Sometimes an artist just needs 12 more songs to summarize their career. Case in point...
Nearly 30 years into his career, Beck continues to be a chameleon, though I will say since 2008 he's pretty much made records that were stylistically consistent within themselves, if not with what came before and after. It seems to me he's due for another "anything goes" album like Odelay, Guero, and The Information.
1. "Think I'm In Love" (from The Information, 2006)
Here's the culmination, a stylistically diverse Beck song with straight-forward lyrics. Strange how when you've made off-kilter your status quo, conventionality is it's own form of rebellion and innovation!
2. "Cellphone's Dead" (from The Information, 2006)
Here's the culmination, a stylistically diverse Beck song with straight-forward lyrics. Strange how when you've made off-kilter your status quo, conventionality is it's own form of rebellion and innovation!
2. "Cellphone's Dead" (from The Information, 2006)
Beck in full hip-hop mode. Worth it just for the "one by one I'll knock ya out" sample.
3. "Profanity Prayers" (from Modern Guilt, 2008)
On the Danger Mouse-produced Modern Guilt, Beck experimented with guitar-based genres he hadn't explored before: blues, 1950s surf rock, and alternative. "Profanity Prayers," with its catchy distorted riff, falls most in the latter category.
4. "Heaven's Ladder" (from Song Reader, 2014)
In 2012 Beck released a book called Song Reader, containing sheet music for 20 new, unrecorded songs. In 2014, he released a compilation of artists such as Jeff Tweedy, Jason Isbell, Norah Jones, and Sparks doing their versions of the songs. He took on the countryish "Heaven's Ladder" himself. Lyrically, it's about religious doubt, which makes sense for someone who was raised both Scientologist and Jewish.
5. "Heart is a Drum" (from Morning Phase, 2014)
Morning Phase was a spiritual sequel to 2002's Sea Change, and shares that record's sense of hushed beauty and lyrics about heartbreak. You can tell he'd been listening to a lot of 1970s Laurel Canyon rock.
6. "Blue Moon" (from Morning Phase, 2014)
Some nice mandolin and ghostly vocalizing highlight this mournful anthem.
7. "Dear Life" (from Colors, 2017)
A song about riding out the hard times, featuring bouncy piano, spiky guitar, Beach Boys harmonies, and a clever inversion of the phrase "holding on for dear life."
8. "Up All Night" (from Colors, 2017)
Get thee to the dance floor!
Get thee to the dance floor!
9. "Dreams" (from Colors, 2017)
And then just stay right there.
10. "Super Cool" (from The Lego Movie 2, 2019)
Beck brings along Robyn and the Lonely Island for a fluffy bit of spun sugar.
Beck brings along Robyn and the Lonely Island for a fluffy bit of spun sugar.
11. "Uneventful Days" (from Hyperspace, 2019)
Beck teamed with Pharrell Williams on most of Hyperspace, but the results are not at all what you expect. Instead of being danceable, most of the songs are chill and moody, like this resigned break-up tune.
12. "Die Waiting" (from Hyperspace, 2019)
Finally, a love song!
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