Customer Reviews

Stray Blues: B Side Collection

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Somebody without alot of sense took this CD back to the used CD shop. One persons waste is anothers gain, and in this case I was quite excited to get this CD for relatively cheap. I don't know how long it will take you to find every single release to get all of these MISC B sides, but one way or another I HIGHLY recommend you finding these songs. Beck borrows a line from Johnny Cash on Halo of Gold, which I am deeply impressed with. In fact, seeming as how Cash plays the Beck song Rowboat on Unchained, it looks like Beck returns the cover-your-song favor by recreating "I Walk The Line." Almost unfamiliar in Beck's hands, it is actually an instant classic, as the steel guitar (I think) twangs in the background as Beck belts out "because your mine I walk the line." The out of place drum sample that breaks through at the end of the song, initially seeming very random to me, is actually a sample of the signature boomchickaboom sound Cash founded his career on, and emphasizes the very obscure way Beck references "I Walk The Line" in this song. Indeed, the major part of the song has little to do with the original. "Halo of Gold" transforms "I Walk The Line" into a modern day version complete with new story line and drama, and captures quintessential Beck- profound knowledge of music history, and a huge capacity to borrow, sample and recreate sounds into something completely his. I also really like Burro, an absolute requisite hear for any fan, the greatness of this song is immediately apparent, especially for fans of the odelay album. (When my brother and I saw Beck unplugged last summer at a small venue, we drove up windows down blaring Burro for good effect.) I have "Electric Music and Summer People" on another single, but this is a different version and quite cool. Totally confused is straight off the Mutations/Seachange vibe and is an excellent song. My Brother really gets into "Brother," although I don't find it quite as stimulating but still very good. "Lemonade" is lo-fi rock that I never quite get into, but this is among the least annoying of Beck's. "Clock" is sheer groove that you'd wanna jam if you had a low rider with hydraulics! "Feather in Your Cap" feels like "Brother" somewhat, but is more acoustic and really captures the "Blues" part of the title. If you enjoy beck albums, take the time to get his singles. I have accumulated 2+ hours of Beck music, a large percentage not just remixes, not on any of the albums. "Halo of Gold" may be his absolute best song for me right now, although I couldn't possibly say that when "Nicotine and Gravy" is still out there! Since I got this stuff pretty recent, its like Beck just came out with two new great albums, Sea Change and MISC B Sides. Don't waste any effort finding these songs, then, Enjoy!

Many of these you may already have...but if you don't you should pick this up! "Halo of Gold" and "Feather in Your Cap" are both great tunes! Some of these are as good or better than those available as A-sides.

All but the first two tracks are available on the 2008 Deluxe Edition of Odelay.

This CD is essential to every person's collection. You cannot consider yourself a true Beck fan if you do not have this. I love tracks 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8. "Burro" is the best song on there. You must have this CD. Buy it now.

If you're a Beck fan, you may already know of the insane amount of B-side and unreleased material that is out there. I have spent ridiculous sums of money tracking down out of print CDs, Euopean releases, etc. In any case, if you love Beck's major label releases, Stray Blues is as great an introduction as you can find as to what is bubbling under Beck's mainstream stuff. Since Amazon doesn't list the tracks, I'll give my own review of each song. You can find more in-depth info on Beck.com about these songs. 1. Totally Confused-great early acoustic number by Beck, really beautiful song. 2. Halo of Gold-from the Mutations sessions so think that vein. It wasn't my cup of tea but it's not bad. 3. Burro-this is a Mariachi version of Jack-Ass with vocals sung in Mexican by Beck! Brilliant! 4. Brother-This was from Beck's first version of Odelay, which was originally going to be all acoustiic tracks. Nice cut w/ Guitar & piano. 5. Lemonade-This song alternates between Beck acoustic and Beck singing over white noise. Only for Da Real, but if you're into Beck's experimental side you won't be disappointed. 6. Electric Music and the Summer People-I have no idea how this got left off Odelay because it's Beck's rockinest party song ever. Beck w/ electric guitar & cheesy casio but, as always, it works. 7. Clock-another Odealy out-take. I personally feel he should have left off "Where It's At" and included this. 8. Feather in Your Cap-from the "Brother" sessions, acoustic and more upbeat. Great track, you can also find this on the "Suburbia" soundtrack. Anyway, this CD only scratches the surface, but it's a great primer. You will not be disappointed, though 30 clams is a lot for 8 songs. By the way, if you ever see his song "Mexico" available it is another unreleased must have. Beck, please stop toying with your fans emotions and make your stuff more readily available!

Hey dudes. Halo of Gold, despite containing lyrics from I Walk the Line is actually a cover of the Skip Spence song. Meow.

I picked up this disc about a year ago, and could'nt be more pleased. All the tracks are completely beck-ian, but since they are B-Sides, many of them do not have over sampling or too mush studio sound. If your into the raw Beck, than this is for you! (Also Amazon offers this album far cheaper than what I paided to get mine...)

If you're a real Beck collector, then you already have these b-sides tracks. If not, then get this knowing that there's other b-sides out there floating around.

Plus 30 bucks for 8 tracks is wack.

to the two morons writing reviews below- why dont you try knowing something about what you're saying before sharing your "knowledge" with the world. halo of gold is a skip spence song and the original skip spence song does contain the line "i walk the line" its sort of sampled into skip spences song writing the way a musical idea might be samples into a beck track. beck's music a great jumping off point into so many music styles and genres and whats best is its ART. popular music has become so generic, lifeless and artless, thank god we have beck to continue on in the spirit of the great rock and roll artists of the past. this compilation is cool but way to brief. hopefully someone will put out a more comprehensive compilation (theres definitely enough unreleased/unavailable beck stuff to fill an entire box set). halo of gold is one of the best beck rarities but if you dont want to pay the high price for "stray blues" you can get it on the tropicalia single. also check out the original of skip spence's album "oar." if you are into good boundary pushing music check out albums like miles davis "on the corner", funkadelic "free your mind and your as will follow", red red meat "theres a star above the manger tonight", captain beefheart "trout mask replica", t.rex "slider", beach boys "pet sounds" and groups like dr octagon, can and faust for starters.
dig it.

Dear msrocks,

I just wanted to point out to you that one does not release an album with a track "sung in Mexican."

But I must say that the mariachi version of "Jackass" is remarkable. Great album, but unless you have oodles of disposable income or are a Beck-o-phile that has to own the factory release of every experiment or song he has recorded, buy yourself a nice meal instead and get a generous Beck fan-club chat-room member to burn you a copy of these songs for the price of a CD-R and the shipping cost.