beck is insanely awesome...

[elevated_u2_fan]

we have a church in downtown Toronto and the protesters stand in front of it wearing Guy Fawkes masks...

 

[the tourist]

I've been listening to Modern Guilt a lot lately and I'm liking it.

 

[lazarus]

I was just reading the old pages of this thread, and I'm a little surprised at the love Guero was getting? How in god's name could anyone prefer this pale imitation of Odelay to the real thing, one of the absolute best albums of the 90's, landmark, influential, and landslide winner of a nationwide critics poll for that year?

Unbelievable.

 

[joyfulgirl]

I don't think he ever did anything as good as Odelay, except by changing directions completely with Sea Change.

 

[lazarus]

I don't think he ever did anything as good as Odelay, except by changing directions completely with Sea Change.

Exactly. I love Midnight Vultures, but it just isn't as impressive from a creative or songwriting standpoint. And Sea Change was his most personal album, and improved on the formula he started with Godrich on Mutations.

Everything since has just been weak hodgepodge retro shit that doesn't have the freshness of Odelay, which maybe is harder to appreciate if you weren't around when it came out.

 

[LemonMelon]

Honestly, I'm not much of an Odelay fan. It's a great album, but the songs get lost in the constant sampling at times, at least for me. I'm more of a Midnite Vultures/Sea Change kind of guy.

And yes, Guero is well below all of those.

 

[lazarus]

The funny thing is that when he does strip it down on Odelay, it's as good as any of the songs on the mellow albums. Ramshackle, the last song, just KILLS me.

 

[LemonMelon]

Oh, true, Ramshackle is fantastic. I'm pretty sure it's Debra now, but The New Pollution was my favorite Beck song in general for the longest time.

 

[jphelmet]

Everything since has just been weak hodgepodge retro shit that doesn't have the freshness of Odelay, which maybe is harder to appreciate if you weren't around when it came out.

i don't agree with the work since then, that it is weak. the guy is still incredible.

the comment about odelay, when it came out, is spot on though. i remember buying it the week it came out and just smiling the whole way through the first listen. it was very different, and so fresh. wouldn't sound near the same if you listened to for the first time in the last 5 years. probably listened to that album 1000 times that summer. still incredible.

ranking beck's albums is still very hard. odelay is still at the top, but i think sea change and midnight vultures are just amazing as well. i don't see either of them as retreads of anything else.

1. Odelay
1b. Sea Change
1c. Midnight Vultures
4. Mutations
5. Guero
6. Modern Guilt
7. One Foot...
8. Mellow Gold
9. the Information
10. Stereopathic...

 

[lazarus]

When I said retreads I was referring to Guero--The Information--Modern Guilt, which aren't bad, just not very impressive or original. I love everything before those, save for mellow Gold.

 

[joyfulgirl]

I'm still incredibly disturbed by the Beck I saw the other night. The guy I saw bore absolutely no resemblance whatsoever, on any level, with this guy. It's like aliens have overtaken his body.

YouTube - Beck - "Where It's At" - '97 Grammys

 

[the tourist]

Albums of Beck's that I've heard: Odelay, Midnight Vultures, Guero (as well as Guerlito and the Gameboy Variations EP), The Information, and Modern Guilt. I'm assuming, from reading, that I should invest in Sea Change soon.

 

[LemonMelon]

I'm assuming, from reading, that I should invest in Sea Change soon.

Uh, yeah.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Has anyone ever encountered someone who didn't like Sea Change? Such a person is a rarity to be isolated and studied, yes?

 

[Saracene]

Everything since has just been weak hodgepodge retro shit that doesn't have the freshness of Odelay, which maybe is harder to appreciate if you weren't around when it came out.

Well maybe that's the thing; I didn't hear Odelay until much later, so the freshness factor wasn't there. I do like the album but some of the songs just don't sound full-fledged to me and at times it's too much of a sampling mush. Whereas the songs on Guero to me seem "fuller".

Sea Change is lovely but I can only listen to it from start to finish in a very specific mood, otherwise it can become very tiring very quickly.

 

[the tourist]

Uh, yeah.

It's been on the list of "albums the lead singer in my band wants me to listen to" for a long time, but I just haven't borrowed it from him yet.