BECK - Guero Review

As is traditional with Beck reviews, it should be noted that no, the new album Guero is not like 2002's Sea Change, his last. Guero is his sixth major-label album, and it sees the return of previous production collaborators Tony Hoffer (Midnite Vultures) and the Dust Brothers (Midnite Vultures, Odelay). If it's not like Sea Change, then given the personnel you might assume that Guero is following an interrupted trajectory back onto the dancefloor. You'd be half right....full text We thought we knew you, Beck. And then you showed up moaning over dark satin strings and crisp Godrich production. Yes, you’d lost your love, and you needed to tell us about it, or relieve yourself of it all through audio. But you were our chosen master of ceremony, the pastiche grifter who dug through all our pop lore and held it up in the crooked rainy mania of the modern....full text After the final out of the 2004 World Series, NBC played Beck's "The Golden Age" during the closing credits. It was a weird choice -- they obviously picked the song to celebrate the Red Sox victory, judging it by the title but ignoring the fact that it's a heinously depressing breakup ballad. Jesus, talk about a buzz-kill. But it was a perfect Beck moment, given the strange way he's spent his career foraging through American junk culture....full text