Album Reviews

Having licked his wounds and moped us into a melancholic swoon on the sumptuous sounding break-up album Sea Change, Beck casts off his blues and self absorbed ballads, puts his ears to the ground and, reunited with Mike Simpson and John King (a/k/a The Dust Brothers), comes up with an Odelay style, beat based musical mélange sure to please fans.

Though Beck borrows from established musical conventions, there's nothing past tense about Guero, which is Spanish slang for “white boy,” something Beck was called often growing up in East Los Angeles.

Tucked into the big beats and rap rhyming are rock and blues, shimmering slide guitars, some Middle Eastern drones, a Bo Diddley guitar riff and lots of scratchin'. There's even a pop-tuneful pipe bomb thrown in: an acoustic guitar driven, seemingly sunny surf song (“Girl”). Behind the clap tracks, the catchy Brian Wilson hooks and Beach Boy harmonies lurk dark, voyeuristic lyrics. “Girl” is destined to be the most played and downloaded song on the disc, though it is hardly representative of the rest of the album.

The opener, “E-Pro,” signals Beck's return to pile driver rhythms after Sea Change's detour into sunset/ acoustic strums, while the overlayed guitar riff is so hard it almost reeks of '80s hairbands-but only if you isolate it from the rest of the tracks. There's a rap/Chicano hybrid “Qué Onda Guero” (What's happening white Boy), sprinkled with street recordings, a kiss off song (“Missing”) that sounds like Beck by way of Dead Can Dance's Into the Labyrinth and a number of tunes reminiscent of Los Lobos's Kiko. That none of the reviews I've read so far have alluded to that album, or to the Froom/Blake producing and engineering team is a mystery to me.

There's a smart-ass, catchy rap (“Hell Yes”) a gorgeous, stately ballad (“Broken Drum”), and well, discover the rest for yourself.

Despite all of the obvious musical quotes, when the songs come together, thanks to the voice and to his characteristic chording, the music is undeniably Beck. Listen to “Girl” for instance, and behind the cheerfulness you'll hear some of the dark chord changes from Sea Change.

Guero kills off the slacker and tells the world that the older, wiser, but still skinny white boy can cut a sharp edge and lead the music forward. It's fun, full of surprises and smart.

Sonically, don't expect the silky beauty of Sea Change. The record is purposefully crunchy in places, and overall has a dark, thick patina, though there are glimpses of liquidity and transparency-but only when The Dust Brothers and Beck want it to show. You can bet that every aspect of the sound is purposeful and the production needs to be taken at face value and not set up against “audiophile” standards.

A New York Times Magazine article about Beck talks about how a string arrangement for the album (written by Beck's father) recorded at the former A&M studio (which was once the Chaplin lot) sounded too good. Said one of the Dust Brothers about the silky string sound: “It's distracting when it sounds all audiophile and smooth.” So the track was run through a transistor radio!

Don't let that stop you. Embrace the distortion! This is a good sounding disc, as long as you take it on its own terms. Yes, it's often crunchy sounding, dark, distorted and crushed, but it all works. However, I don't know what the limited 2 LP vinyl edition will bring you. I'll find out and let you know! Now Sea Changes, recorded at OceanWay would be a different story, but for some reason that one slipped between the grooves. There's also a deluxe CD/DVD set with a 5.1 channel remix and some videos. Whatever the format, Guero comes highly recommended. Beck's back in step.