Archive for the ‘Fresh Meat’ Category

new beck demos surface

Sunday, December 23rd, 2007

Our good friend Kristofer has recently acquired some previously-unknown Beck demos! Yeah! These are four-track tapes that are possibly – and this is Kristofer’s belief – the original tapes Beck recorded onto. They feature a number of songs that we’ve come to associate with the 1992 Demo and Don’t Get Bent Out of Shape, which appear to be compilations of this and other material (kind of like Fresh Meat & Old Slabs).

The first tape is labeled Are ??? U Positive. There’s a pic below – can anybody figure out what the mystery word is? Kristofer suggests “feeling”, as in “are you feeling positive”. What do you guys think?

Are ???? U Positive 1Are ???? U Positive 2

Tracklist:

  1. Are You Postive
  2. I’ve Just Seen a Facelift
  3. Trash Can
  4. Mmmmmmmmmm
  5. Fuck You Up & Get High
  6. Tough Fuckin Shit

The second tape is labeled R-Marcel or R-Maxcel or B-Marcel or B-Maxcel or something like that. Any suggestions on this one?

R-Maxcel 1R-Maxcel 2

Tracklist:

  1. Satan Was Way Cool
  2. Don’t Believe the Joke They Put on You
  3. In This World
  4. A Man Named Will
  5. Whiskey Be Your Lover
  6. Don’t Get Bent Out of Shape

Some other notes about the tapes:

  • They seem to be from 1992, though R-Marcel or whatever might be from eariler.
  • Both sleeves feature pictures of a young Beck. Are You Positive‘s sleeve is regular paper, R-Marcel‘s is regular paper covered in tape.
  • It’s unclear at this point whether these songs are the exact same versions that we already have from other tapes. Kristofer will confirm shortly after the holidays.
  • Kristofer will eventually share these on the hub, once he’s able to digitize them.

Post your questions, comments and suggestions and we’ll try to get everything answered!

International Fresh Meat And Old Slabs Week

Monday, December 17th, 2007

So, the other day I played Fresh Meat And Old Slabs for the first time in ages.  And I immediately declared it International Fresh Meat And Old Slabs Week.What does that mean?  I don’t know.  But if you are newer to Beck, it is a good time to download this old gem of a tape.  (You can do that at the BeckHub, instructions here–though use this address instead of the one listed: dc://becktabs.homelinux.org:1411 ).

These old tapes were what really made me a Beck fan.  Back in the day, you could easily get all the CDs, but what joy it was to get on old Beck fansites (Truck’s and Slo-Jam Central and Comat0se’s disco) and read about these tapes and songs.  There was a Beck mailing list too that made connecting with people and actually getting a copy of these tapes.  This spirit has definitely carried on to Whiskeyclone.net here and the group of us who regular the hub.

Fresh Meat itself is a very good collection of songs. Culled from a bunch of sessions/tapes such as Golden Feelings and Don’t Get Bent Out Of Shape, Beck reportedly put together this bunch of songs as a collection for his mother for her birthday. A few copies were distributed–I believe by Bibbe herself–and copies quickly spread among collectors.As a collection though, the tape is fantastic. It runs the gamut of weird tape experiments, hilarious folk songs, heartfelt blues, and lots of little sound interludes. Most of all, Beck shows his early folk/blues mastery with many of his early favorites: “Mexico,” “Heartland Feeling,” and different versions of “Satan Gave Me A Taco,” “Leave Me On The Moon” and “Hollow Log” than you’re probably familiar with. Fun! Not to mention my personal favorite Beck blues, “Going Nowhere Fast.”

My compass is spinning like a gambling wheel
It takes a hideous misfortune for to tell how I feel
Goin’ nowhere fast

I’m sick to my skin with silence and doom
I’ll break my back, I’ll cry on the moon
Goin’ nowhere fast  

What great verses!If you do have this tape, give it some play this week. Post your thoughts/rememberances/feelings below.