Beck (1)Besprekingen

Beck

August 8, 1997

Great Woods

Mansfield, MA

H.O.R.D.E. Festival, Main Stage

MAD: Schoeps MK-4>SBM-1, FOB Center, > Tascam da-30mk11 > hosa digital coax cable > phillips cdr 765 > CD > EAC > TLH > FLAC

1 DJ Swamp (Are You Ready?)

2 Devils Haircurt

3 Novocane

4 The New Pollution

5 Lord Only Knows

6 Minus

7 Loser

8 Sissyneck

9 Derelict

10 Pay No Mind (Snoozer)

11 Truckdrivin' Neighbors Downstairs (Yellow Sweat)

12 One Foot In The Grave

13 Jack-Ass

14 Where's It At

15 Medley

16 High 5 (Rock The Catskills)

Beck performed at nine of the dates on the 1997 H.O.R.D.E. tour. I happened to catch this night. I actually came away from this show not really digging Beck but I got more into him as time went on. My personal favorite was seeing him in NYC with the Flaming Lips as his band after Sea Change came out. Wow.

Beck w/The Flaming Lips

October 31, 2002

Beacon Theatre

New York, NY

MA? > ? > CD > EAC > TLH > FLAC

This show consisted of the Flaming Lips doing an opening set, Beck performing solo acoustic and then the Lips returning to serve as Beck's backup band. I only have the Beck set (acoustic and with the Lips). I would really dig the Lips opening set, hint hint...

I don't know the precise lineage, I'm sorry, but I do have a setlist.

Disc One

1. Guess I?m Doing Fine

2. Lazy Flies

3. Bottle of Blues

4. Sunday Sun

5. Do You Realize - The Golden Age

6. Lord Only Knows

7. Tropicalia

8. Get Real Paid

9. Cold Brains

10. It?s All in Your Mind

11. Lonesome Tears

Disc Two

1. Loser

2. Little One

3. Round the Bend

4. Lost Cause

5. Where it?s At

6. Paper Tiger

7. Nicotine & Gravy

8. Devil?s Haircut

Product Details

* Audio CD (September 24, 2002)
* Original Release Date: 2000
* Number of Discs: 1
* Label: Interscope
* ASIN: B00006F7S4
* In-Print Editions: Audio CD
* Average Customer Review: based on 464 reviews. (Write a review.)
* Amazon.com Sales Rank: #808 in Music (See Top Sellers in Music)
Yesterday: #1,229 in Music

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1. The Golden Age Listen Listen
2. Paper Tiger Listen Listen
3. Guess I'm Doin' Fine Listen Listen
4. Lonesome Tears Listen Listen
5. Lost Cause Listen Listen
6. End Of The Day Listen Listen
7. It's All In Your Mind Listen Listen
8. Round The Bend Listen Listen
9. Already Dead Listen Listen
10. Sunday Sun Listen Listen
11. Little One Listen Listen
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Beck is bummed. Really bummed. And if song titles such as "Lost Cause," "Lonesome Tears," "Already Dead," and "Nothing I Haven't Seen" don't make the point, his achingly sad lyrics and Sea Change's unerringly downcast sound do. While 1998's Mutations--arguably the singer-songwriter's masterwork and Sea Change's spiritual cousin--was filled with unflinching self-examination, moments of levity were found in songs like "Tropicalia." Not so on Sea Change. Beck's woozy, almost narcoleptic delivery seems to amplify the set's sense of ennui. But sad isn't necessarily bad, and despite the somber tone, there's much to praise, not the least of which is the return of producer Nigel Goderich (Mutations, Radiohead), who wraps Beck's gloom in a dreamy, warm blanket of soft strings and floating bleeps and gurgles. Like Daniel Lanois, Goderich is all about vibe, and even Beck's most bare-bones songs benefit from billowy atmospherics. That's especially true of "Paper Tiger," a restless, slowly building epic improbably propelled by a languid orchestra and Beck's expressionless drone. The inky black feel of "Round the Bend"--a glacially slow dirge with muffled vocals--may be the darkest thing Beck's ever written, not counting the very grim "Already Dead." Whatever's going on in Beck's world, at least we know he's purging, which, all things considered, may be better for his soul than ours. --Kim Hughes
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160 of 166 people found the following review helpful:
WARNING, May 26, 2003
Reviewer: A music fan
I was having lunch in a vegetarian restaurant in Seattle when I heard this great song being played over the restaurants sound system. The singer sounded like he was accompanied by the philharmonic orchestra. I asked the waiter what was playing and he said; Beck's Sea Change. The song playing was Lonesome Tears, and I know that much because after finishing lunch I went right out and bought the CD. I am over fifty years old and mostly listen to folk music (hank dogs, hem, gillian welch, folkers like that)so buying a Beck CD was kind of out of my range. I have discovered that in the most unusual musical way that Sea Change is actually addicting. I would put a label on this CD: Warning, may be habit forming! I see that it has been referred to as a downer, a bummer, that Beck is in transition from some dark place. Do not let that steer you off course from Sea Change. The music just takes you along on this sea of sensation, and not once have I felt brought down by it. Infact it seems to put me at ease, as if I have surrendered my anxiety. I can listen to it on my way to work in the morning and last thing at night and its effect seems to have the same results, I want to play it all over again. Thank you for sharing your formidable talent,Beck. I expect your next CD to be something entirely different as that is your apparent musical nature.

