While I would consider him pretty popular I still don't think he gets enough credit. One of the best musicians of the modern era. "Modern Guilt" remains true to this. While I was a bit dissappointed in the clock in time of the album, all 10 tracks are very solid. The main reason I am so fond of him is because his music blends so many different styles together & it always works. I really don't even know a lot about new music in the last couple of years, but if I see a new Beck album on the shelf I can buy it blindly & know I will be completely satisfied.

I still rock Beck's The Information album. I dig the DIY vibe of the videos--very cool!

Underrated musician, I second to that.

scientology ruined him. i want old beck back

I thought he was raised as a scientologist?

i dont know. something ruined him, and scientology is an easy target.

maybe he just got old

"I think I'm in love
But it makes me kinda nervous to say so
I think I'm in love
But it makes me kinda nervous to say so

Doodododododooodoo"

YIKES!

OK, no he wasn't but has been most his life (I just looked it up a bit, cults interest me.)

he must have leveled up and started using his staff of tired music +3 right around sea change

From the wiki:

Beck publicly acknowledged his affiliation with the Church of Scientology for the first time in an interview published in the New York Times Magazine on March 6, 2005. Further confirmation came in an interview with the Irish Sunday Tribune's i Magazine on June 11, 2005, where he was quoted as saying, "Yeah, I'm a Scientologist. My father has been a Scientologist for about 35 years, so I grew up in and around it." When questioned by the interviewer about Scientology's core beliefs, he replied,

"What it actually is is just sort of, uh, you know, I think it's about philosophy and sort of, uh, all these kinds of, you know, ideals that are common to a lot of religions....There's nothing fantastical... just a real deep grassroots concerted effort for humanitarian causes.I don't know if you know the stuff they have. It's unbelievable the stuff they are doing. Education... they have free centres all over the place for poor kids. They have the number one drug rehabilitation programme in the entire world (called Narconon). It has a 90-something percent success rate... When you look at the actual facts and not what's conjured in people's minds that's all bullshit to me because I've actually seen stuff first hand."

I still like most of his music that I actually hear (I think Sea Change was the last one I bought)...I can hardly ever fault genuinely well-played, well-constructed hooky pop...much as I might want to sometimes...

Beck's first four albums up to Odelay will never leave my collection. I've sampled his stuff since then, but I've always gotten the impression that he was trying to "mature" after that point and it wasn't my thing.

Whether or not Scientology has anything to do with it, who knows, but the organization is very careful not to expose their celebrity members to the more zany stuff that the higher-ups know about (Xenu, Thetans, etc.). To them it's just a really successful self-help system.

You gotta love a guy who has a song featuring:

"I wanna get with you....oooh girl....& your sister, I think her name is Debra"

I played my Odelay cassette(!) in my '94 Saturn until the tape broke. Yet another favorite album with production by the immortal Dust Brothers, along with Paul's Boutique, and others I fail to remember right this second. I really dig both the Information & Guero as well. I am kinda sad that Joey Waronker is no longer Beck's drummer, if I remember correctly. Pearl Jam just wasn't the same after Dave Abruzzesse left, either. (us drummers gotta stick together)

Scientology or not, Beck's appearance on Futurama (along with Cylon & Garfunkel) was pretty damn funny.



"Odelay is a real word, you can look it up in the Becktionary."

I liked stereopathic soulmanure and one foot in the grave .. all the others were lame

The pre Mellow Gold stuff was good fun, as well as a few amazing tracks off that album, but after hearing "Devil's Haircut" I gave up on the guy. Two turntables and a microphone? Give me a fucking break.

Still, the older under-produced 4-track stuff is pretty awesome. Sloppy recordings, bizarre vocals, tons of charm. Big production budgets and heaps of fans always ruin everything. Check out Boards of Canada remixing "Broken Drum". Best thing with the name Beck on it in ages.

edit:

reading my mind.

I still love beck, but was mildly disappointed in the new album. However, I did also buy it blindly from the shelf and did enjoy it more than most anything else i'd do that with. That said, the last 3 have all started to sound the same to me, and I miss the old days of Beck Russian Roulette. Will it be a fok album? a funk album? white boy rapping in spanish? who knows!

that said, this is probably one of my favorite toys!


Be@rbricks signed by Beck!

were those bears promoting anything in particular?

http://www.fixins.com/bearbeck/bearbeck.html

To commemorate the release of Beck's latest album, Guero, we are giving away a limited edition set of 4 Bearbricks signed by Beck himself. Each set will feature 4 bears, spelling out "B" "E" "C" "K". To find out more about these figures, visit the Medicom website: http://www.medicomtoy.co.jp/
These sets are extremely rare and limited to 50 worldwide.
The set of bears comes along with a copy of Beck’s latest CD, Guero.



OR: http://stereogum.com/archives/win-autog ... 01453.html
Win Autographed Beck Be@rbricks

To commemorate the release of Beck's new CD, we've been invited to give away an autographed set of ultra-rare Beck Be@rbricks. Truth be told, we'd rather OWN these Be@rbricks than give 'em away, but that's not how a giveaway works.

You know what Be@rbricks are, right? Those tiny figurines produced by Medicom? Japanese hipsters really love 'em and they sell for ridiculous cash money on the Internerd. The set we're giving away contains 4 bears that spell out B E C K (Beck's name!). And Mr. Beck has signed it with his very own pen. This item is extremely rare, limited to just 50 worldwide. We'll select one winner at random (only one entry per e-mail address, please). Hell yes, you better enter here by 6/1.

i bought that album in chicago the day it came out. that was exciting as i had never been to chicago before, so for that reason the album will always hold a special place for me haha

i still play the "sea change" disc quite a bit! he is a brilliant artist!

dude probably rocks the best labels out of all the mainstream US musicians and has been pretty consistent for years musically (imo).

that's a great album!

+1

His best!

Midnight Vultures!