He’s a man of average talent elevated far beyond his ability by a desperation for icons and leaders. "Guero", his latest experiment, sounds like the work of an tired pack of hired funk guns from the 80’s, the kind that he parodied so excellently with his Prince-lite "Midnite Vultures" in 1999. Unlike that album, this time Beck seems to have dropped his melodies off at the pool and let his muse wander unfettered, or unfocused, if you prefer.

Strip away the ideas and gimmicks, the often diverse musical styles and what do you get? You don’t get much. Long meandering songs with lyrics that read like sixth-form Syd Barrett clones, and shorn of memorable melody. With Beck,the wrapping is the gift. When you see inside, it’s hollow. There’s nothing there.

Imagine these songs acoustically : you can’t. There’s not enough of a song for any of these tracks to hang on. It’s all flesh, no bone. No substance.

Even his most personal albums - "Mutations" and "Sea Change" - fail to connect emotionally. It’s almost as if they are intellectual conceits, aspirations to achieve effect. In "Guero" he mines a narrow seam of sounds,topped with meaningless/meaningful lyrics so ambigious they could almost be algebra in places. How much longer people can claim that Beck is a man who can lead the cutting edge of his style is a moot point : fast he will turn into the type of "legend" people talk about but never listen to anymore.

Come in Beck, your ruse is over. Guero is a runt. It sounds like you’re even boring yourself.It’s not that the emperor has new clothes, its that under these clothes, there is no Emperor

Comments

Now I'm convinced Written by Guest on 2005-05-26 09:47:07 Well, read your review of Oasis' DBTT, and because I'm an Oasis fan, figured I'd give you the benefit of the doubt in panning that album, as I may be biased.    However, not really a major Beck fan, but have heard the new album and thought it was very good (not great, mind you, but above much of what has been released recently). And calling Beck "a man of average talent" is an unnecessary, unwaranted, and ill-concieved jab. Now I'm convinced that, while you have every right to your opinion, you have little bussiness writing reviews for the masses.

Written by Guest on 2005-05-26 10:26:26 I think Beck is more a man who surrounds himself with great people than being great himself.

im not avin it! Written by Guest on 2005-05-31 18:31:57 nope, im sorry, im not lettin this tosser have the benefit of the doubt, DBTT by oasis shows they are on form, and for this loser to comment on both beck, and oasis in this way is pretty annoying, lol, im jus glad that hes a nobody, and hardly anyone will read his poor reviews of real artists. im sorry but hes tryin way too hard to be controversial, and its pretty sad if not pathetic.

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.

Powered by AkoComment 1.0 beta 2!