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147 of 162 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Que onda?, March 30, 2005
Beck is one of the musicians that you can really call an artist -- he grows, experiments, and works tirelessly on... whatever he's doing next. "Guero" (meaning "white boy") is a glorious, fun album that runs the gamut from distortion rock to Latin hip-hop. It's like a glorious musical collage.
It kicks off with the funky, distorted "e-Pro," which seems to hint at the style and attitude of Beck's "Midnight Vultures." From there he slips effortlessly into steady rock'n'roll set with electronica flourishes, some blues, country, a dash of funk, and a bit of retro pop. A little of this, a little of that, mix and bake at four hundred degrees.
However, Beck seems to try to give "Guero" a Latin flavor to match the title: in one song he raps in Spanish, while he gives a bossa nova flavor to "Missing." There's mentions of mariachi bands, Spanglish and Latin guitars. With that new influence, he does a nearly perfect job of expanding his talents, trying out new tricks and tunes while keeping one foot in the territory of his past albums.
Beck has done it all: He's been a folkie, a melancholy lover, a rocker, and a dancefloor weirdo. Now -- perhaps because of his marriage and baby -- he seems comfortable as a musician, dipping back to his previous albums and his childhood in East L.A. The result is one of the freshest albums that he has made in years.
Given the dozen or so musical styles that get thrown into the mix here, it wouldn't have been surprising if "Guero" had ended up sounding choppy. But startlingly, it doesn't. Instead, the bits of Latin music, funk and rock keep the wildly different songs linked together, like a colorful but fragmented painting that is held together with bright scotch tape.
Not that marriage and daddyhood have changed Beck's pensive, melancholy style. His downbeat songwriting sits quietly in that place between self-pity and self-examination: In one song, he laments that "The sun burned a hole in my roof/I can't seem to fix it/And I hope rain doesn't come/Wash me down the gutter." Interpret it as you will.
Beck is still in fine form in "Guero," utilizing plenty of musical styles to create one of the best indierock albums of the year so far. This "white boy" knows exactly where he's going.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beck Glows Without Too Much Glare On This Gem!!, November 16, 2005
Once again, everyone's favorite funky Scientologist bares a slice of his soul for all to see, but only through a kaleidoscope of electronic spatters and freestyle lyrics, and to rather mixed response. Many of Beck's loyal fans have complained that there is nothing original on this album, that each song is only a rehashing of a higher-quality past work. But in my opinion, Guero is one of Beck's most subtly crafted, enjoyable works to date.
I really recommend this album to anyone who's heard a bit of this musical mastermind and would like to get an idea of what he's all about. Those previously mentioned loyal fans lament that this CD is like a compressed version of all past albums, but hey, what's wrong with that? Guero would be a delightful shot of flavor to any extensive collection or a great introduction to Beck's eclectic talent.
Guero could very well be a soundtrack to anyone's day. It runs the gamut from...
... bass-driven and consistent (E-Pro, Black Tambourine).
...to lofty and electronic (Missing, Earthquake Weather, Broken Drum, Emergency Exit).
...to delightfully upbeat (Rental Car includes a random Bambi-inspired la-la-la chorus, and Girl's video-game-love-on-the-beach quality makes up for the vaguely sadistic lyrics).
... to all attitude (shadowy Hell Yes is like a rusty robotic porn groove, Que' Onda Guero mixes car horns "honking like a mariachi band" with Spanglish shoutdowns, Go It Alone is simple but driving)
... to Farewell Ride, with its understated lyrics about "two white horses in a line," bone-jangling guitar and antihero tone, is probably one of Beck's best songs to date.
... to Missing and Scarecrow, which don't exactly meet the craziness standards you normally expect from Beck, but they are also very good and maintain the album's consistency.
In short, after releases like the fun, raunchy but insincere Midnite Vultures and the poignant but rather dull Sea Change, Beck has finally found a delightful middle ground. His knack for genre disdain shines through in his techno-folk-freak instrumentals, but his lyrics are toned down just enough to give each song a definite theme, without sacrificing the bit of insanity we've all come to love and expect. This CD is a definite gem and truly has something for everyone who's not afraid of something that's a little genius, a little funky, and a whole lotta awesome.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beck on Beck, April 8, 2005
People who have been listening to Beck for the past ten years know that Beck's albums tend to stand on their own individually, each one sounding thematically/tonally different than the one that preceded it. The reviews here evidence this. Despite these different themes and tones, Beck's songs are always decidedly "Beck sounding," regardless of whether you are listening to a ballad from Sea Change/Mutations, or a high-paced, beat driven song from Odelay/Midnight Vultures. In other words, the albums are all united by a difficult-to-describe, but very recognizable, "Beck sound," regardless of whether that sound is manifesting itself in the form of jazz/funk/electronica, hip-hop, pop-folk, country, or some other genre of music. This album fits perfectly with its pedigree. All of the songs on Guero are decidedly Beck sounding. It doesn't sound more like Odelay than it does like Sea Change. It doesn't sound more like Mutations than it does like Midnight Vultures. Rather, it sounds as if Beck recorded this new album in order to capture the subtle similarities that unite all of his prior works. Guero combines the best aspects of all of Beck's prior works, and it stands as Beck's smart response to the people who like to harp on the differences between them. Clearly, Beck is a smart man. If you like his prior work, you should enjoy this album just as much as you enjoyed all of his previous ones.
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