Xixax Film Forum

Non-Film Discussion => Real-Life Soundtracks => Topic started by: Rudie Obias on January 22, 2004, 10:33:53 PM

Title: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Rudie Obias on January 22, 2004, 10:33:53 PM
what is it?

my favorite album is mutations.....

midnight vultures is starting to grow on me though
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: classical gas on January 22, 2004, 10:42:43 PM
it would be so easy to say 'sea changes' or 'odelay', but probably 'mellow gold' for me.  it incorporates the good parts of both of those albums.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Pubrick on January 22, 2004, 11:05:53 PM
i guess this can be the official beck thread,

we already got one on Sea Change (http://xixax.com/viewtopic.php?t=1629&start=0) and Midnite Vultures. (http://xixax.com/viewtopic.php?t=1423&start=0)
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: smash on January 23, 2004, 07:15:00 AM
I love 'em all.  Because Beck is so diverse its hard to pick just one because I love each of them in a different way.  Overall though I guess I'd say either "Sea Change" or "Midnite Vultures"
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: nix on January 24, 2004, 10:33:04 AM
gotta go with mellow gold. love 'em all though.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: grand theft sparrow on February 06, 2004, 06:14:35 PM
Midnite Vultures is my favorite.  Anytime good artists emulate Prince is okay by me (like Andre 3000's disc on the new Outkast album).  He said he wanted to make a dumb party album to close out the 90s and damned if he didn't succeed.

But I think Mutations is his best album, not my favorite but the best laid out. Of everything he's done, I think that one deserves to be the one that he is remembered for.

Every other Beck album is spotty (more good than bad though) as far as I'm concerned.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Alexandro on February 08, 2004, 09:49:26 PM
ODELAY is my favorite album of all time...and it's the coolest title...
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ on February 09, 2004, 08:54:10 PM
Quote from: hacksparrowMidnite Vultures is my favorite.

Yes! You are correct, sir!
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: tpfkabi on February 09, 2004, 10:19:33 PM
my favorite is Mutations.
but i like pretty much everything he's done.
he's one of the few people who can try different genres and never sound cliche'.
i believe he i going to release a new one this year......you never know what to expect from him.......most likely good
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: cron on February 10, 2004, 12:35:32 AM
Old News but:

:::::: 12.19.03: Sea Change 5.1 DVD ::::::
Sea Change will be getting a 5.1 Surround Sound DVD release just in time for the holidays on December 16th, 2003, OUT NOW!!. Here are the details:

Regular DVD players:
- 5.1 Surround Sound (48kHz/24-bit Dolby Compressed) of Sea Change Album
- 6 Music Videos in 5.1

DVD-Audio Players:
- 5.1 Surround Sound (88.2kHz/24-bit MLP 'Loss-less' Encoding) of Sea Change Album with Sea Change Art Gallery while music plays
- 6 Music Videos in 5.1

The 6 music videos, 5 of which have NEVER been seen are in 5.1 Surround Sound (A first for any Universal DVD-A). Here are the videos and their directors:

Lost Cause - Garth Jennings ("Falling Beck" version)
Guess I'm Doing Fine – Spike Jonze
Little One – Michael Palmieri
Round the Bend – Jeremy Blake
Lonesome Tears – Jason Lee
The Golden Age – Steven Hanft


The DVD should be in the Emporium early next year, but for now go to your local store and find it there.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: myadopteddaughter on February 10, 2004, 12:47:48 PM
probably midnite vultures, but it depends.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: AntiDumbFrogQuestion on February 10, 2004, 06:27:03 PM
Mine is 'Odelay' because IMO, his lyrics started to make sense on 'Mutations', the vocals were too high for me to sing along with on 'Midnite Vultures', and on Sea Change the lyrics make sense again.
But I love all those four albums, & never heard 'Mellow Gold'.
Beck is the damned best.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: modage on February 24, 2004, 07:08:02 PM
Beck has contributed the song "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime" to the "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" soundtrack, due out March 16th on Hollywood Records. "Eternal Sunshine" is the new film by frequent Beck collaborator Michel Gondry, and stars Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: MacGuffin on April 07, 2004, 10:47:05 AM
BECK MARRIES BELLE

American rocker BECK has reportedly married his eight-month pregnant girlfriend MARISSA RIBISI.

According to American news site PAGE SIX, the pair tied the knot in secret in Santa Monica, California, on Saturday (3APR04).

Ribisi, who is the twin sister of actor GIOVANNI RIBISI, was last seen at a concert Beck performed in Los Angeles last week alongside fellow Scientologists JULIETTE LEWIS and ERICA CHRISTENSEN.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: El Duderino on April 07, 2004, 05:58:59 PM
i think i'm gonna go with "midnite vultures." though i have been listening to sea change a lot lately, especially "Golden Age," fucking fantastic. and i also really like the song from Eternal Sunshine.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Stefen on April 07, 2004, 06:02:23 PM
Quote from: MacGuffinBECK MARRIES BELLE

American rocker BECK has reportedly married his eight-month pregnant girlfriend MARISSA RIBISI.

According to American news site PAGE SIX, the pair tied the knot in secret in Santa Monica, California, on Saturday (3APR04).

Ribisi, who is the twin sister of actor GIOVANNI RIBISI, was last seen at a concert Beck performed in Los Angeles last week alongside fellow Scientologists JULIETTE LEWIS and ERICA CHRISTENSEN.

I love how they throw in "alongside fellow Scientologists"
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: superdrag76 on April 07, 2004, 08:49:29 PM
'mellow gold' hands down. probably one of the greatest albums ever. it's got style and soul.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Mesh on April 21, 2004, 04:16:32 PM
Quote from: MacGuffinBECK MARRIES BELLE

American rocker BECK has reportedly married his eight-month pregnant girlfriend MARISSA RIBISI.

According to American news site PAGE SIX, the pair tied the knot in secret in Santa Monica, California, on Saturday (3APR04).

Ribisi, who is the twin sister of actor GIOVANNI RIBISI, was last seen at a concert Beck performed in Los Angeles last week alongside fellow Scientologists JULIETTE LEWIS and ERICA CHRISTENSEN.

Hey, that's the redhead from Dazed & Confused, right?

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jmbzine.com%2Fd-c%2Fpeople%2Fcynthia.gif&hash=cd45a71b64764c7a54c578ed4c0972a37e79b950)
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: MacGuffin on May 31, 2006, 12:36:43 AM
Source: MTV

Still aren't convinced Beck's about to issue his third LP in two years? A post that appeared on Beck.com late last week further confirmed the hard-to-believe accomplishment: "Beck has just completed his new album, which he's been in the studio working on with Nigel Godrich," the post read, referencing the producer who worked on 2005's Guero and 2002's Sea Change. "The album is due out this fall."
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: tpfkabi on May 31, 2006, 05:50:22 PM
i don't really consider Guerolito an album. i mean, it was an album, but Beck didn't really have to do anything.

any hints on what direction this album will be?

both Godrich albums have been mostly acoustic based affairs.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: MacGuffin on June 06, 2006, 08:45:18 PM
Los Angeles radio station KROQ had a breakfast concert with Beck a while back:

http://www.kroq.com/kevinandbean/breakfast/index.html
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: modage on June 26, 2006, 04:50:08 PM
Beck Giving Fans Sticky Fingers With Quasi-Hip-Hop Album
Source: MTVNews 6.26.2006 6:00 AM EDT

MANCHESTER, Tennessee — Though he may have been reclining on a couch backstage at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival earlier this month, Beck was hardly relaxing.  Rather, after his prop-heavy set, Beck was fielding a barrage of calls on his cell phone from his keyboard player, wife and grandmother. He was also dodging hippies — "I smell patchouli. I smell tie-dye," he laughed — and bringing MTV News up to speed on his new album, a collaboration with longtime producer Nigel Godrich that's been almost three years in the making.

