FEATURE:
A Buyer’s Guide
Part Seventeen: Beck
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I will step away from the more obvious…
PHOTO CREDIT: Autumn De Wilde
and mainstream in future editions but, as I am a big fan of Beck, I thought it was time to include him in A Buyer’s Guide. Beck’s fourteenth studio album, Hyperspace, was released last year, and it was another terrific album from the maestro! It seems like there is no predicting or slowing him, and one wonders where his music will take him next. Having just turned fifty, there is plenty more music in him! I have recommended the essential Beck albums you will want to own; an underrated record that I feel deserves more love, in addition to his recent album – and a book that is worth checking out that will give you more information about him. Whether you are new to him or a big fan, I hope the guide below offers some insight into…
THE sensational Beck.
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The Four Essential Albums
Mellow Gold
Release Date: 1st March, 1994
Label: DGC
Producers: Beck Hansen/Tom Rothrock/Rob Schnapf/Carl Stephenson
Standout Tracks: Pay No Mind (Snoozer)/Fuckin with My Head (Mountain Dew Rock)/Beercan
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Beck-Mellow-Gold/master/44787
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0iIGP4Sxw3KR4OCFv2yvz8
Review:
“From its kaleidoscopic array of junk-culture musical styles to its assured, surrealistic wordplay, Beck's debut album, Mellow Gold, is a stunner. Throughout the record, Beck plays as if there are no divisions between musical genres, freely blending rock, rap, folk, psychedelia, and country. Although his inspired sense of humor occasionally plays like he's a smirking, irony-addled hipster, his music is never kitschy, and his wordplay is constantly inspired. Since Mellow Gold was pieced together from home-recorded tapes, it lacks a coherent production, functioning more as a stylistic sampler: there are the stoner raps of "Loser" and "Beercan," the urban folk of "Pay No Mind (Snoozer)," the mock-industrial onslaught of "Mutherfuker," the garagey "Fuckin' With My Head (Mountain Dew Rock)," the trancy acoustic "Blackhole," and the gently sardonic folk-rock of "Nitemare Hippy Girl." It's a dizzying demonstration of musical skills, yet it's all tied together by a simple yet clever sense of songcraft and a truly original lyrical viewpoint, one that's basic yet as colorful as free verse. By blending boundaries so thoroughly and intoxicatingly, Mellow Gold established a new vein of alternative rock, one that was fueled by ideas instead of attitude” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: Loser
Odelay
Release Date: 18th June, 1996
Label: DGC
Producers: Beck Hansen/The Dust Brothers/Mario Caldato, Jr/Brian Paulson/Tom Rothrock/Rob Schnapf
Standout Tracks: Devil’s Haircut/The New Pollution/Jack-Ass
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Beck-Odelay/master/44998
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/1Pus5h1qGedCn4CtOuPVtp
Review:
“Easily one of this generation's three most talented and innovative artists, Beck's major-label follow-up, Odelay is no loser for damn sure.
Eleven out of these thirteen new songs blew me straight away (which is really saying a lot considering what a jaded rock critic I've become - haw haw), though every single track on the disc is fantastic.
Opening with the spooky cartoon sounds of "Devil's Haircut," the record grabs you by the crotch immediately and, with the second track, "Hotwax," accidentally gets you down.
Beck samples from every possible wacky source imaginable (and unimaginable), which just makes the ride crazier. There are sounds from all sorts of old records, including one from Dick Hyman's classic Moog record and, on "High 5 (Rock The Catskills)," an obscure early 80s bit where listeners are commanded to scream out the names of their favorite designer jeans. ("Everybody in the house say 'Jordache!'")
