Beck: Classic Or Dud

Ludo

Question A: Place Lenny Kravitz and Beck in order of popularity.

A: Lenny Kravitz, Beck

Question B: Why, then, is Lenny Kravitz more popular than Beck, considering that both are derivative of a particular time of music that can be placed, and both have a style that can be traced to two artists/genres (Kravitz::Beatles and Hendrix as Beck::James Brown and Stax)

A: Kravitz manages to attain broad cross-generational popularity, as those who like his influences tend to like him as well. On the other hand, those who like Beck's influences tend not to like Beck. Critical appreciation of Brown and Stax is driven more by the notion of "authenticity". Kravitz' sound was driven out by Punk, whereas James Brown and Stax never went away. The death of rock is always hailed, the death of soul never. Additionally, imagine a girl requesting a Beck video on TRL. What does she say? "I want Beck's devil's haircut, cuz' its so weird and funny." Beck traffics (for the general, not critical audience) in weirdness, and his ability to merge weirdness (not surrealism, just weirdness) with 60s Stax grooves. Kravitz, when he is requested, is "hot" and "rocks! Whooo!".

Conclusion: Popularity of Kravitz comes from the need of the older generation to have something to cling to in the new. Popularity of Beck is repackaging of what has been done before.

A (part 2): Kravitz is infinitely more stylish than Beck, who has become a slave to the form -- wears suits, dances with feet and not rest of body. Kravitz carries self as rock-star, with guitar slung low, mirrored sunglasses, etc. Beck, despite all pretensions is still too self-conscious.

Question C: Consider Beck by himself, and why is he more popular than Jon Spencer, whose style can be traced to two artist/genres (rockabilly/roots rock)?

A: Spencer is less eclectic than Beck, and more self conscious. Go figure.

Anyhow, Beck is neither classic nor dud. Can't you think of more vile, love'em hate'em artists these days, mon cheri? Beck just exists. Some of his songs are good. "Loser" is good, though sometimes not necessarily in the sense that, say, Dusty Springfield is good if you get my drift. "Jackass" is good. "Devil's Haircut" is adequate. Some of his songs are bad. He's really sort of in the middle, isn't he?

He's not an offensive personality, at least.

peace, Ludo

I figure I'd enjoy his stage show, a nice dose of showmanship methinks and he's got a cool looking bassist and Roger Manning on keys.

Some good tracks but on the whole not classic and so not comparable to Prince.

Well both are midgets, so you can compare them. ;)

I think he's kinda cute'n'cuddly.

I don't think Beck is very good at interviews. When ever I see him on the tv being interviewed, it looks like the most awkward experience for interviewer & him. They aren't much fun to read, either.

Beck & Bjork seem to get the most awful descriptions in their writing. "Man(or woman)-child-fetus-space-pixie-cowboy-enigma" This sort of characterization has actually sort of petered off circa Mutations, for Beck. Bjork's still sadly stuck.

He used to be my favorite artist, now I'm not so sure. He hasn't put out an album in far too long. I want to know what he'll try to do. I get the feeling he's just given up. In the meantime, news about him makes me feel weird. Dating Wynona Ryder and becoming a Scientologist.

That said, I didn't listen to his stuff for about a year. I picked it up again about a week ago. The only album that left me with the feeling it used to was "Odelay".

As for Adam and Ben Williams, they need to get their heads on straight. How can judge Beck's character? You haven't even met him. Do you read Q magazine and say, "Hmm, his personality looks one diemensional. And as for Ben Williams, Beck is not even a Scientologist. If your going to make a lame judgement at least get your story straight.

It pisses me off to no end when people associate Beck with irony. Why is it so hard to believe that a young white male might have genuine fondness for James Brown/Henry Mancini/Hank Williams? Why do ppl assume that Beck's bizarre lyrics and, err, interesting wardrobe represent a will to mock the genres he's using, and not just a will to bring his own personality to the fore in the music he loves? Why do ppl assume that just because *they're* cynical and jaded, everyone else must be, too?

I saw Beck on the Midnite Vultures tour. It was wild. It was funky. It was fun. It had every characteristic that a good Funk concert should have, and of course it's miles away from James Brown, but so what? Beck isn't JB, but he can emphasise with Brown's music and bring his own party to it. And yeah, he has a sense of humor, but so do Outkast. So did Sly Stone and Afrika Bambaata and Prince. Were they being "ironic", too?

So, yeah, I find Beck to be a classic. In a biography of his that I've read he says something to the effect that he considers his music to be a big house, and every genre is a different room that's invariably warm and inviting- that's what I love about the man, his enormous capability to embrace every genre you could care to think of and adapt it to his own personality.

Who has Beck influenced?

Most Quirk Pop in general reminds me of Beck- someone's already mentioned The Beta Band. I'd add Cake and The Eels to that list.

I don't think Beck is very good at interviews. When ever I see him on the tv being interviewed, it looks like the most awkward experience for interviewer & him

Taking sides: Beck being interviewed by Thurston Moore vs. Beck being interviewed by Space Ghost. I love both to bits.

And as for Ben Williams, Beck is not even a Scientologist. If your going to make a lame judgement at least get your story straight.

Actually, Beck has expressed an interest in scientology lately. But Prince's a Jehova's Witness, so whadyagonnado...

Generally speaking I'd call that evidence for the prosecution.

so there...

Nardwaur: Beck why should people care about you and not your haircut?
Beck: Fuck off (hangs up)
One of the reasons I heart E more then Beck.

Funny you should say that...

Well, you lost me right there.

Actually, Beck has expressed an interest in scientology lately.<<

Actually, no he hasn't. And he's been more honest about his relationship to Scientology than any one of the 95,000 asinine gossip threads I've read about this.

Wasn't that bit on Odelay?

I don't believe a thing that comes out of his mouth. His music seems to originate in his pinky finger and his big toe. Then he has the nerve to make an ernest, dark album. And we're supposed to dig it?

Cotton candy with hipster flavoring. Irony to the point of nothingness.

Sorry, wrong. That is Beck. You can say the same thing about the first three Beatles albums, although the comparison ends there.

Who has Beck influenced?

Well, me for one. And Radiohead and everyone who has heard his stuff and realizes that there are no boundries to music and that adding a good melody to the sound of breaking glass is a good thing.

His appearance on MTV's 120 Minutes. The one where he and Thurston Moore smash up a phone. So there.

Also, Beck is so classic it hurts.

I think it's kinda cheeky to sample two songs from the same album, and it sucks that Them Again hasn't gotten the recognition it deserves (it's my second-favorite album of '66, behind that one with the goats and the Cooper Black typeface and Brian Wilson on the cover), but hearing "I Can Only Give You Everything" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" in conjunction with "Devil's Haircut" and "Jack-Ass" makes both the Them songs and the Beck songs sound a bit stronger in a complementary way.

I'm there, dude.

If you want to hear a weird stylistic evolution, listen to the way he attempts to sing folk on some of his 1991-92 demos (thinking Don't Get Bent Out of Shape and/or Fresh Meat and Old Slabs here) -- he does just fine as a screaming anti-folk Fluxus psycho ("Fume") but some of the songs which seem to be geared more towards a straight-faced folk/blues/roots sound are almost unbearable; stuff like "Why Can't I Believe In You" are halfway competent but just croaky and nasal enough to make it somewhat grating. It's a voice more suited for singing weird songs about getting cut in half than it is for Woody Guthrie-style folk. Fortunately he got his shit together around '93 or so, when he recorded parts of Stereopathetic Soulmanure and One Foot in the Grave and sung those sorts of songs with a more subdued and controlled voice. (All you have to do is compare his '92 recording of "Hollow Log" from Fresh Meat with the one from One Foot -- though maybe it's part in the recording technique.) Now compare that '93/'94 stuff -- and songs like "Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1997" and "Ramshackle" (recorded in '94, tacked onto the end of Odelay) -- to "Jack-Ass"... and then compare "Jack-Ass" to anything from Sea Change.

anyone dare argue?

...well founded criticism more than welcome..

So did he, apparently.

purist.
i say 'odelay', of course. 'sea change' is a great record, too, despite the fact that some critics couldn't manage that he was being serious all of a sudden. it didn't fit in with their preconceptions of him so they slagged it with the usual "he's just wearing another mask" type of bla bla.

looking forward to the next one. i hear it's a really upbeat, messed-up record. great!

1.) I'm trying to figure out what song I recently saw Beck perform on an old SNL. It was with a backing band of about 5 or 6 people (with female vocalist(s)) and was really funky-like. My guess is that it was definitely post-Odelay but pre-Sea Change. It was very good.

2.) Does anyone remember that NY Times Magazine article a few years back that had a graphic of what songs were on Beck's iPod? By chance does anyone know if it is posted somewhere online?

I thank you.

