Beck: Classic Or Dud

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.

whaaaat

FWIW, I want to say Beck is kind of where Bowie was at in the mid '80s. His stretch of greatness seems behind him and he's consciously making more commercial records that aren't as interesting and don't add much if anything to his legacy. I hope he has it in him to surprise us with a late-career comeback.

he has no Tonights in his catalog though

also thank you mares that is a completely rad thing to share!!

(just now finishing up "diamond bullocks" on my revisit to the proper release and... big sigh. that mellotron outro. just... oh yeah.)

i now remember why i have such a hard time getting all the way through the information: i always get to "think i'm in love" and hit repeat. was that a single? serious business.

I wanna hear the Odelay promo, now! And thank you MaresNest

I can't rate Beck albums, they're all so different. Odelay and Mellow Gold are 10/10s for me though

His bassist really is god's gift to the instrument!! I haven't heard a Beck song with anything less than a classic bassline

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Meldal-Johnsen

this is an astonishing credits list

best rock producer atm

Lost track of Beck after Guero but my daughter is a big fan; last summer she went with a pal to see him at Brixton, her first proper rock gig. Maybe I should ask her for her ratings on all the LPs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWeln4AYzTQ

Trigger warning, contains Jack Conte

Jesus Christ what a credits list for Justin Meldal-Johnsen; he'd never been anything other than "a name I'd read sometimes"

Reading that list had me googling some things

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWahO6rIW6s

This is the result

Please enjoy it haha I've never heard it before and it's great