From its kaleidoscopic array of junk-culture musical styles to its assured, surrealistic wordplay,
Beck
's debut album,
Mellow Gold
, is a stunner. Throughout the record,
plays as if there are no divisions between musical genres, freely blending
rock
,
rap
folk
psychedelia
, and
country
. Although his inspired sense of humor occasionally plays like he's a smirking, irony-addled hipster, his music is never kitschy, and his wordplay is constantly inspired. Since
was pieced together from home-recorded tapes, it lacks a coherent production, functioning more as a stylistic sampler: there are the stoner raps of
"Loser"
and
"Beercan,"
the
urban folk
of
"Pay No Mind (Snoozer),"
the mock-
industrial
onslaught of
"Mutherfuker,"
the garagey
"Fuckin' With My Head (Mountain Dew Rock),"
the trancy acoustic
"Blackhole,"
and the gently sardonic
folk-rock
"Nitemare Hippy Girl."
It's a dizzying demonstration of musical skills, yet it's all tied together by a simple yet clever sense of songcraft and a truly original lyrical viewpoint, one that's basic yet as colorful as free verse. By blending boundaries so thoroughly and intoxicatingly,
established a new vein of
alternative rock
, one that was fueled by ideas instead of attitude. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine