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You'll be strange.
Beck Album #1, Released 1994, Ranking: 8th
I LOVE this
For die hard Beck fans only
she don't wanna be my friend no mo'

Stereopathetic Soul Manure
Beck
Manufacturer: Flipside Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Lo-Fi | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Midnite Vultures
One Foot in the Grave
Mutations
Mellow Gold
Sea Change

ASIN: B000001XKZ
Release Date: 1994-03-24

Tracks:

Pink Noise (Rock Me Amadeus)
Rowboat
Thunder Peel
Waitin' for a Train
Spirit Moves Me
Crystal Clear (Beer)
No Money No Honey
8 . 6 . 82
Total Soul Future (Eat It)
One Foot in the Grave
Aphid Manure Heist
Today Has Been a Fucked up Day
"Rollins Power Sauce"
Puttin It Down
11 . 6 . 45
Cut 1/2 Blues
Jagermeister Pie
Ozzy
Dead Wild Cat
Satan Gave Me a Taco
8 . 4 . 82
Tasergun
Modesto

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When the consensus is that you're the new Dylan, it's your prerogative to rewrite the record industry's rules. So in 1994, the same year Beck had major-label hits with "Loser" and the album Mellow Gold, he saw fit (and was allowed by his label, Geffen) to release three other records on various indie labels. While none challenged Beck's "real" album in quality or sales, Stereopathetic Soul Manure is his most successful collection of unpolished toss-offs. Collecting various low-fi recordings made between 1988 and '93, the record alternates between folkie strumming, pedal-steel country, noise-guitar freakouts, and bizarre soundbites. Not essential, but it has its charms. --Roni Sarig

Customer Reviews:

You'll be strange........2006-07-14

This is collection of random stuff recorded by Beck between 1988 and 1993. It features folk music, country music, guitar freakouts, spoken word tracks and some indescribable weirdness. One of the odd things is some random guy named "Ken" singing a few lines from the Jimmie Rodgers' song "Waiting For a Train". "Rowboat" is a country song (written by Beck) that was famously covered by Johnny Cash. There are two unlisted bonus tracks on the CD. Track 24 features someone saying "Stuck out here in the sand, they shot my mule and burned my wagon. Ran out of sourdough two days ago. Ain't got no more lard. God bless all you folks." Track 25 features five minutes of silence followed by twelve minutes of noise. Serious Beck fans will enjoy this CD, but it may be too "out there" for some people.

Beck Album #1, Released 1994, Ranking: 8th.......2006-07-12

This will be the first in my series of brief reviews spanning Beck's major discography. Technically, "Stereopathetic Soulmanure" was an indie release set to accompany "Mellow Gold" in 1994 as part of Beck's innovative contract with Geffen, which allowed him the privilege of putting out records on independent labels alongside his "major" albums. This arrangement would collapse in 1999, after one such indie effort, "Mutations," was considered by Geffen so good as to warrant a widespread release - naturally, lawsuits and general nastiness ensued. But, in the beginning, all was well and in 1994 Beck virtually exploded on the alt-rock scene with the Loser single. Fans were treated to three albums coming out in the span of one year, of which "Stereopathetic" is certainly the weirdest, most varied, and ultimately head-scratching offering.

The album was recorded over a long period of time, consisting of various demos, experiments, and a few finished songs of stunning quality. As such, it is a mere patchwork of "best-of" goodness from Beck's vault. Other albums, such as the early "Golden Feelings" and demo tapes such as "Fresh Meat + Old Slabs" (put together for Beck's mom's birthday) are also out there, and may be more thematically and temporally consistent, but I will not consider them and focus instead on the few moments of genius found on "Stereopathetic." Beck-ologists could spend hours talking about the stories behind each piece of tape ever uncovered, but this is not the place.

So, one of those stunners that immediately hit the listener with the kind of force that accompanies the birth of a major artist is Rowboat, a classic country song that is so woeful and mourning it even made a fan of Johnny Cash, who covered it a few years later. The superb pedal steel that anchors Rowboat and the album's best track, the dusty travelogue ballad Modesto, elevate the two songs to the sublime. There is a tender, windswept elegance to Beck's delivery that flies in the face of his descriptions as a "slacker," "Gen. X icon," "indie prankster" etc. He is being, or if not, he damn well sounds, deeply sincere. This Hank Williams-inspired character would show up later on "Mutations" and especially on his magnum opus "Sea Change," but the world took little notice when shades of this future were already apparent on "Stereopathetic."

I also have to mention "Puttin' It Down," a rejection-themed acoustic piece that is perfect in its conciseness. Beck's defiant, assured tone and the fuzzy, powerful strumming makes for one of those songs destined to become lost gems.

Finally, it is a bit strange for the smallest and most obscure work in Beck's official discography to produce two of the most popular songs among fans, but so it is. One Foot In The Grave is a raucuous harmonica stomp, presented here in a murky live rendition, which has somehow found its way into almost every one of Beck's shows thereafter (for almost twelve years now, when the harmonica comes out fans go wild, and the improvisations on this song have been endless and remarkably creative).
Satan Gave Me A Taco could almost merit its own review, although, unlike One Foot, it is notable in its subsequent elusiveness. Along with Beck's debut 7" single, the brilliant MTV Makes Me Wanna Smoke Crack, it's the one song a Beck fan would die to hear live (and such events are rare). A story-song of uncommon hilarity and wild inventivity, it unfolds with a slowly developing surrealist twist on the wackiest of ideas and images. Oh yes, and a banjo starts playing. Beck's talent at free-flowing writing (in the purest sense, apart from musicianship) is exercised at various degrees and with various forms of success throughout his career. But Satan Gave Me A Taco is a perfect example of Beck's creative potential when untempered.

As is, in fact, "Stereopathetic" as a whole. There are many interesting moments, and a few extraordinary highlights, but it must be ranked 8th out of 8 in terms of official albums because of the simple fact that, by comparison with all his other efforts, even with "One Foot In The Grave," 1994's other independent release, there is little unity and little polish (ironically, the most disjointed album besides "Stereopathetic" is his latest, the best-of-collage-type "Guero"). As a starting point, it is however a revelation and an unending source of interesting and promising material.

I LOVE this.......2006-02-14

I like all beck. But everyone knows that what made them like beck in the first place was, "Mellow Gold". I've been searching for a beck album that gave that same feeling as mellow gold for a long time. You know that mellow gold feeling?......And I've finally found it. This is a GREAT cd. You should buy it!

For die hard Beck fans only.......2005-12-23

This album is fantastic if you are a true, deep down, die hard Beck fan. If you're not, don't buy it! This album is filled with a lot of noise and very experimental sounds. I am a Beck fan but this album turned me off, with the exceptions of "Satan gave me a taco" [which is absolutely hilarious, as well as one of the few musical bright spots on the album], & "Puttin it down" [a great song from beginning to end]. Songs like "Ozzy", & "Rollins power sauce" are great for their comedic value. Other than those listed, I'm not a big fan of most of the music on this disc.

she don't wanna be my friend no mo'.......2005-09-07

I'm surprised this CD isn't 5 stars yet. This captures Beck's finer expirements. "Rowboat" and "Satan gave me a taco." On Johnny Cash's '96 album "Unleashed" he did a pretty darn good cover of Rowboat. That just is a sample of how royal Beck is.

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