Remember when he got a hat, and then everyone was mad at him for winning a Grammy for that really boring album?
Meant to just post the Jay version, but this appears to be both
I havenāt listen to anything post Modern Guilt, should really give Morning Phase a go at the very least, saw him touring Odelay in Nottingham and it remains one of the best gigs Iāve ever seen.
4 for me
i will never not want to hear anything that heās doing
Absolutely massively into odelay at the time - 2nd year at university was largely spent arguing which was better between odelay and endtroducing. Then got really into mellow gold, which became my favourite.
But ive found everything hes done since pretty uninspiring.
One of my absolute favourites. Didnāt like him much to start with and I remember seeing one of his videos on TV and thinking āwho does he think he is?ā. Found a copy of Odelay in a bargain bin at Woolworths though and became obsessed.
Prefer his āwackyā stuff to the more serious records. Sea Change aside, his songs donāt appear to be about anything. Therefore find the folksier stuff kind of souless although I get the impression heād rather be releasing those records.
Five for the early stuff and lyrics like āHer mother is proud to be dead. Her Dad is breakdancing underneath the bedā
Down to four though for more recent mid-life crisis era Beck
Odelay is a super album. But Iāve never really connected with anything since. I canāt understand why the later albums starting from Sea Change is rated.
A harsh 3 from me. Might move it up to 4. Odelay never clicked and I always found Loser a bit annoying, but I love slow sad Beck. Sea Change is gorgeous. And Nobodyās Fault But My Own from Mutations is brilliant too.
I like funky/party Beck sometimes too. Midnite Vultures is top, and I quite liked Colors, even though I know thatās not the general consensus. His most recent one is pretty woeful though.
He was great when I saw him at Glastonbury in 2016(?). Wasnāt expecting much, but he was a right showman.
Couple of Beck deep cuts-
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Feel like I should like him more than I do. This is my favourite thing heās done.
Also discovered some great stuff by investigating the samples used on Odelay
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So hereās the thing. Beckās good at genre-hopping and genre-melding or whatever you want to call it. But heās not THAT good at doing the genres in and of themselves. Weird one.
Iād give him a 2 personally because I think heās shit but where would we be without such restlessly creative types? So for that Iāll give him a 3.
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Easy to admire, hard to love, thatās Beck that is. Seems like every few years I think āOh maybe this will be the album that makes me really like Beckā, but it never is.
Odelay didnāt do anything for me, then I bought Midnite Vultures off the back of Sexx Laws and that didnāt grab me either. Sea Change is one good song and a lot of other less good similar songs. Tried again with Colors a couple of years ago after hearing it playing in Resident in Brighton and thinking it sounded fantastic, and then it sounded less fantastic when I got it home.
I donāt dislike him, he seems like an alright sort, just nothing I can get too excited about. Abstaining/5
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Gonna give him a 3.
I used to love Odelay and Midnite Vultures is a lot of fun but a lot of his stuff leaves me cold.
Caught him at Reading Festival one year and his live show was brilliant. Just a great time. Fair play to him for moving by his one huge hit Loser and trying lots of varied styles too.
the slightly less good than eels boring as fuck musician, probably still a 3 though for the good bits of sea change
Itās Odelay but Iāve voted The Information because itās really underrated
Colors was a relatively fun if slightly shallow pop album but the latest one was a poor retread without any of the bangers. Otherwise heās been pretty consistent I think.
Iām rarely in the mood for Sea Change these days and by extension have never spent that much time with Morning Phase but theyāre both easy to admire. I think acoustic Beck is more fun when itās lo-fi like One Foot in the Grave rather than the big production and bells and whistles.
Odelay is an all time great album of course and as above I think The Information is an underrated record, highly eclectic with little bits of all the best stuff heās done in one place. Modern Guilt was another great stylistic shift so itās a shame he disappeared for a while after and didnāt take that sound anywhere further.
Gonna go 5
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Loads of fun live too, I first saw him supporting Radiohead in 2006 when he had the puppets of the whole band on stage which was joyous, there was also a video of the puppets exploring Dublin and then supposedly trashing Radioheadās dressing room. During the acoustic part of the set his band all sat at a dinner table being served food before starting to use the table/cutlery/glasses as percussion, and 1000BPM had two people dressed as bears miming along and fighting with each other throughout. All of this replicated in the little puppet show at the same time.
Seen him twice since and heās been lots of fun again but that first time was a absolute joy.
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Might as well ask here given thereās Beck fans around, but was there ever a video for Sissyneck? Iām absolutely convinced that I saw a snippet of it on a documentary years back and it said it was directed by Tamra Davis.
Iāve never been able to find any trace of it and Iām not sure if it actually exists! Probably imagined itā¦
He did it at V Festival the same week but I never realised until now that that whole set is on youtube, looking forward to watching that later
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