Review Summary: A melancholy mix of Beck's taste for the unique, and Nigel Godrich's bizarre (but brilliant!) production...
As if it isn't already said enough, this is Beck's magnum opus. His best album, and as Rolling Stone will agree, one of the best albums of all time. While Odelay gets a lot of praise for being unique, brilliant and pushing all feats the breaking point, this album proves that bringing back music to the purest of emotions gets the job done in a much more personal way.
The Golden Age - Does as all opening tracks should do: Opens the album as it means to continue. This is one of my favourite songs of all time, due to the simplicity (there are only four chords in the whole song) and yet its heartfelt meaning. Sets the ball rolling nicely. - 5/5
Paper Tiger - a verse that drags along slowly, and a chorus that sends you swooping across deserts and through storms. The song jumps from place to place between verse and chorus, but the end result is one of his finest (and is also the closest to experimental on this album). - 4/5
Guess I'm Doing Fine - easily one of the best songs on the album, with a chorus who's words can strike a tone in the heart of anyone who's ever experienced a breakup, this remains one of his most black and white songs. - 5/5
Lonesome Tears - another quite black and white song, with a chorus that sneaks up and envelops the listener with its enormous scale compared to the rest of the song. - 4/5
Lost Cause - the most accessible song on the album, with lyrics speaking of someone who perhaps isn't worth the trouble they cause, and how the relationship is more loss than gain. - 4/5
End of the Day - this is one of the low points of the album (in my opinion) although the bleeps and bloops of a depressed-sounding keyboard count in the chorus, it is still not one worth missing. - 3.5/5
It's All In Your Mind - more stripped back than its original version, the string section (assembled by Beck's dad!) really make this one, and their deep, brooding sounds give Beck a stage to sing from, in this short and simple song. - 3.5/5
Round the Bend - the low point of the album - but by no means bad! I will agree with people saying this song is far too long, and while not as long as Lonesome Tears, it somehow lacks the punch of the emotion and massive chorus on the former song. - 3/5
Already Dead - one can only imagine how distraught Beck must have been to go from the bounce of Midnite Vulture's "Sexx Laws" to this, a song with such powerful, emotive feeling, it almost makes you feel as if you had been heartbroken yourself. - 4.5/5
Sunday Sun - now, this one seems a lot lighter than the other songs on the album. "There's no other ending/sunday sun" sings Beck, in the distance of another huge chrous. These lyrics seem to suggest that perhaps his day will end the same, and in fact, nothing has changed. A glimpse of hope in this most depressing of albums. - 4/5
Little One - another of Beck's finest, a sea shanty of gigantic proportions. With haunting howls in the background, and a chorus that sparks imagery of people free-falling off the world, and out into space. All tied together by an enormous bridge section and the band giving everything they have before ultimately collapsing under its own weight. There, I think I did it justice. - 5/5
Side of the Road - a "pat on the back, and all will be better" song. Almost as if this is Beck's way of letting go, "let it pass, on the side, of the road". Easily the most stripped back and raw song on the album, brings the whole thing to a calm, quite close. - 4.5/5
Words can't do this album justice, so I can only recommend you buy this album. It is worth every second of your time, and will remain in my "Best Albums" collection for as long as I live.