Odelay is the third best record of 1996 so far (Walt Mink's El Producto, and 12 Rods' Gay? follow, respectively, if you had to know), and as you all know, there can only be one of those” – Pitchfork
Choice Cut: Where It’s At
Midnite Vultures
Release Date: 23rd November, 1999
Label: DGC
Producers: Beck Hansen/The Dust Brothers/Tony Hoffer/Mickey Petralia
Standout Tracks: Sexx Laws/Mixed Bizness/Hollywood Freaks
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Beck-Midnite-Vultures/master/45208
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/5Mk8LGoWoPg0igqQXprzfR
Review:
“By now, the little big man has located an unnerving falsetto, used to devastating effect on the full-on robotic P-funk 'Peaches & Cream', which cops the keyboard strafe from 'Crazy Horses' and wherein Beck possibly pre-empts the sceptics who by this point will be despairing at the extent of his unfettered magpie tendencies: "Give those pious soldiers another lollipop/'Cos we're on the good ship manage et tois" (sic).
Suck on this, in other words. Thereafter, he meanders through altogether more expected, if not completely familiar, Hansen vistas - beat-box metal, bombastic blues, and the candlelit beach-baby folk of 'Beautiful Way', the sole nod to the beatific crooner from last year's 'Mutations' - but there's never a dip in the horny pulsebeat.
'Midnite Vultures' is bound to entrench opinions on both sides of the Beck divide. The doubters will recoil from its myriad layers of self-knowledge and the fact that the author's tongue is almost permanently lodged in one cheek or another. But just because this isn't a conventional dose of 'reality' doesn't mean Beck can't be sincere, and the force of character laid bare here is quite an awesome thing to behold. Narrower in scope than 'Odelay' but more immediate in impact, it's clearly been conceived as an accompaniment to our hedonistic habit of choice, the last great party album of the millennium. And like a certain song says, parties weren't meant to last” – NME
Choice Cut: Debra
Morning Phase
Release Date: 21st February, 2014
Labels: Capitol/Fonograf
Producer: Beck
Standout Tracks: Morning/Blue Moon/Wave
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Beck-Morning-Phase/master/657658
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/2Qx7dgA5VjX8JDQaXVxzHu
Review:
“What does all this studio perfectionism add up to? A sun-kissed stroll through gentle waves of melody, serenity for those seeking some winter light, and sleep aids for those who think West Coast rock went off the rails between the formation of CSN and the first rumblings of X. (Those sympathetic to the latter philosophy may not find much to snicker about when Beck notes, “I need to find someone to show me how to play it slow,” quite possibly the only joke on an album claiming few grins.) But jokes aren’t the point, and neither is BPM. No matter how enthusiastically some claim Beck as a zeitgeist-embracing pop chameleon of the Jean-Luc Godard variety, he’s far more a craftsman of the Louis Malle school: sophisticated, assured, self-aware, and incessantly torn between competing genres.
For all his voracious appetites and pomo tendencies, he has steadfastly embraced the path of the old-fashioned artist, conceiving his statements as distinct self-contained entities, with side projects scuttled off to the margins and consistency of mood a necessity. Whether he had an epiphany beneath that stormtrooper mask long ago or simply prefers a tidier oeuvre for his eventual biographers, he remains conceptual to the core. If UV-induced bliss strikes you as a worthy enough concept for immersion (and why shouldn’t it), well, submit to the reverb” – SPIN
Choice Cut: Heart Is a Drum
The Underrated Gem
Guero
Release Date: 29th March, 2005
Label: Interscope
Producers: Beck Hansen/Dust Brothers/Tony Hoffer
Standout Tracks: Girl/Black Tambourine/Go It Alone
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Beck-Guero/master/45392
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/2EugWXUZjr78KJFqZavvZT
Review:
“That the patient is re-visiting past combinations of his constituent personalities is not in itself a cause for worry; after all, it is what most of his support system has been suggesting for many years. But one wonders whether Mr. Hansen's heart is in the proceedings, as many of the songs appear to be little more than weak echoes of their similar predecessors. Furthermore, stray remnants of individual personality types, particularly the most recently-seen "mope" character, pop up on "Missing" and "Broken Drum," in the form of slow tempos and "Blue Jay Way" strings.