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54 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
Absolute Beauty, October 3, 2002
Reviewer: Brooks Williams (Alton, IL United States) - See all my reviews
You've got to wonder what Beck's ex-girlfriend is feeling right now. Imagine this, your boyfriend of nine years, whom you've recently broken up with, has just released an sad album on which *every* song is about his post-breakup depression. On top of that, the album received five-stars from Rolling Stone (only the second this year) and is considered by many to be an instant classic. The ex-boyfriend is Beck and his album is called Sea Change.

The music is deceptively simple and beautiful. The wackiness of Beck's previous efforts is gone and the blatant weirdness is replaced by an backward sincerity. Musically and lyrically, this album is very real. The music creates a soft bed upon which Beck's voice floats over, lands on, and sinks into. The vocal performance is in stark contrast to the "heartfelt" pop-vocal performances of today. Beck is whispering his sorrows in our collective ear, rather than screaming at us. It is a very bold and personal effort.

Sea Change, while not yet being called a concept album, seems to follow the appropriate rules for a concept album. The first song, "Golden Age" sets up the mood and the situation. "Put your hands on the wheel / Let the golden age begin / Let the window down / Feel the moonlight in your skin / Let the desert wind cool your aching head / Let the weight of the world drift away instead" Beck is welcoming us into his melancholy world, telling you to hold on, allow his sadness (moonlight) to touch you, and escape into his pain. Likewise, the song's instrumentation begins simply with an acoustic guitar and ends with a kind of electronic white noise.

The last song, "Side Of The Road", wraps up the journey by returning the listener to the road; the trip is over. The instrumentation is back to traditional acoustic instruments, no electronic blips and beeps. In the end, Beck tells us, "On a borrowed dime / In a different light / You might see what / The other side looks like / ...Let it pass / On the side of the road/ What a friend could tell me now" In essence, I think Beck is saying that now that you've seem my misery, know that it doesn't have to be your own experience -- in fact, you'd probably be better off letting it simply pass.

It's hard to choose a favorite song since they all kind of run into each other and maintain a consistent mood. Truth be told, every song is great, every song is beautiful. Each listen seems to bring more understanding and more insight into Beck's sadness. Immediate standouts include the opener, "The Golden Age", as well as "Guess I'm Doing Fine", "Lost Cause", "Nothing I Haven't Seen", and "Sunday Sun".

