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Beck
[beck website]

Guero I can't remember when it was I really stopped caring about Beck. I think it was after Midnight Vultures just broke my heart. I guess it was just one too many genre changes. With this album Beck officially goes from cutting edge artist to the guy whose music is okay to play in the background of a middle-aged cocktail party. He's officially graduated to the Starbucks rack. Poor guy probably didn't know what hit him. To be honest, I've listened to this album, of all Beck's albums, the least. Nothing here grabs you. Nothing sticks. It's just wallpaper now.

The Information

Mellow Gold Starting with one of the greatest opening tracks ever, "Loser" sets the tone for an album that spans genres and breaks with the convention of what funk, hip-hop, country, blues and folk music can be. "A giant dildo crushing the sun?" Okay, Beck's lyrics can be a little out there, but the sense of out-there-ness is reigned in by his down home attitude. He can swing from Rolling Stones bravado to blues/folk finger-plucked, mush-mouthed dirges. This was back in the day when he jumped around with a leaf blower on stage, freaked out and threw a phone on 120 Minutes and tried his damnedest to be the hardest working freak in show business, but we all saw through the goofy antics to the true artist underneath it all. While he may have defined a generation of "slackers" with this album, he fooled them all with his ironic performance art. This will be looked back on as a classic in the years to come. You'll see mutherfuker (sorry, its the title of track 11).

Midnight Vultures I'm not sure I get it. Is this a joke or a serious exercise in musical genre exploration? Prince is Prince and there will never be another anybody like him--love him or hate him. Is this a tribute record? Why do I feel like Beck doesn't even like the music he's recording sometimes? It's like he just puts this stuff out to appease those people who love the wacky Beck and not the true Beck who loves to record down home, folk music. I enjoyed the album on the first listen just because it was so bizarre, but it gets more and more annoying with every spin. I honestly reach for it very seldom at this point. I suppose it's a decent party album (to have on softly in the background), but as far as sitting down and listening to the entire album all the way through, I can think of several better things to do with my time. Hopefully on his next non-mellow album he will shed the whole Prince obsession, take his damn tongue out of his cheek and make a more sincere effort to give us something that he isn't sneering at behind our backs.

Mutations

Odelay The first time I heard this album was at a friend's house in New Jersey. It was during the summer and we were listening to what was actually a promo CD version on the front porch on a lousy boombox. Even as we sneezed from the citronella and endured the sweltering heat and mosquitoes, we could tell this was a great album. We played the thing over and over, enjoying each track more and more with every listen. The amazing mix of funk, hip-hop, rock and electronic music melds perfectly without distracting the listener with the genre-hopping. We went to see a show on the Odelay tour at the Roseland Ballroom, and it is to this day one of the best shows I've ever seen. Beck robot danced, called people on stage to have them beat-box and put on one hell of a fun show. This album smashed barriers and made everyone want to party.

One Foot in the Grave Another album that was recorded before Mellow Gold, but came out afterwards, this could technically be considered Beck's debut. Unlike Stereopathetic Soulmanure, this was recorded as an album and thus has a much more cohesive feel. The songs are simple, sincere folk tunes that bring with them a nice sense of nostalgia--if you grew up in Kentucky in the 1940's. Of course with titles like "Cyanide Breathe Mint" and the classic tune "Asshole," they bring with them the sardonic bizarreness that is Beck. The guy is a chameleon who somehow follows up this decent Americana album with the stellar Odelay. This is the first of Beck's "mellow" albums, and it's a good yard marker for the eventual spawning of their follow-ups, Mutations and Sea Change.

Sea Change Our buddies over at dictionary.com define "sea change" as "A marked transformation." I guess that's appropriate in some respects, but to say that Beck has really changed his tune is a pretty temporary label. The guy flip-flops more than a greasy politician. Most recently he changed styles between the Prince-like Midnight Vultures and this album, and before that he went from the awesome mash-up of Odelay to the cooled-out tropical and Americana sounds of Mutations. There is a definite pattern at work here--and not one that will keep his fans happy (or awake as the case may be). I know Sea Change was supposed to be this triumphant album, but the only thing it triumphed over with me was my insomnia. The thing is dull--there's no two ways around it. Of course the follow-up to this album will most likely return to the goofy Beck we all know and love. Maybe the one after that will be called ..And Now For Something Completely Different.

Stereopathetic Soulmanure Actually Beck's second release, this album is technically a compilation of a bunch of Beck's pre-Mellow Gold music. Starting off with a noise scream-a-thon, we know this ain't gonna be Mellow Gold--and probably consciously not. Most musicians release this kind of album to cash in on the success of their prior album (why not ride the money wave from an unexpected winner by releasing a bunch of inferior crap that shouldn't see the light of day), but I think Beck put this out more to show everyone he wasn't the slacker king that everyone dubbed him after the success of "Loser." As one would expect, this album is all over the place. There's a song where it sounds as if an old, drunk hobo sings a little ditty, and the rest is a bunch of booze-drenched, Americana folk and experimental garbage from our friend Beck. Recorded wherever it seems he happened to be sitting at the moment, the shine is off the production on this one, and is quite a departure from the dynamic qualities of Mellow Gold. There are a couple of heart-felt little songs on this one, but other than being an interesting one-time novelty, there's little to grab 'hold of, and is ultimately kinda unlistenable.