"It's all mastered and the artwork's pretty much done," he said. "Nigel and I did about 40 tracks, and we've worked on it for about two and a half years, getting it down to about 20. Now we're trying to squeeze them down even further. I worked on them in tandem [with sessions for last year's Guero], and then at the beginning of this year we got together and finally mixed them and put them together."

Though there's still no title for the album, Beck promised it'll be in stores this fall and said he's been working several new songs — including "Soldier Jane," "Nausea" and "1,000 BPM" — into his recent set lists that will more than likely make it onto the record.

But again, that could all change.

"We're days away from finishing the record, but it's proving very difficult to come up with a track list because each song has its own identity. Nothing's really obvious," he said. "Before we started, Nigel said he wanted to do a hip-hop record. And in a way it is, and in a way it isn't. It has hip-hop songs, and my previous work with him was Mutations and Seachange, these sort of introspective records, and so this new one is sort of bringing those two worlds together."

One thing he is certain about is the new album artwork, which he's been working on for almost a year with an unspecified production company.

"It's a pretty cool concept. It's supposed to be a secret, but I'll let the cat out the bag — it's all stickers," he explained. "It's really pretty amazing. The artwork is laid out in stickers, it's modular, the cover is blank and you get a sheet of stickers and you make your own cover."

But completing his new album isn't the only thing on Beck's schedule. He's also burning the midnight oil to finish the 10th anniversary edition of his landmark Odelay album, which is shaping up to be a double-disc affair loaded with B-sides and remixes.

"There's quite a lot of remixes floating around from that era," he observed. "Aphex Twin did one, Mario C. did some, the Dust Brothers did a bunch of them. So I they're going to be on there. 'Deadweight' [from the soundtrack to 1997's 'A Life Less Ordinary'] will be on there.

"I mean, I know I'm sort of behind the 8-ball," he admitted, "because [the Odelay reissue] was supposed to come out now — it's been 10 years — but I think I blew it. It'll be out sometime this year, though."
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: MacGuffin on August 15, 2006, 07:54:14 PM
Beck is giving out The Information. His ninth studio album and fourth one produced by Nigel Godrich (Radiohead) will contain 15 tracks — the most songs the Silver Lake, California, Scientologist has put on one album since 1994's One Foot in the Grave. Homemade videos for "This Girl," "1,000 BPM," "No Complaints," "Nausea," "We Dance Alone" and "Movie Theme" have already been floating around online, but, according to Beck's Web site, "This Girl" won't be appearing on the record. The remaining tracks will be: "Elevator Music," "Think I'm in Love," "Cell Phone's Dead," "Soldier Jane," "Strange Apparition," "Dark Star," "Motorcade," "The Information," "New Round" and "Horrible Fanfare/ Landslide/ Exoskeleton."
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: sickfins on September 25, 2006, 02:51:25 PM
the information

:yabbse-thumbup:

i haven't really gotten into all of the tracks yet, but it's wonderful music to work to.  it was on repeat all day yesterday.

particularly wonderful are
think i'm in love
cell phone's dead
the information

it's sort of like guero minus the spanish feel.  much more similar to guero than any of his other albums, but not as much variety.  there's a very interesting disco vibe running through it.  this album is what sea change dreams about when it goes to sleep
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: modage on September 25, 2006, 03:08:09 PM
i love the first four songs so far and the rest of it kinda runs together.  i need to keep listening, but already i like it more than guero which was too odelay redux for me.  my favorite song is probably Strange Apparition.  love  the beginning when the piano kicks in.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: MacGuffin on September 27, 2006, 11:04:27 AM
Beck Takes A Walk On The Wild Side — Kind Of — For 'Nausea' Clip
Video for first single from The Information twists gritty reality.
Source: MTV   

For more than a decade, Beck has dabbled almost exclusively in the surreal. But when it came time to shoot the video for "Nausea," the first single from his October 3 album, The Information, he decided to change things up a bit: he got surreally real.

Because while it's based in reality, nothing is truly what it seems in the "Nausea" clip, which Beck shot with director Patrick Daughters (Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Maps") recently in Los Angeles. Borrowing a page from "The Truman Show" — and the eerie, cinematic photography of Gregory Crewdson — the video follows Beck as he strolls through the seedy underbelly of L.A., past thugs and assorted riffraff that all look a bit, well, too perfectly cast.

The result is an underlying sense of surrealism that's bolstered by the fact that various street urchins snap into character as Beck approaches — a homeless man goes from standing upright to hunched in just a beat, a couple quickly joins hands when Beck glances their way — and then revert to their former stances as he passes. Clearly, something is amiss.

But it's not just the viewer that's suspicious. As the clip progresses, Beck becomes increasingly aware that this so-called reality might actually be some sort of elaborate stage production. The city skyline wobbles as if to suggest it's merely a backdrop painting, the sidewalk looks like plywood and strangely, the same cast of characters reappears time and time again, seemingly a group of actors playing different roles.

As the video reaches its conclusion, the viewer's vantage point gets wider and wider until it's evident that Beck's entire world is taking place on a gigantic soundstage, complete with massive spotlights and scrambling stagehands. At the clip's end, Beck walks off the stage, toward an unmarked door and into the unknown.

The "Nausea" video is similar in spirit to the reality-folding clip Beck shot last year for "Girl," the second single from his Guero album. And while it's the first proper video from The Information, it's by no means the only one he has filmed.

Just last month, news broke that Beck had been hard at work on a series of homemade clips — one for each song on the album — all of which are included on a DVD that comes packaged with the record.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: MacGuffin on October 02, 2006, 01:15:23 AM
Quote from: Lucid on September 28, 2006, 12:17:16 AM
Someone I'm close to very kindly slipped me a pair of 12th row tickets to see Beck this weekend at the Download Festival.  :yabbse-thumbup:  I've yet to get a hold of "The Information," but will be sure to give it a few listens prior to the concert.

Review please.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: MacGuffin on October 05, 2006, 12:40:54 PM
Beck's new CD is not allowed on England's charts

Beck loaded up his new album "The Information" with a bonus DVD with homemade videos for each song and stickers that fans can use to create customized CD covers, all in the hope of giving consumers more reasons to buy it. So what happens?

In England, the album has been disqualified from appearing on sales charts because those extras give it "an unfair advantage" over less elaborate packages.

The ruling comes from the Official U.K. Charts Co., which establishes the standards for what charts and what doesn't.

The album, released Monday in the U.K. and on Tuesday in the U.S., won't have that problem at home.

"This does not run afoul of any Billboard chart rules and I am surprised it was a problem in the U.K.," Geoff Mayfield, director of charts for Billboard, said Wednesday.

Through a spokesman, Beck said he was disappointed at the situation in England but that chart position isn't his top priority with the new album.

"It's an unconventional package, but it shouldn't be penalized for that," he said via e-mail. "Any art on a CD is an incentive to buy and listen. Ultimately, it doesn't matter, the response from the fans has been so strong ... and that is the most important thing."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The album cover for The Information isn't the only make-it-yourself item Beck has planned: He's also letting fans customize their own T-shirts at his upcoming shows. Fans will be able to choose from four different colors of blank tees, along with iron-on decals, and the shirts can be pressed at the respective venues.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: MacGuffin on October 24, 2006, 01:42:28 AM
Beck Lists Favorite Album Covers, From The Stones To ... Toncho Pilatos?
'I've always aspired to have a cover that's so emblematic of the music that the two are inseparable,' he says.
Source: MTV

For Beck, the worlds of music and art have always been inextricably linked.

His grandfather, Al Hansen, was a paragon of the Fluxus art movement of the '60s and '70s (works by the two were featured in a touring show called "Playing With Matches"), and as a teen, Beck supported his bizarro-folk leanings with a slew of jobs, including working at a museum.

