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Beck. Sea Change.
What do we have to say about it?
As I discovered whilst listening to it and trying to write a letter to someone yesterday, I have rather a lot to say about it;
The first thing to note is that, even by his own standards, the change of direction between this and his previous work is completely extreme, far more so than Midnite Vultures..
Largely this is because he’s completely dropped the trademark songwriting technique that’s been about the only constant in his previous work. The whole deal with surrealistic lyrics and obvious verse/chorus structures has just gone completely out the window .. in lazy journalism terminology, this album has ‘maturity’ written all over it – absolutely no sign of the sense of humour or pop songs or madness of previous material – it’s all slow, serious songs full of emotional metaphors and so forth. In fact, it’s so un-Becklike that it could have been released under a different name and, apart from the giveaway singing voice, people probably wouldn’t even have made Beck comparisons. Even the straightforward portrait cover emphasizes the slightly egomaniacal “I’m a serious songwriter, me” approach previously taken by Bowie, Dylan, Lou Reed etc.
And after a few listens, I’m really in two minds as to whether or not I like it .. on the one hand, fuck this whole ‘mature artist’ bullshit! I think it’s just in my genes to prefer (and be more moved by, usually) mad, trashy, noisy, pop-based people who still sing about robots and stuff.. half the time this old fashioned classic songwriting malarkey just seems an excuse to make boring, self-indulgent music and pass it off as being deep an’ meaningful (see Spiritualized). But on the other hand, it’s impossible to listen to the album without hearing, to some extent or another, moments of beauty.
You probably didn’t want a song-by-song analysis, but you’ve got one:
I’m very fond of The Golden Age, beautiful laidback country (in the best possible way), fantastic, ambiguous lyrics .. you can almost see the wind blowing ‘cross the desert and the mountains on the horizon .. probably my favorite track.
Paper Tiger is a nice sort of tune. A bit more lightweight and upbeat than the rest of the album. My ears like it. How damning is that?
Guess I’m Doing Fine could be a really beautiful song if done right, but Beck’s voice just sounds terrible on it, and the mix between it and the instrumentation just sounds all wrong .. I know that sort of thing shouldn't matter, but sometimes it’s a fine line between beauty and just plain sounding bad, and this song just sort of falls at the last hurdle.. it still has some great evocative lyrics and a basically good melody though.. I just wish Scott Walker or someone was around to do it justice..
Lonesome Tears – again I see what he’s going for, but again it doesn’t quite seem to work .. the combination of an old-fashioned melancholic love song complete with big soaring string section and some all purpose modern ‘beatz’ dilutes both aspects .. the former sounds forced and the latter sounds boring enough to find it’s way onto some ‘chillout compilation’ or something.
Lost Cause is lovely though – a throwback to the best songs on Mutations. Just perfect really.
End of the Day sounds a bit tired and uninspired, maybe deliberately so since that’s the kind of emotion it deals with .. saved by some absolutely lush instrumentation..
It’s All in Your Mind is probably the low point for me .. lyrics too personal to mean much to the casual listener, a slow, dirgy, self-indulgent sort of tune, no real ideas .. nice cello towards the end though..
Round the Bend is a lot better .. superb arrangements, the kind that instantly create atmosphere .. an exquisite psychedelic folk sort of a song, very much in a Nick Drake meets Scott Walker vein .. like ‘The Golden Age’, it achieves it’s ambition and is absolutely sublime.
Already Dead is even more folky. Predictably depressing lyrics, but just about floaty and melodic enough to keep things from descending into a dirge.. pretty lovely all in all.
Sunday Sun really sounds like another song, but I can’t quite put my figure on what it is .. Beck’s nasal singing really doesn’t do him any favours, and nor does the ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ arrangements, but the lyrics are pleasantly portentous. The bit at the end where it goes completely mad reminds me why I love Beck.
Little One – again harks back to Mutations, and also sounds like it could almost be a prime-era David Bowie song. Love the lyrics, but it’s a shame that again he sings them like he’s hungover..
Side of the Road is mostly just a simple guitar & vocal track, again going for the Nick Drake thing, and almost hitting the bullseye. Absolutely wonderful guitar playing and singing. Another great song – no lavish arrangements or crazy climax – a great understated way to finish the album.
The general feeling I’m getting from this record is that it’s trying to be a great, classic, epic, beautiful 20th C. popular music album, up there with the greats, and you can see elements of that ambition shining through throughout it, but basically it’s just not up to it.. but then I’ve never had much time for longwinded, dirgy, personal albums about relationship breakups, so maybe that’s why I sort of have mixed feelings about it.. so what do you think? |
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