Beck's 198-Track Mind
Published: March 17, 2002, Sunday

His appearance on MTV's 120 Minutes. The one where he and Thurston Moore smash up a phone.

No, that's not being ironic. That's being retarded.

uh, he was pretty much born into scientology

Candycane Shim-sham

by Beck

Candy-cane shimsham
love to make the door jam
up until the sun rise
thinking 'bout fruit pies

planning for the end days
taking in some heat rays
making all the girls cry
waiting til the pearls dry

ETC. WHATEVA

and the remix album? yipes.

making all the girls cry
waiting til the pearls dry

no one's ever heard of a pearl necklace? it does take some time to dry.

A generation of kids embracing a song whose refrain is "I'm a loser" seems pretty ironic to me. And I may be going out on a limb here, but I'm pretty sure Beck is not calling himself a loser in this song, but rather he's being "tongue in cheek," which some people like to refer to as "irony." However I don't think Beck's music has ever strived specifically for irony. But yeah, you asked for one thing, and there it is.

Mutations remains one of the most beautiful and perfect records I've ever heard.

http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/663/threeboobs0xr.jpg

i guess sarcasm doesn't transfer in print gear

!
I'm gonna have to hear that. Here is Information thread:

is the new Beck album "The Information" going under the radar?

Liking the new album a lot.

there is a whole thread for that album:

Beck - Modern Guilt

his remake of diamond dogs with timbo is one of the best things either have ever done. shame they didnt do more together.

Never saw the pants-wetting deal about this schmuck. Ween is far better and funnier. Mixing genres of music is nothing new and it's NOT an indication of genius.

Two Beck questions:
1.) I'm trying to figure out what song I recently saw Beck perform on an old SNL. It was with a backing band of about 5 or 6 people (with female vocalist(s)) and was really funky-like. My guess is that it was definitely post-Odelay but pre-Sea Change. It was very good.

2.) Does anyone remember that NY Times Magazine article a few years back that had a graphic of what songs were on Beck's iPod? By chance does anyone know if it is posted somewhere online?

I thank you.

Belatedly, here is the answer to question 2 (a graphic in PDF):

Out of the 8,000 songs Beck has downloaded onto his hard drive, he's got a rotating mix of hundreds on his iPod that he updates daily. This is what Beck was listening to on Feb. 27, 2002

this thread is sad.

Standing in your office trying to talk to anacondas
Eking solace from the sawdust while your doppelganger stands topless

The Charlotte Gainsbourg album is really good

I was obsessed w everything he did right up until Sea Change. B-sides, mixtapes, all that stuff. Everything I've heard since then is just so dull and boring. The b-sides of Midnight Vultures are probably the apex of his studio career.

Also, OTM on the greatness of "Beercan".

man One Foot in teh Grave and Mellow Gold are still super-duper classic to my ears. i liked Odelay, Mutations and Midnight Vutlures to varying degrees.

Could be a complete coincidence, but it seems like the wind went right out of his sails when he went public as a you-know-what.

yup

Mutations was the first record I ever reviewed (school paper), they didn't ask me back when I panned it

Mutations is probably my favorite of his, love the Bayou/Speakeasy kind of vibe than runs throughout.

One Foot in the Grave is the only Beck album worth listening to anymore.

there's a fume
in this truck
and I don't know if we're dead
or what
the fuck
is go-ing onnnnnnnnnnnn

Steve Threw Up is great too. Plus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co4iSYZAJXE

His 2 verses on the Childish Gambino track are really good!?!? Wish the old Beck would come back and kill new Beck

with a taser gun

stuff salad down his throat and infect his entrails with aphids

Wish the old Beck would come back and kill new Beck

New Beck is Old Beck, who killed Young Beck.

Running through the minimall in my underwear

lol I am the only person on this board who likes Guero

duh

I like all of his post-Midnite albums to varying degrees, but there was a definite dropoff in quality.

Beck is probably the only musician i thought really highly of at 15 that i have no particular affection for, nostalgic or otherwise, now (those records still sound fine, but not as good as they used to)

Same.

Just realized 'Debra' is basically Bowie's 'Win'

Quite a few of his songs from Midnite Vultures on are very derivative of other tunes, e.g.:

Dark Star: Stevie Wonder - Have A Talk With God
Round The Bend: Nick Drake - River Man
Cellphone's Dead: Herbie Hancock - Chameleon
Paper Tiger: Serge Gainsbourg - Melody
Chemtrails: Aphrodite's Child - The Four Horsemen

There are probably more that I don't recognise.

TS: sampling songs vs. using them as jumping off points for originals

lifting the 'win' riff for debra = classic

thx to finefinemusic for the tip on this: http://soundcloud.com/jaylaporte/beck-i-just-started-hating

Beck recently collaborated with Jack White to release a new single on Third Man. The 7″ features the new tracks “I Just Started Hating Some People Today” and “Blue Randy.” White produced both songs, playing drums on the latter and adding “punk vocals” to the former. “I Just Started Hating Some People Today” begins as an old-school country jaunt that suddenly switches up into hardcore punk, and becomes a funky porno groove at the end.

Sounds like crap.

OTM on whoever said Beck became a victim of Scientology, right after Midnight Vulture.

he never wasn't

yeah I don't think that has much to do with it

Maybe he just started sucking.

np JF! If that came on the radio, only a word or two could even come close to cluing me into the fact that that was Beck. Doesn't sound like him at all. Actually sounds like an earnest 70s to 80s(? my knowledge of this genre lacks) country song but I will enjoy it ironically anyway, first thing he's done that interested me at all *since* Mutations.

I like the main part of the song, before it goes all bonkers punk/funk on the way out.

(Those parts are nice too, but I wish the proper part of the song was left unfuckedwith).

this is brilliant.

it is pretty ingenious

however what if the songs suck

Beck makes a big assumption that most people can still read sheet music?

End-around On The Pirating Business.

Here’s the most brilliant part of the idea, and the part that appeals to the marketer in me. You can’t just download this album, you have to buy it. It’s not digital, it’s paper. Beck has successfully found a loophole in our digital addictions. A loophole that will find musicians and non-musicians alike wanting to purchase such a novelty, either to play the music privately, publicly, or simply to follow along while listening to the world bring the music to life. Sure, someone will probably scan the sheet music into pdfs and send them around, but my gut tells me that, since Beck isn’t recording this music himself, the only way for Beck fans to truly experience Beck within this medium is to buy the full-color, beautifully designed package in a store

I'm moderately ashamed to say that I download bootleg pdf sheetmusic all the time.

Second part of that thought being that this will be up on mediafire in short order.

Beck makes a big assumption that most people can still read sheet music?

well I dunno if he assumes "most people" - he's obviously making an assumption about his fanbase and this does limit it. fwiw I can read chord charts but sheet music eh not really (a skill I have forgotten due to lack of use)

Most musicians can't read sheet music, let alone fans.

(He would be much better off doing it in Tab tbh)

Some sheet music has the chords written, maybe even the guitar forms. If not, then EGBDF is the code breaker.

he should have released midi or Finale files, then everyone could just load their favorite plugins and bounce down the tracks.

LOL @ that slobbering article, tho. But cool for Beck. Not sure how 'fresh' and 'genius' this innovation is tho, it's pretty much the standard way things were done before recorded music, back when everybody had a piano in their house. Just swap out 'piano' with 'Garage Band'. Are there going to be specific arrangements?

I could see music teachers in high schools and colleges using this medium as a teaching platform for students.

Sheet music being used to teach students? No way...

Neat idea

LOL @ that slobbering article

yeah really. classic author bio.

I am the Founder & CEO of Ideasicle, a virtual marketing-ideas company pioneering the "Expert Sourcing" model.

the sheet music idea is pretty corny imo. no surprise it's a McSweeney's collaboration.

I absolutely love the thinking behind this idea

however I will probably never buy this

Bad article, I download tonnes of scores. I'll buy it, sure, sounds fun. I bought the Gonzales sheet music and it was a solid purchase

Bad article, I download tonnes of scores. I'll buy it, sure, sounds fun. I bought the Gonzales sheet music and it was a solid purchase

Bad article, I download tonnes of scores. I'll buy it, sure, sounds fun. I bought the Gonzales sheet music and it was a solid purchase

Bad article, I download tonnes of scores. I'll buy it, sure, sounds fun. I bought the Gonzales sheet music and it was a solid purchase

Love the idea. And yet...

The songs here are as unfailingly exciting as you’d expect from their author, but if you want to hear “Do We? We Do,” or “Don’t Act Like Your Heart Isn’t Hard,” bringing them to life depends on you.

...that bolded title is SO McSweeney's.

Beck makes a big assumption that most people can still read sheet music?

