CD Project Thing #16 - Beck
Beck - "Mellow Gold"
I've never been what you might call a huge Beck fan. Oh, sure, I liked the singles well enough, and saw him put on two good shows (one at a radio festival, one with The Flaming Lips), but all the albums we own are Marisa's. Actually, I think I did briefly own a used copy of this, his major-label debut, back in high school, but I promptly sold it back. Why, you might ask (but probably won't)? Well, besides "Loser", it's just really not very good. Much of it is so lo-fi it sounds like a demo, and it's just not at all interesting to me. I'm pretty sure it's my least favorite of the 6 Beck albums we have.
Beck - "Odelay"
Beck's big commercial breakthrough, and while it's a better album than "Mellow Gold", I'm still not sure how much I love it. The production is way better, and the singles are pretty great, but, eh. I guess I just have to accept the fact that I'm at most a marginal Beck fan and deal with it.
That said, this album is supposed to be re-released as a deluxe edition soon, and I'll probably buy it if it includes the different re-recordings of "Jackass" and one of my favorite Beck songs ever "Deadweight". Don't mess this up!
Beck - "Mutations"
Every few albums, Beck strips down, drops most of the hip hop and the beats and hooks up with Nigel Godrich (best known as Radiohead's producer) for a quieter, more low-key alternative-type album. These tend not to have the big hit singles that his others have, but I tend to like them a lot better. I like this one, although I have to be honest, I listened a few days ago and I can already hardly remember it. It still probably slots in as #2 among Beck albums, though.
Beck - "Midnight Vultures"
Beck's next album was this, which mixed the hip-hop type stuff with some R&B/soul/funk. It works decently well, although parts of it are very cheesy (perhaps deliberately, since it's hard to imagine he intended "Debra" to be taken seriously).
I need to make this longer, so I'll mention the annoying tendency of most Beck albums to include a (typically annoying) hidden track. Why the hell does he do this? Who actually likes crap like that?
Beck - "Sea Change"
My favorite of all Beck albums. It's another Nigel Godrich album, this time about a breakup from a long term relationship. The whole thing is kinda sad and melencauly, but also just very pretty and excellent. This proves that Beck can write great songs without all the hip-hop crap, I just which he would do it more often.
Beck - "Guero"
The last of the Beck albums we have (and the end of the first shelf of cds!), "Guero" basically sounds like "Odelay pt. 2". Which isn't the worst thing in the world, I guess, but it's not super exciting, either. Once again, I like the singles a lot, the rest is pretty eh. It's probably most notable (to me, and I'm the one writing this, so ha) for having "E-pro", which was A.J. Pierzinsiki's batting music for most of the last two years.
I've never been what you might call a huge Beck fan. Oh, sure, I liked the singles well enough, and saw him put on two good shows (one at a radio festival, one with The Flaming Lips), but all the albums we own are Marisa's. Actually, I think I did briefly own a used copy of this, his major-label debut, back in high school, but I promptly sold it back. Why, you might ask (but probably won't)? Well, besides "Loser", it's just really not very good. Much of it is so lo-fi it sounds like a demo, and it's just not at all interesting to me. I'm pretty sure it's my least favorite of the 6 Beck albums we have.
Beck - "Odelay"
Beck's big commercial breakthrough, and while it's a better album than "Mellow Gold", I'm still not sure how much I love it. The production is way better, and the singles are pretty great, but, eh. I guess I just have to accept the fact that I'm at most a marginal Beck fan and deal with it.
That said, this album is supposed to be re-released as a deluxe edition soon, and I'll probably buy it if it includes the different re-recordings of "Jackass" and one of my favorite Beck songs ever "Deadweight". Don't mess this up!
Beck - "Mutations"
Every few albums, Beck strips down, drops most of the hip hop and the beats and hooks up with Nigel Godrich (best known as Radiohead's producer) for a quieter, more low-key alternative-type album. These tend not to have the big hit singles that his others have, but I tend to like them a lot better. I like this one, although I have to be honest, I listened a few days ago and I can already hardly remember it. It still probably slots in as #2 among Beck albums, though.
Beck - "Midnight Vultures"
Beck's next album was this, which mixed the hip-hop type stuff with some R&B/soul/funk. It works decently well, although parts of it are very cheesy (perhaps deliberately, since it's hard to imagine he intended "Debra" to be taken seriously).
I need to make this longer, so I'll mention the annoying tendency of most Beck albums to include a (typically annoying) hidden track. Why the hell does he do this? Who actually likes crap like that?
Beck - "Sea Change"
My favorite of all Beck albums. It's another Nigel Godrich album, this time about a breakup from a long term relationship. The whole thing is kinda sad and melencauly, but also just very pretty and excellent. This proves that Beck can write great songs without all the hip-hop crap, I just which he would do it more often.
Beck - "Guero"
The last of the Beck albums we have (and the end of the first shelf of cds!), "Guero" basically sounds like "Odelay pt. 2". Which isn't the worst thing in the world, I guess, but it's not super exciting, either. Once again, I like the singles a lot, the rest is pretty eh. It's probably most notable (to me, and I'm the one writing this, so ha) for having "E-pro", which was A.J. Pierzinsiki's batting music for most of the last two years.
posted by Adam at 6:47 PM
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