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Grade: B+ | Genre:
Rock
Summary: Re-teaming with The Dust Brothers, Beck didn't set out to make Odelay part deux, but to reintroduce us to Beck Hanson...the "Loser" that made good and who gave us a "Devil's Haricut." "It's a Latin-tinged tribute to his humble beginnings in East L.A." (Pitchfork) |
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Ah, the sweet smell of Spring is near. The gray is fading and green is starting to show through signaling a fresh start ... a new beginning.
The time is ripe for the coolest white boy*, Beck, to return to his true form with his new album, Guero. It's been far too long since we've cranked the b-boy beats to 11 and what better way of rushing us towards the summer than Mr. Hanson's own brand of "junkyard funk?"
Beck's beautifully somber Sea Change accompanied us into the Fall of 2002 giving us a vacation from our vacation. It was a time to breathe and to reflect on ourselves and the universe around us. Now's the time for "Guero" to shake us from our meditation and to bring back the party beats.
The album's first track/single, "E-Pro" kicks the door open with the first line of the album proclaiming, "See me comin' to town with my soul." He charts our paths through Guero without really letting us know what direction he's going. All we can do is follow and take in all the interesting sites and sounds along the way.
However, it's not all a party. "Missing" sounds like a Chris Cornell love letter to the one that got away but yet is always around. It's the painful reminders of lost love that Beck agonizes over, and we feel for his neurotic panting.
Article comments
1 - Aaman
Nice review - I refrained from posting a review myself because I thought I'd wait for the fully-mixed release version.
Neat gif of the traffic light
2 - Eric Berlin
I bow at the alter of Beck: a phenomenally talented artist. I'm at the point of fully expecting every album to be completely different than the ones before it (and for many of the tracks to be quite different from one another -- Mutations and particularly Sea Change being the exceptions).
I'd love a return to Mellow Gold or even earlier, folk-punk-art rock sounds, however. I've found that the last two albums, while great, don't have the compulsive need to stay in my rotation like the earlier stuff (though I listened to Midnite Vultures for weeks after it came out).
Really looking forward to this album. Nice review.
3 - Temple Stark
On "Chain Reaction," Beck steps out of the box, turns around and crushes it
Real nice. I've never seen that before.
This will be up on Advance starting in about five minutes - before the release date. I'll be sending you another comment if you have no idea what I'm talking about.
4 - Temple Stark
oh and RE: the 11 reference. Yeah we got it. :-)
5 - Temple Stark
I promoted this review to Advance.net. That means I put it here (and these places) where it could potentially be read by another few hundred thousand readers.
- Thank you for the post. Temple Stark
6 - Patrick Vu
Wow, thanks Temple Stark!
7 - Scott
does anyone else here think "Hell Yes" should be college fraternity anthem of the year?
the new album's great. Took some time to grow on me but i really like it.