Keith Doughty discusses songs, albums and artists that are unappreciated, unknown, and/or unfairly-maligned by the general public. This is Hidden Tracks.

Beck - "Halo of Gold"

“Have you got a fine place to slip to when you're feeling down?”

Although I don’t think Beck is an underappreciated artist, there is a song of his I’ve always liked that is not very well known. Originally released on the Cold Brains EP, Beck’s cover of the Skip Spence song “Halo of Gold” stands out to me particularly when compared to the original version.

Unlike the Beck cover, the original Skip Spence song sounds sloppy and unfinished (for good reason- learn more about Skip Spence here). Spence’s delivery is halting and out of rhythm; the instrumentation is very sparse, just drums and bass.  Beck takes the original melody and lyrics, adds typical Beck instrumentation (while retaining much of the prominent bass line), and performs it in his usual style.

He cleans up the vocal delivery rhythm but keeps the tempo change between the verse and the chorus. The end result could easily fit on several Beck albums despite it being a cover. Even Spence’s peculiar lyrics (born from a mind riddled with LSD and mental disease) could be mistaken for something Beck would write himself. So the song ends up working well as both a cover song and as a Beck song in general.

Original Skip Spence version:

Beck cover:

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Keith Doughty is a non-profit finance professional who in his spare time dabbles in music, politics, and interesting food. He lives and works in Philadelphia, PA.

Contact him at neuroticmonkey.