One Foot in the Grave (Beck album)

"One Foot in the Grave (album)" redirects here. For the Tankard album, see One Foot in the Grave (Tankard album).

One Foot in the Grave
Studio album by
Beck
ReleasedJune 27, 1994
RecordedOctober 1993 and January 1994
StudioDub Narcotic Studio, Olympia, Washington
Genre
Length37:05
72:57 (deluxe edition)
LabelK, Iliad, Geffen
ProducerCalvin Johnson
Beck chronology
Mellow Gold
(1994) 		One Foot in the Grave
(1994) 		Odelay
(1996)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
American Songwriter[2]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[3]
Los Angeles Times[4]
NME7/10[5]
Pitchfork7.8/10[6]
Record Collector[7]
Rolling Stone[8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[9]
Uncut[10]

One Foot in the Grave is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock musician Beck, released in June 1994 on K Records, an independent label. It was recorded prior to the release of Mellow Gold, but was not released until after that album had met critical and commercial success. One Foot in the Grave shows a strong lo-fi and folk influence, and features several songs that are interpolations or covers of songs popularized by artists like Skip James and The Carter Family.

One Foot in the Grave features production, songwriting, and backing vocal assistance by Calvin Johnson, founder of K Records and Beat Happening. It also features performances by Built to Spill members James Bertram and Scott Plouf, Love as Laughter's Sam Jayne, as well as The Presidents of the United States of America frontman Chris Ballew. The album was recorded at Dub Narcotic Studio, which at the time was housed in Johnson's basement.

Like Stereopathetic Soulmanure, the album never charted; however, One Foot in the Grave strengthened Beck's critical reputation, arguably allowing him to break into the mainstream with Odelay in 1996. As of July 2008, One Foot in the Grave had sold 168,000 copies in the United States.[11] On April 14, 2009, the album was reissued with 16 bonus tracks, including 12 unreleased tracks, by Beck's own Iliad label.[12]

  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "One Foot in the Grave – Beck". AllMusic. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
  2. ^ Schlansky, Evan (July 1, 2009). "Beck > One Foot In The Grave (Deluxe Reissue)". American Songwriter. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  3. ^ Browne, David (August 5, 1994). "One Foot in the Grave". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
  4. ^ Cromelin, Richard (July 3, 1994). "Minimalist Hootenanny From Independent Beck". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  5. ^ "Beck: One Foot in the Grave". NME. December 9, 1995. p. 39.
  6. ^ Powell, Mike (April 23, 2009). "Beck: One Foot in the Grave". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
  7. ^ Draper, Jason (July 2009). "Beck – One Foot In The Grave: Expanded Edition". Record Collector. No. 364. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  8. ^ Kemp, Mark (May 12, 2009). "One Foot in the Grave (Reissue)". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
  9. ^ Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Beck". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 55–56. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  10. ^ Robinson, John (May 22, 2009). "Beck – One Foot In The Grave (Deluxe Edition)". Uncut. Archived from the original on October 9, 2015. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  11. ^ "Ask Billboard". Billboard. July 18, 2008. Archived from the original on August 1, 2008. Retrieved July 18, 2008.
  12. ^ "Beck Reissues One Foot in the Grave with a Ton of Bonus Cuts". Stereogum. Retrieved March 4, 2012.