Picked-up this album cheap at the weekend.

I am a big fan of Odelay (1996), so for £6, I thought Sea Change was going to be a star buy.

Listened to it a couple of times yesterday, and was shocked to find that he's gone all safe and 'middle of the road' - ie. dinner party music a la David Gray/Dido/Norah Jones. The kind of thing I could play with my mother in the room.

I'm not saying it's bad music, but it's not what i'd expect from Beck. Can anyone enlighten me on when/how this happened ?

Regards

[adox]

he tends to release every second album as a mellow mainstream album.
if your looking for something along the lines of odelay check out "midnite vultures". its possibly his finest hour

adox,

Cheers for that.

They had his two most recent albums at the same price (AFAIK Sea Change is his latest), so sounds like I chose the wrong one.

I'll give give Midnite Vultures a try, and hopefully restore my faith.

Regards

[PhilCTTE]

Yup definately Midnite Vultures but try Mutilations ...which is also top stuff !

Just picked-up Mutations from the Library. Someone's going to incur the wrath of the Librarians, as Midnite Vultures was due back on the 12th, but isn't in yet.

Regards

[adox]

mutations is a good album, bu its pretty mellow mainstream stuff.

[Whiting]

Personally, I prefer "Sea Change" over "Mutations" and "Midnite Vultures" -- you could use reference points like Tim Hardin/Nick Drake if it helps to make it more palatable

"Mutations" I never got into. I just found it dull. "Midnite Vultures" was a bit of a shock to the system. Beck does Prince ??? It's alright but I can't say I've listened to it much after the first few listens.

All, however, must take a backseat to "Odelay" and "Mellow Gold"

Been listening to first few tracks of Mutations while cooking the tea. First impressions are that it's not as 'middle of the road' as Sea Change (and is therefore better), but it's no Odelay beater.

Will report back with more thoughts over next couple of days.

Regards

Update - further listening confirms my initial thoughts. Current running order is .....

1. Odelay
2. Mutations
3. Sea Change

..... but 2 and 3 are a long way behind 1.

Will check out the other albums as/when available from Library.

Regards

[figrin_dan]

Back from the dead . . .
Apparently the Sea change SACD sounds great and the DVDA comes out next week (5.1). Here's my running order
1) Midnite Vultures
2) Odelay
3) Mellow Gold
4) Mutations
5) Sea Change
6) Beck
7) Stereopathic Soulmanure - only flicked thru though
8) One foot in the grave - haven't heard yet.

Been meaning to post again for a while now. Here's my current running order on the albums i've heard:

1. Odelay (1996)
2. Mellow Gold (1993/4)
3. Midnite Vultures (1999)
4. Mutations (1998)
5. Sea Change (2002)

figrin_dan,

Looking at your list compared to mine, it looks like you're also not keen on the more middle of the road stuff. Can I assume that 6 and 7 are also of that ilk ?

Off topic, I picked-up a copy of Portishead - Roseland NYC Live, and have been blown away by it. Anyone else a fan ?

Regards

[Rich]

i loved sea change,although it took some time to get into,maybe you should listen to it a few more times,I think he had the same producer as Radiohead,so some of the tracks sound very much like Radiohead.
Did anyone see Becks acoustic concert that was recently screened by BBC4 ?it was amazing he song a couple of Justin Timberlake songs,which sounded really good.
P.S. If you like you like portishead,try listening to the beth gibbons and rustin mann album "Out of Season ",I much prefered it to Beth gibbons singing with Portishead,but it also very mellow,which some people might prefer?

[figrin_dan]

Exeter Man,
Actually, I like the softer cds, but I really like the others. Beck is not actually an album with only 2 (I think) new tracks inc. Arabian Knights (great) and Midnite Vultures (ok) and a bunch of remixes. The other album contained all the weird/noise Beck that I dislike.

I have the Roseland dvd too - I really like All Mine and the Dummy cd, but nothing else.

Don't like Radiohead though.

Thanks guys, that gives me a bit more to think about.

richardl10,

I've listened to Sea Change a few times now. It IS quality music, but I just prefer Beck's other stuff.

Might give that Beth Gibbons/Rustin Mann album a try.

Regards

[Senninha]

Originally posted by Exeter Man
I'm not saying it's bad music, but it's not what i'd expect from Beck. Can anyone enlighten me on when/how this happened ?

Regards

Two words - "breakup album".

Beck broke up with his long-time girlfriend, which is very sad for him, but the silver lining is that we get this album. Agreed it's pretty different from other stuff (but then his other stuff is all so different from itself that in itself is a tough call!), but IMO it's a stunning album, one of his best ever. Takes a few listens, but really grows.

[JohnG]

I still prefer Mellow Gold. It has a couple of bad tracks on it but the rest are all excellent - so many different influences in there.

Thanks for all the replies guys.

As always, looks like we'll have to agree to differ on this one

Regards