Beck- The Information

[stereopathetic_banjo]

oh shit....first off, i was shopping at the local super store, and strolled by the "new albums" display, and lo and behold- the new beck record. i guess i knew it was coming out sometime soon, but in all honesty, i wasn't too hyped- despite what my T.O. handle would lead you to believe. i guess i'm one of the classic "loved em before they were huge" fans...i absolutely love one foot in the grave, stereopathetic soulmanure, etc, but mellow gold has always been the one for moi. just the perfect blend of fucked-upness and good child's-eye tunes. really, i like everything up till odelay, and the nu-beck stuff after, such as mutations and sea change, which are great in the serious songwriting kinda land. but still, i've always wondered when he was gonna give up the ghost and get back to the nice and screwed up beck of yore. i haven't even gotten all the way thru it, but watching the included dvd and laughing my ass off just as i did when i heard 'steve threw up' ten years ago, it's a good feeling to get back. anyhow, anyone else share the same feelings? hopefully i won't hate it when i'm finished, and have to eat my words....

[joeysimms]

I'm pretty much with you there.. my favorite beck is 'asshole', 'puttin it down', 'soul suckin jerk', 'mutherfuker', 'fume', etc.. haven't heard this one yet.

[mrclean]

I like this new one. Got it at Best Buy for 10 bucks ad includes the DVD disc too.

The first three tracks are stand outs to me and "1000 BPM" is fun too. I like "the single" Nausea" as well. At 15 songs on the album - there should be at least a few that anyone likes (I think 11-12 would have been just fine...)

I haven't enjoyed the last few discs from him (last one I loved was Mutations).

The sounds and textures on this one are great though - Nigel knws how to make great sounding records.

[joeysimms]

word on Mutations - that one was really good from what I remember..

[bannerj]

So, thumbs down from all of you on Guero?

I accidentally bought Guerolitto instead of Guero. At first it was a bit too crazy, but when I realized they were remixes I was more forgiving. I gotta say that even if this is not the old beck you might be missing...he is still amazing and even in these remixs...the songs still are not lost with all the production. It his sense of song that amazes me. It was listening to this record that made me come to the realization that Beck really is one of my favorites.

Once I have worn this one out. I'll go snag the new one. Am looking forward to it.

[AudioHog]

So, thumbs down from all of you on Guero?

No way! Guero is one of his finest records yet IMO. I mean I love all the stuff but Guero seemed to pull alot of it together.

[jckinnick]

I love the synth on Elevator Music

[bcgood]

I love The Information, I think it is the best album yet by Beck. What I find interesting is the DVD is way less squashed than the cd thus the sound is amazing. I love listening to the album through the DVD because the sound quality is much better by leaps and bounds!

bcgood

[Recycled_Brains]

did any of you guys see his most recent performance on SNL? if not check this out:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... live&hl=en

-ryan

[mjau]

I thought Guero was pretty good, but I'm one of those heretics that thinks Sea Change is his best one yet. I'll probably pick up the new one this weekend - didn't know there'd be a DVD also, so that's cool.

[bcgood]

Thanks for posting that snl clip dude! That's why Beck is still one of the few artists truly saving pop/alternative/rock whatever you want to call it, he's just freakin cool...

bcgood

[myleftfoot]

I loved Guero, and probably my favorite of his albums is a tie between Guero and One Foot in the Grave.
So far The Information really isn't doing much for me, I just listened to it for the first time a few days ago. But it took a wihle for Guero to grow on me too.

[honkyjonk]

The Information is awesome. I'm also a Mellow Gold/One Foot/Fresh Slabs lover. I like everything the guy has done, some things better than others.

I can't really put a finger on it, but I keep coming back to this one. A lot more than Guero, or Sea Change, or Midnite Vultures. I have urges to listen to it. There's the mystery there, that I didn't hear in Guero.

Anyway, I remember people talking about him revisiting the Mellow Gold days for this one, but it's nothing like Mellow Gold. It's nothing like Odelay either. It's different, and good. One thing though, he's having fun again, so it seems.

[LifeGoesOff]

Beck and I haven't seen eye to eye on the last couple of records. With Sea Change, we saw a real shift in style and I thought it was a great step forward for him. I was really excited about what he could be doing next, but Guerro was just rehash to me. I've heard him do all that stuff before. If he is going to maintain his "prolific writer" status, he needs to step it up again. That's just my opinion though.

[soliton]

Nigel and Beck are a pretty wacky duo. Listen to Motorcade at 2:00 - love it.

I hear a lot of 'borrowing' in this album:
Stereolab in 'Think I'm in Love' especially the doo doo's at 0:45
Herbie Hancock in 'Cell Phone's Dead' - same key as Chameleon I think, yikes
Strange Apparition - too obvoius to state

All in all, I like the album though. Those crunchy drums give me instant energy : )