Beck - Midnite Vultures (Geffen) Beck Hansen must be one of the few icons in modern pop music to have his name coined as a genre in itself: whenever an album rich in musical diversity or an artist indulging in innovation and eclecticism pops up, people call him the new Beck.
Since 1996, when he released his last 'proper' album, Odelay, countless pretenders have arisen to lay claim to Beck's throne. Being the unpredictable genius he is, however, Beck's follow-up is a surprise: he swiftly moved to pastures anew, leaving behind the folk-and-synths vibes that defined his past. And timely it is, too: Midnite Vultures is an all-glam, all-kitsch album, an 11-track album drenched in the most fervent elements of soul and disco.
It was like a tribute to the fun-loving decadence of the 1970s and 80s: Mixed Bizness, a piece of disco-funk complete with wah-wah guitars and 'ooh-ooh-ooh' harmonies. Hollywood Freaks makes a mockery of showbiz excesses in its own vocabulary - Beck doing a quirky rap over slick hip-hop; while Peaches And Cream and Debra take their cues from the best soul classics from people such as Prince.
Those who fell for Beck's stop-gap release last year, the stripped-down and highly endearing Mutations, will be astounded by the wild gesticulations Midnite Vultures offers. But then, if you love Beck, you have to embrace plurality. And this record would be a fantastic textbook to learn from.
- Clarence Tsui Jay-Z - Vol 3 . . . Life And Times Of S. Carter (Roc-A-Fella Records) Commercial hip-hop's premier ghetto spokesman - whose street credibility was undoubtedly bolstered recently when he was charged with the stabbing of hip-hop mogul Lance Rivera - returns with yet more articulations of the life of a former drug-dealer.
Shawn Carter, better known as Jay-Z, does on his fourth effort what the hip-hop game has come to expect - spews rhymes about his Brooklyn stomping grounds, his women and his millions.
Jay-Z's lyrical subject matter has been a constant since his phenomenal debut, Reasonable Doubt. What has changed though is the calibre of those lyrics. With a knack for creating verbally dazzling verses about life in the inner city, Jay-Z lately has slacked on his once-glorious story-telling. Vol 3, however, shows signs of the earlier Jay-Z with tighter, lucid, better-constructed rhymes.
