Beck - The Information

Anyone picked this album up yet? I just got it yesteday, it's incredible! Easily better than Guero.

I'll post a review yet, I don't really have time now, but...

Everyone post your CD cover(they're blank, but the CD comes with one of 4 sticker sets so you can customize it.)

FRONT COVER

BACK COVER


Jam it back in, in the dark.

I've got it and I love it.
Amazing music.

The last song, The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton, is incredible.
I can't get enough of it for some reason.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

That's a cool idea for a CD cover, have the person make it.

Never really heard Beck, though I do want to listen to Jeff Beck, whom for the longest time I thought were the same person.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Ok, I'm going to do a review, but keep in mind, I don't claim to be a Beck expert in any regard. I got lots of info from www.whiskeyclone.net/ghost, a GREAT sight with info about every Beck song ever written, amazing! Also Wiki Can Can, a Beck Wiki.

Track Listing

1.Elevator Music
2.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


1.Elevator Music:

This song starts off with a very nice laidback drum beat and funky bass line. Beck's rapping is fairly laidback, as it is in most of this album, save 1000 BPM, but I'll get to that later... The chorus is very kind of creepily happy, kind of like watching a lobotomized person smile. The synthesized background really adds to this effect. It's a very seemless song, the transitions from spoken word to melodic chorus go very smoothly, and the guitar is perfect in this song, even though very basic. All in all, a very funky, great starter song, with great sfx.

2.Think I'm In Love

A very catchy poppy song. It's very much along the lines of Girl off of Guero, as it seems very happy musically, but there are dark undertones, hinting at an almost obsessive type of relationship and crazy emotions. It's very relaxing and summery, and it seems like it'd be a great road-trip type tune, driving with the top down in august type of thing.

3.Cellphone's Dead

Starts off with a kind of droning noise, sounds almost latinesque, then totally transfers into a funk bass line, with Beck rapping. There's a very kind of droning higher-pitched keyboard diddy that kicks in a bit, with some random child sounds. The chorus is very laidback and cool, with voice clips by a little girl. Originally they had tried to get the girl from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but she didn't agree to it, so they got Beck's neice. The end of the song goes back into the beat from the beginning of the song, and builds with a droning chorus of Beck's voice.

4.Strange Apparition

This song sounds a LOT like a seventies rock song, kind of Stonesesque. It has some great lyrics in it, as such "Piss on the ashes of a dream that got cremated". There's no rapping in this song, it's all rockish singing, and that's a good thing, as it mixes the beginning of the album up a bit. This song is one of the most normal on the CD, with only minimal synthesizers at the end of the chorus, and mostly piano and acoustic guitar. It's a great fourth track.

5.Soldier Jane

A very kind of relaxed summery song, somewhat like #2. There's an airy ambient type of echo in the background that really adds to that relaxing effect. It's really tight musically, and the synthesizers are evident, but minimal and don't intrude on the atmosphere. It's a great track.

6.Nausea

Nausea starts with a fast-paced country guitar riff and goes quickly into Beck rapping over that guitar. There's some tambourine and other things, but it's decently minimal instrument wise until about halfway through the song, when there's a lot of voice sampling. The rapping and melodic chorus flow very well . Stylistically this song reminded me a lot of Black Tambourine off of Guero.

7.New Round

This is one of my favourite songs on the album. A very sleepy acoustic guitar and dream-sound type of song. It's meant to be a lullabye and does a very good job of that, I could see it putting someone to sleep. Beck's voice echo's itself, like it's a round song, and it's a very relaxing song. I love this song.

8.Dark Star

This is a very dark(like the name, lol) kind of hip-hop song. It's almost like Beck's whispering the rapping, which is very tight and decently paced, yet quite soft. There's a lot of slowed down sound effects, and the chorus doesn't speed up, it is very sleepy and melodic, and fit perfectly into the song, while still adding some flavour to the sauce, so to speak. There's a little bit of harmonica in the middle, which, if you don't listen to a lot of Beck you might not be expecting, but if you're a Beck fan, you know that something out of the ordinary is around every turn.

9.We Dance Alone

This is going to sound funny, I can see this song, especially the chorus in a car commercial, kind of like the Mitsubishi Eclipse commercials with that Dirty Vegas song a while back. A kind of droning, funky, late-night styled song, with a falsetto chorus. Relaxing, yet not too much so, good for a night out cruising type of thing, hence the car commercial. A very cool song.