― Chewton Mendip (White Chocolate Cheesecake), Friday, August 10, 2012 12:29 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

p sure this isn't targeted at most people. also fwiw learning how to read sheet music when you already know how to play an instrument intuitively is like 10000000000x easier than learning how to play an unfamiliar instrument when you know how to read sheet music*. also if yr an electronic music person, then either a) being able to sight read isn't a thing, just painstakingly plot it out like u always do or b) it still isn't a thing because the way a lot music software seems to work is by mimicking the basic structure of sheet music: higher tones are higher up on the thing you're looking at, tones that come quickly one after another are closer together, or explicitly linked.

this is a cool idea, if corned up with the mcsweeney's association, but cool. i probably wont buy it but if it encourages other "popular" musicians to actually put out official sheet music/tab, then i'm down.

*nb this might just be sour grapes because i can plonk out the sequence of anything on a piano, given some sheet music, even though i haven't played regularly since i was eight---but i'll never at any point in my life be able to say "i can play the piano."

I want Orbital to put out sheet music for Wonky

I'm pretty competent with fakebook-style sheet music -- i.e., a right-hand melodic line and chord names. If it's more complicated than that, sometimes I can slowly pick it out, though at a certain point I'm simply not technically skilled to pull off moving parts with both hands.

On piano, that is.

right but you can read a fakebook

i mean the great thing about sheet music is that it makes learning/practicing go a lot more quickly. the difference between me looking at a piece of paper with instructions vs me trying to remember what i'm supposed to be doing next is getting it right the fifth time vs getting it right the 30th time

anyway figuring out sheet music is somewhere between learning how to play guitar hero and learning how to play D&D probably, harder than figuring out what to do with a checkers game, easier than emacs

my friends' band publishes the sheet music for their stuff and might very well make more money on that than on the records (but they have a big brass nerd following).

has anyone released and album only for player piano roll?

Did Conlon Nancarrow?

has anyone released and album only for player piano roll?

I think this is an April Fool's joke: http://wilcoworld.net/#!/the-whole-love-now-available-on-piano-roll/

Beck has been seriously doing work the last few years--and seemingly just for the joy of it, since it's been almost totally under the radar (with some of the best of it released for free).

Newest example, and totally incredible: a "remix" of five years of Philip Glass' oeuvre into a single 20-minute piece. Give it a shot, I doubt it's what you'd expect from either names:

http://soundcloud.com/dunvagenmusic/nyc-73-78

Follows on his Harry Partch tribute:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5xhpIFxi7M

And the fantastically wonderful full-album cover of Skip Spence's 'Oar' he did with James Gadson, Wilco, Feist, and Jamie Lidell:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0Ee_69wf3w&feature=bf_prev&list=PL344D578F844FB6DF

that Harry Partch track is one my favorite things Beck's ever done. I missed getting the mp3 when it was a free download, but I'd buy it given a chance. the Glass mix is great too; gives me hope someday he'll do an entire full length album that fragmented; in most people's hands, something that changes around that much would not hold my attention but he knows how to do this

Hey DJP I fuck with Guero

If retro-fetishism did not exist we would be forced to invent it (and then sell it as super-nifty xmas presents!)

"Beck’s latest album comes in an almost-forgotten form — twenty songs existing only as individual pieces of sheet music, never before released or recorded. Complete with full-color, heyday-of-home-play-inspired art for each song and a lavishly produced hardcover carrying case, Song Reader is an experiment in what an album can be at the end of 2012 — an alternative that enlists the listener in the tone of every track, and that’s as visually absorbing as a dozen gatefold LPs put together."

http://www.songreader.net/
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/11/beck-a-preface-to-song-reader.html

Is there no cheaper version than the one for $50?

Also noted that Jody wrote the notes?

This is a fantastic idea.

i hope there are songs with more conceptual annotations like "5 seconds of banjo sample"

I'll just go ahead and say it, at this point I like Beck post-"success" (or at least post-making-an-album-and-touring, circa 2008) than I liked him in his supposed heyday. And I quite liked 'Mellow Gold' through 'Sea Change'. But he's doing what I think an artist should do who finds wealth: doing exactly what excites his artistic capacity, not necessarily more of what makes him money. The fact that a lot of it is given away (ie "Harry Partch" or the Record Club releases solidifies my sense he's doing what he's doing for the best reasons.

Yes, but in a shop the other day, the single "Tropicalia" came on, and it reminded me of how it was nice when he'd come up with these a-sides, and they'd get played on the radio and 'ting.

There's a non-signed version for $34. Wish there was just a PDF d/l for $10.

At it again--I'll definitely be listening:

http://www.beck.com/index.php/beck-reimagines-david-bowies-sound-and-vision

Paid for by a car company

That obviously negates the artistic effort of the 180+ musicians involved. . .

Jesus H. Christ, what a gigantic error of taste that was! To make a Big Band, Big Top, Cast-of-Millions version of a song about "drifting into my solitude over my head" shows that you may have the means, but you've completely lost the meaning.

Wearing a ten-gallon hat, Beck points at one corner of the tent and the musicians there respond! He points at another and lo, a heavenly host of evangelical singers replace Eno's synth line (a hundred times more effective on a synth)! It's like looking through a telescope the wrong way; megalomania never made everything look so small.

This PT Barnum buffoonery made the Glass Spider Tour - for which Bowie was rightly lambasted - seem like an Unplugged performance. Just a big yucky gaffe, enough in-and-of-itself to downgrade Beck from Classic to Dud status.

At least it sold some gas-guzzling Lincoln SUVs, though. I'm certainly buying one after watching.

I love 'Arabian Nights'...Alfonzo giving me a back rub...getting smacked up by unemployed hand models...hockey players passed out in government limos...

New song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTM3YPTYNo0

exciting to hear him over something that has a non-sleeping pulse again but i have no idea why this is five minutes long?

In the afternoon
Riding the scape goat
Burning equipment
Decomposing

Dud

Hate the fucker forever for his Scientology shenanigans, but totally classic obv. Odelay.

more like grodie-lay

:( You guys are such haters!

He hasn't made a great album in quite awhile but I have a soft spot for him. afaict his "Scientology shenanigans" consist of mentioning it in a single interview way back when so eh whatever

i guess he's not that bad

j/k

Most people I talk to are surprised about the Scientology thing.

I do make sure to mention it.

get crazy with the cheez whiz

afaict his "Scientology shenanigans" consist of mentioning it in a single interview way back when so eh whatever

marrying another raised-as-Scientologist semi-celebrity on COS instructions is something of a shenanigan I guess

went through a phase of firing musicians and replacing them with scienos when he first returned to the church, but the Album Clubs suggest he pulled away from that again (I stopped paying attention before Sea Change)

I gotta say ... dud. He's obviously ambitiously dud, and there is some classic mixed in there, too, but dud all the same. I even put on Odelay for the first time in eons the other day and found it more irritating than entertaining.

Lol @ sic w the inside scoop on COS instructions

That interview i ref'd was right after his marriage iirc. Def something COS-related goin on w him around then.

idk i'm at the point where his questionable commitment to the bullshit scam cult he was brainwashed into as a kid doesn't have as much weight for me as his last couple records being boring and shitty does

but i will still rep for all that stuff posted in the 2012 revive, that is some seriously good shit there

Otm

CHOKING ON THE SPLINTERS

I don't give a shit about his beliefs. I just want him to focus on his lyrics. Dudes a poet

We haven't had that spirit here since One Foot in the Grave.

no money no honey

The thing I like about the Earth is the range of colors, fantastic to mundane, brilliant to dull.

I do like the lines "Getting fat on your own fear / bring that beer over here."

lol!

All around the water tank

Mellow Birds Gold

Give the finger to the rock 'n' roll singer, as he's dancing upon your paycheck. The sales climb high through the garbage-pail sky. Like a giant dildo crushing the sun.

That's why.

but i will still rep for all that stuff posted in the 2012 revive, that is some seriously good shit there

yeah - where did that come from - so unexpected and ephemeral

One Foot in the Grave has a deluxe edition! Haven't heard the extra tracks yet but the titles are promising:

"It's All in Your Mind"* – 2:54
"Whiskey Can Can"* (Beck/Calvin Johnson) – 2:12
"Mattress" – 2:31
"Woe on Me" – 3:10
"Teenage Wastebasket" (electric & band) – 2:28
"Your Love Is Weird" – 2:27
"Favorite Nerve" – 2:05
"Piss on the Door" – 2:05
"Close to God"† (Beck/Calvin Johnson) – 2:28
"Sweet Satan" – 1:45
"Burning Boyfriend" – 1:12
"Black Lake Morning" (Beck/Sam Jayne) – 2:25
"Feather in Your Cap"* – 1:13
"One Foot in the Grave" – 3:18
"Teenage Wastebasket" (acoustic) – 1:27
"I Get Lonesome" (alternate version) – 1:56

report back, that's my favourite Beck record

just ordered - thanks

a bunch of those extra tracks were singles/b-sides (I don't have them all but I do have a bunch) - good period for him

Give the finger to the rock 'n' roll singer, as he's dancing upon your paycheck. The sales climb high through the garbage-pail sky. Like a giant dildo crushing the sun.

― Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, August 3, 2016 2:12 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol I quoted this to my favorite English prof in college -- he was one of those "I don't watch TV or listen to popular music" types and I wanted to show him that there are like artists today who get it, man, or something.

Lol. That takes me back. Didnt have internet in '94 yet. Me and a pal were listening to Loser on my walkman during biology class, trying to decipher and write down the lyrics (they were in the Mellow Gold cd booklet we got a month later). Got suspended for not paying attention.

What did your teacher make of your effort?

I think he wrote back (email) "Sounds like this Beck is one of us," or something to that effect. I don't think he would have said anything quite as corny as "one of us." He was a fan of Mark Leyner and had this one Jerry Garcia quote about poetry that he would refer to a lot even though his cultural knowledge otherwise stopped at the moment Dylan went electric, so I thought maybe he'd like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v_dng3X7mk

It's just the shit-kicking', speed-taking'
Truck-driving' neighbors downstairs
Yeah...yeah

Whiskey-stained buck-toothed
Backwards creepw
Grizzly bear motherfucker
Never goes to sleep

Literary my own neighbour. I'll give him that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmCcCrPmyAQ
my favorite thing of his. everything after mellow gold is supremely uninteresting imo.

Odelay has its moments. And his channukah rap was sublime. But that's about it.

"Go on mutherfucker! Put your clothes on!"

I always wondered if this was an actual fight B had in pre-fame LA slumming it phase

I believe its for real, but Beck was not involved.

was quite surprised to see our boy featured on the Flume record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_6In1gr36A

not sayin' it's good or anything. It does amuse me. I mean.. imagine making a dance record, ponderin' who we gonna call. we need a great singer. Beck!?!?!

Mellow Gold is my fav Beck record. Have a soft spot for Midnite Vultures

Midnite Vultures is probably my favorite, some worthwhile stuff after Sea Change as well but I have mostly lost interest

yeah i have no interest in hearing anything post-Sea Change, for some reason. his 90s work still sounds fabulous, though. personal favorite definitely Odelay. i recall Stereopathetic Soul Manure being completely batshit and sprawling and fun but it's been a long time since I last heard it.

Stereopathetic Soul Manure

his most "lol 90s" record imo. Reflects that intersection of amateurish flailing + willful sloppiness + "check out how annoying THIS sound is"-style pseudo-avant-garde shenanigans to "freak out the squares" that was in vogue and registered as "challenging" at the time. Contains a lot that qualifies more as sound collage or noise experiment than song, and feels like it's trying to be confrontational as a result. I like a fair chunk of it, but it's more interesting as a cultural relic than as a collection of music that is enjoyable to listen to.

Supposedly the argument from "Truckdrivin Neighbors Downstairs" was a portion of one of many, many actual arguments had by Beck's downstairs neighbors at the time. This particular one got so loud and violent he couldn't record anything in his apartment, so he recorded the fight instead. Legend has it that the fight ended in the street, with a battle axe involved.

yeah i have no interest in hearing anything post-Sea Change, for some reason. his 90s work still sounds fabulous, though. personal favorite definitely Odelay. i recall Stereopathetic Soul Manure being completely batshit and sprawling and fun but it's been a long time since I last heard it.

― brimstead, Thursday, August 4, 2016 10:02 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Same. Love everything up until Sea Change, but with that record it all became full circle: he'd recorded everything, every style, he is capable of. Everything after that has always felt like repetition of something he's done already. But everything up to and including Sea Change is classic imho.

Remember ordering Stereopathetic cd at my go to record store. It was like they were trying to find the holy grail, lol, took absolutely aaaaages for them to finally get that imported.

I'm an alien from another sphere

kind of want to revisit One Foot In the Grave now -- deeply loved that album in college and then somehow just tossed it and never thought about it again.

Extra tracks on that one kinda forgettable but one track, Your Love is Weird, includes some low energy beer/fear and cash/stash couplets

One Foot in the Grave is also v lol 90s but has actually good songs on it

Beck sort of invented lol 90s

Stereopathetic will probably always be my favorite, if only for the juxtaposition of the absolutely chaotic swirling conclusion of "Pink Noise (Rock Me Amadeus)" into the smooth classic Nashville sounds of "Rowboat", one of the best songs he ever wrote

Johnny Cash thought so, too.

odelay dates a bit better if you delete all the songs with rapping.

Modesto is pretty nice as well. love that pedal steel.

Beck had an awesome ear for sounds

Anyone ever heard this Lonnie Smith album Boogaloo to Beck?

https://open.spotify.com/album/5kyJQJqRYP2TlCtvwprAkf

what the hell leave lonnie smith out of the beck thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyCkhPTU13w

...

o_o

cool video. too bad about the song tho

was trying to think of what the beat reminded me of - "Drop It Like It's Hot"?

disappointing

yeah it's the Neptunes-fill. very generic, at this point.

i feel like Beck channeling Madonna's Don't Tell Me with his lasso moves.

He was briefly a lot of fun, wasn't he?.

Good write-up and fine choices if Mutations hadn't been made ;)

I saw him at lollopalooza in 95 and he was awesome, a whirling dervish dust cloud spinning across the stage, leaping up into the air getting juiced up behind belief

“My natural bent can go to an acoustic thing, melodic, much more introspective.” But for his new record, in the works for four years and scheduled to come out this spring, Beck has finally realized that “really happy” set of songs. He says these are the hardest to write.

“It’s much easier to go out and get really down. There’s a multitude of things that will oblige you in misery in the culture and there’s only so many that will produce true happiness. It’s like comedy. Comedy is harder in that only certain things are going to make you laugh. I think it’s closer to the child nature in us, which the culture, for a lot of reasons, will discourage or crush. Or you mature out of it in other ways. I see it with kids. There’s that age where if you let that personal joyous side of yourself out, it’s almost more vulnerable than being emotionally vulnerable, like if you’re going through something difficult. It’s not the most clever, sophisticated part of you, but it is the most joyous.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/t-magazine/beck-tom-waits-kendrick-lamar.html

Hmmm, wait and see

No "Jack-Ass" or "Mutations"?? :-/

i've revisited "Morning Phase" and it's way less interesting now that the novelty (the novelty of it being insanely boring) has worn off.

It was never interesting imho. Dude got married and became a scientologist and forgot what fuck fun is

I think being a scientologist almost qualifies anyone for instant dud status

Morning phase seemed like a dull attempt at Pink Moon part deux

How does it compare to Sea Change?

Stick with Midnite Vultures

Morning phase seemed like a dull attempt at Pink Moon part deux

Spoken like someone who has never actually heard neither Morning Phase nor Pink Moon.

No "Jack-Ass" or "Mutations"?? :-/

― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross)

I've got a few Mutations tunes on there

is 'diamond dogs' supposed to be 'diamond bollocks' in which case yes, yes i fully concur

"Minus" and "Diamond Bollocks" are top 5 for sure.

"Outcome" too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwG52KzCOa4

Ah shit, sorry Alfred - being a dolt. I love "We Live Again" and "Diamond Bollocks" blew me away as a teenager hearing that rip through the end of the album

How does it compare to Sea Change?

Sea Change is a lot better, it has more depth, in the string arrangments, in the vocals even. Morning Phase is just a lazy sunday morning record. So I guess at least the title was apt.

Morning Phase is just a lazy sunday morning record.

Not a bad thing. Pairs well with coffee and the morning paper.

Dude got married and became a scientologist and forgot what fuck fun is

Wasn't he always a scientologist?

yes he's born into the church.

I probably would not rate "Black Tambourine" if not for INLAND EMPIRE.

i think it's possible i saw him doing his antifolk thing in NYC in '89-91? When i was at the Sidewalk Cafe to do 5 mins of standup comedy?

otherwise i saw him at M axwell's circa Odelay and he was groovy.

also laffed my ass off first seeing this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdzY49xlvdY

i love that old interview. i loved his Space Ghost appearance too.

why so serious now? Beck was hilarious as fuck.

xenu doesn't like joeks

it's like "That Mellon feeling" has become his MO

Hesitant to put it all on a sciento. People grow boring when they age after all and have kids and mortgages. But I guess more than anything he doesn't see much of anything or anyone outside his sciento world so pretty hard to get inspiration when you are so secluded mentally

iirc he was born into the Church, spent his young adult years kind of avoiding it, ended up coming back around to it and embracing it fully when he married Marisa Ribisi. There was a story Paleface used to tell about Beck in NYC in the early 90s couchsurfing and playing on street corners, but still having wads of crisp hundreds in his wallet, that I think implies that someone in the Church was funding his excursions all along. I dunno, I've read some weird shit on Operation Clambake etc.

