Beck - Modern Guilt Review

Posted by Mitch Michaels on 07.11.2008

Beck returns with Danger Mouse and a slice of paranoia…

My Story
Like most everyone else in the mainstream world, my introduction to Beck was “Sooooy, uu-un perdedoooor”. “Loser” was an instant slacker anthem and I was an instant Beck fan. His follow-up to that MTV breakthrough, the lauded Odelay, was no disappointment, either. Unfortunately, Beck just couldn’t keep up that steady pace. More or less since the release of Odelay, every Beck album has been compared to that landmark album. And every one has come up tragically short. For his own part, Beck has never tried to replicate that record. He’s moved deftly from electronica to funk to folk over the past few years, coming up with uneven records like The Information and downright stinkers like Sea Change. I overheard someone recently say, “We don’t know why we buy Beck albums – we just do it.” I guess that’s why it’s no surprise that I walked into Wal*Mart today and picked up this just-released set. Will the music be worth the bucks?

His Story
Beck Campbell was born in 1970 L.A., the son of a orchestral composer. When his parents separated, Beck remained with his mother, Bibbie Hansen – a visual artist, and adopted her last name. The diverse music of Los Angeles provided the backdrop for Beck’s childhood, as everything from hip-hop to folk to Latin salsa seeped its way into his subconscious. Beck dropped out of school in the mid-80’s before completing tenth grade. He moved to Europe, where he found a new life as a busker while living with his grandfather. His early years as a musician were heavily influenced by the blues. In 1988, he self-released a demo called The Banjo Story.

In 1989, Beck spent a year in New York City, attempting to break in on the anti-folk scene. With that scene very short-lived, Back was back in Los Angeles by 1990, working shit jobs and playing whatever clubs would have him at night. In 1991, he caught a break when he was signed by indie Bong Load Records. The label owners approached Beck about recording some acoustic folk songs backed by hip-hop beats, an unheard of practice at the dawn of the 90’s. Beck agreed and the result was a cut called “Loser”, his soon-to-be breakout hit.

By the time “Loser” was working its way onto radio, Beck had already released a handful of indie recordings. His first official single was “MTV Makes Me Want To Smoke Crack”, which was followed by the cassette-only album Golden Feelings. While the album went largely ignored, “Loser” was an instant local hit upon its release in the September of 1992. By 1993, the major labels were calling for Beck. He inked a deal with Geffen that summer. Reportedly, Geffen offered Beck the least money, but the most creative freedom. They also allowed him to release indie records while under contract.

The mid-90’s would be a particularly busy time for Beck. Amidst the release of several indie efforts (the 10” record A Western Harvest Field By Moonlight, the full length electronica album Stereopathic Soulmanure, the folk record One Foot In The Grave and several one-off singles), Beck finally made his major label debut with 1994’s genre defying Mellow Gold. Unsurprisingly, “Loser” was released as the lead single and became a Top 10 hit. The single went gold, and then the album went platinum, peaking at #13 on the charts. Another single, “Beercan”, was a minor Rock hit.

In 1996, with the indies out of his system, Beck began work on his proper follow-up to Mellow Gold with notable producers The Dust Brothers. The result was the equally diverse but sonically denser Odelay, a massive critical and commercial hit. The album produced four Top 30 Rock singles, including the Top 10 hits “Where It’s At” and “The New Pollution”. Odelay went double platinum and reached #16 on the charts. The record was not only a big hit at radio and stores, but also at the Grammys, where “Where It’s At” scored Best Male Rock Vocal and Odelay was named Best Alternative album.

Beck threw a curveball with his follow-up, though. While Odelay was very beat oriented, 1998’s Mutations found the artist returning to his folk roots. Word is that Mutations was originally scheduled as an indie record for Bong Load, but Geffen was so excited about the material (produced by Radiohead collaborator Nigel Godrich) that they released it themselves. Both the label and Beck backed this story up, claiming that Mutations was more of a sidetrack than an official follow-up to Odelay. No matter its place in Beck’s canon, Mutations was another #13 album and went gold, though it only produced one minor rock hit single in “Tropicalia”.

It would be 2000 before Beck would release the OFFICIAL Odelay follow-up, Midnite Vultures. On Vultures, Beck took to funk and R&B full-force, putting his own quirky stamp on the genres. Unfortunately, though the album was certified gold, it failed to live up to Beck’s previous major label releases. Vultures barely scraped the Top 40 and its biggest hit, “Sexx Laws”, didn’t make it past #21 on the Rock charts.

