Beck
“The Information”
Interscope Records
(Out of 5)
We are gathered here today to mourn the death of Beck’s
music career. If you wanted to purchase a copy of the latest Beck
album in order to hear new songs from him, don’t bother. You
are better off listening to what you already have ““
“The Information” fails to provide anything you
haven’t heard from Beck before.
In fact, most of the tracks on the latest album have a
counterpart on an older album. Take “Elevator Songs,”
for example. If you listen to it long enough, you’ll realize
that it sounds like another version of one of Beck’s most
famous songs, “Loser,” except with a less memorable
chorus.
If Beck didn’t steal his songs from his earlier albums, he
stole them from other bands. A couple of the tracks have an eerie
resemblance to tunes from the Butthole Surfers. “New
Round” could pretty much be a Sneaker Pimps song ““ but
not from when they were actually good.
“The Information” takes things down a notch, slowing
down the beat. “Dark Star” would be out of place in a
club, but perhaps it would fit in as the music used for a funeral
march. It could possibly work as a modern-day lullaby, except that
the whiny harmonica solo is so contrived, overused and altogether
horrifying that it prevents anyone who hears it from sleeping. Try
to groove to “We Dance Alone,” and you will do exactly
that: dance by yourself. Not only can you not understand the
lyrics, the melody sounds like it belongs in a bad sci-fi movie.
“1000 BPM” starts out with high-pitched tones that will
probably drive your dog to insanity.
A few songs try to save the album and end up being noteworthy.
The vomit-inducing “Nausea” is so full of pop hooks and
upbeat tones that after listening to the song about five times, it
becomes bearable. Either that or it’s the only track on the
album that doesn’t make you regret the fact that this is
taking up space on your MP3 player that could have been used on
more quality songs by Ashlee Simpson or someone equally
disgusting.
Save your money and save your time; in this case, you’re
better off without “The Information.”