People grow boring when they age after all and have kids and mortgages

actually this is backwards, as you get older you realize how boring 20yos are

he was def into it during odelay

and VERY into it during midnight vultures

where can i buy all of his mellow gold-era clothes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNwOJvot5Cc

strong Scientology vibes here w the whole "I feel confident about my career" motivational lyrics. like he's really making fun of the whole thing.

Has he had a plu sign

Plus sign today

Stupid phone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNkOIti-zto

industrial folk! i have a folder called 0000 Beck (Early Beck) that has a dozen or so early tapes and they are all amazing. i have listened to Fresh Meat and Golden Feelings the most but everything is pretty much on those levels. there are some re-recorded songs that appear in different versions. lots of cool sound collage stuff in between the tracks. mixtape style a la Stereopathetic Soul Manure. some minimalist electonic acapella noisey Prince tributes, some really transcendental post-folk as well.

i really love the lofi quality of this stuff. Beck records his voice at different speeds at times, and sometimes it sounds as if the entire track is wobbly. i really love the asthetic. he is a country yokel who found a synthesizer, the kind of misfit stoner troubled white trash kid cartoon character that would be friends with Beavis and Butthead. he sounds so out of it, howling like a drunk train hopper, his voice crackling in a strangled beast yodel. Pee Wee Herman X Tom Waits?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKvmnC7sEok

i like how he really trashes his voice. is it a fluxus technique? it makes me think of Yoko Ono. his folks were all about the art scene back then, i'm sure he had heard those records. i believe he samples his father David Campbell's orchestral compositions at times.

Fresh Meat is still my favorite, mostly cos "Steve Threw Up" is so brilliant and funny and crass. what a great idea for a song.

Yes that early shit is very nice. I like to think of B as broke with his fear and depression fighting it out on tape

Buck Fuck Iowa is great. Satan was way cool.

After many wars, people got bored, so God gave them Jesus. Soon they killed Jesus, and got bored again.

So Satan gave them rock and roll.

Rock and roll became bigger than religion. Everyone wanted to be in a rock and roll band. When Robert Johnson wanted to learn how to play guitar, all he had to do was go down to the crossroads and ask Satan. Satan gave Jimi Hendrix a can of lighter fluid to set fire to his guitar. He even lent Jim Morrison some beads and a pair of leather pants. Satan hung out with all the rock stars. And when they got too famous, or too fat, or their music started to suck, he helped them make the best possible career move. He killed them.

That was so cool.

When the Water Will Take Back the Land feels a lot like early Dylan.

so lol i ended up watching a whole bunch of Beck music videos last night. i've always loved "The New Pollution" ever since i saw it as a kid so i did a lot of reading. Beck directed it himself and there is an animator credited (Andrew Doucette) so alot of things i thought were found footage were likely shot for this video. i wanted to play spot the reference.

we have the dancing girls
https://media.giphy.com/media/EbDtvBwtuE55S/giphy.gif

they are a direct reference to the 1968 Serge Gainsbourg video for "Monsieur William"
https://media.giphy.com/media/UfqyyEq4Tebo4/giphy.gif

we have the Kraftwerk shot
https://media.giphy.com/media/ExgjNz02a9Rvi/giphy.gif

this seems to be a less specific reference. i couldn't find that exact shot but they are wearing the outfits from the "Pocket Calculator" videos. this clip from "We Are the Robots" has that robotic movement. this specific shot is also referenced in "Beercan"
https://media.giphy.com/media/Qlb7uSOdy7nMY/giphy.gif

there are the cool trippy vector animations
https://media.giphy.com/media/47Ysjq2ejjiKY/giphy.gif

these probably refer to 60s computer animator John Whitney Sr.'s 1961 catalog
https://media.giphy.com/media/tOSszzwh1hDz2/giphy.gif

i always wondered what the reference was for the 60s band in the beginning? makes me think of Pink Floyd's "Scarecrow" video where they are just running around in a field. but there are the animal masks. is it the Beatles? Os Mutantes? i've always wondered...
https://media.giphy.com/media/qhyHTOQzLnVOE/giphy.gif

tbf its probably just "random 60s psych band" but it's possible it could be directly based on an earlier music video

HOT MILK

"Motherfucker" sounds like a proto Marilyn Manson

Time lapse footage of duct tape lies

i always wondered what the reference was for the 60s band in the beginning?

there might not be a direct shot-for-shot reference but it looks like elements from "magical mystery tour" & "head" kinda spliced together. i'm not sure what other bands were making these types of movies '67/'68.

i always wondered what the reference was for the 60s band in the beginning? makes me think of Pink Floyd's "Scarecrow" video where they are just running around in a field. but there are the animal masks. is it the Beatles? Os Mutantes? i've always wondered...

"i am the walrus" from the magical mystery tour film, no? they have the animal masks and are gamboling in a field.

yeah "I Am the Walrus" is probably it. i love the 16mm look, it is very MMT.

Fear has a glare
That traps you like searchlights
The puritans stare
Their souls are fluorescent

The skin of a robot
Vibrates with pleasure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc4shIwV5dM

i ended up at this live version of "Tropicalia" with the Flaming Lips as his backing band. what is this shit? this is so weak and pathetic, no wonder they split.

the "Mutations" promo with him being interviewed by the robot is classic tho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX54mI6c1JA

the way this is packaged reminds me of what Cornelius was doing 10 years ago

I think Harry Partch was his apex

this guy seems lost

I haven't heard Colors yet, but it's been getting pretty meh reviews and, obviously, next to no discussion here.

dunno felt like up all night was that moment where beck finally channeled new radicals

Oh god. That sounds. . . awful.

I listened to it once. I think it might be his worst record. To me it’s the first time he sounded like he was chasing someone else’s trend.

I listened to it once. I think it might be his worst record. To me it’s the first time he sounded like he was chasing someone else’s trend.

Too bad the catchiest song is a Police pastiche (No Distraction).

feel like i may as well listen to Maroon Five as this new stuff

its like shitty earbud selling music

I haven't heard Colors yet, but it's been getting pretty meh reviews and, obviously, next to no discussion here.

― he doesn't need to be racist about it though. (Austin), Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Has it? Most of the critics on my FB wall are enthusiastic about it: best since Guero, etc.

(I don't care other than the first track)

Best since Guero is the new Best since Up.

Guero >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Up

None of his albums since Midnite Vultures are worth more than a courtesy listen tbh

hey sea change isn't bad

Cosign imago

guero is great

hey sea change isn't bad

Not bad, no, but every artist he was riffing on did it better first and with a lot less fuss.

Mutations is way better than Sea Change

Guero is where i jump off. it sounds like someone bored in a LA studio throwing stuff at the wall

Mutations is way better than Sea Change

Yup, somehow conjures a melancholic atmosphere much more affectingly and convincingly than Sea Change does even though the lyrics are more of the same stream-of-consciousness gibberish as all the other early albums

Mutations is way better than Sea Change

Yep. When Sea Change was released and was a crashing bore I had to remind myself that Beck had already done "slow" without sacrificing wit or rhythm.

about half of sea change is very good and the other half is beck playing four chords as slowly as possible hoping hat a song emerges

“little one” is one of my fav beck songs ever still

The sea change tour was weird too. Flaming lips opened and were their joyous selves, almost as if to make becks set even more of a bummer. The lips as his backing band didn't save the sea change material from feeling like a slog, beck seemed to not want to play to the crowd in his usual way; instead braying like a wounded soldier.

Sea Change is where I gave up, I find it unlistenable

I do like some stuff on Guero, that's about it for the last 15+ years

Really nice boards of canada remix of broken drum on guero lito

I'm not a massive Beck fan but I've always had time to check him out. As far as post-MV stuff goes, I like boring Beck - Sea Change and Morning Phase are both great. I liked Guero a lot too. I was a little meh on Information and Modern Guilt, but at least I could still see "Beck" in those albums. This new one... literally anyone could be doing these songs. Feels like mere coincidence that it's Beck on vocals.

Lips backing band seemed like a great idea that failed. suppose outside of Steven they aren't good enough musicians to play that material. they were trying to do his funky and Odelay stuff and it was pretty bad imo. you look at his Midnight Vulture tours and he had this awesome band of pros playing funk jams every night, now it was these stoner junkies who were used to playing along to their own backing tracks.

Sea Change is alright but i never go back to listen to it. and from time to time he still does interesting stuff (Modern Guilt is a later record i am sort of warming to).

the new stuff though, nah.

Sea Changes has some nice James Gadson drumming.

