I had a draining day today. I couldn’t really put my finger on it, just
the feeling of being pulled in a lot of directions.
Of course, staying up to write
this blog entry is one more thing to get done, but it is a fun thing and if I’m
being fair to the day, it was as full of fun moments like this as anything
else. As the saying goes:
“Two men look through the same bars
One sees the mud and one the stars.”
Here’s a disc that always puts me
on the positive side of that half-full glass.
Disc 538 is…. Guero
Artist: Beck
Year of Release: 2005
What’s up with the Cover? A drawing by someone named Marcel Dzama. I find this cover equal parts obtuse and smug
and in case it wasn’t clear – no, I don’t like it.
How I Came To Know It: I was already a Beck fan so this was just me buying
another album by him when it came out.
How It Stacks Up: We have eight Beck albums, and this is one is my
favourite. Number one, baby! I know I just finished giving “Sea Change”
that designation, but I’ve got to bump “Guero” just ahead of that.
Rating: 5 stars
Some albums are just perfect for certain seasons,
and “Guero” is the perfect summer album.
This is a top-down, beach-Frisbee, ice-cream-in-the-park kind of
album. It makes me feel young and
carefree when I listen to it, and gives me a musical respite from all the various
tasks and responsibilities that face me.
It is an album for feeling good.
It is quite a departure from his other great work, “Sea
Change” (reviewed recently back at Disc 520. “Sea Change” is tinged with sadness and self-reflection,
feeling like it was conceived underwater.
“Guero” is like a surfer riding the top of that same
ocean. It has the funky syncopation and
rapid fire free association poetry-rap of his first big album, “Mellow Gold,”
but it incorporates all the musical experiments he has tried on the four
intervening album as well. The funk of “MidniteVultures” is here, toned down to fit into a more summer pop flavour, and less
nightclub focused. The strange
technological samples and beats of “Odelay” and “Mutations” are used, but they
are worked a lot more seamlessly into the song.
On top of all of these influences, Beck weaves in
Mexican-flavoured pop and, unless I’m mistaken, the ghost of Dick Dale. Not the guitar style, so much as an update to
Dale’s effortless beach party vibe.
In short, this is a record that borrows from a lot
of influences, mixes Beck’s own copious musical knowledge and somehow creates
something wholly new that doesn’t ever sound bloated or pretentious (except, as
noted above, the unfortunate cover art).
The free and easy feel is upheld by songs like “Que Onda Guero” with its distinctive
Latin feel, but also “Girl,” “Black Tambourine” and “Scarecrow” which are all songs for
driving fast with your hair blowing in the wind.
Beck finds room for songs that push the album in
different directions, while maintaining the overall feel of the record as well. “Hell,
Yes” is a techno-sample driven song that takes a lot of the lessons learned
on 1996’s “Odelay” and just makes them demonstrably more…listenable. Yes, music snobs, I just put “Odelay” in its
place. That album may be innovative, but
it isn’t easy to listen to, and being enjoyable to the ear should always be an
important part of music.
“Hell, Yes”
is a joy to listen to, with odd drum beats and a variety of samples that apart
sound like a jumble, but collectively form into a catchy and extremely
innovative riff as good as any straightforward rock song. When I hear the sample of a young girl saying
matter-of-factly “Your beat is nice/your
beat is correct” I always find myself smiling and agreeing with her
assessment. In fact, she’s so convincing
that in the years since first hearing “Guero” Sheila and I will both indicate
our approval of something by using this phrase.
It is a bit weird, but hey – so are we.
Going in another direction is “Farewell Ride” which has all the slow groove of “Guero” but
incorporates some of the grim finality that made “Sea Change” such a brilliant
album. While this song is ostensibly
about two horses taking a coffin to the cemetery, it is hard not to draw drug
allusions:
“Two white horses in a line
Taking me for my farewell ride.”
Horse being a slang expression for heroin, it is
easy to imagine two lines of it putting someone into overdose or – in this case
– a farewell ride. The fact that it is
never spelled out as such makes me appreciate it more.
I’m not in the habit of giving an album like this
five stars without it “changing me somehow” (see the ‘rules’ sidebar), but “Guero”
just doesn’t hit any wrong notes. It is
only thirteen songs long, I like every one of them in some way or other, and as
a collection it takes you for a nice ride and leaves you relaxed at
the end of it, like a warm breeze on a summer day that carries away your
troubles. Sometimes, that's all you need in life.
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