Mutations (studio album)
by Beck

Album Rating: 80.92
(971/12)
(Including Japanese Edition Bonus Tracks: 1,128/14 = 80.57)

03.11.1998

Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Mutations

It's always been a special album because it contains my favourite Beck track ('Nobody's Fault But My Own') but over the years it's improved like a fine, maturing Buckfast.

1.Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Cold Brains 84
2.Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Nobody's Fault But My Own 99
3.Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Lazy Flies 83
4.Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Canceled Check 76
5.Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - We Live Again 76
6.Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Tropicalia 86
7.Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Dead Melodies 76
8.Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Bottle Of Blues 75
9.Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - O Maria 71
10.Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Sing It Again 76
11.Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Static 83
12.Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Diamond Bollocks 86

Japanese Edition Bonus Tracks:

13.Beck (Mutations Bonus Tracks - USA - Nov 98) - Electric Music and the Summer People 73
14.Beck (Mutations Bonus Tracks - USA - Nov 98) - Runners Dial Zero 84

Ranked in order of preference:

* Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Nobody's Fault But My Own 99
* Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Tropicalia 86
* Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Diamond Bollocks 86
* Beck (Mutations Bonus Tracks - USA - Nov 98) - Runners Dial Zero 84
* Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Cold Brains 84
* Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Static 83
* Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Lazy Flies 83
* Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - We Live Again 76
* Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Dead Melodies 76
* Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Sing It Again 76
* Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Canceled Check 76
* Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - Bottle Of Blues 75
* Beck (Mutations Bonus Tracks - USA - Nov 98) - Electric Music and the Summer People 73
* Beck (Mutations - USA - Nov 98) - O Maria 71

From teague 07/16/2020 07:46

Better than I was expecting it to be. I've once again learned my lesson to never judge an album by its cover.

Wonderful.

From Sandrof1969 02/19/2018 21:08

Il Beck di "Mutations" è una sorta di folksinger proiettato nel futuro, dove le chitarre acustiche e le pedal steel ( vere o artificiali che siano ), invece che rimandare al passato puntano a qualcosa di nuovo. Atmosfere quasi sempre rilassate anche se mai pacificate: oggettivamente non è male, ma gli ho sempre preferito il successivo "Midnight vultures".

There's not much innovation other than the odd raga rock song or bits of alien electronica scattered through the record, but there doesn't need to be since Beck does americana music exceptionally well. "Mutations" is a chilled out country/folk record with Beck's usual great lyricism, improved vocals and no weak tracks. The record flows well and it's an interesting shift from the impossible-to-define "Odelay" that solidifed the fact that Beck is a serious artist capable of handling pretty much anything.

From RoundTheBend 05/15/2016 05:13

Nobody's Fault But My Own is possibly one of Beck's best. I agree this is album is underrated. But that's as a Beck fanboy...

Listen to Bottle of Blues. Repeat a few dozen times.

GREAT album!

When you already have your material "ready", this is what you can do in a studio in just two weeks. Frankly I've never understood why anyone would willingly pay for the use of a studio if they have nothing to work with to begin with...

I'm pretty sure we'd get more and better stuff out if more artists/bands would adhere to this two-weeks-in-a-studio rule.

Beck on his lyrics: "On the one hand, they’re incredibly important; on the other hand, they shouldn’t be important at all." I think Cobain would agree.

It matters how you record your music. We'd all be making music with just computers if the results just wouldn't leave us so damn cold, unaffected, for most parts...

For me christianity and scientology (just to mention two belief systems) are just two alternative methods that promise to rid you from your money and your wealth in exchange for a "purer" conscience and general "understanding". All I can say is that if it works for ya, then good for you, hunny. Just keep it to yourself, that's all.

I'm pretty sure this record will remain as Beck's magnum opus when all the dust has finally settled.

From sszwalbenest 09/10/2013 00:31

I was disappointed with this one. Sadly the hidden track was the highlight.