Throughout his career, nowhere have those two universes collided quite like they do on the cover of Beck's albums. For more than a decade, he's worked hard at creating, as he puts it, "iconic, identifying images" to showcase the genre-defying tunes contained within. And more often than not, he succeeds (think the cow-skull-and-carburetor sculpture that fronts Mellow Gold or the leaping Komondor on the cover of Odelay).

So it came as a bit of a shock when news broke earlier this year that he was taking the opposite approach for his new record, The Information. With a simple sheet of graph paper and some stickers, Beck handed the design responsibilities over to his fans. While some saw the move as a cop-out or a shrewd marketing decision, Beck prefers to think of it as the next step in his artistic progression.

"Art has always been a huge part of my upbringing, and in the past, I've used music as an excuse to work with [artists like] Marcel Dzama or Tim Hawkinson. But with this new record, I decided to sort of turn the controls over to the people who buy my music," he said. "Also, I've always aspired to have a record cover that's so emblematic of the music that the two are inseparable, and often I've had to, like, slave over cover choices. So with this album, it's been a relief because there is no proper cover."

But that doesn't mean Beck is abandoning the medium altogether. Rather, with The Information, he's looking to re-examine the definition of just what an album cover can be. And when he stopped by MTV News recently, he let us in on the albums that inspired him to think outside the, um, jewel case in the first place.

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The Beatles' Rubber Soul (1965) and Revolver (1966)
"I love both of these covers, just love the imagery. They're kind of, you know, psychedelic and weird but still also kind of innocent. Records need an identity, or else they all start to blur together. Some people will say that there are other, more famous Beatles covers, but these are simpler and yet still tripped-out — kind of like their music was becoming."

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fec1.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FP%2FB000056P9H.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg&hash=3625166e5176c307cb4145982b5971c156f01bb4)
France Gall's Baby Pop (1966)
"When I was growing up, my friends and I would go to swap meets and thrift stores and buy records just for their wild covers. But then something happened. We started actually listening to those records we bought in the used bins, and we'd go, 'Wow, there are some cool songs on [these]!' So that's how we sort of discovered France Gall. I think we originally bought her albums because of the way she looks on the cover. But she was actually really, really talented."

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Os Mutantes' Os Mutantes (1968) and Mutantes (1969)
"Same thing goes for Os Mutantes. We'd go to thrift stores, and it was like digging through the vaults and discovering these lost treasures. At first we probably bought these records because of their really weird, spacey covers. But when they turned out to be great, it was like an extra bonus."

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Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica (1969)
"This is a great album cover. Making one and choosing one is a complete art form, because it really can change an album for me. And here is this incredible image on this incredible double album. It's completely fearless, a really bold and funny statement."

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The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers (1971)
"It's really this multimedia sort of presentation [designed and photographed by Andy Warhol] because of the zipper and all. It's simple and yet really iconic. If you picked the record up and you had never heard of the Rolling Stones before, you'd immediately understand just what this record was all about."

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Toncho Pilatos' Toncho Pilatos (1971)
"I grew up in L.A., so I have tons of weird Mexican rock from the '70s — that's a whole universe unto itself. Like Toncho Pilatos, these wild-looking guys. All of these album covers were full of, like, gangs of psychedelic-looking Mexican dudes and pyramids. It was their version of what was going on in England or the U.S. but with more of their culture and influences thrown in there."

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Pool-Pah's "The Flasher" Motion Picture Soundtrack (1973)
"I have some thrift-store records that I really love the covers for. There's a soundtrack to this movie, 'The Flasher' — I got it when I was about 18 in a used bin. And I've never seen the film or heard any mention of it. I don't even know if the film exists, but the soundtrack exists. And it's an illustration of this bearded, Jesus-looking character in a trench coat, sort of shazamming through space. And on the back cover are stills from the film: He's flashing an old lady, she's beating him with her purse, he flashes a statue in a park."

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fec1.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FP%2FB00001OH7W.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg&hash=db7c5185086b892b2f5df1b3fe8ba9cacea1780c)
David Bowie's Low (1977)
"I'm such a huge fan of all the Bowie album covers from the '70s, but this one [an image from the 1976 film 'The Man Who Fell to Earth,' which stars Bowie] sticks out in my mind. Making a cover is torturous, because you're sentencing the music to one image, forever and ever. And, like, you start to think, 'Is it going to be too kitschy or too retro? Too serious or too dark?' I don't think David Bowie thought about any of those things, but for the music contained on the record, this cover was perfect."
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: MacGuffin on February 27, 2007, 12:26:50 PM
Too Much Information?: Beck concocted a video for each song on last year's The Information — an album that contained 15 songs, the most the singer/songwriter had put on one album since 1994. He presented those clips in the form of a bonus DVD that came with the original CD release, but just in case that's not enough Information for you, he's now teeing up a brand-new, three-disc version. The hefty — and definitive, we hope — deluxe-slipcase edition features a trio of bonus tracks on disc one; a second CD boasting six remixes; and a DVD with a grand total of 17 videos. Hopefully that's not nausea you're feeling.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: MacGuffin on August 21, 2007, 07:25:01 AM
Beck keeps it catchy, dynamic and fun
Source: Los Angeles Times

Beck
"Timebomb"
(Interscope)

As an image for these days of uncertainty, a time bomb might be at least as relevant as, say, an umbrella. With today's release of Beck's new single, both devices are now part of the summer pop vocabulary, and he has as much fun with his toy as Rihanna does, in a different way, with hers. She goes, "ella, ella, ella," he says, "tick tick tick tick."

The latter is inherently more ominous, but the recording's apocalyptic undercurrent is balanced by a mighty urge to rock, a duality embodied in lines such as:

We got a red alert

We cut the power and we

Na na na na

It's a ridiculously dynamic single, Devo-like in its embrace of dumb fundamentals and the mocking tone of Beck's voice. There's also a Prince-ly swagger in its synth-rock propulsion, but the parade of surprises in the shifting textures and colors is pure, prime Beck.

"Timebomb" comes out today on iTunes and next Tuesday at other digital retailers, and it's billed as Beck's only planned release at this time. Unencumbered by promotional ties, it reflects a welcome ability to simply catch a moment and put it out there.

It might be too late to qualify as the single of the summer, but it's a perfect tonic before the fall.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: bonanzataz on August 21, 2007, 02:44:07 PM
i like it a lot! was i wrong for not buying the information?
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: davidchili on August 29, 2007, 04:14:13 AM
it's really hard to pick one favourite, one thing i enjoy about this guy is that he can take on so many styles.
i'll have to pick em all....
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: tpfkabi on January 29, 2008, 10:36:25 PM
Changed your mind, mod?

I actually broke out Guero for the first time in awhile after reading the Odelay special edition review at Pitchfork. I'm torn on whether to buy it. These Geffen special editions always seem overpriced to me. The record's been out over 10 years, they've recouped their costs and then some. The record should be maybe $5 over normal CD retail price. Maybe they're better than I realize because I haven't bought any of them up to this point.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: modage on July 01, 2008, 04:40:35 PM
i really like it too.  i think information was just too long.  and guero was too odelay.  Orphans, Gamma Ray, Modern Guilt, Profanity Prayers.  all good beckstuff.  cat power backing vocals on first track are great too.  not since jim james sang backup on i'm wide awake has a guest backing vocal been so backing.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Alexandro on July 01, 2008, 06:43:00 PM
no shit. this is a pretty solid record. there's a lot to digest here, actually. i'm surprised, and i'm a big fan.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: cinemanarchist on July 01, 2008, 09:14:35 PM
Still digesting but I know that the production on this is ridiculous. I love you Beck. I might just be really stoned but I have a feeling that this would sync up with Wall-E perfectly. Okay, maybe I just want to listen to this and watch Wall-E whilst stoned...that sounds more logical.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Stefen on July 02, 2008, 12:11:48 AM
Quote from: cinemanarchist on July 01, 2008, 09:14:35 PM
Still digesting but I know that the production on this is ridiculous. I love you Beck. I might just be really stoned but I have a feeling that this would sync up with Wall-E perfectly. Okay, maybe I just want to listen to this and watch Wall-E whilst stoned...that sounds more logical.