It's a great album. There is emotion in every note, every word. Behind all the pain and sadness there is beauty and possibly even joy. It's easily the best album I've heard all year and ranks among my favorites of all time. It's part Harvest-era Neil Young, part Air, with a healthy dose of Nick Cave thrown in for good measure. But all those different components come together to create something unique, something truly honest. Sea Changes is a personal look into Beck's emotions and inner thoughts. It's something that shouldn't be missed.

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Product Details

* Audio CD (November 23, 1999)
* Original Release Date: 2000
* Number of Discs: 1
* Label: Interscope Records
* Catalog Number: 490485
* ASIN: B000030009
* Other Editions: Audio Cassette | LP Record
* Average Customer Review: based on 345 reviews. (Write a review.)
* Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,284 in Music (See Top Sellers in Music)
Yesterday: #4,599 in Music

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1. Sexx Laws Listen Listen
2. Nicotine & Gravy Listen Listen
3. Mixed Bizness Listen Listen
4. Get Real Paid Listen Listen
5. Hlwd. Freaks
6. Peaches & Cream Listen Listen
7. Broken Train Listen Listen
8. Milk & Honey Listen Listen
9. Beautiful Way Listen Listen
10. Pressure Zone Listen Listen
11. Debra Listen Listen
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
When Beck mangles folk, hip-hop, country, blues, and lo-fi rock into a unique sonic species, he pays homage to his influences in a way that is utterly entertaining. Indeed, the alt-rock vagabond is responsible for some of the 1990s' most indispensable music. In his lesser moments, however, Beck's attempts at emulating his preceptors fall flat, creating only B-grade versions of the genuine articles. Midnite Vultures splits down the middle between the great Beck and the not-so-great Beck. About half the album gorges on retro pulp fiction, a "Becksploitation," if you will, where his relatively straightforward impersonations shortchange his influences. On the slow-burn soul tracks "Peaches and Cream" and "Debra" or the 808-driven tributary "Hlwd. Freaks," he lacks the pipes, heart, and history to pass as a legitimate double-breasted soul man or old-school rapper. The other half, finding Beck in his element, is exhilarating. His unfaltering studio mastery is especially evident on standouts such as the horn-punched "Sexx Laws," the steamy, slap-bass-blasted "Nicotine and Gravy," and the wah-wah bombast of "Mixed Bizness." The album proves that Beck playing the straight-up funkateer will never match ranks with the raw talents of Marvin Gaye, George Clinton, or Prince, but as long as he adheres to more inventive genre splicing, he remains compelling in his own right. --Beth Massa

Product Description
Special Very Limited CD Digipak.
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6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
Man.... this guy is talented!, September 9, 2002
Reviewer: J. Carmichael (Virginia Beach, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
My favorite Beck cd. Some of the lyrics make me laugh, and the music is catchy. This album displays a pantheon of influences. Styles range from soul to rap to rock and all points in between. I play this cd on repeat.

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Let's Make It Funky.., August 29, 2003
Reviewer: A. Bubul (PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
Midnute Vultures, whoa. What an album. You wouldn't think a loser like Beck could party so hard, but he pulls it off quite well. Fans of Odelay may be dissappointed with this record, but any openminded listeners should get a lot out of it. Beck's offkilter rhymes are bizarre as ever, but this time, they're backed up by ridiculously tight funk grooves instead of guitar rock. My favorite song is Mixed Bizness, offering more sick rhymes, a sicker break (I want to know if I'm worth your time..) and further embellishments. It kind of sounds like Kraftwerk if they ever incorporated heavy funk into their electronic drones. This album basically departs from all else Beck has ever put his name on. It's nothing like his other albums, but the rehashed funk/soul vibe is as invigorating as anything else Beck has set his heart to. Recommended.

