Midnite Vultures

Working titles for the album included Zatyricon (the name of a song released in 2000 as a B-side on the "Nicotine & Gravy" single and later included on the Beck EP) and I Can Smell the V.D. in the Club Tonight (a line from "Milk & Honey").{{cite web|url=http://whiskeyclone.net/ghost/songinfo.php?songID=189|title=Beck "Milk and Honey" Lyrics|publisher=Whiskyclone.net|access-date=24 November 2009}}

Several songs were directly inspired by other songs: "Get Real Paid" features a spiraling sequencer motif reminiscent of Kraftwerk's "Home Computer"; a synth breakdown in "Milk & Honey" echoes a similar riff in Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's "The Message"; "Beautiful Way" came about after listening to The Velvet Underground's "Countess from Hong Kong"; and "Debra" was inspired by both Prince's song "Adore" and the David Bowie song "Win".

Midnite Vultures reached number 34 in the US, where it went gold, and also hit number 19 in the UK. As of July 2008, Midnite Vultures has sold 743,000 copies in the United States.{{cite web|access-date=2008-07-18 |url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1044739/ask-billboard-beck-blind-melon-danity-kane |title=Ask Billboard |publisher=Billboard |date=2008-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080801184958/http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1044739/ask-billboard-beck-blind-melon-danity-kane |archive-date=2008-08-01 |url-status=dead}}

The first promotional shows for the album came in late 1999, including a headlining performance at the first Coachella festival on October 9 alongside The Chemical Brothers, Rage Against the Machine and Tool.

Beck had also appeared on the Saturday Night Live episode (dated December 4),{{Cite web |title=Hijacked Flavors - Concert Info - December 4, 1999 |url=https://whiskeyclone.net/hijacked/concertinfo.php?concertID=407&searchResults=379,380,381,784,382,383,679,384,385,386,387,388,389,390,787,391,392,393,394,395,396,661,397,696,398,399,662,400,401,402,403,771,786,413,687,404,642,405,406,407,408,409,410,411,412 |access-date=2022-10-09 |website=whiskeyclone.net}} The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,{{Cite web |title=Hijacked Flavors - Concert Info - December 10, 1999 |url=https://whiskeyclone.net/hijacked/concertinfo.php?concertID=411&searchResults=379,380,381,784,382,383,679,384,385,386,387,388,389,390,787,391,392,393,394,395,396,661,397,696,398,399,662,400,401,402,403,771,786,413,687,404,642,405,406,407,408,409,410,411,412 |access-date=2022-10-09 |website=whiskeyclone.net}} and the VH1! Fashion Show.{{Cite web |title=Hijacked Flavors - Concert Info - December 5, 1999 |url=https://whiskeyclone.net/hijacked/concertinfo.php?concertID=408&searchResults=379,380,381,784,382,383,679,384,385,386,387,388,389,390,787,391,392,393,394,395,396,661,397,696,398,399,662,400,401,402,403,771,786,413,687,404,642,405,406,407,408,409,410,411,412 |access-date=2022-10-09 |website=whiskeyclone.net}}

During the following year Beck continued to tour, playing in the U.S., Japan, and at large European festivals such as Bizarre Festival, Reading and Leeds Festival and more, playing about 80 shows from January '00 until September '00. The "Vultures" tour was also the last tour featuring DJ Swamp as a part of Beck's touring band, which he had been a part of since 1997.

The first 500,000 copies came in a digipak.

A thirty-second segment of "Beautiful Way" has been bundled with Windows ME as a demo song for Windows Media Player 7, under the name "beck.asf". The song showcased Media Player's Internet integration by displaying a clickable image link.

