Mutations

It's unfortunate how much attention has been paid to how this album was recorded—quickly, without the same level of studio fuss that marked Beck's breakthrough album, Odelay. Beck dropped the lyrical shtick that sometimes marred his sonic wizardry, leaving listeners to wonder if he even believed in the music he was playing. That's not an issue here. At times, he sounds like Ray Davies updated for the '90s, stripping himself bare with lovely, simple songs that linger long after they've supposedly ended. Beck may have made his initial mark with Loser, a clever but insincere admission of inferiority; he's more likely to be remembered for the similar but more heartfelt confession of Nobody's Fault But My Own.

1. Cold Brains
2. Nobody's Fault But My Own
3. Lazy Flies
4. Canceled Check
5. We Live Again
6. Tropicalia
7. Dead Melodies
8. Bottle of Blues
9. O' Maria
10. Sing It Again
11. Static/Diamond Bollocks

The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll