I was just listening to Midnite Vultures and noticed more than a few moments where it sounded like it could have been Prince. Specifically, the funky, heavily bass and drum driven grooves, the frequent use falsetto vocals, the occasional horn lines, the sometime use of a rapping lyrical style, and eclectic lyrics. Hollywood Freaks particularly sounds Prince-influenced, but the whole album has the sound.
Has anyone else noticed this? Has Beck admitted to having been influenced by Prince?
Beck is among the most broadly, eclectically influenced synthesizer of styles out there. Prince’s influence sometimes comes to the fore, but it’s almost always there in some degree or another. And while I’ve never heard him specifically mention Prince, he’d be the first to acknowledge his talent as a synthesizer, not creator, of styles.
Sorry, Beck is no Prince. Prince is unique.
And I didn’t say that Beck was Prince, I said he sounds like he was influenced by him.
They both do have rather odd spiritual beliefs.
Beck isn’t as overtly sexual as Prince is. I can see where the comparison’s come from, but I don’t think I’d link them quite that close. Distant cousins, maybe…
When Midnight Vultures came out, every review I read had some variation on the “It’s Beck’s Prince album” line. Although his other albums aren’t so blatantly obvious about it.
I don’t think it’s a bad comparison. Not because Beck sounds like Prince–he only comes close on Midnite Vultures–but in terms of their places relative to the musical mainstream.