Beck has followed a very similar pattern over the past few years. Following Midnite Vultures, he returned to Nigel Godrich and folk to produce the mellow Sea Change, which went gold and became his first Top 10 album, reaching #8. The follow-up was another Dust Brothers joint, 2005’s Guero. Guero spawned Beck’s first #1 Rock hit since loser in “E-Pro”, and another Top 10 hit in “Girl”. It was another gold hit and reached #2 on the charts. The Top 10 The Information followed in 2006, a hip-hop set produced by Godrich.

In early 2008, Bck revealed that he was working with Gnarls Barkley’s Dangermouse on a new album.

The Album
On July 8, 2008, DGC Records released Modern Guilt, the eighth major label album by Beck and the follow-up to 2006’s The Information.



The Band: 8.0
Beck: vocals, guitars, electric piano, bass, marimba, tambourine, slide guitar, producer

Back in 2006, Gnarls Barkley had a huge summer hit with “Crazy”, a song that sounded deceptively sunny on its surface thanks to GB’s producer half Danger Mouse, but was propelled by a dark, brooding current underneath. When it comes to Beck, it doesn’t get darker than 2002’s Sea Change, an album so brooding and hopeless that it managed to lose a lot of even Beck’s core fanbase. With a pair of more upbeat offerings under his belt since then, we all knew it was past time for Beck to return to the dark side. Thankfully, he’s not taking the trip alone this time, as he’s enlisted Danger Mouse to drive him there and we’re all invited to shut up and sit still in the back seat.

As ironic as “Crazy” was as a “summer hit”, Modern Guilt stands equally misplaced when all is said and done. While DM has provided plenty of airy beats on this July-release record, there’s a rumbling beneath. Tanks moving to their position, warheads being aimed, and unmarked jets flying low overhead. It doesn’t take a scientist (not scientologist) to figure out what brings about all this Modern Guilt.

The marriage of Beck and Danger Mouse works out really well, and fans who were skeptical over the lack of longtime collaborators the Dust Brothers or Nigel Godrich (if there were any) will be happy at how well Beck’s sound has been preserved here. There’s that hint of city folk and back country blues that we’ve come to expect. If anything, DM has kept Beck more focused, which was no doubt a full time job. Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, also stops by to lend her vocals to a pair of tracks, a bonus to any indie Beck fan out there, of which there are no doubt plenty.

The Songs: 7.5
1. Orphans
2. Gamma Ray
3. Chemtrails
4. Modern Guilt
5. Youthless
6. Walls
7. Replica
8. Soul Of A Man
9. Profanity Prayers
10. Volcano

On “Walls”, Beck sings “You treat distraction like it was a religion”. Those are pretty indicting words for a man who dexterously waded through the slums of pop culture to create some of his biggest hits. But that’s not to say this is Beck’s “mature” album. God no. But here, Beck acts like a man who’s just discovered his name on some international threat list. Or maybe a listening device in his cornflakes. Either way, Modern Guilt is as outwardly paranoid as Gnarls Barkley’s St. Elsewhere was completely insane.

As for the songs themesleves, they’re a tight set of the usual Beck fare. Somehow, Danger Mouse has coaxed Beck to fit into 10 tracks and half an hour what it usually takes him double that time to do. And Modern Guilt is better for that. Tracks segue effortlessly into the next, each rolling on some sparse beat that gives Beck plenty of room to expound on his newfound paranoia.

Highlights include the aforementioned “Walls”, which features Cat Power, as well as the bluesy “Soul Of A Man”. (Spirituality is a subtheme to this album, as well – perhaps Beck is less paranoid about the government than he is about meeting his maker). Danger Mouse brings psychedelia to the party, resulting in the awesome “Gamma Ray” and the druggy haze of “Chemtrails”.

The 411: Modern Guilt is like no Beck album before it, but it feels like Beck’s “folk” side finally done right. While the acoustic guitar isn’t at the ready like Mutations, the themes of political oppression, religious searching and outright paranoia are straight out of Greenwich Village. Of course, thanks to Danger Mouse’s trippy production skillz, it’d be the Greenwhich Village of an alternate dimension. This collaboration between Beck and DM (as well as a cameo by Cat Power) is one for the ages and truly paints a portrait about everything good on the fringe right now. It’s no party record, but it’s a fun listen thanks to its great quality.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]