Stereopathetic Soulmanure

A schizophrenic collection of lo-fi recordings from between 1988 and 1993, Stereopathetic Soulmanure didn't have much in common with Beck's breakthrough album Mellow Gold, which arrived just a few weeks later. Much of the music on the album draws from the noisy, experimental post-punk of Sonic Youth and the dirty, primitive junk rock of Pussy Galore; his absurdist sense of humor surfaces only rarely, and only in the guise of such sophomoric cuts as "Puttin It Down" and "Satan Gave Me a Taco," while his sense of songcraft is inaudible. A bid for indie credibility that may have scared away fans who discovered Beck through Mellow Gold, Stereopathetic is as uncompromising and as unlistenable as Sonic Youth or their many imitators at their most extreme. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine