Beck sample?

I know i heard this song before but its on the tip of my tongue! The song Where It's At , the intro with the rhodes sounds so familiar just wondering if any 1 knows who the artist is? Also for the song The New Pollution the part after the sax thier is this wierd sounding keyboard solo, im wondering what type of keyboard it is? thanks again!

The first single off of Odelay "Where It's At" really set the mood for the upcoming huge success of the album. With this song, Beck came dangerously close to losing the "Loser-guy" label and becoming the "Two Turntables and a Microphone-guy." But I don't think Beck would have minded so much.

A relative of "Beercan," Beck shows everyone a good time by writing about a good time. "Where It's At" as a title is a bit of self-reference, indicating that this song is where it's at, and the listener gets to be in on it! From the sounds of a needle to a record groove to the sensuous Casio riff, Beck immediately lets you in on the secret, a happening "a little up the road from the habitations and towns we know." What is this place? Where are we going? You soon learn it's a big party with music and people ("jigsaw jazz and the get-fresh flow / Pulling out jives and jamboree handouts"). The leader of the party though is the DJ ("two turntables and a microphone / Bottles and can and just clap your hands!").

The second verse focuses on the party-goers themselves, wearing Members Only jackets, moving through the room like ambulance drivers. The action comes across brilliantly, with the "whipflash tones" and "hypnotizers" and "hirsutes" and illegal substances ("passin' the dutchie from coast to coast").

In between, Beck uses all sorts of oddly sexy samples, a number of which come from a sex-education album called Sex for Teens (Where It's At!), and is the same place he got the chorus and title of the song. Perhaps all the "Let's make out" samples come from the same place? Beck also samples "Needle to the Groove" by Mantronix (the robotic voice saying "two turntables and a microphone" at 1:23). "That was a good drum break" comes from the Frogs' song "I Don't Care If You Disrespect Me (Just So You Love Me)" though to me it sounds like Beck says the Frogs' line, and doesn't sample it, per se. I'm not sure about that. Anyway, surely, there's more obscure references in the song as well.

Notes:

* "Pass the Dutchie" is a reggae/pop song by Musical Youth from 1982. They were a bunch of teenagers, singing a pro-Marijuana song.
* A website all about sampling claims that Beck samples from Donny Hathaway's groovy "The Ghetto" on this song. Listening to one version of it, I'm not so sure, though the lead keyboard sound was definitely an influence. They have a very similar tone, though I dont think I've heard any pure sampling. I might be wrong.
* Gary Wilson is a New Wave artist from the '70s. He rocked the most. I haven't been able to find much about him on the web, but did locate this description: "This guy is NUTS and fully lets loose on this album of left field New Wave with bizarro electronic fx, improvisational lyrics, manic emotional outbursts, and general kid-in-a-candy-store sonic mayhem." Um, sound familiar? He had one album called You Think You Really Know Me.

UPDATE! Seems that Gary Wilson has been found! After being an underground musician for many years, he was located, and a record label will be releasing his album on CD on April 16, 2002. Beck's old friend, Ross Harris, had a hand in getting it re-released. Wilson, it seems, had just been playing low-key gigs in San Diego, and nobody knew he had was this cult hero! One of his songs is called "6.4=Make-Out."

MORE RECENT UPDATE! Gary has a new record, and has been doing a gig or two in Los Angeles and New York. (Sometimes Ross even plays with him.) Check out more at his website: www.sixpointfour.com