Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Entertainment Weekly	B
The Guardian
Los Angeles Times
NME	8/10
Pitchfork Media	9.0/10
Q
Rolling Stone
Spin	8/10
The Village Voice	A−

Mutations is the third official studio album and sixth overall by American alternative rock artist Beck, released in 1998 on DGC Records. Though less commercially successful than the preceding Odelay, Mutations established Beck as an eclectic and innovative artist for his sample-free mixture of far-ranging musical genres, including folk rock, bossa nova, psychedelia, country, and blues. The album won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.

Mutations was produced by Nigel Godrich, who was well-known at that point for his previous work with Radiohead. The album contains a number of Moog keyboards, acoustic guitars, and string arrangements. The production style was very different from that of his previous album Odelay, which was heavily influenced by hip hop music and contained many samples. The lyrical content of Mutations is also much more somber and serious than that on Odelay, apparent in the songs "Nobody's Fault But My Own" and "Dead Melodies."

The title Mutations may be a nod to an influential Brazilian band of the late 60s, Os Mutantes. The song "Tropicalia" pastiches the works of Brazilian tropicalia artists of the era.

The record's front cover, a picture of Beck tangled in plastic wrap, was taken by music photographer Autumn de Wilde. Art direction was by abstract artist Robert M. Fisher.

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Wikipedia