It’s Hawaiian shirt day, so today I attempt a little Musical critique. I recently acquired Beck’s newest album: The Information. In a way this collection of ‘didn’t make it to Guero or Sea Change’ songs reminds me of Beck’s Mutations - his leftovers from Odelay. But this is better than Mutations, it hits more often than it misses and has enough unique and diverse content that it could almost be thought of as a summary of Beck’s major label career (I don’t think we’ll ever hear another Satan Gave me a Taco out of Beck).
Like Guero’s Geurolito, I have to believe the information will be opened to the interpretation of others. The album ranges from the softly melodic “New Round” to the highly experimental “1000BPM” a song that already sounds like a remix. If the album misses anywhere I think it’s Beck’s tendency to over do it with the experiments - I’d have to believe he’ll let others try out their experiments as well.
If you like anything by Beck you’ll likely find something to enjoy about The Information - Movie Theme feels like it was plucked from Sea Change, while Think I’m in Love feels like it could have easily come off any album since Odelay, there even seem to be elements of Midnight Vultures in We Dance Alone.
I recommend the album, but then again I’m a huge Beck fan. I can’t say it’s his best work but if you’ve enjoyed any of his work you’ll find a song or two to like on The Information.
1 comment
Comments feed for this article
Trackback link
http://jdamer.com/wordpress/2006/10/27/hawaiian-shirt-day-the-information/trackback/
December 15, 2006 at 1:35 pm
Josh Amer
And a month and a half later I’ve grown tired of this album. I’m now in the category of finding a song or two that I like, while the rest have started to seem less interesting.