Product Details

* Audio CD (November 3, 1998)
* Original Release Date: November 3, 1998
* Number of Discs: 1
* Label: Geffen Records
* Catalog Number: 25309
* ASIN: B00000DHYK
* Other Editions: Audio Cassette | LP Record
* Average Customer Review: based on 227 reviews. (Write a review.)
* Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,731 in Music (See Top Sellers in Music)
Yesterday: #5,586 in Music

Listen to Samples
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1. Cold Brains Listen Listen
2. Nobody's Fault But My Own Listen Listen
3. Lazy Flies Listen Listen
4. Canceled Check Listen Listen
5. We Live Again Listen Listen
6. Tropicalia Listen Listen
7. Dead Melodies Listen Listen
8. Bottle of Blues Listen Listen
9. O Maria
10. Sing It Again Listen Listen
11. Static/Diamond Bollocks (hidden track) Listen Listen
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com's Best of 1998
It's unfortunate how much attention has been paid to how this album was recorded--quickly, without the same level of studio fuss that marked Beck's breakthrough album, Odelay. That's a shame because our favorite chameleon has pulled the neatest trick of all: he's dropped the lyrical schtick that sometimes marred his sonic wizardy, leaving listeners to wonder if he even believed in the music he was playing. That's not an issue here. At times, he sounds like Ray Davies updated for the '90s, stripping himself bare with lovely, simple songs that linger long after they've supposedly ended. Beck may have made his initial mark with "Loser," a clever but insincere admission of inferiority; he's more likely to be remembered for the similar but more heartfelt confession of "Nobody's Fault But My Own." --Keith Moerer

Amazon.com essential recording
On his 1996 breakthrough album Odelay, Beck Hansen surprised a sleepy music community by blending funk, rock, rap, alternative, and electronica in ways that were both startlingly innovative and irresistibly catchy. Mutations is equally attention-grabbing but not in the gangbusters-pimp-rock-meets-indie-geek style you might expect. Reflective and plaintive, the album reveals Beck's more sentimental side with an eclectic collection of acoustic-based songs that will sound familiar to anyone who cherishes his indie-rock effort One Foot in the Grave. And don't think just because Beck's gone soft, he's gotten boring. From one song to the next, the chameleonic guru strums pensively, shimmies to a bossa nova rhythm, swirls on a psychedelic cloud, plucks Baroque strains from a harpsichord, and weeps countrified tears into a rusty tin bucket. On Mutations, Beck proves that an undistorted guitar and a bit of creativity can easily sound as exciting as two turntables and a microphone. --Jon Wiederhorn

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26 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
the lost '67 dylan album!, April 9, 2000
Reviewer: R. Hutchinson "autonomeus" (a world ruled by fossil fuels and fossil minds) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
It's 1966. Bob is traveling at light speed. He's a planetary pioneer of chaos, a cultural revolutionary, having plugged in his guitar and combined surrealist poetry and social critique with rock and roll, creating one of the most powerful forces in the Universe. But he's going too fast... He "takes too much acid and crashes his motorcycle" (either literally or metaphorically). Now in one dimension he turns to a backward looking, simplistic faith in a Big Deus Ex Machina In the Sky, starts quoting the Bible, and playing country music. But in another dimension, he reacts differently to this crisis, and makes an album very different from JOHN WESLEY HARDING -- this album, MUTATIONS!

In this alternative reality, Bob opens up to all the experimentation of the time. He incorporates all the studio effects of the Beatles and Stones. He travels to Brazil and meets Os Mutantes. He unplugs and mellows out, but with a sense of the infinite. Of course, he's reading Samuel Beckett the whole while, he's just not cut out to be an optimist. But he embraces chaos in a forward-looking way, he adopts a realistic existentialist stance rather than searching for certainty. The world is absurd and futile, but that's the starting point, not the end! Somehow, Beck has channeled this lost '67 Dylan album 30 years later. It's probably the result of his discipline of cultural recombinatory praxis, opening him up to bizarre possibilities -- he caught a matrix of flux from the past. "Diamond Bollocks," the awesome hidden track, acknowledges this explicitly:

"...looking back at some dead world that looks so new."

Beck, of course, was frustrated that the prediction from FLASHBACK, the movie about Abbie Hoffman, hadn't come true (the '90s will make the '60s look like the '50s!), and so he turned to the high point of the century as his millennial statement.

Thanks, Beck. And thanks, Bob.

