Beck - The Information
Rating
RIYL
Simple KidSuper Furry Animals
The Beta Band
N.E.R.D.
Label
InterscopeTracklist
1. Elevator Music2. Think I'm In Love
3. Cellphone's Dead
4. Strange Apparition
5. Soldier Jane
6. Nausea
7. New Round
8. Dark Star
9. We Dance Alone
10. No Complaints
11. 1000 BPM
12. Motorcade
13. The Information
14. Movie Theme
15. The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide Exoskeleton
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It’s tough to examine a musician whose career has been built upon genius. Beck’s career has been long and impressive, and now – as a pillar to innovative music in general – making new records is more challenging than ever. We all know bands that started off great and couldn’t keep a career going beyond a decade – a band like the Red Hot Chili Peppers is rare, as is Beck.
After a three-year break from Sea Change to last year’s Guero, Beck returned to the Odelay style that made him a mega-star, but with a touch of accessibility. While Guero was certainly a decent release, it was the first record from Beck’s catalog that wasn’t an instant, original masterpiece – at least he made an attempt at something new on Midnight Vultures - but with the surprise of a new album only a year following Guero, Beck appears to have only marginally stepped up his game with The Information.
While still mixing elements from different parts of his career – Guero was compositionally a greatest hits with new songs – The Information adds new elements, but for the most part comes off as a sequel to Guero instead of a unique work.
Although there are some true gems on The Information, a majority of it is unrecognizable filler. Tracks like the Sledge Sister knockoff “Strange Apparition,” “Soldier Jane,” “Nausea,” “The Information,” and “Movie Theme” keep this record moving – as does the Sea Change throwback “Dark Star” – but it just isn’t enough to sustain the boring, predictable material on The Information. Essentially, instead of being blown away with originality, much of this latter day Beck material is exactly what you’d expect from “Beck: The major-label machine” instead of “Beck: The inventive pop genius.”
Beck’s career is nothing short of genius, and there’s no question that he’s one of the most creatively unique artists to have emerged in the last decade and a half, but The Information, along with Guero, are signs that maybe it’s time to hang up the spurs while there’s still some fire left in the furnace. On the album’s final track “The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton,” Beck takes a stab at critics’ remarks for not making another brilliant Odelay or Sea Change, but the fact of the matter is – musically, stylistically, and thematically alterations disregarded – a majority of the songs on The Information are just straight-up uninteresting.
--Kamran Rouzpay
Comments
Austin
The Daily Galaxy
An elephant that never forgets...to kill!
Sacramento, CA
long story short: ben rice is always right.
I'm not here to make things better; only to observe and pass judgement.
The Great North Woods
http://www.scenepointblank.com/reviews/401
edit: and for the record i overscored Guero.
Darla Farmer
RIYL:
the Beatles
Tom Waits
Murder By Death
A Whisper in the Noise
the Blood Brothers
brightblack morning light
My website
Holland
and this review is terrible.
pity.
:rolleyes:
...this is the end.
Cradle Of Filth
The Whip
Psyclon Nine
AFI
CKY
Green Brook, NJ