{{Music ratings

| MC = 83/100{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/midnite-vultures/beck/|title=Reviews for Midnite Vultures by Beck|publisher=Metacritic|access-date=September 13, 2012}}

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/midnite-vultures-mw0000670990|title=Midnite Vultures – Beck|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=September 13, 2012|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine}}

| rev2 = Alternative Press

| rev2score = 5/5{{cite journal|title=Beck: Midnite Vultures|journal=Alternative Press|issue=137|date=December 1999|page=81}}

| rev3 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev3score = A−{{cite magazine|url=http://www.ew.com/article/1999/11/26/midnite-vultures|title=Midnite Vultures|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|date=November 26, 1999|access-date=September 13, 2012|last=Willman|first=Chris}}

| rev4 = The Guardian

| rev4score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite news|title=Arty like it's 1999|work=The Guardian|date=November 12, 1999|last=Cox|first=Tom}}

| rev5 = Los Angeles Times

| rev5score = {{Rating|4|4}}{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-nov-21-ca-35890-story.html|title=Beck Reaches Deeper but Keeps Party Spirit|work=Los Angeles Times|date=November 21, 1999|access-date=January 7, 2016|last=Cromelin|first=Richard|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160828160249/http://articles.latimes.com/1999/nov/21/entertainment/ca-35890|archive-date=August 28, 2016|url-status=live}}

| rev6 = NME

| rev6score = 8/10{{cite journal|url=http://www.nme.com:80/reviews/reviews/19991117113959.html|title=Beck – Midnite Vultures|journal=NME|date=November 17, 1999|access-date=September 13, 2012|last=Cameron|first=Keith|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000818000422/http://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews/19991117113959.html|archive-date=August 18, 2000|url-status=dead}}

| rev7 = Pitchfork

| rev7score = 8.5/10{{cite web|url=http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/15360/Beck_Midnite_Vultures|title=Beck: Midnite Vultures|work=Pitchfork|date=November 25, 1999|access-date=September 13, 2012|last=DiCrescenzo|first=Brent|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061023052118/http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/15360/Beck_Midnite_Vultures|archive-date=October 23, 2006|url-status=dead}}

| rev8 = Q

| rev8score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite journal|url=http://www.qonline.co.uk:80/reviews/server.asp?id=18623|title=Beck: Midnite Vultures|journal=Q|issue=159|date=December 1999|access-date=September 2, 2018|last=Doyle|first=Tom|pages=124–25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000129080200/http://www.qonline.co.uk/reviews/server.asp?id=18623|archive-date=January 29, 2000|url-status=dead}}

| rev9 = Rolling Stone

| rev9score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/midnite-vultures-20021127|title=Midnite Vultures|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=December 9, 1999|access-date=September 13, 2012|last=Pareles|first=Jon|author-link=Jon Pareles}}

| rev10 = Select

| rev10score = 5/5{{cite journal|title=Pretty fly for a white guy|journal=Select|issue=114|date=December 1999|last=Lowe|first=Steve|pages=84–85}}

}}

Midnite Vultures was praised by most critics, and the album holds a score of 83 at Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Jon Pareles of Rolling Stone remarked that on Midnite Vultures, Beck "plays the insider, riding the executive plane through the good life with every need fulfilled." Richard Cromelin of the Los Angeles Times wrote that he gives the album "a cinematic richness, depth and detail with an array of mutations and surprises, from banjo hoedown to electronic effects". The NME felt that the album, while narrower in scope than Odelay, is "more immediate in impact".

Q praised Midnite Vultures as an often "musically dazzling" album, while noting that "the one criticism that can be still levelled at Beck is that his songs remain strangely soulless, failing to ever really grip the emotions or stir the soul." In a mixed review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic states that while the album's initial songs are "tight, catchy, and memorable, the production dense", the "awkward, misguided shift in tone" of "Hollywood Freaks" gives the rest of the album the impression that "for all the ingenuity, it's just a hipster joke." Robert Christgau of The Village Voice felt that "his problem isn't that he tries to be funny, but that his jokes are as forced as his horn charts",{{cite news|url=http://robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pj99.php|title=Flak on Both Sides|work=The Village Voice|date=February 22, 2000|access-date=February 20, 2016|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau}} later giving it a one-star honorable mention rating and remarking that it "does eventually get funky, if anybody cares but me."{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=257|chapter=Beck: Midnite Vultures|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|publisher=St. Martin's Press|year=2000|isbn=0-312-24560-2|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/christgausconsum00chri_0}}

Midnite Vultures was nominated in 2001 for Album of the Year at the 43rd Grammy Awards.