Product Details

* Audio CD (March 1, 1994)
* Original Release Date: March 1, 1994
* Number of Discs: 1
* Format: Explicit Lyrics
* Label: Geffen Records
* Catalog Number: 24634
* ASIN: B000003TB2
* Other Editions: Audio CD | Audio Cassette | LP Record
* Average Customer Review: based on 72 reviews. (Write a review.)
* Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,574 in Music (See Top Sellers in Music)
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1. Loser Listen Listen
2. Pay No Mind (Snoozer) Listen Listen
3. F---in With My Head (Mountain Dew Rock) Listen Listen
4. Whiskey Clone, Hotel City 1997 Listen Listen
5. Soul Suckin' Jerk Listen Listen
6. Truckdrivin Neighbors Downstairs (Yellow Sweat) Listen
7. Sweet Sunshine Listen
8. Beercan Listen
9. Steal My Body Home Listen
10. Nitemare Hippy Girl Listen
11. Mutherf---er Listen
12. Blackhole Listen
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Far more than a novelty jester, Beck is a musical anarchist and bummed-out street prophet whose audience will squirm and thrill to the slacker delta blues of "Whiskeyclone" and urban nightmares like "Truckdrivin Neighbors Downstairs." --Jeff Bateman
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
Beck's Best, April 19, 2000
Reviewer: S. R Robertson "crap basket" (Oh Henry?) - See all my reviews
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An early member of the straight-to-tape lo-fi marathon that is artists like Guided By Voices & Ween, Beck established his own style in addition to being quirky & reminiscent of those artists. Beck is sort of like a story-telling enigma, Bob Dylan to the next level, you might say. His songs can either be ironic & narrative or slapstick & bizzare. This is definitely evident in "Mellow Gold", which, in my opinion, is better and more artistic than "Odelay". A mixture of Dylanesque folk("Pay No Mind", "Whiskeyclone Hotel City, 1997", "Truckdriving Neighbors Downstairs", "Blackhole"), ambient psychadelic explorations("Steal My Body Home"), quirky hip-hop("Loser", "Soul Sucking Jerk", "Beercan", "Sweet Sunshine"), and a small touch of rock("F****ing With My Head", "Mother****er"). If you are interested in getting into Beck, "Mellow Gold" is the place to start.

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25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
Wonderfully Bizarre, March 18, 2003
Reviewer: Lonnie E. Holder "I think, therefore I am. I think." (Sullivan, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
I enjoy artists like Beck. When he created this CD he clearly didn't care what was popular and what would sell. Instead, he did his own, often quirky, sometimes amusing, and nearly always enjoyable, thing. The range of styles is interesting. On this CD are elements of thrash ("Sweet Sunshine"), blues ("Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1997" and "Pay no Mind", where he also sounds a bit like Dylan), progressive ("Blackhole"), and grunge ("Loser"). There are even hints of pop, hillbilly and folk. Beck chooses elements that fit his concept for a particular song and I suspect he cares little whether a particular listener likes or doesn't like a particular song.

I can see how some listeners might not like this CD. The styles are too broad for people with a narrow range of tastes, or for those whose definition of cutting edge music is limited to one genre. Beck has a relatively mellow style on this CD, as the title suggests, that might also put some listeners off. However, while the overall style is mellow, there are enough changeups in pace that this CD held my interest from beginning to end.

The lyrics owe more to blues than to pop or rock. Beck nearly always seems to want to tell a story or make a point. That doesn't mean the lyrics are sung in a blues style, only that Beck likes to have a purpose to his lyrics, which is a characteristic of blues. The only objection I have to the lyrics is personal, in that the CD I have is the explicit lyrics version, and I really didn't need the four-letter words to enjoy the music.