Other areas give indications of new, healthy ways of rectifying the contradictions within Mr. Hansen's torrid mind. "Girl" uses an NES symphony prologue to introduce a Cali-rock pastiche, the sweetness of which overcomes its serial killer lyrics and "Hey Ya" biting. "Black Tambourine" finds the patient stripping down his usual methods, concentrating on foreboding rhythms and gimmick economy, while "Earthquake Weather" is similarly sparse, and sees Mr. Hansen using his falsetto for a purpose other than adding a musical wink to his less serious efforts” – Pitchfork
Choice Cut: Earthquake Weather
The Latest/Final Album
Hyperspace
Release Date: 22nd November, 2019
Label: Capitol
Producers: Pharrell Williams/Beck Hansen/Cole M.G.N./Greg Kurstin/Paul Epworth/David Greenbaum (add.)
Standout Tracks: Hyperlife/Uneventful Days/Dark Places
Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Beck-Hyperspace/master/1639661
Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/4ZUryKKDhiMXcD4fluAEhl
Review:
“Hyperspace is one of those Beck projects that came together quickly. At the conclusion of the supporting tour for 2017's Colors, Beck headed into the studio with Pharrell Williams with the intention of contributing to a new N.E.R.D album, but they wound up hitting it off. The collaboration ballooned from a single into an EP and, ultimately, the core of Beck's 14th album. Beck worked with a few other collaborators on the record -- Greg Kurstin, the producer of Colors, is credited on "See Through," Sky Ferreira sings on "Die Waiting," Coldplay's Chris Martin is on "Stratosphere" -- but the partnership with Williams is what defines Hyperspace, giving it its sleek retro futurism. With its layers of analog synths and drum machines, it's hard to escape the new wave trappings of Hyperspace, yet the album is devoid of nostalgia or irony. Such is Beck's sincerity, he winds up stumbling into territory pioneered by Todd Rundgren's Utopia, indulging in the shimmering electronic soft rock of "Chemical." Despite the frenetic rhythms of "Saw Lightning," "Chemical" is a better indication of Beck's intentions: he's making a sequel to Morning Phase in the guise of a synth record. It's a clever concept and the music itself is often clever, the strummed acoustic guitars getting blown out in waves of analog synth bliss. It's music for twilight contemplation, not so much a soundtrack for regret as soul-searching. To that end, Hyperspace exists on the same astral plane as Morning Phase and Sea Change, but it never feels as fussy or formal as those sad opuses. Chalk that up not to the electronic instrumentation but rather a light touch. Beck never lingers upon either his melancholy or his celestial flights of fantasy: they exist simultaneously, resulting in a tremulous and pretty soundtrack for moments of fleeting introspection” – AllMusic
Choice Cut: Saw Lightning
The Beck Book
Throwing Frisbees at the Sun: A Book About Beck
Author: Rob Jovanovic
Publication Date: 4th March, 2015
Publisher: Jawbone Press
Synopsis:
“At a time in rock and pop history when almost everything has been done before, few artists have proved as restlessly innovative as Beck.
Since bursting onto the scene in 1994 with ‘Loser’, he has zigzagged his way across the contemporary music landscape, consistently remaining one step ahead of expectations and doing things his own way, shape-shifting from indie icon to pop crooner, from folk hobo to Latino-rap hipster, balancing big-budget chart highs with low-key, introspective acoustic albums.
Beck’s early shows saw him clearing the stage with a leaf-blower, and his enthusiasm for the experimental has not diminished with age. In the twenty-first century, he founded the Record Club, which brought together disparate artists to record cover versions of whole albums in a single day for release online. Then he took a troupe of doppelgänger marionettes out on tour and made the brave decision to release Song Reader as a set of sheet music, challenging buyers to record and play their own versions of his new songs.
Drawing on new interviews with friends, family, collaborators, and bandmates—as well as conversations with Beck himself—Throwing Frisbees At The Sun is a carefully crafted, career-spanning retrospective befitting the many twists and turns of this intriguing performer’s path through life and music” – Jawbone Press
Order: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Throwing-Frisbees-Sun-Book-About/dp/1908279605