Live he's amazing. and Midnite Vultures is one of my favourite albums. just bought Guero today, its sitting packaged up in my bag. don't write him off yet though.... :)

I'm not sure if there will be a review of the album here on Cluas but here's a review by Andrew Lynch from www.entertainmentireland.com Beck 'Guero' The problem with Beck Hansen is that he's always been too talented for his own good. The last few years have seen him flit from genre to genre, resulting in intermittently brilliant albums that never quite satisfied either his fans or the critics. On Guero, then, the low-key Californian has done the sensible thing and gone back to the slacker-rock of his breakthrough 1996 record Odelay. No novelty value here - instead, just a collection of freewheeling songs that are amongst the best of his career. The scuffed-up beats and startling samples provide the musical template, over which Beck mumbles lyrics that don't seem to mean a thing, yet somehow manage to make an emotional impact. At 15 tracks, it's over-long and repetitive - but in these days of skip buttons and I-pods, that's hardly a major problem. A real return to form.

See, I don't go along with that "return to form" business. "Midnite Vultures" was largely great and "Sea Change" was also very good, albeit not as much fun, obviously. Odelay was fantastic and everything since has been very good. He definitely hasn't gone off the boil anyway...I don't think the man's capable of making a bad album! I'm far from giving up on him! As long as they're still producing work, I will always give Beck (and Woody Allen) the benefit of the doubt! ______________________ My beat is correct

I'm still waiting for Guero to arrive from CD Wow so I can only judge it on the singles which I've head so far. I wasn't mad into E-Pro initially but it's starting to grow on me. I love Black Tambourine. Personally I think Midnite Vultures is one of Beck's worst albums (although it's still better than his awful Stereopathetic Soul Manure album). I really like Odelay, Mellow Gold and One Foot In The Grave. And I'm quite fond of Mutations and Sea Change as well. But two of my favourite Beck songs never made it onto his full length albums; his cover of Everybody's Got To Learn Sometimes from the Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind OST and the re-recorded version of Thunderwheel from the Japanese New Pollution EP. Also on his 2003 tour he regulary covered Do You Realize?? by The Flaming Lips and Sunday Morning by The Velvet Underground. Plus he had a tendency to finish his gigs with a masive medley containing elements of Hot In Herre by Nelly, Crazy In Love by Beyonce, Rock Your Body by Justin Timberlake, Another One Bites The Dust and Under Pressure by Queen, Erotic City by Prince, Not Gonna Get Us by Tatu, The Genius of Love by The Tom Tom Club and Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See by Busta Rhymes. I don't suppose anyone knows where I might find mp3s of these covers online?

What did you think of Beck's appearance on the Air album 10,000hz Legend? He sings the song 'Vagabond' on it..and it's quite old stlye Beck in a way. I think he also sings at the end of 'Don't Be Light' too...it's good.

I liked "Vagabond", yeah. As far as I remember. As for "Stereopathetic Soulmanure", I really don't think it's meant to be taken seriously. I love it cos it's just a laugh. Its a collection of bits & bobs from his early days with some really funny stuff in there. The (lack of) production is horrendous but that's part of why I like it. Lots of random noise, weird spoken word bits, singing hobos, etc. "Satan Gave Me A Taco" is great and there's some songs that would be great if recorded properly, like "Thunderpeel" and a coupla others. Not for the casual fan.

If you go over to the TM site www.ticketmaster.ie, at the bottom, they have a list of acts playing the Bud Rising in June. Mr. Hanson is listed. No word on Venue yet though ...

Cheers Mully. I'll be there front row centre! Hope it's a smaller gig than the last one. I was gutted I missed that one man show in the Ambassador a good while back. Bud rising had no gigs in big venues last year did they?

Beck is playing Olympia on June 6th isn't he?

Where'd u hear that?

check bud rising gigs on ticketmaster. Also see the magic numbers are playing amongst others.