10.No Complaints

A countryish guitar leads this song, while Beck sings in a very content style, even though the song is kind of regretful. The whistling/synth/sampled bridge fits in very well, and adds a lot of character to the song. Beck's background falsetto "ooo"'s also add an air of contention to the song.

11.1000 BPM

A very unrelenting song. No melody in this one, just fast, aggressive rapping, unlike all the other raps on this album. There's a constant bell over funky drums and it's a little assaulting on the ears(for Beck), as it's supposed to be. The most aggressive song on the album.

12.Motorcade

This song is a mixture of some African styled beats with Latin Guitar and very interesting low drum line, almost DnB techno styled, but very laidback as such. The almost whisper rapping at parts is very cool, and the secondary melody with the harsh, electrical buzz is very cool as well. Again, a song with a constant "ooo" line in the background that never seems to end, just constantly decreases and wavers. Another of my favourite songs on the album. Very interesting to listen to.

13.The Information

A funky, kind of urban beat. Not urban though, kind of industrial, like you'd listen to it while driving around a quiet factory on a forklift and seeing people just standing in doorways, staring aimlessly. There's a haunting moan in the background too, which adds to this atmosphere a lot. The slightly off tune, double tracked melodic singing is very creepy as well, and quite a lovely part of the song. I love creepy songs, and this song is kind of cooly creepy. Droning, yet not irritating, just makes your skin crawl a little. The kind of harmonic female droning really seals that deal.

14.Movie Theme

VERY, VERY relaxed, with a slow metronome sound, droning, soft, sleepy synth, and crescendoing subtones start off this song. This chorusless song reminds me of Broken Drum from Guero, and it's a very kind of sad song, distant song, like Broken Drum(depending if you want to take Broken Drum sarcastically or not). The song is about how he misses his family and they miss him, but he has to be out making a living. The sounds build in this song, but never exceed the dreamy air of this tune. Slight latin guitar in parts, reminded me a little of the music from the T.V. show "How It's Made"'s sound track in parts. A brilliant song, I would say if I had to pick a favourite off of the album it's this one!

15.The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton

Three songs in one, 10 minutes long, really weird, and quite intriguing. The Horrible Fanfare is quiet and ghostly, with a kind of ghostly, haunting rapping and funk bass in the background. A female voice adds to the ghostliness. Landslide is done over a slowed down, modified version of the Black Tambourine melody from Guero. The chorus singing reminded me a little of the whole "Scarecrow's only scaring himself" melody from Scarecrow on Guero. Great guitar in the background too. This song keeps a little of the ghostliness from The Horrible Fanfare, but is more of an actual song. Exoskeleton is a spoken word piece, with very soothing, relaxing voices, where the only source of melody are droning female "ooo"'s and soft droning, almost bovine sounds, maybe like tibetan monk's throat singing. A very slow and meandering end to the album.


I give this album 8 megaboobs out of 8 1/2
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There's my review for the album, feel free to comment, update, agree, or disagree, or discuss...

I LOVED this album, I think it's better than the last few albums, and I would recommend it to anyone!

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I love the album. The main thing that stands out about it is that you can really feel there's an actual theme throughout it all, and it makes the songs flow into one another very well; it's one of the few albums that you can really listen to back-to-back without skipping any track. Guero was catchier and more fun, for the most part, but this album's got a cool laid-back, relaxed mood that I like a lot. And the idea with the stickers is so cool that I might actually buy the album if I see it in a store.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I too am loving it, it feels like a Guero 1.5 to me. Similar, but with a little something extra. I am liking he ditched the whole latin vibe too, but I do miss some of the heavier guitar work.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

So, this is out right now huh?

I only have "Mellow Gold" as far as Beck's albums go. I never really followed him much, although I liked what I heard from him because of his unorthodox humour. I've heard a lot of songs off "Sea Change" and "Odelay!" but anything else? Nope.

FELIPE NO

This album's pretty damn cool. I hadn't heard much Beck until this album that I just "received" recently. I like it: It's funky. It's enchanting. It's mellow. It's cool.

The first song that really got me to notice it was "Cellphone's Dead" probably because of the mixed beats throughout the song. That song's my favorite. I also noticed I enjoye "Soldier Jane" and "Movie Theme." I'll re-listen to all of it, and maybe more Beck stuff, this week.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?