Yeah Adam that sums up the sea change tour well. Midnite Vultures show was amazing

feel like i may as well listen to Maroon Five as this new stuff

― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, October 19, 2017 8:00 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

its like shitty earbud selling music

― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, October 19, 2017 8:01 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

actually listened to this once and suddenly it occurred to me that Beck might have been doing the Paul Westerberg thing all along and writing songs for pop/indie acts under another publishing company, he's pro enough to do it at this point

I think the most recent thing of his I really enjoyed was the Oar cover record (helps that I don't even like the original probably lol)

after that it's snoozeville

MG v MV v MG v MP would be fun except it's really just MG v MV

MG v M v MV

\o/

and we all know which MG drops out and which one stays

obviously Mutations is better than Sea Change because it's his best album

MV b sides are even killer it could have been an amazing double album

2 PM LAZER BIZAGINAL REJUVINATION

"best since Guero" caught my attention so I decided to try this after being super, super underwhelmed by Modern Guilt

I've only heard "Colors" so far but that song is great

I'm on track 2 and so far this is like a super happy Gotye album.

Actually I guess it's Gotye filtered through Weezer.

Officially not interested in this whatsoever anymore.

I loved his pre-Morning Phase stand-alone singles so I’m curious to hear whether he’s going back to that sound

B should be the next colonel sanders

Giving Colors another spin
Better this time around
“Square one” is pretty good
Even if it sounds nothing like old fun beck

https://i2.wp.com/liveforlivemusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/beck-hyperspace-fbcover.jpg?resize=740%2C390&ssl=1

Hyperspace is the upcoming fourteenth studio album by Beck. It is scheduled to be released through Capitol Records on November 22, 2019. The album was co-produced by Beck with Pharrell Williams.

i was going to do a new thread but was not impressed with Colors. so just bumped a thread instead. glad we got the Beck poll done this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AF_CJhpTzQ

I guess if he did a funky synthwave outrun style album like the cover suggests that would be one thing but I’m not expecting anything remotely interesting

“Slacking off is nil”

"Loser," even now, is such a glory. I can't imagine not wanting to hear it. It stands outside time.

“Midnite vultures” the song came on shuffle today, just a perfect b side. Miss his dada isms. His last good album imho

"Loser," even now, is such a glory. I can't imagine not wanting to hear it. It stands outside time.

Last month, I was reminiscing about pre-COVID life with a few people (basically stuff we did that's the furthest from life right now), and Riot Fest from two years back came up. Beck was a headliner, and what a great set - "Loser" in particular was a highlight.

Another great thing about that set - I learned to appreciate Colors, at least within the context of a show. I didn't like the album, but somehow those numbers were much more enjoyable within the context of older work. What sounded like blatant and uninspired lifts from current artists now sounded like a logical and perfectly acceptable progression from the sampling and musical explorations he had done throughout his career.

Baby’s in Rio with the vitamin D

Reno?

yeah I think it's "Reno"

Dud

Beck's playing Irving Plaza on November 9 - last time he played Irving Plaza was in 1994. (It's about 1,200 capacity - I know he played La Poisson Rouge several years ago but he rarely plays venues this size.)

Pre-sale on Live Nation is tomorrow with the code LYRIC

And dud my ass, CLASSIC

Hyperspace feels equivalent to a $100 million movie that tests poorly in advance and barely gets released. Surprised "Beck + Pharrell" wasn't promoted everywhere, even if the album itself is forgettable.

I only gave it a few listens but it seemed to amplify everything that I found hollow and commercially calculated about Colors. I did enjoy Morning Phase though - wasn't anything new, but it felt like a solid, low-key work. (Weird how it won him an AOTY Grammy but whatever.)

I’d go see a stereopathetic album tour

Morning Phase is his one recent home run

But my favorite Beck is 1994 Beck

I suspect that the man has recorded 10-20 albums that we’ll never hear.

Beck and Bjork are two acts I once enjoyed that for no particular reason I just can't listen to anymore. It's not you, Beck/Bjork, it's me.

I don’t fuck with anything past Mellow

Yeah, I love Mellow Gold and I like One Foot in the Grave quite a bit. Odelay and Sea Change are still my favorites. The only later ones I never got into are his last two (mentioned above) and Modern Guilt.

If The Information had been less than 40 minutes (i.e. had he cut out the chaff weighing down the back end), it would have been his last truly great album IMHO.

I used to dislike Björk's music but grew to like it quite a bit. Go figure.

Don’t go carvin no happy face on my tombstone

The most charming thing about early Beck - when he was bad, he was hilariously bad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-XuMvxi-vc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFe1t5oy984

I’m going to bet he improvised the song on Larry Sanders

“My name’s Ken”

that larry sanders clip is hysterical, never saw that episode that i can remember

he really grossed me out in that thurston interview, how he kept touching the sole of his shoe

But my favorite Beck is 1994 Beck

Beck's classic run was always 1994 to 2002 to me. I enjoy Guero quite a bit (especially if you swap out "Hell Yes" for the 8-Bit remix that was released as an advance single) but it felt like Beck was falling back on proven strengths for the first time rather than trying to develop or expand his reach. Information felt like he got back on track (though again there's like 25 minutes of chaff that I would lop off the back end). But after that, Morning Phase is the only one he's doe that I enjoy and similar to Guero, it does feel like he's falling back on proven strengths. To be fair, it's been, what, 28 years since his first record? It's a tall order to expect another great one at this point.

our Beck poll was not that long ago: I met you...at JC POLLney - ILM Artist Poll #97 - BECK - the Results Thread

FWIW, on iTunes, I see I have the following for The Information:

1. Elevator Music
2. Think I'm In Love
3. Cellphone's Dead
4. Strange Apparition
5. Soldier Jane
6. Nausea
7. New Round
8. Dark Star
9. No Complaints
10. The Information

I’d forgotten how fun that poll was

“New Round” was the standout from The Information for me.

I only unconditionally love 1994 Beck - even though at the time I fooled myself thinking I liked Odelay and Midnite Vultures. After that, there have been a couple of nice things like Sea Change, the Guero singles, or that weird slew of standalone tracks in 2013 (I won't be Long, Gimme, Defriended, Blue Randy) - but overall it all feels like a completely different artist than the one who made Mellow Gold.

I actually liked large parts of Hyperspace way more than I expected to, but I also haven't listened to it since it came out so I guess not enough to return to it often.

i remember thinking at the time that the information was meh beck, but every time i revisit it (which is not that often tbh) i'm overwhelmed by how fucking good it is. just a very solid album.

thought morning phase was great and it rekindled my enthusiasm for his music at the time , but that proved to be fleeting as i've (unintentionally) ignored everything since. i never even checked this out and i rarely see or hear any discussion about it.

Beck's classic run was always 1994 to 2002 to me.

1994-1999 for me.

I'd like to stand up for Modern Guilt and Morning Phase as better "song" records than Mutations and Sea Change. "Volcano" may be my #1 Beck song.

1994-1999 for me.

Same for me, Mutations and Midnite Vultures being my absolute favorites. Though the unpolished chaotic surrealism of the Stereopathic/One Foot era is extra special

Sea Change is still one of my absolute favorites. It can get lumped in with Dylan's Blood on the Tracks for simply being a "heartbreak" album, but like Dylan's album, I thought it went one step further for letting the act or the mask slip off, presenting himself as a sober, down-to-earth human being. It's probably telling that a skeptic like Jim DeRogatis (who knocked his previous work for being too snide) thought it was the first time a Beck album really connected with him.

The nice thing about Mutations and Sea Change (both gorgeous aural landscapes, especially Sea Change) is that you can track down releases that have none of the excessive compression that left the general CD releases sounding so congested, which was especially the case for Sea Change (released at the peak of the "loudness" wars). With the former, it was the promo CD's (perhaps 'unmastered') and with the latter it was Mobile Fidelity's reissue some years back. Getting those was a completely different listening experience, and they sound absolutely beautiful when you fill the room with them.

I prefer masks! Even before COVID!

I prefer "depressed in my mansion" Beck. I don't need masks or personae from him because he's kind of blank even at his most "revealing".

https://frinkiac.com/meme/S07E08/1229944.jpg?b64lines=SG93IGFib3V0IGEgbGl0dGxlIGZyb20KIGNvbHVtbiAiYSIgYW5kIGEgbGl0dGxlIGZyb20KIGNvbHVtbiAiYiI_

I was just about to make a '94 Beck poll and realized that the album tracks alone constitute about 50 songs and it would just be wrong to omit EPs and b-sides and unreleased songs that were later released so I don't even know what to do right now except to concur that '94 was indeed the best of all Beck years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oWtgaD77ek

Best Beck song imo

I didn't realize he put out three different versions of this song.

