Tropicalia (song)

Last updated
"Tropicalia"
Beck - Tropicalia.jpg
Single by Beck
from the album Mutations
B-side "Halo of Gold" / "Black Balloon"
Released7 December 1998 (UK)
Genre Tropicália
Length3:23
Label Geffen
GFS 22365 (UK, 7")
GFSTD-22365 (UK, CD)
Songwriter(s) Beck Hansen
Producer(s) Nigel Godrich and Beck Hansen
Beck singles chronology
"Deadweight"
(1997)
"Tropicalia"
(1998)
"Cold Brains"
(1999)

"Tropicalia" is a song from Beck's 1998 album Mutations . It was released as a single in the UK in December 1998. The B-side "Halo of Gold" is a drastically reworked cover version of "Furry Heroine (Halo of Gold)" by Skip Spence.

Contents

Background

Beck said that "Tropicalia"'s inspiration was "I've always loved a lot of different exotic music. I've been listening to Brazilian music since I was a kid, but I haven't really felt it was something that would come naturally until the last few years. I think for something like 'Tropicalia' I needed to go to places where that music existed in order to get to the point where I could do it myself. I wrote it in the back of the bus on tour, and then later I put lyrics to it. A lot of times I write the melody and the chords of the songs sometimes years before I ever get around it writing lyrics, so it just sits there incubating." [1]

Beck does not play any instrument in the song. [1]

Track listings

CD

  1. "Tropicalia" – 3:23
  2. "Halo of Gold" – 4:29
  3. "Black Balloon" – 3:30

7"

  1. "Tropicalia" – 3:23
  2. "Halo of Gold" – 4:29

Personnel

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beck</span> American musician (born 1970)

Beck David Hansen, known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his experimental and lo-fi style, and became known for creating musical collages of wide-ranging genres. He has musically encompassed folk, funk, soul, hip hop, electronica, alternative rock, country, and psychedelia. He has released 14 studio albums, as well as several non-album singles and a book of sheet music.

<i>Mutations</i> (Beck album) 1998 studio album by Beck

Mutations is the sixth studio album by the American songwriter Beck, released on November 3, 1998, by DGC Records. Though less commercially successful than the preceding Odelay, it won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.

<i>Sea Change</i> (album) 2002 studio album by Beck

Sea Change is the eighth studio album by American musician Beck, released on September 24, 2002, by Geffen Records. Recorded over a two-month period in Los Angeles with producer Nigel Godrich, the album features themes of heartbreak and desolation, solitude, and loneliness. For the album, much of Beck's trademark cryptic and ironic lyrics were replaced by simpler, more sincere lyrics. He also eschewed the heavy sampling of his previous albums for live instrumentation. Beck cited the breakup with his longtime girlfriend as the major influence on the album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loser (Beck song)</span> 1993 single by Beck

"Loser" is a single by American musician Beck. It was written by Beck and record producer Carl Stephenson, who both produced the song with Tom Rothrock. "Loser" was initially released as Beck's second single by independent record label Bong Load Custom Records on 12-inch vinyl format with catalog number BL5 on March 8, 1993.

<i>Comes a Time</i> 1978 studio album by Neil Young

Comes a Time is the ninth studio album by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Neil Young, released by Reprise Records in October 1978. The album is largely performed in a quiet folk and country style. It features backing harmonies sung by Nicolette Larson and additional accompaniment by musicians that had accompanied Young on his commercial pinnacle, Harvest. Like Harvest, the lyrics to many of its songs are inspired by relationships. In his memoir, Waging Heavy Peace, Young describes Comes a Time as one of his best albums ever.

<i>B-Sides & Rarities</i> (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album) 2005 compilation album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

B-Sides & Rarities is a compilation album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in March 2005. It features over 20 years of the band's B-sides and previously unreleased tracks. It is also the first recording to include all members of the Bad Seeds, past and present up to the time of its release: current members Mick Harvey, Blixa Bargeld, Thomas Wydler, Martyn P. Casey, Conway Savage, Jim Sclavunos, and Warren Ellis, and former members Barry Adamson, Hugo Race, Kid Congo Powers, Roland Wolf, and James Johnston. A second volume, B-Sides & Rarities Part II, was released in October 2021.

<i>Keasbey Nights</i> Album by Catch 22

Keasbey Nights is the debut album by the American ska punk band Catch 22, released on March 24, 1998, by Victory Records. It is the only album by the band's original lineup, as singer/songwriter/guitarist Tomas Kalnoky, bassist Josh Ansley, and horn player James Egan all left the group later that year. Kalnoky re-recorded the entire album in 2006 with his new band Streetlight Manifesto in response to Victory's plan to re-release it. The album's title references Keasbey, New Jersey, an unincorporated area within the Woodbridge Township of Middlesex County.

<i>Silver & Gold</i> (Neil Young album) 2000 studio album by Neil Young

Silver & Gold is the 25th studio album by Canadian/American musician Neil Young, released on April 25, 2000. Like the previous albums Comes a Time and Harvest Moon and the subsequent Prairie Wind, it largely features acoustic performances with a backing band of Nashville musicians with a long history of collaboration with Young.

<i>Prairie Wind</i> 2005 studio album by Neil Young

Prairie Wind is the 28th studio album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, released on September 27, 2005.

<i>Trans</i> (album) 1983 studio album by Neil Young

Trans is the thirteenth studio album by Canadian-American musician and singer-songwriter Neil Young, released on January 10, 1983. Recorded and released during his Geffen era in the 1980s, its electronic sound baffled many fans upon its initial release—a Sennheiser vocoder VSM201 features prominently in six of the nine tracks.

<i>The Information</i> (Beck album) 2006 studio album by Beck

The Information is the tenth studio album by American musician Beck, released on October 3, 2006 by Interscope Records. It was produced and mixed by Nigel Godrich, with whom Beck recorded Mutations (1998) and Sea Change (2002). Recording took place from 2003 to 2006, with Beck concurrently working on 2005's Guero with the Dust Brothers. The album received positive reviews from critics and made several publications' year-end lists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cold Brains</span> 1999 single by Beck

"Cold Brains" is a song by Beck. It appears on his 1998 album Mutations. The song was also released as a single. It was also released in Australia as an exclusive tour EP. Three of the B-sides, "One of These Days", "Diamond in the Sleaze" and "Electric Music and the Summer People", had previously been Japanese exclusives, and as such this EP became a very popular import, especially as those tracks had still not been released officially in the UK, Europe or US as of 2014.

<i>Kissin Time</i> 2002 studio album by Marianne Faithfull

Kissin Time is the 15th studio album by British singer Marianne Faithfull.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deadweight (song)</span> 1997 single by Beck

"Deadweight" is a single by American musician Beck, released as a single from the soundtrack to the 1997 romantic black comedy film A Life Less Ordinary. The song was nominated for Best Song from a Movie at the 1998 MTV Movie Awards but lost to Will Smith's "Men in Black". The song can also be found on the deluxe version of Beck's fifth studio album, Odelay (1996).

<i>Poetic Justice</i> (Steve Harley album) 1996 studio album by Steve Harley

Poetic Justice is the fourth solo studio album by English singer-songwriter Steve Harley, which was released by Transatlantic on 26 August 1996.

<i>No Pier Pressure</i> 2015 studio album by Brian Wilson

No Pier Pressure is the tenth studio album by American musician Brian Wilson, released April 7, 2015 on Capitol Records. Originally planned as a follow-up to the Beach Boys' 2012 reunion album That's Why God Made the Radio, No Pier Pressure is the first solo Wilson LP devoted primarily to new and original material since That Lucky Old Sun (2008). It features guest performances by contemporary artists Sebu Simonian of Capital Cities, Kacey Musgraves, She & Him, Nate Ruess of Fun and Peter Hollens. Original Beach Boys members Al Jardine and David Marks also feature alongside former band member Blondie Chaplin.

<i>Trampoline</i> (Joe Henry album) 1996 studio album by Joe Henry

Trampoline is the sixth studio album by Joe Henry, released in 1996. It featured a musical collaboration between Henry and guitarist Page Hamilton of alternative metal band Helmet and included a cover version of "Let Me Have It All" from Sly and the Family Stone's 1973 Fresh album.

<i>Quanta Live</i> 1998 live album by Gilberto Gil

Quanta gente veio ver: Ao Vivo, known internationally as Quanta Live, is a Grammy-winning 1998 album by Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil recorded live with a seven-piece band at the Teatro João Caetano in Rio de Janeiro during his 1997 world tour. At the 41st Annual Grammy Awards, it won the award for Best World Album. The album's tracks span a number of musical styles, including tropicalia, a genre with which Gil is closely associated, as well as samba, funk, bossa nova, reggae, jazz, salsa, and pop.

<i>Freewheelin Woman</i> 2022 studio album by Jewel

Freewheelin' Woman is the thirteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Jewel, released on April 15, 2022, via her own label, Words Matter Media. It is Jewel's first album in seven years, following 2015's Picking Up the Pieces. The album was co-produced by Jewel and Butch Walker and was developed with the intention for Jewel to create music that she felt connected to and excited about rather than creating in order to meet expectations. Lyrically, the album touches on themes of independence, hope, womanhood, and heartbreak.

<i>18</i> (Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp album) 2022 studio album by Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp

18 is a collaborative studio album by musicians Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp. Released on 15 July 2022 on Rhino Records, it is Beck's final studio album released before his death in January 2023.

References

  1. 1 2 "Beck Song Information - Tropicalia".