Werd. I'm stoned, too.

It's good. I'm having alot of fun with it, but every Beck album post-Sea Change gets knocked down a notch right off the bat for not being another Sea Change. I give it a 9 out of 10. Seriously, when is he going to make another Sea Change?

The production is excellent, though.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Alexandro on July 02, 2008, 10:47:56 AM

He would need to go through something really painful and exhausting for him to do another Sea Change.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Stefen on July 02, 2008, 11:20:53 AM
Quote from: Alexandro on July 02, 2008, 10:47:56 AM
He would need to go through something really painful and exhausting for him to do another Sea Change.

Well, for my sake, I hope something really painful and exhausting happens to him.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: cinemanarchist on July 02, 2008, 02:33:25 PM
Quote from: Stefen on July 02, 2008, 11:20:53 AM
Quote from: Alexandro on July 02, 2008, 10:47:56 AM
He would need to go through something really painful and exhausting for him to do another Sea Change.

Well, for my sake, I hope something really painful and exhausting happens to him.

Someone needs to prove to him that L. Ron Hubbard isn't real.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Pozer on July 02, 2008, 02:34:38 PM
i too like what it's doing.  i got really good seats for his Hollywood Bowl show in september.  dude puts on amazing shows.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: hedwig on July 02, 2008, 06:29:58 PM
i am liking the title track and the title itself.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Stefen on July 02, 2008, 08:41:03 PM
Quote from: Hedwig on July 02, 2008, 06:29:58 PM
i am liking the title track and the title itself.

Werd. Does anyone else think the title tracks sounds like Beck doing Spoon? It's awesome.

I'm really digging this whole album. Easily the best thing he's done since Sea Change.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: MacGuffin on July 02, 2008, 09:01:16 PM
Quote from: Pozer on July 02, 2008, 02:34:38 PM
i too like what it's doing.  i got really good seats for his Hollywood Bowl show in september.

How is it we're going to the same shows, just not together? You going to NIN too?
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Pozer on July 03, 2008, 12:48:50 PM
no on the NIN.  would like to, but ive been spending too much on concerts and things lately.. Radiohead, Beck,  Coldplay (gfriend)

plus i bought 8 tickets for this:

(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg220.imageshack.us%2Fimg220%2F9683%2Frickyaq6.jpg&hash=7b955683c9d58523d5f52fa1c180017b919caa3e)

cuz i wanted a big group for it. 

well, ill be in crappy T1 for Sunday night Radiohead and glorious G1 for Beck.  surprisingly i look just like the dude in my avatar.     
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: MacGuffin on July 03, 2008, 02:53:48 PM
Quote from: Pozer on July 03, 2008, 12:48:50 PMwell, ill be in crappy T1 for Sunday night Radiohead and glorious G1 for Beck.  surprisingly i look just like the dude in my avatar. 

L1 Sun. & L2 Mon. for Radiohead. R2 for Beck/Spoon.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: tpfkabi on July 03, 2008, 03:04:48 PM
this thread brought this song to mind. i love the lyrics (i love Mutations in general, too);

We Live Again

These withered hands have dug for a dream
Sifted through sand and leftover nightmares
Over the hill, a desolate wind
Turns shit to gold and blows my soul crazy

The end, oh, the end
We live again
Oh, I grow weary of the end

Oh, hungry days in the footsteps of fools
Gazing alone through sex-painted windows
Dredging the night, drunk libertines
Stink like colognes from a new-fangled wasteland

The end, oh, the end
We live again
Oh, I grow weary of the end

Love is a plague in a mix-match parade
Where the castaways look so deranged
When will children learn to let their wildernesses burn
And love will be new, never cold and vacant

These withered hands have dug for a dream
Sifted through sand and leftover nightmares

The end, oh, the end
We live again
Oh, I grow weary of the end
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Pozer on July 03, 2008, 03:37:13 PM
Quote from: MacGuffin on July 03, 2008, 02:53:48 PM
Quote from: Pozer on July 03, 2008, 12:48:50 PMwell, ill be in crappy T1 for Sunday night Radiohead and glorious G1 for Beck.  surprisingly i look just like the dude in my avatar. 

L1 Sun. & L2 Mon. for Radiohead. R2 for Beck/Spoon.

damn your Radioheads.  and both nights.  i'd GIVE AWAY the Becks to sit that much closer.   
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: MacGuffin on July 03, 2008, 04:28:03 PM
Quote from: Pozer on July 03, 2008, 03:37:13 PM
Quote from: MacGuffin on July 03, 2008, 02:53:48 PM
Quote from: Pozer on July 03, 2008, 12:48:50 PMwell, ill be in crappy T1 for Sunday night Radiohead and glorious G1 for Beck.  surprisingly i look just like the dude in my avatar. 

L1 Sun. & L2 Mon. for Radiohead. R2 for Beck/Spoon.

damn your Radioheads.  and both nights.  i'd GIVE AWAY the Becks to sit that much closer.   

Yeah, when they went on sale, I went for Sun. and had my brother purchase Mon. for me.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: cinemanarchist on July 03, 2008, 04:31:32 PM
I just hate you both for getting to go to shows at The Hollywood Bowl. I was lucky enough to see Air with a full symphony there a couple years ago and I really wish I saw all of my concerts there.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Pozer on July 03, 2008, 05:12:50 PM
should probly move this to the Radiohead thread (or re-title it, Beck - he's good, but not Radiohead good or something). 

Anyways, i love the HBowl but was actually hoping Radiohead would be at the Greek.  ive seen em once at the Greek and once at the Bowl and Greek was superior even tho Bowl seats were a little bit better.

Quote from: MacGuffin on July 03, 2008, 04:28:03 PM
Yeah, when they went on sale, I went for Sun. and had my brother purchase Mon. for me.

smart move.  i was on a trip, so had a friend go for em.  did you go for two or four?  we went four, always tougher to get good seats.  cinnar is right tho...it's gonna be amazing no matter where you're seated at HB.  lucky enough to not be on a lawn and to be seein em period. i still fear Mac sayin night two was way better.   
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Jeremy Blackman on July 15, 2008, 09:28:20 PM
I actually didn't like this at first, mostly cause I wasn't in the mood, I think.

Then I remembered it was a Beck record, and I started to pick up the hooks, actually hear the lyrics (which are spectacular), and notice the subtleties in the production. I love it.

Favorites are Volcano, Orphans, Gamma Ray, Chemtrails.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: cron on July 15, 2008, 09:39:51 PM
what do you guys mean when you say this album has a great production? can you give  concise  examples on certain tracks or moments where the production is something else? there's a couple of expressions i never dare to use when making observations about music because i don't even know what they mean. another example is 'arrangements'.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: tpfkabi on July 15, 2008, 10:02:35 PM
Chemtrails really sounds similar - the beginning/slow verses to one of the Mutation b-sides.
This review is pretty close to how I feel about the record at this point in time:

http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/music/entries/2008/07/07/cd_review_becks_guilt_found_mo.html

Beck
'Modern Guilt'
(Interscope)
3 stars

About 10 years ago, Beck seemed to be the voice of the past, present and future all at once, the voice of a generation that couldn't be bothered to have one.

Today? Not so much.

