A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight

Consisting of far more snippets of audio experimentation than actual songs, A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight attests to the fact that, before he discovered the sampler, Beck discovered the tape recorder. For example, the three versions of "Feel Like a Piece of Shit" are the same song (which is just Beck saying, "I feel like a piece of sh*t" over a Casio drum beat) played at three different speeds. Other than experiments like this, the record is an interesting collection of found-sound objects and early, discarded folk tunes. A total of 7,000 copies of this 10" were pressed on the now-defunct Fingerpaint Records, each of which contained its own unique finger-painting. Needless to say, the average listener won't find much on this record in common with Beck's later material (the closest thing to an exception is Stereopathetic Soul Manure). Fans of Golden Feelings and other early Beck recordings, though, should not hesitate to pick this up if the chance arises. ~ Alex Farrill