1993 indie effort Golden Feelings - this is a great re-recording and a personal fave of mine. The singles close with "MTV Makes Me Wanna Smoke Crack" - a thinly veiled jibe at the video giant and an unusual look into an alternative universe where Beck is a second rate Vegas lounge act. Enjoy.
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