Back then, Beck was our most winning loser, the sleepy-eyed Los Angeles man-child who could make the most ironic musical gestures sound frank (or at least confuse the two to the point where we didn't care). Whose muse, fearing no genre or form, seemed to go anywhere. Who made it seem like music that could go anywhere was the only music that mattered.

These days, Beck sounds sluggish where he once sounded vibrant, subdued where he once sounded energized. He enlisted producer du jour Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley and a bunch more) to helm "Modern Guilt," but Danger seems like more of an enabler, letting Beck mosey around even when the beat picks up. The album clocks in at a mere 33 minutes (and consider a point added for that), but it drags anyway. "I'm tired of people who just want to be pleased," he sings on "Volcano," but it comes off sounding more like "I'm tired of people," which is not a good sign for a guy who once sounded energized by everything around him.

He even gets a little snippy with us. "Walls" chastises his fellow Americans: "You treat distraction like it's a religion," he sings. From whom do you think we learned that trick, buddy?

Much of "Modern Guilt" goes for a watery psychedelia but ends up soggy. "Gamma Ray" evokes loosey-goosey garage pop but ends up loggy. "Chemtrails" looks at the L.A. sky's pollution-tipped beauty but just seems smoggy. There's a haze here he just can't shake.

See, around 2000, he and his girlfriend, designer Leigh Limon, split up; nothing has been quite the same since. His 2002 album, "Sea Change," is one of the decade's most emotionally exhausting break-up records, an almost-comatose lament that's perfect by which to Google old flames. He got religion, got married within his childhood faith (he and his wife, actress Marissa Ribisi, are second-generation Scientologists) and had a couple of kids. He even made a few more records, "Guero" in '05 and "The Information" in '06. They were OK. Good, actually. Well, "Guero" was, wasn't it? It seems forever ago, but it wasn't even four years ago.

Maybe it's because the old stuff still sounds more alive, not tired of people but engaged by them.

In short, he became an adult. And "Modern Guilt" aims for an adult depth of feeling, but being an adult doesn't mean giving up on the world. If anything, it should make you redouble your efforts to make it what you want it to be.

Which makes you wonder: Does the guilt come from no longer sounding modern?
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: cron on July 15, 2008, 10:21:57 PM
that's a hell of a review.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Alexandro on July 15, 2008, 11:28:35 PM
Well, I dont want Beck to make the most ironic musical gestures sound frank, i want him to be frank. I want him to grow past a phase that was going on in 1999 and find new ways to mix his worldview with his art.

I'm sorry, but the bottom line of every negative review I read about Beck boils down to the fact that he's not than fun anymore, in that crazy Odelay way. He ain't. It's over, let's move on.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: john on July 15, 2008, 11:44:00 PM
Quote from: cron on July 15, 2008, 09:39:51 PM
what do you guys mean when you say this album has a great production? can you give  concise  examples on certain tracks or moments where the production is something else? there's a couple of expressions i never dare to use when making observations about music because i don't even know what they mean. another example is 'arrangements'.

For starters, it's a lot less bloated than Guero or The Information were, less layered. And, I don't think that there is less going on at once, it's just that what is happening is more seamless. Look at the first track, if you isolate everything on it, there's a lot of shit going on... but it doesn't feel like it on casual listen.

A lot of times, too it's the simple stuff that catches me... that pristine surf guitar opening to Gamma Ray, and the way it continues over the fading voices.

Danger Mouse seems to kinda reign in what previous producers have tried to exploit - the idea that everything Beck does should be a sonic tapestry. Aside from a few nice moments and commendable experiments, the last two albums. Instantly the drums are much more pronounced than I've heard in a while. The sampling seems much more seamless.

I would like to get it on vinyl, thought. As much as I admire the production - it sounds really compressed on CD. And, relatively speaking, I'm not too much of an audiophile to usually make that claim.

I dig this album. A lot.


Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: tpfkabi on July 16, 2008, 08:10:05 AM
Quote from: Alexandro on July 15, 2008, 11:28:35 PM
I'm sorry, but the bottom line of every negative review I read about Beck boils down to the fact that he's not than fun anymore, in that crazy Odelay way. He ain't. It's over, let's move on.

My favorite Beck record is Mutations.
Something about Modern Guilt is so sterile.
None of the 'highs' of MG touch any of his other records for me.
It's as if he's on cruise control.

Maybe I'll warm up to it. Revisiting The Information recently, I've started to open up to it some more. I think there really is a great record amongst it's bloated frame if one can dig it out. I've been watching the DVD* recently and I have a new appreciation for the last two 'real' songs (the title track and Movie Theme).

To clarify, I don't even think Modern Guilt is bad - the review above was 3 stars (but it didn't say what out of) - especially considering the rest of music out there, I'm just saying in relativity to Beck's own catalog.

*if anyone knows who the blonde Nico-esque looking chick is on the DVD i would like to know.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Alexandro on July 16, 2008, 11:43:41 AM
Quote from: bigideas on July 16, 2008, 08:10:05 AM
Quote from: Alexandro on July 15, 2008, 11:28:35 PM
I'm sorry, but the bottom line of every negative review I read about Beck boils down to the fact that he's not than fun anymore, in that crazy Odelay way. He ain't. It's over, let's move on.

My favorite Beck record is Mutations.
Something about Modern Guilt is so sterile.
None of the 'highs' of MG touch any of his other records for me.
It's as if he's on cruise control.

Maybe I'll warm up to it. Revisiting The Information recently, I've started to open up to it some more. I think there really is a great record amongst it's bloated frame if one can dig it out. I've been watching the DVD* recently and I have a new appreciation for the last two 'real' songs (the title track and Movie Theme).

To clarify, I don't even think Modern Guilt is bad - the review above was 3 stars (but it didn't say what out of) - especially considering the rest of music out there, I'm just saying in relativity to Beck's own catalog.

*if anyone knows who the blonde Nico-esque looking chick is on the DVD i would like to know.

I know what you mean and I agree with you. MG is sterile. It sounds sterile. And that's probably the point. "Fun" is not precisely the word I'd use to describe it. I've read some reviews with opinions so disimilar it's almost a joke. I've read one where they said Beck was fun again, and then right after that I read another one of this "he's not that fun anymore" reviews. I think MG is an uncomfortable album to listen to. The lyrics are heavier than usual, even more than Sea Change and Mutations, although he's always been a dark artist, with songs about dead all over every one of his records.

About the production, it is remarkable. The first time I listened to the album it seemed so simple, but then subsequent listens started to reveal all the details and layers that give a lot of the songs the right balance between a pop sensibility and the serious tone of the lyrics.

My problem with all these reviews (as the one above) is that even though they can't trash the music, since the music is better than most stuff out there, they go after the vibe of the music itself. As if going for a certain sound, a certain texture and succesfully achieving it is bad because the vibe is not nice and friendly. That 3 star review sounds like a 1 star review, and the critic basically says it's ok if Beck wants to be an adult as long as he still behaves like not that much of an adult.

Beck's lyrics and themes have been the same all along. His apocalyptic images and feelings anxiety and meditation on dead are his true trademark. Before Sea Change he used irony to cheer things up. Then he became more sincere, and he's not into being just "fun" anymore. Guero, so hated in general, it's gonna end up being a rarity i guess: the one time where he was bold enough to combine without irony both his dark view and his party instincts (that's why I wouldn't compare Odelay to Guero, as I see them, those are two fucking different planets).

Other artists, newer, can be as depressing as they want and go for "sterile" sounds and get a pass. But Beck doesn't cause he has this baggage of being a pop star or whatever. A lot of the reviews sound like those guys who don't lika a movie like There will be blood because it's not pleasant.