Yeah for a long time I was only aware of the one I posted (with that dog. assist), which I first heard on the Stray Blues Japanese B-sides collection. The other two are lo-fi solo acoustic, pretty cool but not as magical as the final "polished" version

1994-1996 for me, it was so weird how he went from like "only for weirdos & burn-outs" to mega-hit star like literally overnight. I saw him in 96 and it was awesome, but nothing after Odelay ever really interested me and I saw the tour with the Flaming Lips and it might have been one of the most miserable concerts I've ever sat through.

Listening to Mellow Gold now for the first time since the Clinton yrs and it is still awesome

i think odelay is great but for me it suffers from that common problem where its hard to listen now and reconnect with how strange and exciting it sounded back then. mellow gold though for some reason still manages to sound mysterious and fresh every time i go back to it

I don't think I can relate to that argument. Granted I wasn't listening to Odelay in 1996, but next to anything I hear from that time, it still stands out as unusual and forward-thinking. Even now, there's an especially dense, jarring collage-like quality to it that makes it stand out from comparatively simpler and more polished productions that I might hear today. The same goes for Paul's Boutique, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, a lot of Sly & the Family Stone and Sgt. Pepper. They may be old, but they're still as striking as a Jasper Johns painting and familiarity hasn't dulled that, much less the mainstream culture they've helped make more interesting.

He really needs an early years compilation/box to gather up the early singles, Western Harvest and Golden Feelings. (Maybe even Stereopathetic, but that one is at least easy enough to find on CD).

his b-sides used to be something i really looked forward to. idk if this is my single favorite beck song, but it ranks very high:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ejs7Bk3R24

("one of these days" from the cold brains ep)

and yes, stray blues rules.

I really wish I would have been more on the ball in grabbing stuff like Cold Brains and Stray Blues. I was hoping for more deluxe editions for Mutations and Midnite Vultures, I loved how the Odelay one pulled a lot of those together.

mutations deluxe edition would be rad. i wonder if there's any outtakes for that stuff?

listening to modern guilt for the first time in at least six or seven years right now and it's way better than i remember it. i would have given it a solid 3.5 stars / 7.5 at the time, but right now i kind of feel like that's underrating it. "chemtrails" is such a weirdly gorgeous song. i wonder how much input danger mouse actually had in the album? anyway, good album. kinda forgot about it. maybe today's the day i finally listen to colors.

okay after listening, the second half of modern guilt isn't as good and i'm now more comfortable with my initial assessment. it's not bad, just kind of competent and groovy. overall, it's an album that sounds great while it's playing, but doesn't really stay with me after it's ended, outside of "chemtrails" — which, again, what a fascinating and eerie tune. easily the highlight for me. anyway. yeah.

chemtrails is insanely good, one of his best in that lush widescreen mode. but yeah, aside from that and a few others, lots of the tracks on Modern Guilt sound good when theyre playing, but i'll have completely forgotten them before the next track starts.

inspired by this thread & birdistheword's tracklist I went back to The Information for the first time in idk how long, sliced out the fat, added in a couple stray tracks from that era, and wound up with a tight 45 minute psych rock album that i'm going to be listening to a lot more than the original.

this is one of the additions, one i've always liked a lot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxLq1Low_II

hey, never heard that one before! it's really good — kalimba!! hooray!!

Ah nice! Was "Sorrow" an actual outtake? I looked it up but the only info I got was that it was a download-only track from 2005 that's never been issued on a record. It sounds like it could have been recorded with Godrich.

yeah there was a small batch of tracks that were posted on his site in 2005 that i always really dug, other ones i liked are called "day for night" and "untitled song 2". i'm not sure if/how theyre related to the Information, ive never found any info on the credits for them at all. they definitely sound closer to the kind of stuff he does with godrich than anything else. at any rate they sound good mixed in with the more low-key Information tracks.

bummer that theyve never been made available in higher quality

How come I'd never heard "One of These Days"? It's wonderful.

You just know dude has whole hard drives of unheard/underheard material. Gotta wonder what it would take to legitimize a formal box set release or something

The upside of signing to a big label and becoming famous is having access to talented producers/collaborators and ideal recording situations

The downside is that (probably) you and your bosses are skittish about what to put out

Id bet that if Beck were a free agent we’d have heard much more from him. Somewhere there’s a Beck ska record (some of these things maybe never need to see the light of day)

yeah ive lost track of the # of artists & producers that beck has said he recorded most or all of an album with and then just filed it away. i would pay a lot of money for a Neil Young Archives type site from him, one of the few artists i can think of who has the vault to justify it

He did an interview where he said someone (his management or someone at Universal) told him that a lot of his unreleased work was destroyed in the infamous 2008 fire. This was retracted later on, but given how Universal was doing everything they can to spin that story in order to minimize the fallout, who knows.

Since you guys seem to be way more knowledgeable than me on his career, do you know where those 2013 standalone singles came from? I thought he was teasing a new sound but then he released Morning Phase which went into a completely different direction.

iirc he was working on a full album of that sound but shelved it and decided to only put out those tracks from it, something like that

Man that new single sucks - this guy sure aged fast.

It's kind of what happens when an artist gets truckloads of awards thrown at their more boring albums.

Not to begrudge the dude's success, but I think Beck could have had a more interesting career trajectory if he wasn't showered with praise for his more "safe" records.

I’d love to read a long, contemporary, in-depth interview with him - what is his life like? How does he decide what to release? Are there hard drives full of crazy stuff in his basement none of us will ever hear?

I think Beck could have had a more interesting career trajectory if he hadn't been forced back into the Scient0logy fold (iirc after Midnite Vultures), seemingly somewhat against his will

Another formerly genuinely interesting underground artist lost to the beach ball in the day-glo crowd / Coachella festival scene.

I wasn't a fan of his last album either, butv'Loser' was released over 30 years ago - I wouldn't say he's aged fast, the guy's been around a long, long time. (IMO his last top-shelf album was The Information though it should've been cut down to ten tracks. There's a couple of later albums I've grown to enjoy, but I don't think they really add anything substantial to his legacy.)

He's only two years away from releasing his dealing-with-mortality Time Out of Mind.

Wow that is a nutty thing to contemplate. Beck is old!

Kinda half-agree with jon. Mellow Gold/Stereopathetic/Grave/Odelay are formative albums for me, and the only records Beck has made since then that I've made proper time for have been The Information and Modern Guilt. (I admire Midnite Vultures but find it lacks the unhinged, unpolished quality that made his previous "wild" records pop.)

The best thing he's done is probably giving James Gadson songwriting/publishing credit on Sea Change.

My favourite song of his is the bonus track on Mutations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeohGiH6v9g

It sounds like a cover of a cover of a cover of Tomorrow Never Knows

that song is so sick

If only that vibe was sustained over an entire album! It's the "The Flaming Lips could never" song

All of the extraneous tracks from Mutations are great.

ya, runners dial zero is Quite the Vibe too

Yep.

I saw him in 2014 and thought he was very entertaining, if a little removed from the audience. Pretty much the way I feel about his albums also.

he prob still puts on a good show I would imagine, the one I saw after Sea Change was very good

very much co-sign the extra Mutations tracks, he has many many superb B-sides, comp tracks, and oddities

POX just off the top of my head
"Corvette Bummer"
"Dirty Dirty"
Cornelius remix of "Mixed Bizness"
"Mexico"
"Diamond Bollocks"
"Strange Invitation"
"Deadweight"
"Midnite Vultures"
"Spanking Room"
"Got No Mind"

My favourite song of his is the bonus track on Mutations

It sounds like a cover of a cover of a cover of Tomorrow Never Knows

― pee change (flamboyant goon tie included), Monday, February 20, 2023 2:40 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Uh :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcfjChmxoT4

If only that vibe was sustained over an entire album! It's the "The Flaming Lips could never" song

― pee change (flamboyant goon tie included), Monday, 20 February 2023 19:44 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Mansun's Six is kind of this btw! Another flawless victory for late-90s Pro Tools abuse. The title track especially makes me think of Diamond Bollocks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhEi2cBpoAk

(Draper obvs cancelled as hell now or w/e but this goes)

He's only two years away from releasing his dealing-with-mortality Time Out of Mind.

― Halfway there but for you, Monday, February 20, 2023 12:27 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

You honestly just broke my brain w/this.

didn't he release his TOOM in 2002

Diamond Bollocks is so great. Not sure I really make the Six connection, though.

Beck isn't old because he looks about 37.

The connection presumably has to do with the song structure and edits but Six is obv a taste apocalypse full of adolescent angst whereas Diamond Bollocks takes the 60's dayglo poster paint Flips thing minus drugs plus Morricone or something.

