mail: daniel_fjall@hotmail.com
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mellow gold sea change
Mellow Gold Beck’s debut album certainly is interesting. The way sounds, experimentation and genres are blended speaks of an excited musician and a great music fan, eager and willing to explore as much as possible. He refuses to limit himself to rules or guidelines and simply do whatever he wants to. Folk, blues, rap, pop, even lo-fi-techno and some sort of grunge-metal are some of the genres he touches upon. Mellow Gold was apparently constructed by home recordings that were recorded during various periods. Clearly overdubbed with other instruments later, though. Despite being compiled from different sources, the album feels like a unity, even if a chaotic one. Sometimes, it gets a bit over the top, though. Whilst the ambitions are always intriguing and often original, the final result isn’t always that fun to listen to. However, when everything fits, it’s great. The daring, shifting arrangement in “Fuckin’ With My Head (Mountain Dew Rock)” and the fun, catchy “Loser” is exciting and cool, and cool being just the right word. Most of the album works well as background music. Making you tap your foot and hum along. However, a more concentrated listen reveals depth and intelligence. Especially lyrically. Some sort of sarcastic, white trash-psychedelia poetry. An updated version of Dylan’s Bringing It All Home, if you wish. Also, pay attention to the large number of instruments used throughout the album. Sitars, kazoos, harmonica, guitars, all sorts of rhythm and percussion instruments, electronic sounds... it’s all there. Although Mellow Gold consists of all sorts of genres and styles, it’s hardly The White Album of the 90’s. Rather than having one song being country, another a dance track and a third being pop, Beck puts all the ideas into the same song, which eventually means that the diversity is found within the songs themselves and not the album. It is, as I said above, an interesting listen, although not always that successful.
Sea Change With Sea Change Beck turns back onto the path that Mutations pointed the way to. It’s even more basic this time around, though. More acoustic guitars, more traditional songwriting. The somewhat trippy and experimental approach that we were presented on the debut album is completely abandoned. In some ways, this album is more original than the first one. The humble guitars, mixed with soothing vocal harmonies and distant electric guitars might have been done before, but whilst Sea Changes definitely would be labeled as a singer/songwriter effort, I cannot think of any other in the genre sounding quite like this. The album pushes the barriers a bit further and is arguably more sophisticated than your average heart-on-the-sleeve-album. Songs such as “Guess I’m Doing Fine” is so incredibly affecting. Musically. Not sure how good the lyrics really are on a technical level, but they do fit the melody and mood perfectly. The song is a modest, but it doesn’t excuse itself either. It’s gorgeous, just like most of the other songs here. Opening “The Golden Age”, the slightly more upbeat (mostly thanks to a proper rhythm section with drums, and not only various percussions) “Lost Cause” and “It’s All In Your Mind” shimmer and glows with pure quality and there’s no doubt that Beck knows what he’s doing. The album has some flaws, though. Especially irritating is when a full blown orchestra is brought in (“Lonesome Tears”), which contradicts the overall low-keyed atmosphere of the album. There are occasional violins and cellos on other songs, but then sparsely arranged and oh so tasteful (already mentioned “It’s All In Your Mind”), which is far more effective and likeable. Still, Beck’s soft vocals makes even the lesser moments passable, and if a song here and there doesn’t have a melody that instantly sticks with you, at least the mood, atmosphere and feeling is enough to hold your attention. Just relax, lean back and listen.
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