I'm sure you'll warm up to this album. I didn't like the information at first. Months later it slowly grew on me. It is a great album, as pretty much all the others.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Pozer on July 16, 2008, 01:23:24 PM
Replica is very Radioheadish.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Jeremy Blackman on July 16, 2008, 10:58:02 PM
Quote from: bigideas on July 15, 2008, 10:02:35 PMThese days, Beck sounds sluggish where he once sounded vibrant, subdued where he once sounded energized.

This is why this album didn't do it for me at first. But I've been turned around, it's definitely still growing on me.

I think Volcano might be one of the best songs I've ever heard. It's perfect. I can really appreciate where Beck is going overall, actually, mourning the death of our society and whatnot. There's so much substance here... it becomes very satisfying.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: tpfkabi on July 17, 2008, 01:58:17 PM
Quote from: Alexandro on July 16, 2008, 11:43:41 AM
About the production, it is remarkable. The first time I listened to the album it seemed so simple, but then subsequent listens started to reveal all the details and layers that give a lot of the songs the right balance between a pop sensibility and the serious tone of the lyrics.

I need to listen to it on headphones.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Alexandro on July 17, 2008, 02:33:04 PM
Quote from: bigideas on July 17, 2008, 01:58:17 PM
Quote from: Alexandro on July 16, 2008, 11:43:41 AM
About the production, it is remarkable. The first time I listened to the album it seemed so simple, but then subsequent listens started to reveal all the details and layers that give a lot of the songs the right balance between a pop sensibility and the serious tone of the lyrics.

I need to listen to it on headphones.

yeah thats about when it happened...headphones enhance any album listening experience...it's kind of sad actually...but good.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: tpfkabi on July 17, 2008, 03:25:39 PM
ok. i just got finished. i like it a lot more now.
one complaint i don't think will ever change - the vocals are too low in the mix on Profanity Prayers.

even though i know Chan is on two tracks i never remember to listen for her - i guess i just figure it's beck in falsetto because nothing stands out.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Pozer on July 17, 2008, 03:49:54 PM
yeah, pointless guest vocals if you ask me.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Jeremy Blackman on July 17, 2008, 06:47:41 PM
I posted my understanding of the Volcano lyrics on LyricWiki (http://lyricwiki.org/Beck:Volcano) (great concept for a website, by the way).

Does the actual retail insert have lyrics?
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Alexandro on July 17, 2008, 07:52:16 PM
i thought here:

I'm tired of evil
and all that it feeds
but I don't know

it said:

and all the things that i don't know...

weird but it makes sense in any way...

and i thought here:

I don't know if I'm sane
but there's a ghost in my heart

he was just repeating "i don't know what I've seen"

but after listening to it again i think you're right.

Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: tpfkabi on July 17, 2008, 10:41:44 PM
Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on July 17, 2008, 06:47:41 PM
Does the actual retail insert have lyrics?

yes.
just plain white pages with black lettering for each song. it also lists who plays what instruments on each track.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: MacGuffin on September 13, 2008, 04:22:08 AM
Beck's surprise ending
The moody album, with themes of alienation, wasn't what the artist envisioned when he began recording. It's just what developed.
By Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times

BECK'S rented recording studio is a tiny, vault-like cell set in the core of a Fairfax-area office building. It's one of the last vestiges of a hotbed of musical production in the 1960s and '70s -- the headquarters of the ABC-Dunhill record label, where some seven studios hummed around the clock, turning out records by such hit makers as the Mamas and the Papas, Steppenwolf, Steely Dan, Dusty Springfield, Three Dog Night and more.

That history, and its burial in waves of redevelopment, has a real immediacy these days for Beck, a Los Angeles native whose music always has reflected the psychic and geographic contours of his hometown, a place where he's suddenly feeling like a stranger.

"What do you think about how the city's changing?" the 38-year-old musician asked on a recent evening, sitting in an Italian restaurant down the street from the studio. "It's weird how we do that here. Before this decade it felt like the city sat still since about 1980. It seemed like there was a good 20 years where there was stuff left over. And then it feels like in the last five, six years, every time I'm driving down Wilshire or somewhere, half the block's torn down, and all of a sudden there's a building that wasn't there two months ago.

"There's all this cool stuff that's just fading . . .," he continued. " Ed Ruscha did a piece where he went and took photographs of every building on the Sunset Strip. I think it's almost time to do that again."

Or, maybe, make an album that conjures that sense of displacement. That wasn't the goal when Beck started recording his newest collection, "Modern Guilt." Going in, it was shaped by his recent immersion in obscure, exotic psych-rock records, by his desire to be economical and focus on electric guitar, and by his studio partnership with a new co-producer, Danger Mouse.

But when Beck gets to work, things tend to take on a life of their own. With the music forming as they went, and with many of the lyrics sprouting as last-minute improvisations, "Modern Guilt" took shape as a focused 30 minutes of less-is-more rock with a disquieting tone of alienation.

"I think I'm stranded, but I don't know where," he sings in "Orphans," the first song they did. On the closing track, "Volcano," he amplifies the feeling: "I've been walking on these streets so long I don't know where they're going to lead anymore."

"We didn't really have any discussions about it beforehand," said Danger Mouse, who has hit the big time with Gnarls Barkley while also collaborating with such distinctive left-of-center artists as Gorillaz, the Black Keys and Sparklehorse. "We had kind of said, 'Oh maybe we'll do a minimal, kind of rocking, kind of stripped-down garage kind of thing,' and this and that, but once we got into it, neither one of us could really concentrate on one thing. We just did whatever, and stuff would start changing and being different. It was very open."

A darker direction

BECK agreed that the record strikes a different tone for him, but because of what's missing rather than what's present. "It doesn't have a smiley face on it," said the singer, who always has laced his songs -- even the dark ones -- with a surreal, crowd-pleasing humor, going all the way back to his 1993 breakthrough hit "Loser."

"The imagery is coming out of whatever amalgamation of the Delta blues and Beat poetry and film and punk and the things that I grew up with," he added. "It just doesn't have the part of it that's the punch line or the thing that's winking at you. . . ."

Like his last two albums, "Guero" from 2005 and "The Information" from 2006, "Modern Guilt" has drawn favorable reviews, shaping up as another solid entry in the body of work that Beck has been building in the quieter aftermath of his moment at the center of the pop universe with "Odelay" in the mid-'90s.

Sales have been decreasing, but the lower profile seems to suit Beck, who's been married for four years to actress Marissa Ribisi and is the father of two children, ages 4 and 1. He might be feeling a psychic displacement, but he was relaxed and talkative as he grazed on a mozzarella salad in the restaurant.

Just back from a tour of Europe, he was looking forward to a set of U.S. dates with his new band -- they'll be at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday, accompanied by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra strings conducted by his father, arranger David Campbell.

He was also in a mood to reminisce about his younger days in Los Angeles -- escaping from his family's small, overpopulated apartment near MacArthur Park to work odd jobs, hang around for some informal education at Los Angeles City College and spend days at the Central Library. There he discovered the blues recordings and books of Beat poetry that would inspire him to make music.

As he talked about the growing sense of dislocation, he pointed out that it applies on a larger scale as well. "I was kind of trying to figure out what the song 'Orphans' was about," he said. "And in a way I was thinking how there's a large segment of this country -- we're part of this country, we're taxpayers, we grew up here, the country is in our blood. But certain things have veered so off course, or in a direction that people can't identify with or don't agree with, you can't help but feeling slightly orphaned in your own country.