The music itself is wonderfully bizarre. The range and combination of instruments I can barely begin to guess at because Beck combines electronic effects with various combinations of instruments and frequently bizarre vocal effects to create a complex mix of sound that challenges my ability to decipher. Beck combines this mixture with the previously mentioned combination of styles to synthesize quirky, yet interesting sounds. For an example of what I'm talking about, listen to "Truckdrivin' Neighbors Downstairs (Yellow Sweat)". The principal instrument in this song is an acoustic guitar, but the vocals range from a falsetto to a bass in a bizarre combination. This last song might have been something that Frank Zappa might have sung, though without the four-letter words.

Perhaps the best-known song on this CD is "Loser", which received a fair amount of video airplay on MTV and VH1. The video was every bit as experimental as the remainder of the CD is musically. With elements of grunge and no real plot or theme, the video is impressionistic, and has more of a theme than a story. However, given the range of music on this CD, do not judge the CD by "Loser", because it is the only song like it on the CD.

"Steal My Body Home" sounds like psychedelic rock. Cool song, very slow, interesting electronic effects. Turn on the black lights! I had to mention this song because I like its combination of retro-psychedelic sound with grunge and other elements. The next song is "Nightmare Hippy Girl", which seems to fit with the psychedelic song just previous, but the styling of "Nightmare Hippy Girl" is more folk-rock than psychedelic rock. Yet, it fits.

My favorite song is "Blackhole". The progressive elements have tinges of The Moody Blues from the time of "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" and "Seventh Sojourn", but of course Beck has made this in a style all his own. At about five and a half minutes into the song, the music stops, and when it restarts it is no longer music, it is a bizarre combination of sound effects a la King Crimson, but sped up and with a greater range. It sounds weird, but interesting.

This CD is so weird that it may be inaccessible to some listeners. However, it is exactly this wonderfully strange and weird music that drew me to progressive music in the first place. Beck is a music artist, experimenting to create the unusual. He certainly does that here. I recommend this CD to those who like music as art, particular for those who like mellow progressive rock.

Music as participatory revived by Beck Hansen in his book of sheet music

The following article is located at: http://www.booksandculture.com/articles/2013/novdec/play-this-song.html

Play This Song

Beck's countercultural "Song Reader."

Jeff Johnson | posted 10/28/2013

With no ties, with no plans,
your last dollar in your hands.
Take a picture and send it back,
to someone you used to know.
—from Song Reader, "Old Shanghai," by Beck

There is a picture in my mind's eye of me in 1970, nearly fourteen years old, holding the first phonograph record I was allowed to buy with my own money, James Taylor's Sweet Baby James. My parents were both musical and owned a varied, though not extensive, assortment of records. Records were considered a luxury, something you sat down and listened to, whereas music was always something to participate in—and there were many opportunities to do so in our church and school choirs. There were piano and voice lessons, too, which meant that music (full of all of its glorious wrong notes) contributed to the soundtrack of our family's life. On the family piano rested a small stack of songbooks and sheet music which eventually included the songbook for Sweet Baby James. We each had our favorites, and even though the availability of recorded music was becoming more widespread, this was primarily how music was experienced in our home.

The same year I was learning those James Taylor songs, Beck Hansen (aka Beck) was born in Los Angeles to a father who was a Canadian, a musician and a follower of Scientology, and to a mother who was one of the infamous "superstars" of Andy Warhol's entourage. Now in his early forties, Beck has forged an impressive body of work often categorized as "alternative" that has nevertheless enjoyed significant mainstream success. He has had four platinum-selling records, including his 1996 Odelay, which was Rolling Stone's Album of the Year. His eclectic style offers a full range of musical and lyrical experimentation that has been greatly dependent on the production and recording techniques of modern studio recording.

Yet for the past decade and a half he has fostered a project of an entirely different kind: "an album that could only be heard by playing the songs." That is, playing them yourself. Song Reader features twenty new songs by Beck in sheet music form, beautifully designed and packaged in a hardcover sleeve. With this collection he hopes to open up his music, welcoming "the possibility of letting people work with these songs in different ways, and of allowing them a different accessibility than what's offered by all of the many forms of music available today."