In 2006, Midnite Vultures was named the 50th "Worst Album Ever" by Q.{{cite web|url=http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/qlistspage3.htm#50+Worst+Albums|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060224054627/http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/qlistspage3.htm#50+Worst+Albums|url-status=usurped|archive-date=February 24, 2006|title=Rocklist.net...Q Magazine Lists..|website=Rocklistmusic.co.uk|access-date=January 28, 2018}} Conversely, in 2013, NME ranked the album at number 307 in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.{{cite web|url=http://www.nme.com/photos/the-500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-400-301/324199|title=The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time: 400–301|work=NME|date=23 October 2013|access-date=February 20, 2016}}

{{Track listing

| all_writing = Beck Hansen, except where noted

| headline = Original compact disc release

| title1 = Sexx Laws

| length1 = 3:39

| title2 = Nicotine & Gravy

| length2 = 5:13

| title3 = Mixed Bizness

| length3 = 4:10

| title4 = Get Real Paid

| note4 = {{refn|group=note|Digital releases include "Intro to Get Real Paid" as a distinct track}}

| length4 = 4:44

| title5 = Hollywood Freaks

| writer5 = Hansen, John King, Michael Simpson

| length5 = 3:59

| title6 = Peaches & Cream

| length6 = 4:54

| title7 = Broken Train

| length7 = 4:11

| title8 = Milk & Honey

| writer8 = Hansen, Buzz Clifford

| length8 = 5:18

| title9 = Beautiful Way

| length9 = 5:44

| title10 = Pressure Zone

| note10 = {{refn|group=note|Digital releases include "Intro to Pressure Zone" as a distinct track}}

| length10 = 3:14

| title11 = Debra

| note11 = includes hidden track{{refn|group=note|"Debra" ends at 5:42, an untitled hidden track (sometimes credited as "Midnite Vultures Bonus Noise"{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/master/45208-Beck-Midnite-Vultures|title=Beck - Midnite Vultures | Releases | Discogs|website=Discogs }}) starts at 12:42}}

| writer11 = Ed Green, Hansen, John King, Michael Simpson

| length11 = 13:46

|total_length = 58:52

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Japanese release bonus track

| title12 = Arabian Nights

| note12 = {{refn|group=note|"Arabian Nights" includes hidden track on some pressings}}

| length12 = 5:37

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Best Buy limited edition bonus disc