"I'm very curious to see where it's going," he continued. "If that pendulum swings I'm going to be hanging on to it. I'm going to ride it all the way to the other side. I'm hoping that's what happens."
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Pozer on September 22, 2008, 01:50:18 PM
MacGuffin, why did the concert get kind of boring when the orchestra came out?  i understand it was led by his dad, and it was ok, but i wasn't expecting it to take up most of the show like that.  it started off good but it needed to be louder and then it turned into a bit of a snoozefest.  i was waiting for him to come back and play a bunch more but he did two songs and show was over at 10:30.  and no Lost Cause with the orchestra  :yabbse-thumbdown:  plenty of freak dancing hippies around who were well into it though. 

the whole house chanting two turntables and a microphone with clapping hands made the night though. 

i'm staying away from the Hollywood Bowl, they have an early curfew and horrid parking.   
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: MacGuffin on September 22, 2008, 02:39:05 PM
Quote from: Pozer on September 22, 2008, 01:50:18 PM
MacGuffin, why did the concert get kind of boring when the orchestra came out?  i understand it was led by his dad, and it was ok, but i wasn't expecting it to take up most of the show like that.  it started off good but it needed to be louder and then it turned into a bit of a snoozefest.  i was waiting for him to come back and play a bunch more but he did two songs and show was over at 10:30.  and no Lost Cause with the orchestra  :yabbse-thumbdown:  plenty of freak dancing hippies around who were well into it though. 

the whole house chanting two turntables and a microphone with clapping hands made the night though.    

Yeah, I was a bit disappointed by this concert overall; everything felt so disconnected from the audience. Spoon had a better and longer set when they opened for Feist. Beck started off excellent; also enjoyed it when the group of them did away with their instruments and just stood in front with their electronics. A couple songs did work with the orchestra, but it turned somber quickly. I also wanted more out of the encore. And he didn't dance The Robot.  :yabbse-angry:

Quote from: Pozer on September 22, 2008, 01:50:18 PMi'm staying away from the Hollywood Bowl, they have an early curfew and horrid parking.   

I've been parking at the Kodak Theater parking on Hollywood and Highland ($10) and just making the hike up.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: tpfkabi on April 15, 2009, 11:19:00 AM
anyone looking forward to the One Foot in the Grave reissue?

i have never gotten it, but have been interested, especially after Tom Petty covered "Asshole" for She's the One.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Alexandro on April 15, 2009, 05:12:12 PM
it's a nice little album which feels like camping out in the forest. very low key and kind of surreal. it reminds me of simpler times.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Stefen on April 15, 2009, 05:13:14 PM
^that's pretty much the best description ever.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: tpfkabi on May 06, 2009, 01:05:10 PM
Quote from: Alexandro on April 15, 2009, 05:12:12 PM
it's a nice little album which feels like camping out in the forest. very low key and kind of surreal. it reminds me of simpler times.

it has some nice tunes, especially when he doubletracks his vocals like he does a lot more now.

the early version of It's All In Your Mind is interesting.

i saw Stereopathetic Soul Manure on vinyl for $7.99 yesterday.
i remember listening to my roommate's copy and it was just pretty weird. lots of just noise tracks and maybe a handful of 'song' songs as far as i recall.

i'd probably buy deluxe editions of SSM and Mellow Gold since i like Beck even if just for curiosity's sake.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ on May 07, 2009, 08:15:32 PM
Don't overlook Stereopathic Soul Manure, it definitely has its own time and place.  In fact, the time and place aren't important, you just need to be drunk and lost.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: tpfkabi on June 25, 2009, 07:46:43 AM
http://www.beck.com/

he's got the first track of his Record Club/VU thing up.

who is the blonde woman?
i'm pretty sure it's the same one in all his latest videos that i've wondered about.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: tpfkabi on February 26, 2010, 02:48:19 PM
i can't believe the Beck produced Charlotte Gainsburg(sp?) album, IRM, hasn't been brought up - with the added actress thing attached to it.

it tells me Beck needs to produce his own records - i never quite liked Danger MOuse's production on Modern Guilt.

i kinda wish Beck would do his American version of IRM called....MRI, with him taking all the leads and maybe having different songs in place of the French language songs.

i bought it through Newbury Comics, at the time you could get it with Charlotte's autograph for no extra change and cheaper than Amazon.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Reel on April 10, 2010, 10:42:59 PM
I saw him playing in the SNL band tonight. Why is he doing that? Hope to see more of him later...
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: tpfkabi on April 12, 2010, 10:04:53 AM
Quote from: Gistofit on April 10, 2010, 10:42:59 PM
I saw him playing in the SNL band tonight. Why is he doing that? Hope to see more of him later...

I totally missed that. There is a guy who has been there a while that kinda resembles Beck. Beck's hair is cut short again I believe, not long like around Modern Guilt era pictures.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Reel on April 21, 2010, 10:58:02 PM
So lets talk about Beck. My favorite album is Sea Change because it hit me at a time in high school when I just felt totally useless and didn't know what to do with myself when I woke up in the morning. So I listened to that and it jibed with my state of mind so easily I thought Hey maybe you could be a musician and write these kinda songs to show people whats really going on in your head. At that point I didn't care at all about anything I had previously wanted to do with myself like go into movies or whatever. It was like Beck's Sea Change just gave me this boost right when I needed it.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Gold Trumpet on April 22, 2010, 01:46:13 AM
Yes, Sea Change is my favorite album of his. After listening to the album for a few years, I noticed three titles on the album were also titles from my favorite jazz musician, Dave Douglas. They weren't remakes of his pieces, but it seems like Beck was influenced by the moods Douglas set in his music. He's not a traditional jazz musician in that he piggy backs off old styles and structures, but he blends everything together until it fits a specific mood. His music is atmospheric and reminds me of something a film score could be. Beck specifically takes names from moodier pieces of Douglas' and seems to be influenced to create a larger feeling to his album. It's why Thrindle's mom caught me listening to the album once and asked me why I liked overblown elevator music, haha.

Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Robyn on April 24, 2010, 07:50:36 PM
Love Mutations, and haven't listened to his other stuff so much. Sea Change was interesting and I'll give it a second chance when I'm more focused. I seriously didn't liked Odelay at all. Anyway, which albums should I listen to now for similar stuff to Mutations?
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ on April 25, 2010, 01:45:53 AM
For starters, give Sea Change another listen immediately.

I'm not sure what didn't work for you about Odelay, but the thing about Beck is that he's all over the place.  My personal favorite has become Stereopathetic Soul Manure, so I'd recommend that one... Midnite Vultures is also a lot of fun and simultaneously incredible.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: tpfkabi on May 03, 2010, 02:33:18 PM
Quote from: Reelist on May 03, 2010, 01:24:37 PM
Quote from: KarlJan on April 24, 2010, 07:50:36 PM
which album should I listen to now for similar stuff to Mutations?

Guero, but its the worst one

guero was more like a return to odelay (working with the same producer - dust bros i think?).
there is a song that has that tropicalia type beat/arrangement i think. been a while.

i'm not big on Sea Change. i don't think it sucks, but it's too 'one note' for me and then having tracks 1 and 3 start off the same way (or on the same chord) rubs me the wrong way.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: polkablues on May 03, 2010, 03:34:02 PM
Guero has three or four classic songs, but a lot of filler in between. I would place it head and shoulders above The Information, though.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Reel on May 03, 2010, 07:05:54 PM
The Information was the first Beck album I bought so it has sentimental value to me. It was especially cool how he put those stickers to decorate your own case, and the dvd with the album done on music video, anyone get through that? I remember outplaying that album so hard and feeling dorky because I only liked Beck for awhile, then I collected all his albums and moved on. I did the same with Nirvana when I was much younger
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: tpfkabi on May 04, 2010, 09:44:14 AM
that makes sense - he really didn't move much forward with that record, but if you hadn't heard prior stuff it may be a relevation.

i think the Information is most hurt by it's running length and number of tracks. if it was cut down to a solid 40/45 min album it would probably be perceived better. there are a couple tracks that aren't necessarily bad, they just don't go anywhere.

the packaging was a cool idea though. there is even a deluxe vinyl version that would be cool to have, but i don't want to pay the price.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: MacGuffin on May 04, 2010, 11:09:26 AM
Beck Covers INXS's 'Kick' With St. Vincent, Liars and More

Beck has revealed that the next installment of his Record Club will focus on the mega-popular 1987 INXS album 'Kick'. It's an unexpected but not unwelcome choice after recent stabs at underappreciated classics by the Velvet Underground, Skip Spence and Leonard Cohen.

