Mutations (Beck album)

Mutations is the third ocial studio album and sixth Beck against Geen. As the record was in a markedly
overall by American alternative rock artist Beck, released dierent style than the multi-platinum Odelay, Geens
in 1998 on DGC Records. Though less commercially suc- marketing eort suggested that the album was not an of-
cessful than the preceding Odelay, Mutations established cial follow-up, but this was not given wide credence in
Beck as an eclectic and innovative artist for his sample- the music press.
free mixture of far-ranging musical genres, including folk Singles were released for the songs "Tropicalia", Cold
rock, bossa nova, psychedelia, country, and blues. The Brains (Australia Only), and Nobodys Fault But My
album won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Own (Japan Only). No promotional music videos were
Album.[1] made for any of the singles. Beck appeared on Saturday
Night Live in promotion of Mutations, performing Trop-
icalia and Nobodys Fault But My Own.
1 Background Mutations peaked at #13 in the US, going gold, and
achieved #24 in the UK and #23 in Australia. As of July
1.1 Recording 2008, Mutations has sold 586,000 copies in the United
States.[3]
Mutations was produced by Nigel Godrich, who was well-
known at that point for his previous work with Radiohead.
The album contains a number of Moog keyboards, acous- 1.4 Reception
tic guitars, and string arrangements.[2] The production
style was very dierent from that of his previous album The album received mostly positive reviews, gaining four
Odelay, which was heavily inuenced by hip hop music stars from Rolling Stone and a 9.0 from Pitchfork Media.
and contained many samples. The lyrical content of Mu- Thomas Ward of AllMusic deemed the record one of
tations is also much more somber and serious than that the nest albums of the 1990s.[14]
on Odelay, apparent in the songs Nobodys Fault But My
Own and Dead Melodies.
2 Track listing
1.2 Title and packaging
All tracks written by Beck Hansen.
The title Mutations may be a nod to an inuential Brazil-
ian band of the late 60s, Os Mutantes. The song Trop-
icalia pastiches the works of Brazilian tropicalia artists 2.1 Bonus tracks
of the era.
There are a variety of bonus tracks on non-U.S. pressings
The records front cover, a picture of Beck tangled in
of the album.
plastic wrap, was taken by music photographer Autumn
de Wilde. Art direction was by abstract artist Robert M.
Fisher. Electric Music and the Summer People (Japanese
release track 12).
The interior artwork features sculptures and drawings by
artist Tim Hawkinson. Diamond Bollocks is track 12 (track 13 on
Japanese release), whereas it is an unlisted hidden
track on the US Release.
1.3 Release
Runners Dial Zero": (UK, German releases track
Before beginning the recording sessions, Beck gained 13 and Japanese release track 14).
permission from the major label he was under contract
with, Geen, to release Mutations on the small indie la- Halo of Gold (German Limited Edition track 14).
bel Bong Load Records. However, when Geen execu-
tives heard the album, they reneged on their agreement Black Balloon (German Limited Edition track
and released the record. This led to a lawsuit led by 15).

1
2 7 EXTERNAL LINKS

3 Personnel [7] Nichols, Natalie (November 1, 1998). Some Intriguing

'Mutations". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 20,
2016.
Beck guitar, harmonica, piano, glockenspiel, syn-
thesizer, vocals, producer [8] Segal, Victoria (October 29, 1998). Beck Mutations.
NME. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Re-
Elliot Caine trumpet trieved September 13, 2012.

David Campbell arranger, conductor, viola [9] Lieberman, Neil (November 1, 1998). Beck: Muta-
tions. Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on
Larry Corbett cello December 4, 2008. Retrieved June 1, 2012.

Warren Klein sitar, tamboura [10] Beck: Mutations. Q (159): 115. December 1999.
[11] Brackett, Nathan (November 27, 2002). Mutations.
Bob Ludwig mastering Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
David Ralicke ute, trombone [12] Wolk, Douglas (December 1998). Beck: Mutations.
Spin. 14 (12): 17072. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
Nigel Godrich producer, mixing
[13] Christgau, Robert (December 15, 1998). Consumer
Smokey Hormel guitar, percussion, background Guide. The Village Voice. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
vocals, cuica [14] AllMusic review for the track "Cold Brains"
Joey Waronker percussion, drums, synthesizer [15] "Australiancharts.com Beck Mutations. Hung Me-
drums dien. Retrieved February 12, 2014.

Robert Fisher art direction [16] "Beck Chart history Billboard Canadian Albums Chart
for Beck. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
Justin Meldal-Johnsen bass, percussion, back- [17] "Beck: Mutations (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat IFPI
ground vocals Finland. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
Roger Manning synthesizer, organ, keyboards, [18] "Lescharts.com Beck Mutations. Hung Medien. Re-
harpsichord, background vocals, percussion trieved February 12, 2014.

John Sorenson assistant engineer [19] "Ocialcharts.de Beck Mutations. GfK Entertain-
ment Charts. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
Charlie Gross photography [20] "Charts.org.nz Beck Mutations. Hung Medien. Re-
trieved February 12, 2014.
Autumn de Wilde photography
[21] "Norwegiancharts.com Beck Mutations. Hung Me-
dien. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
4 Charts [22] "Swedishcharts.com Beck Mutations. Hung Medien.
Retrieved February 12, 2014.

5 Certications [23] "Swisscharts.com Beck Mutations. Hung Medien.

Retrieved February 12, 2014.
[24] Ocial Albums Chart Top 100. Ocial Charts Com-
6 References pany. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
[25] Beck Chart history Billboard 200 for Beck. Retrieved
[1] Grammy Awards: Best Alternative Music Performance.
February 12, 2014.
Rock On The Net. Retrieved 2012-03-02.
[26] Canadian album certications Beck Mutations.
[2] AllMusic credits entry for Mutations Music Canada.
[3] Ask Billboard. Billboard. 2008-07-18. Archived from [27] American album certications Beck Mutations.
the original on 2008-08-01. Retrieved 2008-07-18. Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary,
click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then
[4] Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Mutations Beck. click SEARCH
AllMusic. Retrieved September 13, 2012.

[5] Browne, David (October 30, 1998). Mutations.

Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 13, 2012. 7 External links
[6] Sullivan, Caroline (November 6, 1998). Beck: Muta- Mutations at MusicBrainz
tions (Geen)". The Guardian.
 3

8 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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Mutations (Beck album) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutations_(Beck_album)?oldid=775570446 Contributors: Mortene,
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Jaxl, L1759, BGC, CapitalLetterBeginning, Jogers, SmackBot, Chairman S., Evanreyes, Hraefen, Thom, COMPFUNK2, Derek R Bullam-
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master, Me and my robot, Pavskies, PurpleHz, Jevansen, TheMindsEye, TXiKiBoT, Jaespinoza, H3xx, Whatsthismornings, WereSpielChe-
quers, Phe-bot, Holiday56, REM Monster, Seedbot, Brain seltzer, Swanrizla, Titan50, Another Believer, Indopug, LeRoytheKing, Wik-
Head, Addbot, Dan56, Tassedethe, DinoBot2, Luckas-bot, Yobot, J Milburn Bot, Synchronism, AnomieBOT, Saginaw-hitchhiker, Gio-
vannii84, Mr. Frank, FrescoBot, Motorizer, Yawaraey, Mellowgold17, Klbrain, H3llBot, AndrewOne, CactusBot, Bubbleoui, Mayast,
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mous: 49

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