Beck - One Foot In The Grave: Expanded Edition

Low-key, lo-fi fan favourite expanded; I don’t believe it!

While Beck was hailed king of the slackers following surprise mega-hit Loser, he was actually busy releasing three albums in 1994, across three different labels. Geffen won the major label bidding war that surrounded him the previous year, but included an unprecedented contract clause that allowed Beck to release less commercial material on indies such as Bong Load, the imprint behind the 500 Loser 12”s that first caused such a stir in the first place.

OFITG came out on the indie-till-I-die K imprint in June ’94, three months after Geffen’s Loser-housing Mellow Gold, and one of the earliest signals that Beck would never stick to one style. Contrasting with Mellow Gold’s hip-hop folk, OFITG pulled up Beck’s traditional folk and blues roots. No mere pastiche artist, however, they came mutated through lo-fi recordings where you “cut your hand on the atmosphere… the atmosphere is split in two, staring at you”. Just like the Delta bluesmen, Beck sees decay around every corner – only his world is built around potato stew, trash bags for kids and police sirens singing like skinless tigers; shades of lost loves breaking through on Asshole and Painted Eyelids.

An entire albums’ worth of outtakes doubles the original 16 tracks, giving us the rare It’s All In Your Mind 7”, and more twisted modern blues, revealing that Beck’s earth was on fire well before Modern Guilt.

XL XLCD | 443

Reviewed by Jason Draper
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