"Record Club No. 4 is here," Beck announced on his official site. "Joining in this time we had three of my favorite bands -- Liars, Annie Clark and Daniel Hart from St. Vincent, Sergio Dias from the legendary Brazilian band Os Mutantes, as well as [Record Club] veteran Brian Lebarton, just back from the Charlotte Gainsbourg tour."

The plan, as with previous Record Club titles, is to post Beck's renditions of songs from the album -- including 80s staples like 'Devil Inside,' 'Need You Tonight' and 'Mystify' -- in their proper sequence, beginning with a rousing and relatively accurate rendition of 'Guns in the Sky.'

"The record was chosen by fellow Aussie, Angus from the Liars," Beck continued. "It was recorded in a little over 12 hours on March 3, 2010. It was an intense, hilarious, daunting and completely fun undertaking. Thanks to everybody for being there and putting so much into it. Many classic moments, inspired performances and occasional anarchy."
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: MacGuffin on August 09, 2012, 03:51:27 PM
Beck To Release Sheet Music 'Album' in December
Source: Billboard

Beck fans won't have to wait much longer for a new album... that is, if they can play the music themselves.

The alt-rock veteran announced on Wednesday (Aug. 8 ) via his website that he will partner with McSweeny's to release a 20-song album in an "almost-forgotten form" -- sheet music! -- in December. The music from "Beck Hansen's Music Reader," including new songs "Do We? We Do" and "Don't Act Like Your Heart Isn't Hard," won't be performed by the man himself. Select renditions of the songs will then be featured on McSweeny's website for less musically inclined fans to enjoy.

Aside from the sheet music, "Beck Hansen's Song Reader" will include 108 pages worth of material and 20 individual song booklets, with "full color, heyday-of-home-play-inspired art" for each track from artists such as Marcel Dzama (who did the artwork for Beck's "Guero"), Leanne Shapton, Josh Cochran, Jessica Hische and more. There will also be an introduction by Slate's Jody Rosen and a foreword from the mastermind himself, Beck.

Before the collection of sheet music is unveiled, however, Beck will perform a "secret" show at Bimbo's in San Francisco on Thursday night. Tickets for the show are on sale now.

Earlier this year, Beck collaborated on a single, "I Just Started Hating Some People Today," with Jack White for his Third Man Records imprint.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Alexandro on August 09, 2012, 06:36:53 PM
is this the ultimate anti piracy tactic? let the fans make the music.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Robyn on August 10, 2012, 06:11:06 AM
I think he's just desperate to make something different.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: MacGuffin on October 28, 2013, 07:33:10 PM
Beck Announces New Album Morning Phase, Signs to Capitol Records

Beck has signed to Capitol Records, who will release his new album Morning Phase. It's out in February 2014.

The album features many of the same musicians from his 2002 album Sea Change (Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Joey Waronker, Smokey Hormel, Roger Joseph Manning Jr., and Jason Falkner). The press release describes it as "a companion piece of sorts" to that album. Full album details are forthcoming.

Morning Phase follows a series of singles, including "Gimme", "Defriended", and "I Won't Be Long". It also follows last year's sheet music project, Beck Hansen's Song Reader.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Reel on October 28, 2013, 11:51:57 PM
This will be my guaranteed favorite album of '14
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Alexandro on November 03, 2013, 12:44:37 PM
I've been updating myself on Beck, in a way, forced because of his scarce output since Modern Guilt and I really think he is in some kind of creative roll. The stuff in the Phillip Glass record, particularly his 20 minutes track, the music for Sound Shapes, his addictive cover of I only have Eyes for You (probably the best version I've ever heard of this song) as many other small tidbits from his Record Club sessions (I particularly like some of the Cohen covers and the Velvet Underground "Sunday Morning" version), along with some of the great stuff a lot of artists did with his Song Reader (that Do we song was awesome in almost every version) have convinced me he's not desperate but more like really restless, which is the usual with him. Because he had not released an album since MG I was feeling that the energy had waned, and the guy who made 1000 songs was tired, but I now I think the opposite.

The last few songs that are supposed to appear in the next album are really rich, musically and surprisingly catchy.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Lottery on November 03, 2013, 04:55:11 PM
His best album is Guero. Maybe. I also quite like the one before and the one after it.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: modage on November 04, 2013, 03:00:26 PM
Quote from: Lottery on November 03, 2013, 04:55:11 PM
His best album is Guero. Maybe. I also quite like the one before and the one after it.
NO NO NO. Good God, no.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Lottery on November 04, 2013, 05:05:43 PM
Quote from: modage on November 04, 2013, 03:00:26 PM
Quote from: Lottery on November 03, 2013, 04:55:11 PM
His best album is Guero. Maybe. I also quite like the one before and the one after it.
NO NO NO. Good God, no.

ACCEPT IT MODAGE, ACCEPT.

It's just so enjoyable, Guero I mean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuvfI59LXyI
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: MacGuffin on November 21, 2013, 04:59:18 PM
Beck Shares Details of New Album Morning Phase, Including Jack White Sessions
Source: Pitchfork

Speaking with Rolling Stone, Beck shared some details about his upcoming LP, Morning Phase, which is out in February through Capitol. As noted, the record features many of the musicians from 2002's Sea Change, including Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Joey Waronker (currently of Atoms for Peace), Smokey Hormel, and Roger Joseph Manning Jr. Beck described the record as coming from the tradition of  "California music" and said, "I'm hearing the Byrds, Crosby Stills and Nash, Gram Parsons, Neil Young—the bigger idea of what that sound is to me."

Per Rolling Stone, song titles include "Wave", "Unforgiven", "Blue Moon", "Say Goodbye", "Waking Light," "Blackbird Chain", and "Country Dawn". The latter three were recorded in 2011 in Nashville at Jack White's Third Man Records. (Those sessions also yielded a single for Third Man.) Beck produced the record, while his father David Campbell once again handled the brass and string arrangements.

Since 2008's Modern Guilt, Beck has also recorded a different full-length, which he's been sharing through his recent singles series—including "Gimme", "Defriended", and "I Won't Be Long". He says he hopes to have that album out at some point, and is also halfway done with yet another record, to be released later in 2014.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: Alexandro on February 09, 2014, 11:24:13 AM
I couldn't resist and I downloaded Morning Phase. I'll eventually buy it physically as I've done with all the others.
To me, the album starts on a weak note. The first track, well, the second track since the first one is a strings intro, sounds so much like The Golden Age, like it follows every beat form that song that I thought "well, they said this was going to be a 'spiritual successor' to sea change, but this sounds more like a rehash". I was underwhelmed (even though the song is pretty great and moving). Thankfully, right after that the album goes in a new, different direction and it starts growing track by track, easily becoming one of his best. I haven't really paid attention to the lyrics, but I can feel is a very resonant thing emotionally, filled with textures and lived in atmosphere in the sounds. It sounds so effortless. I came back to it a couple of times after my first, and the third one really blew me away. i forgive that first track, because the rest is truly amazing. loved the ending too, I don't think Beck has ever finished a record with a bang like here.
Title: Re: favorite beck album? (official beck thread)
Post by: wilder on February 09, 2014, 11:29:44 PM
Beck On 'Morning Phase' - NPR (http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2014/02/04/268981803/beck-on-morning-phase-the-all-songs-considered-interview)