Diamond Bollocks vs Diamond Hoo Ha by Gaz and the lads

Listening to Mutations after (many) many years, I'm struck by its melodic grace: its gentle surrealism and mock psychedelic touches -- Donovan meets Gainsborough and Caetano Veloso -- have a lightness that later acoustic "sincere" work can't match. He made Sea Change when Mutations existed. I remember the mild surprise when this was Odelay's follow-up, but within a few days I accepted it as his Bowie gesture.

such a good summation of why Sea Change and Morning Phase suck!

the hedging at the time of Mutations like, err, this isn't the Odelay followup it's another thing, was really weird. Or was that just down to him trying to release it indie and Geffen not having that in the end?

didn't he release his TOOM in 2002

His BOTT, surely.

I felt Morning Phase restored a lot of the light touch that left with Sea Change.

Morning Phase was the last Beck album that I loved, front to back, but less as a collection of separate songs (as with other albums of his) than a sort of weary ambient album that happens to have elements of folk and rock echoing below the surface.

That's actually my reaction to Morning Phase too and it's also the last one I actually enjoy from end-to-end.

Before that? Probably Mutations. Before that? Possibly Odelay. Then going back in time to the magic of the 1993/1994 era.

The albums I’m not listing all had moments that are worth relishing. If I’m honest with myself now “Sexx Laws” (and … maybe “Hollywood Freaks” and “Debra”) is all I need from Midnite Vultures. “New Round” is all I need from The Information, etc.

Every time the man puts out a record I will give it a go! My heart is open! I want to love what he does now and grow with him.

But then, we all do, right?

i remember trying a few times after sea change which was the one that really whiffed it for me. i think because beck was supposed to be this cool guy and his 'sensitive, serious' statement just seemed really basic and mopey to me. i somehow liked guero at the time but no desire to revisit.

i just really don't care about beck at this point and probably won't go back to any of it tbh, doesn't even have sentimental value for me.

xp He's definitely one of those artists that do that for me, where I will listen to everything they put out. An extreme case is Bob Dylan - partly because there's a lot more records but also some of them are so, soooo bad. But because it's Dylan, I will revisit something like Under the Red Sky and play around with the tracklist (the Genuine Bootleg Series versions of "TV Talking Song" and "Handy Dandy" are recommended) just to see if I can hear what Paul Nelson or Clinton Heylin or Robert Christgau allegedly hear in it. I hated Midnite Vultures when I first heard it, but more than a few people really liked that album (it placed at number THREE in that year's Pazz & Job poll), so I kept my copy of it. It's not a great album, but I do find a lot to enjoy in it now, especially the elements that either feel uniquely like Beck or like his tribute to classic Prince music.

jeez gonna check Morning Phase once more!

Raymond, i felt that way til Hyperspace

Maffew12, I will say that I loathed Sea Change.

Hyperspace had … an interlude that I kinda dig. Colors I may have heard once.

I listen to pretty much all the pre-Odelay material pretty much all the time. A lot of it is clearly goofy junk but he was otherwise tapping into something real, real special back then. Some of those songs are still astonishing a hundred spins later. Odelay through Midnite Vultures I revisit somewhat less frequently (although the b-sides of this era are, as noted, some of the best of what he did). Pretty sure I listened to Sea Change once and hopped off the boat.

Birdistheword, the number of artists I’m like that with is constantly dwindling, sadly.

That happened with Trent Reznor because all of the endless soundtracks. And in the last year or three PJ Harvey was another casualty, though I do want to hear whatever proper statement LP she makes next.

I think the main Beck work that I've actually gone back to over the last decade+ is his Phillip Glass interpolating epic, 'NYC 73-78'.

https://www.soundcloud.com/dunvagenmusic/nyc-73-78

Hyperspace really seemed released under the radar, with a complete lack of "Beck and Pharrell made a record together" headlines. Maybe its release around the start of the pandemic made a big difference, or maybe the collaborators felt like they'd whiffed it and didn't play it up.

just wanna say how much I love Midnite Vultures, well most of it, there are some overlooked songs at the end that could almost be on Mutations. "Nicotine & Gravy" is my fave deep cut and works really well in DJ sets if you tweak the weird atonal crescendo part to be less overwhelming

It's infuriating that the guy who made Midnite Vultures recently covered "Old Man" to promote fucking Tom Brady and Sunday Night Football. Even Neil took a shot at him for that, rightly so.

just wanna say how much I love Midnite Vultures, well most of it, there are some overlooked songs at the end that could almost be on Mutations.

I love the second side: "Milkshake and Honey," "Beautiful Thing."

idk i saw some 'beck and pharrell collab!' headlines when hyperspace was announced but the music was so boring no one cared. don't think the pandemic had anything to do with it when the album came out a few months earlier

a shame because it's a pairing that could have produced something really inspired two decades earlier

Re: Midnite Vultures, the first four tracks really grew on me - they kind of feel like they should've been the soundtrack to some great Cartoon Network show. When the Flaming Lips toured with Beck, they performed "Get Real Paid" especially well.

Hyperspace felt like such a non-event, it made the letdown less surprising. I gave it one good listen and never felt like putting it on ever again. I don't think it was horrible, just very unmemorable.

Listening to Mutations after (many) many years, I'm struck by its melodic grace: its gentle surrealism and mock psychedelic touches -- Donovan meets Gainsborough and Caetano Veloso -- have a lightness that later acoustic "sincere" work can't match. He made Sea Change when Mutations existed. I remember the mild surprise when this was Odelay's follow-up, but within a few days I accepted it as his Bowie gesture.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, February 20, 2023 6:09 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

So true re: Mutations (contra Sea Change). For me the whole Mutations era, b-sides included, has a halo of gold over it. I also love Midnite Vultures, but I don't think surrealist Beck ever really came back after that one.

“Oh Maria” is my favorite on mutations these days, spooky kinks-y perfection

√

lol pun intended?

oh ffs that was an xp re: "halo of gold"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WfjPtVQl_Y

;)

sincere thx to ilm for reminding me of diamond bollocks. in a world where i felt beck was overindulged/overappreciated, there are many v good things.

Mutations is up there with Mellow Gold as his best imo, it would be EASILY his best if it kept up the quality of the first 3-5 tracks and the bonuses (I often think of the first three as his great Achievement, as we're on the subject of great chords, Lazy Flies has fucking ascended chords)

First side of Midnite Vultures works best for me, whereas after Peaches & Cream I lose interest a bit.

Still my fav album of his tho

b b but Milk & Honey!

Squirreled away somewhere I have a rip of a Mutations Promo CD that was doing the rounds and that has slightly different mixes and extended versions of a few tracks, I can dig it out if anyone would like to hear it.

would love that!

he had some fun free-CD promo discs around then. clearly remember Clock/The Little Drum Machine Boy being a blast

b b but Milk & Honey!

(I also like Pressure Zone and have time for Debra although hmm it's one of those should I, well I guess I have now things isn't it)

I don’t really rate Sexx Laws hugely besides the “I’m a full grown man, but I’m not afraid to cryyyyyyyy” end line which I used to do a great impression of in school (but now it’s gone!). Debra is also very good.

Mutations (promo) - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/75edybsj27alzebvd57u0/h?dl=0&rlkey=5g33p4z2l46ioez2vl6oxbch6

https://i.imgur.com/qifM1e1.jpg

Guys this new beck album is so good

wow thanks Maresnest

"Clock" does indeed rule, forgot that in my list

you guys are gonna make me revisit mutations again, aren't you? let us not forget nigel "I JUST MADE OK COMPUTER!!!" godrich is around and about for those sessions as well.

i know i've posted it before but i'm nothing if not consistently redundant, so i want everyone to go listen to "one of these days", which was the b-side for "cold brains." ahh... dreamy beck is my favorite!

also the 2013 singles!!! "i won't be long" is such a damn fine groove. the 10+ minute versions are kind lolzy but still very fun every so often.

(also yeah, the information is an album i hardly ever get the urge to listen to — but when i do! it's such an impenetrable, oddly catchy mashup of funky beats and sci-fi anxiety. i think he only sounded more convincingly paranoid on modern guilt [which is good, but inconsistent]. anyway i highly recommend revisiting if you haven't jammed it in a while.)

stereopathic / one foot = 3.5
mellow gold = 4.5
odelay! = 4.5
mutations = 5
midnite vultures = 3
sea change = 4.5
guero = 4
the information = 4
modern guilt = 3
morning phase = 3

haven't heard anything past that. in time!

stereopathic / one foot = 3.5
mellow gold = 4.5
odelay! = 4.5
mutations = 5
midnite vultures = 3
sea change = 4.5
guero = 4
the information = 4
modern guilt = 3
morning phase = 3

Pretty much my ratings too, though I'd probably round up the 4.5's to 5's.
(That may be just me - I have a tough time rating anything 4.5. Like once it clears that "4" threshhold by a solid margin, it's essentially a great album to me, i.e. a 5.)

FWIW, the promo of Odelay is worth tracking down. It's kind of like the "director's cut" of the album, with no brickwall compression and a few samples they couldn't clear - now when I hear the released version, it feels like there's a hole in those spots.