anyone who says beck's new record isn't great, is only spoiled by his continued genius over the last ten years.
seriously. it's totally exciting and inspiring in new ways, in the same ways, in beautiful ways that his music has always been. heavy beats, hardRock, manic words, melodies that speak to your native language, amazing off-beat percussion, variation in style, perfectly produced: lo-fi, hi-fi and experimental.
why would anyone want to make beck compete with beck, anyway? be nice to beck. that wouldn't really work with his personality.
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I just don't hear what you & Guy hear in the new Beck album, "The Information." OK, I'll say this: it is truly a capital-A Album, almost what was once called a "concept album." Except that while the songs flow naturally into one another, there's no clear concept at work here, except perhaps ecclecticism itself. No--strike that. This album, unlike many of Beck's albums, is not all that ecclectic. There's no left-turn into Brazillian jazz, deep-soul lounging, or intense electronic anthem. The songs all sound like a puree of mid-period Beck licks, complete with mumbly vocals, acoustic guitars, samples & loops. True, the songs work together very well. Musical themes work their way through the album. It all fits together. But this strength is also its weakness: no single song on the album stands out. There is no beat or melody or style that we haven't heard from him before. The album as a whole is an enjoyable listen, but it's kinda like San Jose: there's no "there" there. You can't understand what he's talking about even when you can pick real words out of the the mush-mouth delivery. And whatup with the sprawling Scientology-inspired spoken word astro-glide that closes the album? Seriously, whatup with that? It sounds like something Gene & I made in the basement when we were 15. Dude is taking himself WAY too seriously. I dig "No Complaints" probably because it's the most straightforward pop song on the record. But it's a Pluto in a Beck solar system that includes Jupiters like "New Pollution," "Beercan," "Debra," "Nicotine & Gravy," "Nobody's Fault," not to mention the not-his-fault-they're-overplayed classics "Loser" & "Where It's At." What's noteworthy about "The Information" is that Beck has created a great album out of (by his stellar standards) truly mediocre songs.
well said.
i disagree about no song standing out. i think the rhythms of soldier jane and nausea are delightfully, standout off-beats. well, maybe nausea just has a funky rhythm i like. i think "i think i'm in love" is fantastic because of beck's talent at simplifying the complicated and saying something so beautiful as "i think i'm in love, but it makes me kind of nervous to say so." it's like, fuck! he figured out how to say it! that thing! that feeling! i'm sure you know, as a lyricist and writer, how hard the simplest things can be to word correctly.
i love the record's slip-slidey feeling too. i think that is unifying throughout it. it's got a feeling of, "i'm walking down the street in a slip slidey, synchronistic, world-unifying kind of way. smoooooth sailin' sailor...." it's confident and easy. nothing to prove. not trying to hard, just COOL.
i don't know what's up with that exoskeleton song. why do you call it scientology-inspired? what if he was just high and wanted to prove that he wasn't taking himself too seriously. like, i'll release a big stack of noise because i want to and i don't care if it isn't a song. fuck songs. what if he was saying "fuck songs" right there. i think that's punk rock, not taking himself seriously.
i do think there are a couple boring songs on the record, but there always are. at least boring to me. usually the slow moody ones.
The song "Nausea" particularly annoys me. Maybe it's supposed to make me nauseous. It's just one riff over and over, until he says the "nausea" part, which is, musically speaking, a flat-out over-used cliche chord change, kind of a nothing riff, where you just play the first thing that comes to your head without trying, and that thing is usually the easiest and most typical thing. I just don't get the impression he tried very hard on that one. It's one riff plus the word "nausea." That's all.
The melody of the chorus of "I think I'm in love" has a nice angular quality, with the slightly off-key notes, but it's exactly the kind of tricks he used on Guero. I admit that the backing tracks, particularly the bassline, are cool.
I don't dislike this album. I agree with you about the slip-slidy walking down the street quality. You put on this album and it just goes, it flows. I just don't think it adds up to anything more than that. And I don't hear a single.
I said "scientology" mostly to be funny, but the spoken word does sound like the typical sci-fi quasi-spiritual mumbo-jumbo you get from them scientologists.
I loved Mellow Gold, Midnite Vultures, Odelay, and Mutations. I thought Sea Change was mostly boring, and Guero was a bit uneven, though it has some great songs (Earthquake Weather, Girl). I would rank The Information in the middle somewhere; not his best, but not Sea Change.
i think "girl" is a great song too, from guero. i liked the one jack white played bass on, Go it alone, and black tamborine the best.
i agree, sea change, so boring. i never listen to it.
mutations, too ren faire for me.
i like 'em like this (don't forget the old ones!)
major love:
mellow gold
one foot in the grave
stereopathetic soulmanure
big like:
odelay
information
guero
midnight vultures
golden feelings
western harvest field by moonlight
sea change
"too ren faire." LOL.
I am not at all familiar with golden feelings and western harvest field by moonlight.
he made them when he was like 17 and high on acid. they are difficult listening for sure, but there're a few gems. i have them, if you don't want to buy them. oh, wait, you can't buy them, that's right, they've been out of print since 1994. very hard to find. i got super lucky and happened upon a very limited re-release of "golden feelings" back in 98. "a western harvest field" came with an original finger painting done by beck and members of his band. each record! that can be found on ebay for a pretty penny. i just have the mp3s.
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