| title1 = Salt in the Wound

| length1 = 3:24

| title2 = This Is My Crew

| length2 = 3:55

| title3 = Sexx Laws

| note3 = Malibu remix

| length3 = 6:52

}}

;Notes

{{reflist|group=note}}

{{Div col|colwidth=25em}}

• Beck – vocals, production; keyboards (tracks 1, 6, 7, 10), guitar (tracks 2, 6, 7, 9, 10), synthesizer (track 2, 4, 8), piano (track 2), vocoder (track 3, 8), choir vocals (track 4), bass synthesizer (track 5), backing vocals (tracks 6, 7, 10), handclaps (track 6), marimbas (track 7), harmonica (tracks 7, 9), acoustic guitar (track 8), bass (track 9), programming (tracks 1-4, 6-8, 10), mixing (tracks 1-6, 8), horn arrangements (tracks 1, 3, 6)
• Justin Meldal-Johnsen – bass (tracks 1-8, 10), synthesizer (track 2), backing vocals (track 3), shaker (track 3), percussion (tracks 6, 7), handclaps (track 6), guitar (track 8), noise (10), upright bass (track 11)
• Roger Joseph Manning Jr. – synthesizer (tracks 1-8, 10), piano (tracks 1, 2, 8, 10), tambourine (tracks 1, 9, 10), shaker (tracks 1, 10), clavinet (tracks 2, 7, 8), vocoder (track 3, 8), backing vocals (track 3, 10), choir vocals (track 4), organ (track 6, 11), percussion (tracks 6, 7), handclaps (track 6), acoustic guitar (track 7), guitar (track 8), electronic drums (track 8), keyboards (track 9), Fender Rhodes electric piano (track 11)
• Smokey Hormel – guitar (tracks 1, 3, 8, 11)
• Joey Waronker – drums (tracks 3, 7, 8, 10, 11), percussion (track 10)
• David Arthur Brown – tenor sax (tracks 1, 2, 3, 6)
• Jon Birdsong – trumpet (tracks 1, 2, 3, 6)
• David Ralicke – trombone (tracks 1, 2, 3, 6)
• Tony Hoffer – co-production (tracks 3, 4, 8, 10), mixing (tracks 3, 4, 8, 10), programming (tracks 3, 4, 5, 8, 10), sound design (4, 10), engineering (track 3, 4, 8, 10), guitar (track 3, 8)
• David Campbell – viola (track 2), string arrangements (track 2), string conductor (track 2)
• Larry Corbett – cello (track 2)
• Joel Derouin – violin (track 2)
• Brian Gardner – mastering
• Bernie Grundman – mastering
• Greg Leisz – pedal steel (track 9)
• Jay Dee Maness – pedal steel (tracks 1, 9)
• Johnny Marr – guitar (track 8)
• Michael Patterson – mixing (tracks 1-6, 8, 11)
• Herb Pedersen – banjo (tracks 1, 2)
• Fernando Pullum – horn (track 11)
• Joe Turano – horn (track 11), backing vocals (track 11)
• Arnold McCuller – backing vocals (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5)
• Beth Orton – backing vocals (track 9)
• Chris Bellman – mastering
• The Dust Brothers – production (tracks 5, 11), scratching (track 5), programming (track 5), engineering (track 5)
• Robert Carranza – string engineer (track 2)
• Steve Baxter – horn (track 11), backing vocals (track 11)
• Steve Mixdorf – second engineer
• Valerie Pinkston – backing vocals (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5)
• Mickey Petralia – programming (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9), production (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9), engineering (tracks 1, 2, 4, 7, 9), mixing (track 1, 2, 6-10)
• Shauna O'Brien – project manager
• DJ Swamp – scratching (track 2)
• Eve Butler – violin (track 2)
• Charlie Gross – photography
• Arroyo Bombers – gang chorus (track 5)
• Arroyo Tabernacle Men's Chorale – choir (track 6)
• Derek Carlson – second engineer
• Eye – artwork, art direction, design, collage
• Gimbop – layout direction
• Michel Gondry – collage
• SA

{{Div col end}}

{{col-begin}}

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{{col-end}}

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Canada|title=Midnite Vultures|type=album|artist=Beck|relyear=1999|award=Platinum}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Japan|title=Midnite Vultures|type=album|artist=Beck|relyear=1999|award=Gold|certyear=1999|certmonth=12}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|title=Midnite Vultures|type=album|artist=Beck|relyear=1999|award=Gold|id=4273-860-2}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|title=Midnite Vultures|type=album|artist=Beck|relyear=1999|award=Gold|salesamount=743,000|salesref=|access-date=January 6, 2020}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{MusicBrainz release|mbid=53014f5f-355a-4bf3-aeab-70be7b6bb97c|name=Midnite Vultures}}
• {{Metacritic album}}

{{Beck}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1999 albums

Category:Beck albums

Category:Albums arranged by David Campbell (composer)

Category:Albums produced by Tony Hoffer

Category:DGC Records albums

Category:Albums produced by the Dust Brothers

Category:Microsoft Windows sample music

Category:Albums produced by Beck

Category:Albums produced by Mickey Petralia