As a fellow musician/recording artist thoroughly entrenched in the modern way of making music, I was slightly suspicious of this project when I first heard about it. It struck me as a bit gratuitous—the kind of thing that a self-absorbed superstar might indulge himself in because he'd temporarily run out of good ideas for a properly recorded work. But I was wrong in that initial judgment; I think Beck is on to something here. With this compilation, which includes two instrumental pieces as well as number of songs with lyrics, he raises a very important issue:

Songs have lost their cachet; they compete with so much other noise now that they can become more exaggerated in an attempt to capture attention. The question of what a song is supposed to do, and how its purpose has altered, has begun to seem worth asking.

Beck goes on to observe in his preface to Song Reader that the 1937 Bing Crosby recording of "Sweet Leilani" "was so popular that, by some estimates, the sheet music sold 54 million copies. Home-played music had been so widespread that nearly half the country had bought the sheet music for a single song, and presumably gone through the trouble of learning to play it." Such a communal response, Beck observes, must have "felt like some weird convergence. That time is long gone, but the idea of it makes one wonder where that impulse went."

Seventy-five years later, most people's experience of actually participating in music will be observed at the local Karaoke bar or with some band-replicating video game experience. But Beck wants us to actually play his songs, in any way we can:

Don't feel beholden to what's notated. Use any instrument you want to. Change the chords; rephrase the melodies. Keep only the lyrics, if desired. Play it fast or slow, swung or straight … . These arrangements are starting-off points; they don't originate from any definitive recording or performance.

Many people—young and old, amateur and professional—have taken Beck at his word and have uploaded their performances of these songs on YouTube.

I find Beck's music an acquired taste. There are a lot of his songs past and present that I just don't resonate with. The same was true working through this collection. Yet there are some real gems here, like "The Last Polka" (watch Hanna Silver's performance of this on YouTube) and "Old Shanghai," which I took the time to record my own version of.

It should also be noted that Song Reader has another significant aspect to it. Beginning with an excellent introduction by music critic Jody Rosen, we are taken back into the early 20th century to explore the once rich and varied character of sheet music in all its wit, artistry, commercialization, and absurdity. Beck has emulated that era by including on the back page of each individual song sheet additional written and musical whimsies, such as "The Secret To Music Is Hygiene"; "Instrumentals for The End Of The World"; "Songs You Can Take To The Bank!"; and "Songs You Won't Be Able To Get Away From and Otherwise Inescapable Melodies," which include:

I Know We Just Met (But I've Been
Following You for a While)
I Dug Through Your Trash, OK?

Beck has a good sense of humor, but his intent with these whimsies is not to mock times past but rather to prod us to reflect on what it is to have music in our lives. Music is not just a soundtrack for whatever it is we are doing; if we participate in it instead of simply consuming it, it will make living richer. Rosen writes in his introductory essay:

Today's biggest hits are measured less in chart rankings or sales figures than in the way they ripple through the digital firmament—in the viral tributes they unleash, the dance routines, the parodies, the earnestly emoted cover versions, videotaped and uploaded to YouTube. We have returned to the parlor room, with the laptop camera taking the place of the upright piano.

I would take it one step further. Singing and playing songs together doesn't just make life more interesting, it can make life truly sacramental.

Not long before the golden age of sheet music, a folklorist named Alexander Carmichael (1832-1912) used his journeys as an exciseman covering the Gaelic-speaking areas of Scotland to collect and record the many prayers, hymns, poems, proverbs, songs, and sayings of the region. Carmichael organized them (with the help of his daughter and grandson) into what would become the Carmina Gadelica. Oral traditions of singing and speaking were woven into the daily lives and faith of these people, and because of Carmichael's passion we can weave their legacy into our own lives.

Beck writes that his "songs … are here to be brought to life—or at least to remind us that, not so long ago, a song was only a piece of paper until it was played by someone. Anyone. Even you." That's really good. But even better is when our participation with a song—given to us in the written or oral form—brings us to life.

Jeff Johnson is a recording artist. He established ArkMusic in 1978. His newest recording is Winterfold, featuring Irish flutist Brian Dunning and American violinist Wendy Goodwin.

