“O Maria” (PDF) from the Beck album, Mutations

After more than a year on tour in support of his 1996 Grammy-nominated album Odelay, Beck came off the road in the spring of 1998 and spent two weeks at Ocean Way Hollywood recording studio with his band, producer Nigel Godrich, and a bunch of unfinished songs. There they recorded 14 songs in 14 days, capturing the sound of the live band in an acoustic setting with minimal effort, while the rest of the music industry pivoted toward ProTools, Autotune, and fully-digital productions. Mutations was not intended to be the follow-up to Odelay - Beck originally wanted to release it independently - but when Geffen Records became aware of the recording session, the album received a major release campaign (including multiple breach-of-contract lawsuits to follow).

Despite its underwhelming reception, Mutations provided Beck with the opportunity to develop his songwriting by exploring the depth of his influences - everything from Delta blues to indie rock, honky tonk to bossa nova - with the help of his band of L.A. session musicians, like trombonist David Ralicke. The recording session established a formula that would earn Beck that coveted Gammy for Album of the Year, eventually.

Here is a YouTube video of Beck performing “O Maria” from HBO Reverb, with an extended trombone solo:

Recommended reading: Beck: The Art of Mutation by Nevin Martell. Published by Pocket Books.