is Beck's Sea Change this year's masterpiece?

Doesn't suck. It's a grower. Not his best album either. Maybe his second best acoustic album, but who really cares about Beck's acoustic albums? Has anybody in this bitch heard "Dirty Dirty"?? Gimme that Beck back!

'Sea Change, for those of you who don't know, is supposed to be the follow-up to Mutations. Mutations was all right; I really liked some of the songs, and didn't dislike the others. And having noted the obvious contrast between Mutations and Odelay/Midnite Vultures (although those two are quite different from each other as well), I had a vague idea of what the general atmosphere of the new album was going to be like.

'Dear Beck:
Have I changed? Have you changed? These songs don't hit me the way your older records did. Perhaps we've both gotten more jaded, you and I; I'm not as enthusiastic or passionate about music, and you seem to have lost your particular sense of humor. I understand you must be heartbroken, but so am I.
xoxo, Ellie'

There's nothing worse than an ironist born again sincere. For Beck, the Dylan of the 90s, it's been a slow train coming.

*yawn*

Well, at least she didn't bring up the Scientology issue.

Who could honestly get excited about songs like Lost Cause or Guess I'm Doing Fine, though? I don't get that.

The article wasn't really meant to link the two -- it just uses the Beck/Scientology issue as a launching point.

Jody's article details the hostility that greeted Dylan's Christian episode. (Considerably less venomous than his self-righteous rebuttals of it, it must be said.) This happened because, for many of the people in the 70s music industry, Dylan incarnated the left-humanist values of a generation. His Christian rebirth was a clear rightward swing. And, as Ellie says of Beck, there was also a sad sense of someone being deserted by his sense of humour and his spirit of play.

Now Beck is a canny man. He may feel that irony and genre-fuck are 90s tropes. (They're as 90s as Bill Clinton, in fact.) He may have noticed a swing to the right in America in general, and tailored his current sound and image to that. Or he may just be miserable because his girlfriend dumped him and then Winona didn't stick around either. Whatever his reasons, just like those coke snorting liberal CBS execs back in the 70s, some of us decadents wish he would keep pushing at the art boundaries instead of twanging morosely on his own heart strings. More innovation, bastardisation, and ostentatiously fake falsetto songs about filth in the back of a Mercedes Benz, please, Mr Beck!

Away from all that though, I think it's important to remember this is Beck, and whether sincere and teary or ironic and goofy, nothing will last. This album isn't a sign of new directions or changed attitudes. It's just his release and focusing on a small two week period of his life. As he's shown by hiring the Flaming Lips as his backing band, he's already moved on. Hopefully towards something even trippier. Pure psychedelic Beck would be great.

But, to be fair, this had been happening since he "went electric." And it's been said that his protest music only existed as a way for him to align himself with other early '60s folksingers. So was his Christian music more honest than "Blowin' in the Wind"?

The so-called "rightward swing," that is.

Sea Change IS a genre-fuck, though. It sounds like nothing else he's done (yes, Mutations was acoustic, but it sounded like Syd Barrett and Canterbury prog-folk, and One Foot in the Grave was drunken slacker blues). I see it as Beck's challenge to himself (and his audience).

To complicate matters, it would be much more accurate to call pop music the 'folk music' of our time, since it's much more in the trad. anon. mold of folk. That whole culture of remixes and rip offs is very folk. It's a corporate version of community music, marking the festivals of the calendar of the year (Christmas singles, etc). Rock, on the other hand, insists on the auteur and on 'meaning it'. So I'd say 'Sea Change' is a rock album, made with a rock producer (Mr Radiohead himself), and that we should be looking forward to Beck's pop album, because that will be his real 'folk' album.

Anyway, Sea Change is awful.

This whole post had no point.

i dont really care for beck's acoustic albums, so i just skip them, knowing something new (or mewish) will be coming up next. i got mutations but sold it. who cares who the "real beck" is, or if there are two of them, all we know is that oscillation is the constant, so we needn't get too fond or disappointed with whatever style he's currently evoking, as its bound to change, as sean o said. to keep expecting variations, its kind of simple

"some of us decadents wish he would keep pushing at the art boundaries instead of twanging morosely on his own heart strings."

hey, the guy's long-time girlfriend (and fiance?) of 9-years just cheated on him and dumped his ass, so give him a lil' break to be morose for a while (or maybe decadents wiouldn't understand what that feels like :). surely he's entitled to it for at least an album or too, no? he can't parcel out and keep pandering to the tastes of capricious 19-year old californians every time - he's too capricious himself

BTW, Mutations is fucking great. And Momus is OTM.

Interestingly enough though, I think this (Debra excepted), is the first time I've heard Beck hold notes for a while, as if he's attempting some sort of croon, which seems to completely change his voice - he sounds far less laconic, but more disconcerting at the same time. Anyone agree?

If he would genre-fuck all the time it wouldn't be anything special. where is the ground to that? His new album is such a genre-fuck of the genre which is the genre-fucking from his last album. (does that make sense?) It may seem on the surface that this album is not innovative at all, but just by the juxtapostion of this style of folk and the style of production it is breaking new ground. So, I think some of the praise has to be laid at the feet of producer Nigel Goodrich.

I also think Ellie gave her review too quickly and I bet it will grow on her just like it did on me. (upon first listen I disliked it.)

They're obviously not defiantly traditional, but loosely speaking, I think of Radiohead as a rock band. I also think of Travis and Pavement as rock bands, so I'd have to say Godrich probably is a rock producer.

I haven't listened to the album again. There is something here as in many Beck (except Mutations) records which doesn't make me want to listen to it again at home. Though I am sure I would love listening to it by chance in a pub or shop. It is rather nice but it definitely does not stand up to Harvest which must have been a very strong influence. It sounds like a pale clone of Harvest to my ears.

That said, i do like Sea Change - refer to my feature review in upcoming issue of Yr Flesh.

wocka wocka wocka!

it's cool that people don't like it, but what just makes me laugh are the claims by some people that it is somehow profoundly retrograde and dishonest, that it's last year's record, or 1974's record, or whatever

seriously, its almost perverse levelheadedness is something i appreciate about it

Paper Tiger, End Of The Day, Sunday Sun, Little One

which were, neverthless, performed far too sluggishly.

unless his new record is gonna sound the same

I haven't heard much of the bands that are cited as rip-off victims (Bread etc) but, you know, is there something fundamentally worse about making a Bread pastiche than a Prince one? At least the Bread pastiche I can relate to. There's drama, maaan! I can dig it.

Also, it's not as samey as I (and certainly others) thought of it. There may be only a few songs that deviate from the general mode, but they're worth it - "Sunday Sun" in particular has to be about the best production Beck's ever put forth in terms of uniting the recording studio behind the song.

Surely at least some of those who slagged on Sea Change have to be ready to give it another chance after Guero, right?

fuck this album

except "little one" which is ok

man, this album makes me feel like shit...

And no fucking shit about "relevance". Good music is always relevant!