Released in 1989, Beet marks Eleventh Dream Day's highly anticipated major label debut on Atlantic Records. Following the raw, explosive college radio success of Prairie School Freakout, the album represents a fascinating transitional period where the Chicago quartet brought their jagged Midwestern guitar rock into a professional recording facility. Recorded at Metro Mobile in Illinois and mixed at the legendary Fort Apache North studio in Boston, Beet gave the band access to cleaner production values without stripping away the core unvarnished power that defined them. It was a bold attempt by a major label to capture the late-1980s underground movement, standing alongside corporate co-opted masterpieces of its era.
The record serves as a showcase for the band’s growing sonic maturity and expanding musical palate. While Rick Rizzo and Baird Figi’s intertwined, Neil Young-inspired guitar duels remain central to the band's identity, Beet introduces warmer, rootsier arrangements and richer vocal textures. Janet Beveridge Bean's presence behind the drum kit and microphone is heavily elevated, providing vital melodic counterpoints to the album's darker, driving vignettes. Despite earning widespread critical praise as an uncompromising indie-to-major transition, the album sadly failed to find a mainstream commercial audience. Today, it is revered as a classic slice of late-80s college rock, seamlessly bridging the gap between underground punk grit and classic American songwriting.
Stepping from a rushed, six-hour midnight session into a major-label budget could have easily ruined Eleventh Dream Day’s fierce identity, but Beet completely defies those corporate expectations. From the opening strides of "Between Here and There," it is immediately clear that the band did not sacrifice their trademark edge for radio play. Instead, the improved studio clarity acts as a magnifying glass, pulling Douglas McCombs' propulsive bass lines and the band’s frantic energy into sharp, punchy focus. The album carries a captivating Velvet Underground-style swagger mixed with an undeniable Midwestern heart.
The record truly thrives on its brilliant ability to balance pure guitar chaos with tighter song craft. On stellar tracks like "Testify" and "Axle," Rizzo and Figi’s guitars still spark, howl, and threaten to boil over into feedback squalls. However, rather than letting the tracks spiral into endless distortion, the band channels that heat into concise, hard-hitting rock structures. There is a deeply compelling tension at play here—it is the sound of a fiercely independent garage band utilizing professional studio space to make their urgent calls sound even louder.
A significant portion of the album's emotional weight relies on Janet Beveridge Bean’s stellar contributions. Her masterful performance on the standout track "Awake I Lie" highlights her evolution as a premier vocal force within the group, cutting through the heavy instrumentation with an aching, memorable clarity. When her vocals intertwine with Rizzo's on "Bomb the Mars Hotel" and "Teenage Pin Queen," the band achieves a rootsy, atmospheric depth that wasn't fully realized on their earlier, more frantic recordings. Her relentless, swinging drum work simultaneously keeps the album's darker narratives moving forward at a breathless pace.
In hindsight, Beet remains a stunning, criminally underappreciated triumph of the alternative rock boom. While Atlantic Records may have struggled to market its wailing feedback and bleak storytelling to a stadium-sized audience, the music has aged beautifully. It stands as an incredibly honest, unaffected record that proves a band can sign a major deal without losing its soul. For anyone exploring the roots of the Chicago indie scene, Beet is an essential, fiercely intelligent chapter that demands a modern re-evaluation.
Ripped to MP3
01. Between Here and There (4:45)
02. Testify (4:03)
03. Bagdad's Last Ride (4:03)
04. Awake I Lie (5:19)
05. Road That Never Winds (3:21)
06. Axle (3:42)
07. Michael Dunne (3:27)
08. Bomb the Mars Hotel (3:29)
09. Teenage Pin Queen (3:56)
10. Love to Hate to Love (3:31)
11. Go (Slight Return) (4:06)
12. Seiche
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