Editorial Product Review:

Amazon.com:
Beck's new album Modern Guilt, produced with Brian 'Danger Mouse' Burton, will be released July 8, 2008.

The new album contains 10 new songs, and with the exception of last year's Grammy-nominated, digital-only single 'Timebomb', Modern Guilt is the first new material Beck has written since the prolific stretch that produced 2005's platinum Guero and 2006's universally acclaimed The Information.

Modern Guilt is a tightly assembled group of songs that range in lyrical tone from introspection and social commentary to off the cuff wordplay and lighthearted humor. Musically, the album's ten tracks vacillate between economy and experimentation, hybrid and pop classicism, while consistently manifesting Beck and Danger Mouse's shared interest in psych-rock, folk, electronic minimalism and orchestration.

Beck is about to embark on a tour of the UK and Europe, followed by a number of US headline and festival appearances, culminating in Beck's biggest hometown headline show to date, September 20, 2008 at the Hollywood Bowl.

Beck Photos

People en Español:
In the last few years, Beck has freely sailed the seas of electronic and alternative music, but he is now back on land with Modern Guilt, an album that gravitates mostly toward electronic music and that, unfortunately, only has a couple of songs that really stand out ('Modern Guilt,' 'Orphans'). The problem has nothing to do with the fact that this CD is more electronic than acoustic. The sound is poor, and it sounds as if Beck were actually singing out of a barrel. Also, the beat doesn’t change from one song to the next, and if you don’t listen carefully to each song, you could not tell when tracks change. Despite Beck being one of the most creative and versatile musicians in recent years, the songs of this album have no depth. Let’s just hope that Beck surprises with his next. --Ernesto Sánchez (People en Español )

En los últimos años, Beck ha navegado libremente por las aguas de las música electrónica y la alternativa, ahora está regreso al mundo de la música con Modern Guilt, un disco que se inclina más hacia la música electrónica y que desgraciadamente sólo tiene un par de canciones que se destacan como 'Modern Guilt' y 'Orphans.' Y el problema no tiene nada que ver con el hecho de que sea un disco más electrónico que acústico, el sonido del disco es muy pobre, pareciera que Beck está cantando dentro de una cubeta, y el beat no parece cambiar de una canción a la otra. Si no se pone extrema atención a cada canción no se dará cuenta del momento en que cambian los tracks. Si bien Beck es uno de los músicos más creativos y versátiles de los últimos años hay que decir que este es un disco en el que los temas carecen de profundidad. Esperemos que Beck realmente nos sorprenda con su siguiente producción. --Ernesto Sánchez (People en Español )









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Disc 1:

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

Customer Rating: - Beck's First Mature Album
It's been a fun ride since Beck's earlier strange, exotic meanderings from folk to hard core to funk to noise blow out experiments and his mellow acoustic pit stops. But Beck has finally settled down into a real groove, thanks to his Danger Mouse collaboration, into a consistent sound that is the apotheosis of his previous work. Lyrically, it is as mature and insightful as Sea Change, but a lot more fun. There is still word play but hardly the out-of-left-field surreal imagery he's whipped out in the Odelay or Midnite Vulture days, but worry not; there are still plenty of creative juxtapositions to remind you that, yes, it's Beck. Stand out tracks: the old school rock and roll of 'Gamma Ray', the psychedelia of 'Chemtrails', the electronic funk of 'Youthless', the glitch-inspired 'Replica' and the immensely beautiful 'Volcano'. Beck is aging gracefully and it's good for music lovers.

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Customer Rating: - just ok
as a big Beck fan, I gotta say I was slightly disappointed. not a lot of hits on here. just ok. seems like Beck's every other CD is good. this is not as good as The Information but better than Midnite Vultures.

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Customer Rating: - RI (and only if) YL
how Beck would sound with Danger Mouse producing. I love (or seem to love) almost anything that Danger Mouse produces - his update on the general sound vibe of the '60's is something that never seems to get old for me (and he always seems to make his albums under 40 minutes or so).

Danger Mouse gets the first mention because Beck's sound is ALWAYS different. There's always something to get into your system upon the first listen or so, there's a good distorto-track ("Walls") with some good lyrics about ego destruction that could operate as the sequel to "Just A Thought" from "St. Elsewhere".

I like it because after "The Information" I dismissed "Guero" as being too light. This one got me to listen to the lyrics as well as the production and I remembered a mention about "Guero"'s happy soundscapes belying (sp?) the darkness in the lyrics, so I went back and appreciated (the?) "Guero" more.

If you like Beck and buy his CDs when they come out (like me), you probably already have this one - but I think this one is up there with "Mellow Gold" and (maybe?) "One Foot In The Grave" as far as Not Knowing What To Expect meeting up with Pleasant Surprise to hang out for a night, talking conspiracy theories ("Chemtrails"), politics, technology and distribution of affluence ("Modern Guilt") and crashing at one's place (Volcano") after the other realizes that everything's about to change ("Walls").

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Customer Rating: - Misunderstandings of the Experimental Music Genre
If I may say that I'm a pure-at-heart-lover of real music...meaning this, I pretty much have to like ALL of the songs on a individual(s) album before I buy it. I've read some of the reviews after buying and listening to the album...and I truely feel that some on too critcal when it comes to this album. All Beck's doing is finding another route as of music...most of the songs of Modern Guilt sound like some of his past work but with a twist and the lack of his usual one-liners and jokes. I mean those that are saying they are fans can't really be because if they were they would know that this album is part of the experimental genre...which as he claims himself to be...or maybe some people don't know what the definition of experimental music means. Perhaps bring more experimental/electronica to his sound was a mistake to the critics...then again that's a mistake with most artists that been out for years and trying something new...a gamble of music...they either win with the fans or don't...Beck has surely won with me. So for those that are trying to get into Beck...you don't have to listen to Odelay and Guero first...you have to be into the genres of experimental and electronica...if you're not then don't buy the album, period.