Generic wrote:Guero is particularly fun, though I find it curious that of the three "hidden" bonus tracks, two of them are album highlights. A-.
If there are hidden tracks on this album they are hidden pretty good. Where the hell are they?
Guero: This is the first album Beck has made that takes almost no chances. Odelay was this amazing nasty mess; Mutations was fittingly titled; Midnight Vultures and Sea Change were both departures from everything else (and each other). This album, unfortunately, takes no new directions. Instead it's basically Odelay 2, only because it's a decade later it doesn't stand out as much. That said, it's still a good collection of songs.
E-Pro sounds like the Beastie Boys (not too surprisingly, the Beastie Boys contributed to it's production). The electric guitar sounds like it weighs 900 pounds. The song rocks, but it's basically one riff for 3 minutes. 3.5/5
Que Onda Guero is fun if you can handle the Spanglish. Like many good Beck songs it has some random ranting during the bridge and the ending, but for some reason I find it less charming here. The bass riff is very repetitive. 3/5
Girl is a standout track, but the rest of the song isn't as good as the first 12 seconds. The slide guitar sounds great, and the odd 3-bar chorus is infectious. The bass has an amazing tone. 4.5/5
Missing showcases lush strings (most likely courtesy of Beck's father), but is a bit too loop-heavy and chorus-less for my tastes. A little meandering. 2.5/5
Black Tambourine is amazing. It's just the right kind of simple. It's impossible not to dance to the bassline. The toms recall 30s era swing hits. The whole song is foreplay leading up to when the tremolo’d electric kicks in. The song cuts out just as it's getting good, leaving you wanting more in the worst way. Hot. 5/5
Earthquake Weather is the most produced song on the album, but it's also the most repetitive. Good to see Beck using that falsetto again. I want to like this song, but it's just to ugly in places. 3/5
Hell Yes suffers from all of the problems of the last track. The chorus is in fact quite nasty. 2.5/5
Broken Drum sounds like Ramshackle. This song is completely gorgeous. The only problem: Beck's vocals have been dithered to like 4 bits or something, and the result is somewhat ear-breaking. Amazing slide guitar and piano. If anyone wants to make the cross-over from Moby to Beck, start with this song. 4.5/5
Scarecrow features a sound that could have been lifted from Radiohead's National Anthem. Great song, but too many effects. 4.5/5
Go It Alone has a bassline that sounds poorly recorded, like it was low-passed at 50 hz. Odd. Thankfully the rest of the song is solid awesome. Queue the head bopping. The Rhodes at the end is a special treat. 4.5/5
Farewell Ride sounds like a chain gang chant. This song has the most amazing chorus I've heard recently. The slide guitar is amazing. Although it plods in places, it's a rewarding listen. 4.5/5
Rental Car is perfect. It's one of the only tracks that isn't eclipsed by a similar song from Odelay. Great solos and breaks. Best. Bridge. Ever. 5/5
Emergency Exit sounds like sampler abuse during the intro. The song moves between futuristic humming music and teched out slide-guitar folk. One of the best songs on the album, this is Beck undiluted. 5/5.
My major complaints about the album can probably be attributed to the Dust Brothers' production. The mix is minimalist in most places. Most of the songs on the album seem to have been made out of 4 loops apiece. The whole thing sounds a bit bass-, reverb-, and echo-heavy to me. Lastly, the songs don't leap from genre-to-genre like most Beck songs; instead they awkwardly rest in one spot in between a couple genres and never really move too far away.
Overall, 8/10.