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Product Details

* Audio CD (June 18, 1996)
* Original Release Date: June 18, 1996
* Number of Discs: 1
* Label: Geffen Records
* Catalog Number: 24823
* ASIN: B000003TBP
* Other Editions: Audio Cassette | LP Record
* Average Customer Review: based on 172 reviews. (Write a review.)
* Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,848 in Music (See Top Sellers in Music)
Yesterday: #3,004 in Music

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1. Devils Haircut Listen Listen
2. Hotwax Listen Listen
3. Lord Only Knows Listen Listen
4. The New Pollution Listen Listen
5. Derelict Listen Listen
6. Novacane Listen Listen
7. Jack-Ass Listen Listen
8. Where It's At Listen Listen
9. Minus Listen Listen
10. Sissyneck Listen Listen
11. Readymade Listen Listen
12. High 5 (Rock The Catskills) Listen Listen
13. Ramshackle Listen Listen
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Beck brags here that he's "got two turntables and a microphone." He also has a sweeping aesthetic that sees no reason why musical allusions to hip-hop, the Beatles, James Brown, punk, Gram Parsons, cool jazz, and Dylan can't coexist in the same song. Throughout, he rap-sings with sincere irony--I bet he laughs at the sight of a jump-suited Elvis, then cries when the King starts to sing--and Odelay's rich collage of sound may very well prove a prediction of the future. If he ever finds the courage to can the loopy metaphors and just tell a story, he could take over the world. --David Cantwell
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29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
Happiness Is A Wacky Beck CD, June 30, 2003
Reviewer: A. Bubul (PA) - See all my reviews
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Whoa, what a disc. This cd is just great all around. Every track is very, very unique, and several are remarkable. The hits (New Pollution, Devil's Haircut, Where It's At) are all good, but the real treasures are some of the lesser known songs on here. Hotwax is a weird, funk-inflected groove that will really catch your attention. Minus is a quick rocker that is also eye-widening, and Ramshackle is a long, bizarre ballad that is equally interesting. Beck's ingenuity was displayed on a minor scale before Odelay, and after this critically acclaimed award-winner, he's been a household name. Beck's fame is condign, and he is a good example of an artist that hasn't sold out. He sticks to what he does best. And that is writing outlandish songs that coalesce all genres into one fun, blurring album. Odelay could be an album for a party, for reading, for crying, for screaming, for laughing, you name it. It's so flexible and at the same time rigid enough to evoke passion and meaning each time you listen to it. I could go on and on about Beck and his masterful song-writing, but if you kept reading, it would detract from the most valuable time that would be better spent listening to the album. So do yourself a favor and pick this up if you don't have it. It will be a treat and a half.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
A glorious melting pot of sounds, March 30, 2005
Reviewer: B (Rochester, NY United States) - See all my reviews
"Odelay" is the album that established Beck as a superstar, and for good reason. It's an adventurous, yet insanely catchy melange of genres loaded with pop hooks and samples galore.

From the trigger-fuzz blues/rock/pop of "Devil's Haircut" to the resigning, affecting folk of "Ramshackle", and everything in between..you never know what will pop out next.

"Novacane" goes from Texas to New York in its course, seemlessly blending bluesey passages with hyper white noise and computer blips. "The New Pollution" has this turbelent, 1950's black & white pop feel, with commercial-esque interludes and stylish, jazzy saxophone samples.

In terms of sampling, "High 5" puts everything else to shame; the dancefloor/raucous hip-hop number even samples a previous track from the album. How wacky is that? "Where It's At" is also a massive collage, and surely one of the most unlikely pop hits in recent years.

Other highlights include the heartbreaking folk of "Jackass", the sugar rush indie-rock of "Minus", and the infectious twang-covered pop of "Sissyneck".

In theory, the album is a total mess. But Beck's knack for crafting clever, catchy pop songs makes this cut and paste job stick together and work a good 95% of the time.