CD Odyssey Disc 288: Beck

Today I managed to get some driving in, which quickly got me through this next album, which was a pretty short one. As you may know, I am a fan of albums not running overlong, so I was pretty happy.

Disc 288 is...Modern Guilt

Artist: Beck

Year of Release: 2008

What’s Up With The Cover?: This cover reminds me of one of those photos that fans send in to get mounted on the side of Jones Soda bottles. It just has that kind of arbitrary, off-the-cuff kind of look. I like it, and I like the clear label at the top. It would be hard not to note the title and artist for this record.

How I Came To Know It: This is the latest Beck album, so when it came out I was already a long-standing fan, so having this album is just me buying it as a matter of course. Not every story is one of strange discovery, people.

How It Stacks Up: I have eight Beck albums, and I enjoy them all in different ways. I'd put "Modern Guilt" about 4th or 5th, but that is not to say it is a bad album, just that I like Beck, so at some level all his records are good, and competition at the top is fierce.

Rating: 4 stars.

I had only had this record very briefly before seeing Beck on the same tour, when he played the Royal Theatre in Victoria. The Royal is a beautiful old venue dating from a period long before people plugged in their guitars. As a result, it is ingeniously built to project non-amplified sound.

Regrettably, many a sound man has come in since and over-amped the venue, with the result being a muddy reverb beating off the walls of the place. Such was the case with Beck, who for the first half of the show was practically unrecognizeable. At one point he performed Dylan's "Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat" and I couldn't even recognize it. Trust me when I say that unless it is Bob Dylan doing that (deliberately) it isn't any fun.

Fortunately, the sound guy got his act together about halfway through so the concert was not bad the rest of the way. Still, it soured me on this record unfairly at the time of its release.

The CD Odyssey allowed me to rehabilitate its reputation, and take it for what it is - a well constructed, well produced work, and a comeback for Beck, two years after 2006's relatively average "The Information" (reviewed back at Disc 150).

While I enjoyed "The Information", the record's front end far exceeded its second side, and Beck too often relied on his over-used sampling of modern sounds of technology (phone bells, modem squeals, etc.).

"Modern Guilt" repairs most of these mistakes. Beck is back with some very groovy beats that have your feet tapping, particularly on songs like the title track, and the irresistably funky and infectious "Soul Of A Man". When he does incorporate odd electronic sounds, they are done in an understated way that add to the music rather than jar you out of it.

Beck also adds some very organic sounding piano and guitar which serve to soften the edges of his electronically infused music. Beck can trend toward sounding cold and unengaging, and while "Modern Guilt" walks close to this line, it is the little decisions Beck makes in arrangement and production that keeps it from going over. A shout out to co-producer Danger Mouse is in order at this point, I suppose.

The record also makes you want to move and dance around, although it is more of a 'dance in the livingroom' kind of feel, than something that would lead to a bump n' grind at the local nightclub.

Lyrically, Beck delivers his usual stream of consciousness style. His phrasing makes it harder to focus on the lyrics and follow them along, but they serve to augment the mood of the music well. When I took the time to pull out the liner notes I was surprised to see the lyrics are more linear than usual, and often come together to make coherent points along the way - never a given in a Beck song. I particularly like "Walls" as a song that summarizes some of the themes of decay and lack of direction on the record:

"You got warheads stacked in the kitchen
You treat distraction like it's a religion
With a rattlesnake step in your rhythm
We do the best with the souls we've been given."

Add to this the exceptional brevity to the record (the whole album consists of just 10 tracks, and clocks in at just under 33 minutes), and you end up with a tight little package of songs. To accomplish brevity in an era where the chief 'hard' delivery system is a disc that can hold 80 minutes of music is a stroke of genius all its own, and was enough to lift this record from a high 3 out of 5, to a low 4.

Best tracks: Gamma Ray, Modern Guilt, Walls, Profanity Prayers