#21

4 seems fair, I really enjoy a lot of his music but he’s never made the leap to all-time favourite for me. Absolutely love this one from Guero

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#22

Never listened to him but he was great live

#23

‘That song doesn’t usually last three hours but we got in to a serious thing… and then I forgot how it ended’

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#24

Gone with a 4. I’ve continued to listen to him up to his present day releases and there nothing I dislike, even if a lot of it is incomparable to his earlier heights. He had a fantastic run from Mellow Gold to Guero, all brilliant albums. Also the few times I’ve seen him live have been some of the most fun times I’ve had.

Also, despite the corporate links, this is amazing:

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#25

Yeah thanks for all your incredible hard work, great threads that add so much to the site.

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#26

used to have this as my alarm

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#27

Been waiting for this one for a while, definite 5.

Wouldn’t leap to mind as one of my favourite artists, but over the years he’s probably been one of the most important and listened to. Really like that he’s never rested on his laurels or stood still. It doesn’t lead to consistency - some of the stuff even on albums I love doesn’t land at all, but I really respect him for doing it. To go from the wackiness of Midnight Vultures to Sea Change to Guero in the space of five years or so is really impressive.

Modern Guilt’s the underrated gem in his back catalogue, quite stripped back almost garage rock feel to it. If you went off him after his peak I’d recommend giving that a listen, it’s 10 tracks and relatively short so doesn’t outstay its welcome.

Sea Change is a contender for top 10 of all time for me, and I’ve fallen heavily back in love with it over lockdown. Really wish I could have been at the Union Chapel gig he did to promote it for the BBC.

This is turning into an incoherent stream of consciousness now, but I bloody love Beck.

5 Likes
#28

Oh, this is actually my favourite cover version of all time

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#29

Essentially this. My favourite track of his is Loser, which sort of feels like someone’s favourite Radiohead being Creep.

3

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#30

Relative latecomer to Beck (didnt first until about 2017) but have come to love his work a lot over the past few years. Excited to rinse that catalogue today.

Sea Change is by far my favourite of his. Odelay is great but maybe a little too long. Modern Guilt is excellent whenever I listen to it. Midnite Vultures and Mutations both have stunning songs (Nobody’s Fault in particular floors me) but lack consistency overall. Havent heard the others.

Man sure can write a great song. A really feel-good, almost cheesy but brilliant hits set when I saw him at APE 2018. Given him a 4.

#31

There may have been a time where I would have given him a 5 but whenever I put in an album I often struggle to make it all the way through no matter what era. With that being said the highlights are dizzying and Modern Guilt is underrated

4

#32

And this might be mine.

#33

Hard to have a really strong opinion about Beck.

He’s fine most of the time, just hard to get excited about. Like if he was playing at a festival I was at I’d go see him probably, but wouldn’t be fussed otherwise.

Best song is a cover (everyone’s gotta learn sometime).

I really liked Modern Guilt though - thought it had a cool overall sound and also enjoyed the fact it was short.

Dunno, a slightly harsh 3

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#34

Probably a 4 but I’m going to boost to a 5 as I think he’s ended up being a little under rated/appreciated and also my partner likes him a lot so we listen to him a fair bit.

Incredibly consistent, 14 albums and imo 13 of them (Hyperspace being the exception imo) are at the very least a combo of very good and pushing in interesting and new directions, and at their best just wonderful records.

Nice to see Modern Guilt getting appreciation, tends to be my go to for a Beck hit these days.

4 Likes
#35

I get this and feel this is where a lot of people are with Beck.

I think he suffers from longevity, having a distinct sound (even though he takes each new record in a distinct direction he will always sound like Beck) and weirdly just consistency. People want the new, it’s really rare for an artist just to be accepted as long established. It’ll be interested to see if he sort of keeps ploughing on and ends up getting the sort of general respect some more straightforward singer songwriter/rockers get.

2 Likes
#36

Never loved him like some bands but he has a ridiculous amount of good songs under his belt. Personal favourite album of mine is Mutations, never got the love for Sea Change. Have seen him live and he’s very good. 4/5.

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#37

Thank you funkman for giving me a platform to put down my musical theoretical ramblings down during lockdown especially :joy:

So Beck, a tough one who is pretty hard to measure. He was one of my first musical loves, I remember Loser being one of the first songs I really remember paying attention to on the radio despite being like, 5 years old? I absolutely rinsed the shit out of my parents copy of Odelay! despite being very young, I think there’s a child like wonder to its range and production that I really connected to.

I once performed a Capella version of ‘Devil’s Haircut’ with a pal in front of my, Christ, year 5? 6? I think it was around the time Midnight Vultures came out so I’d have been like 10/11, no footage of this exists unfortunately but all I really remember was that me and my mate didn’t really fully know what we were doing but one teacher was quite impressed I even knew who Beck was let alone willing to do a scatty vocal cover of it where I only half remembered the words so either made them up or mumbled them.

Later on in an assignment to “bring a piece of music you love to class” everyone brought pop or Disney - and in one case, “It doesn’t matter” by The Rock & Wyclef Jean timestamping this anecdote rather neatly - and I brought ‘Loser’ by Beck which my teacher at time got concerned that because I loved this song I must be suffering from low self-esteem and depression (they’d eventually be right but come on not at that age). I also popped hard when he showed up on Futurama around that time.

Anyway as a result I’ve always had a lot of time for Beck even though I never loved an album of his again. I was a bit too young to get Sea Change initially but it soon hit me hard and I later appreciated it. He had some great singles throughout the 2000s - ‘Gamma Ray’ is an absolute jam - and Morning Phase was gorgeous. Was extremely excited to finally see him in 2014 - supporting The Strokes at Hyde Park despite no one else really being that bothered about Beck waiting for the supremely average set from archetypal American 2000s band but whatever - and he did not disappoint. Really did not like Colors and I think there’s been another since then?

Anyway I was gonna give a 4 based on scientology and inconsistency but with one of things debunked and the other not as bad as I remember I think thread 150 deserves a big fat 5 from me.

Keep up the good work troops

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#38

Is this… Hiromu Takahashi?

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#39

4… another that I listened to like crazy when I was a teenager + seen quite a few times. Got a massive soft spot for Mellow Gold, and often find myself singing “She’s got tofu the size of Texas” at random points, although I don’t listen to him so much these days. Need to check out whatever he’s put out the last few years. A bit like Eels in the slowing down of really great stuff.

Also used to get Motherfuker constantly stuck in my head too. That’s not a good one to sing under your breath while you wander around the office.

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#40

Never cared for Beck at all, didn’t understand the fuss but saw him supporting Radiohead and he was pretty good. Not enough to actually listen to his music but enough me stop hating him.
You see, one night I was having a smoke at a friends house and I hated that record so much it made me throw up. Once he turned it off I was fine.

So here’s Xenu with a 2.