i can see why people would hate beck. i could easily see hating beck. but i don't hate beck, and i don't love his stuff either. i think it's ok.

one foot in the grave = heard for two seconds, wasn't my kind of thing. could give it a crap, but it's not like i listen to that style of music in the first so maybe that's unfair? maybe i'll download some

stereopathic soul manure = haven't heard at all

mellow gold = nc, i like the sleepy stuff like steal my body home and whiskeyclone

odelay = eh... WAY overrated but nc with waffles. i think the dust brothers are overrated and do at least as much harm as help on this disc.

mutations = heard two seconds, was boring, so i'll say crap

midnite vultures = nc. worth mentioning the hot studio players and lack of samples on this -- the bassline in sexx laws is burning. sure it's inspired by james jamerson and chuck rainey, but there damn well isn't anything wrong with that, and did songs they play on have nifty banjo breaks?

sea changes = haven't heard much, figured it'd be like mutations or something else boring

guero = haven't heard much, figured it'd be redundant with things he's already done better


overall = nc, but there's something kind of wack about him and over time his crap material may exceed his not crap material, and the press won't stop doting on him so we'll hear about it probably no matter what.

I really like that "Chemtrails" song.

Guero is a really good record, you can dump the rest in the toilet

kerble wrote:Mutations = moody, somber Not Crap.
Midnight Vultures = tons of total fun Not Crap.


everything else, irrelevant to my deep enjoyment of both of these albums.



Not Crap.

I gulped when I saw this post. It's the only one I'm in complete agreement with.

The albums Mellow Gold, Stereopathetic Soul Manure, and One Foot In The Grave are pretty important to me personally. I enjoyed Odelay as well. Couldn't get into Sea Change or Mutations, and haven't tried listening to the others.

I can see why some people hate Beck...a big part of his appeal lies in his ability to successfully revisit and recycle old ideas under the safe umbrella of an ironic post-modernist aesthetic. But I also think there's a freedom in such exploration that most artists are afraid to venture into, either for fear of desecrating sacred cows or of being pegged as unimaginative/unoriginal. There are far worse offenders in both of these categories, who have added far less to the musical lexicon. And not too many multi-platinum selling artists have run the gamut from unlistenable noise to low-key folk ballads.

Recently I have been listening to Golden Feelings and A Western Harvest Field By Moonlight. Highly recommended if you like the weirder early stuff.

meh. i liked him when i was a teen, but not really since.

there's better music out there. why waste time on this?

I always thought of Beck as my generations Bowie. Chameleon, using everything around. The music in every ad on TV has sounded like Beck since like, '93..... that says something. The only 'rapper' I can listen to.

thyklopth wrote:

kerble wrote:Mutations = moody, somber Not Crap.
Midnight Vultures = tons of total fun Not Crap.


everything else, irrelevant to my deep enjoyment of both of these albums.



Not Crap.

I gulped when I saw this post. It's the only one I'm in complete agreement with.

take that! Soul Coughing.

kerble wrote:

thyklopth wrote:

kerble wrote:Mutations = moody, somber Not Crap.
Midnight Vultures = tons of total fun Not Crap.


everything else, irrelevant to my deep enjoyment of both of these albums.



Not Crap.

I gulped when I saw this post. It's the only one I'm in complete agreement with.

take that! Soul Coughing.

ha, i used to like them too! ick.

I saw Beck at the first Yo-Yo a Go-Go in the mid-90s. My friends and I expected it to suck, because the pop-culture blender aspect of his music was already clear as a bell. Instead, I must admit, he was charming and modest and played a really good, engaging set of folk music (plus some hardcore). I can't recall who backed him on a few songs, but I'm almost positive former members of Lync were involved. We talked to him a bit after his set, and he seemed pretty friendly and shy.

I'm mostly indifferent to the records. I don't own any and have no plans to own any, but I don't hate what I've heard. I'm, like I said, pretty indifferent.