People, people, people... A word of caution: this is a mostly ACOUSTIC record. It doesn't have the hip dance beats and sample-heavy tracks like "Odelay." It is also VERY lo-fi and sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom. However, this is a masterpiece. It may seem a little weird and unaccessable after the first few listens, but when it clicks, be prepared to be blown away. The songs have genuine emotion and are extremely well-written. I have yet to find a more honest song than "Girl Dreams" in my life that sums up the feelings of rejection without resorting to "f you" and the sorts... If you liked "Mutations," you should enjoy this album. Listen to the sound samples on amazon for chrissakes, then decide if it is something you might enjoy. "One foot in the grave" is one of my favorites, and the only reason it doesn't get 5 stars is because everything on amazon gets 5 stars. I feel that this imho is not on the level of the best records of all time, but a worthy addition to the collection of anyone who loves music.

This will PROBABLY not be embraced by the Beck fans who love "Loser","Lost Cause" and "Devil's Haircut". It's far from the genre-stitching alt-rock that's made him a household name. Here, Mr. Hansen does a bare-bones album that's mostly him and an acoustic or slide guitar performing songs that sound like they've been pulled out of a Coen brothers movie (albeit with dramatically switched lyrics)...traditional folk and blues sounds although only a couple are covers.

HIGHLIGHTS:
"He's a Mighty Good Leader" is a cover of an old Skip James blues number ("Jesus is a Mighty Good Leader") with a verse removed. Maybe Beck was afraid of offending his fans of other religions? "Cyanide Breath Mint" is a veiled dig at the record industry ("They got people to meet/Shaking hands with themselves/Looking out for themselves")"Hollow Log" uses plenty of traditional blues imagery ('get yourself a pistol','stay up all night gettin' drunk') though it's not a real 12 bar, per se. It's more of a "bluesy" folk song that's very nicely done. "***hole" is probably the closest to his latter day material Beck gets in that it's more produced (shaker,tambourine, a vocal that might be doubletracked, vocal "ooh"s) along with a great lyric about being dominated emotionally in a relationship.("She dangles carrots, makes you feel embarrassed/To be the fool you know you are")"I've Seen the Land Beyond" is faux gospel that sounds like something Woody Guthrie might have written. "Fourteen Rivers, Fourteen Floods" has been described on several Beck sites as a Mississippi John Hurt cover, but I can't seem to find a song by that title or with similar lyrics. Perhaps it's his STYLE but a Beck original? Nice slow Delta style blues with ringing slide guitar and Beck stomping his foot to accompany it. "Girl Dreams" is loosely based on the old Carter Family song "Lovers Lane" and is a great evocation of desire unfulfilled (I first met you down on Lover's Lane/The birds were insane, flapping all about/Softly you would sing, swinging in your swing/It wasn't night, it wasn't day/You're just the girl of my dreams/But it seems my dreams never come true")

VALLEYS:
"Ziplock Bag" features a heavily distorted Beck vocal colliding with atonal slide guitar. Its sole purpose seems to be to annoy household pets. There's a thin line between 'raw and loose' and then there's 'just plain sloppy' music.."See Water" crosses that line to my ears. "Burnt Orange Peel" just sounds to me like a tossed off song, but fans of hardcore might enjoy it. It's an anomaly here in that it's amped up distorted punk...throwing off the album's flow.

BOTTOM LINE:
Fans of traditional blues and folk that aren't too "purist" to give this a listen might be surprised to find some gems. More open-minded Beck fans could enjoy this, too, but it's definitely a departure from anything he does on MELLOW GOLD and later albums. I wasn't sure if I'd like this but was pleasantly surprised.

While all of the preppy kids were jamming to "Loser," Beck released two more CD's almost simultaneously with MELLOW GOLD. One was STEREOPATHETIC SOUL MANURE (see reviews), the other was this compilation of folk tracks, mis-titled, ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE. Excluding "Burnt Orange Peel," this is a CD full of songs right out of a Southern Baptist hymnal. The music, almost entirely acoustic, is tradtitional as can be, and the lyrics are stellar. The warped thing is how Beck weaves his modern day dimentia into these neoclassical hymns ("There's blood on the futon...there's a kid drinking fire."), and how he projects his own dismal outlook on our preppy society ("I got a funny feeling they got plastic in the afterlife"), yet, the songs still will fool your grandmother. Quite a few of the tunes consist of Beck, by himself, with an acoustic guitar, and no digital effects or overdubs. Songs like "Hollow Log" are crafted so beautifully, as though they could be played on ANY instrument and still sound good. By no means were these guys just screwing around in the studio...there are too many gems on this CD, and too much talent (fellow Texan Chris Ballew of "The Pres. of the USA" accompanies on many of the tunes). This CD can turn any hard rocker into an avid folk listener...the songs are too genuine to ignore. TRY THIS--listen to this CD in an old pick-up truck with no AC driving through Oklahoma, Kansas or Nebraska, and tell me the Spirit doesn't move you...

I purchased this album about ten years ago and was deeply impressed. I listened to it again this morning and still am.

It's just simple, compelling songwriting, understated execution, and the fuzzy lo-fi underproduction you'd expect from Beat Happening alum Calvin Johnson.

I've probably listened to this album more than any other album in my collection (and given the number in my collection, that's impressive)--Why do I like it so much? This is the album that came out of Beck's younger days when he was homeless and wandering the streets of LA--this speaks of concrete jungles, aimless drifting and minimum wage jobs--it's about the simple, universal things in life--its written in Beck's semi-nonsensical way, but I feel it is really the most emotionally direct album that he's made--every album since this one has had emotional tones, sure, and have even been about personal things (notably Sea Change)--but the production and sound of his later albums are the production and sound of a musician who's made it--attends fancy parties, works with big names, is called a genius by the critic community--One Foot in the Grave was made by a kid in his 20's, been homeless, drifting--doesn't think the album is ever gonna be heard by anyone--doesn't care--just making music to get it out of himself--to let out all those tumultuous feelings that barrage him day after day in a world that doesn't care unless you're somebody--he wasn't a somebody when this was made--he was just a lonesome guy straggling through the polluted streets of LA, wondering if anyone cared, following his muse on a path that he didn't see the end of