Beck is a man with dual personalities, flip-flopping between them with each consecutive album. One side of him is obsessed with big beats, mad samples and pure kitsch. The other is a heartfelt and lonely songwriter.
Mellow Gold, his major label breakthrough which spawned to slacker anthem “Loser,” tried to bring these two sides together. Odelay and Midnight Vultures, his larger commercial outings, were pure pleasurable dance albums.
Between these two discs came Mutation. With this album Beck decided to show the world that he wasn’t just a new funk poster boy, but someone who had something relevant to speak to us softly and gently.
Fortunately on his newest release Sea Change (Geffen), Beck once again eschews the dance club anthems in favor of his acoustic guitar. He must have thrown out his two turntables, his microphone and all his Prince and Afrika Bambata records then gave some healthy spins to Nick Drake, Syd Barrett and Bob Dylan. While the Dylan references are inevitable and accurate, Beck doesn’t want to be the new Bob Dylan. He just wants to be Beck.
In a contemporary music world of stupidity running amok, Beck is a much needed breath of intelligent air. In person and with his music, he is easily the most literate and well-spoken face in pop music today. Then again, none of the songs off of Sea Change will make it to your local Top 40 or Modern Rock stations, so perhaps the dumbing down of the airwaves will continue.
The lyrical content of Sea Change reads like well-written sappy-sad poetry. On “The Golden Age,” Beck mourns “The sun don’t shine even when it’s day/you gotta drive all night just to feel you’re OK/these days I barely get by/I don’t even try.” Song titles such as “Lonesome Tears,” “Lost Cause” and “Guess I’m Doing Fine” hammer the point home that, yes, this is a heartbreak album.
The musical landscapes of Sea Change echo the melancholy of Beck’s lyrics. Whiz kid producer Nigel Godrich, who was also the mastermind behind the last several Radiohead and Travis albums, as well as Mutations, brings his trademark full-size yet subdued sound to the album.
The sound is carried to the heavens by acoustic guitars, sparse percussion, electric pianos, and elegant string arrangements that would make any pit orchestra jealous.
Today Beck will be headed out on his first North American tour with a full band in three years. Opening for him will be fun trick noisemakers, The Flaming Lips, whose new one, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, is a head trip into the future. Not only are they warming up the crowd, but they will also have the honor of serving as Beck’s backing band. Therefore, don’t plan on hearing “Where It’s At.” Sadly, the tour will not be dipping anywhere into the Southeast. Oh well, I guess Cleveland really isn’t really that far away.
On Sea Change, Beck’s wearing his heart on his sleeve and he doesn’t care if you notice. In fact, he’d probably prefer if you just looked the other direction. But don’t! He’s singing about you and me. Have a good listen to this album, then take a hard long look at yourself, and think about all those wonderful relationships you have messed up in the past. Then cry yourself to sleep.
Goodnight.

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