Let's Rank All The Beck Albums!

Beck is insanely talented artist. And he is a true artist in every sense. You can’t categorize his music and he doesn’t care. He started out intentionally recording albums that were as unlistenable as possible before mining multiple territories and weaving audio tapestries that were as complex and rewarding as anything ever recorded. He’s also just two months older than me so he feels like “my guy” in a way. It’s cool for one of your faves to be the exact same age as you.

For this ranking I’ve stuck with full length LPs - so I left out EPs like Stray Blues, A Western Harvest Field By Moonlight and Guerolito for example. And aside from perhaps the early indie releases I acknowledge that it’s really difficult to rank Beck albums - you start to feel like you’re ranking apples and oranges and so many of them are sooooo good. The only one I’m totally confident about and would NOT budge on is #1. With that said let’s get to it!

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Let’s Rank All The Beck Albums!

14. Golden Feelings (1993) The first album and probably the most intentionally ridiculous and unlistenable. But I love it as background music somehow which I can actually say about all three of the indie albums at the bottom of this list. This one isn’t available commercially at the moment but you can give it a listen on YouTube. There’s no point in actively listening to these - or at least the first two anyway. If I had to recommend a highlight here it could be Gettin’ Home which is pretty much Beck with an acoustic guitar. It doesn’t go anywhere but it’s pleasant to my ears. Other tracks like Will I Be Ignored By The Lord for example just sound like a random drunk dude. No instruments - just a drunk dude.

Beck - Stereopathic Soulmanure - Flipside

13. Stereopathic Soulmanure (1994) Pretty much the same approach as Golden Feelings if you can call it an approach. Today Has Been A Fucked Up Day has some banjo. Satan Gave Me A Taco is awesomely stupid. Modesto has some nice country slide guitar work and sounds like a silly Beck anti-folk song that wouldn’t be out of place on an actual album. That’s mostly all you need to know.

Beck - One Foot In The Grave - Geffen Records

12. One Foot In The Grave (1994) Pretty much the same approach as the two previously mentioned, but mostly not as ridiculous. Not just lo-fi noise and weirdness on much of it. There are a few more actual songs here like Sleeping Bag, The title track (available on the deluxe edition which is really the definitive version in my mind) and the Skip James cover He’s a Mighty Good Leader mixed in with the goofy nonsense like Burnt Orange Peel. Largely acoustic, more of this album is interesting overall even if there are not a lot of individual standouts. The seeming tribute to Mississippi Delta Blues Fourteen Rivers Fourteen Floods is pretty good, as is Asshole (not about an asshole, but a girl who will do anything to make you feel like one - later covered by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers). This album is worth it if you become a Beck fan, just maybe not essential.

11. Mellow Gold (1994) Here’s where essential Beck begins. Not saying DON’T listen to the previous three, but you don’t HAVE to. Mellow Gold pulls together some of the weirdness of the other three but introduces some more accessible but certainly not uninteresting-as-a-result jams on Mellow Gold including the blockbuster and partly era-defining and brilliantly sampled hip-hop / Americana stew Loser. You know, the one with the famous lyric - “I’m A Loser Baby So Why Don’t You Kill Me.” This was the song that he burst onto the scene with, and the rest of the album does not sound much like Loser so a lot of people weren’t quite sure what to make of Beck. I didn’t actually catch on and sit down to listen to a Beck album until the next album came out, so when I went back to check this one out I wasn’t sure what to think at first. But Mellow Gold wormed it’s way into my brain and it’s still a worthy entry. Don’t mistake my low ranking for shade. I do love this album. Soul Sucking Jerk is the perfect example of early Beck weirdness that works really well - just better produced weirdness than what you mostly find on the first three indie albums. Beercan was the other minor “hit” from the album and it’s catchy, funky and fun as all get out. Other highlights include the mellow Pay No Mind (Snoozer) and the jam Fuckin’ With My Head (Mountain Dew Rock).

10. Mutations (1996) Beck did NOT intend on this being the next album for Geffen after the smash Odelay. Execs agreed to let him release it on an indie label….until they heard it and liked it. They reneged on the agreement and released it which led to lawsuits. Hearing this album now again as I’m writing this piece it sounds amazing to me. It’s a largely stripped down and more mellow affair compared to Odelay. I always loved it but it’s funny how your perspective can change after you’ve witnessed an artist’s journey. After the later mellow masterpieces of Sea Change and Morning Phase you realize you had one on your hands before those. You’d think the record company wouldn’t go out of their way to take a risk on something that isn’t what’s EXPECTED as a follow up to a smash - that’s usually how it goes. Geffen screwed Beck in reverse. Crazy the music business is, eh?

Either way, I think this may make it back into my rotation for a while. I remember when he performed Nobody’s Fault But My Own and Tropicalia on Saturday Night Live on 1/9/99 and I was blown away. Tropicalia with a 7 piece band including horns. What a great song with its Brazilian flavor. Stripped down? Nope. Cold Brains sets the stage as a great opener, and the Indian droning soundscape of Nobody’s Fault But My Own is just piercing and gorgeous. And the closer Diamond Bollocks tacked on to the final track Static as a bonus is a wild and wacky jam. Other highlights include Lazy Flies and Bottle Of Blues, but just about everything here is pretty good.

Beck - Colors - Fonograf Records/Capitol

9. Colors (2017) Fun album if a little bit slight. I think of it as a fun upbeat summer vibe overall, it just doesn’t break new ground. The song Wow is my favorite and the one that really stands out above the rest. No Distraction, Dreams and Up All Night are all very good. The closer Fix Me is pretty. I had a tough time with where to slot this one but I think this is about right.

Beck - Midnight Vultures - DGC / Bong Load

8. Midnight Vultures (1999) Beck going a bit over the top starting with the bizarre technicolor cover. It’s a really good album but I don’t listen to it a ton - it’s just…..a lot. Kinda messy. My favorites are not necessarily the singles Mixed Bizness or Sexx Laws. They’re both entertaining enough with horns cowbells and lots going on but maybe they just haven’t aged well? Wanting to define “the logic of our sexx laws” or “making all the lesbians scream” just sounds goofy. I don’t have a problem with songs about sex, but these just seem silly or trying too hard. I don’t dislike them, I’m just not going to say this is his finest work. I guess the gems for me are the non-obvious ones like the faux-spooky Broken Train, the third single with the fun / silly rhyme time of Nicotine And Gravy (I love this one), the brilliantly weird robot jam Get Real Paid, the more straightforward rocker Pressure Zone, and the amazing closer - the uber-falsetto anti-ballad Debra. Debra is the overall highlight for me. I just think it’s genius to sing a song about pining for a girl you met at JC Penny whom you “want to get with.” Cold stepping to her with a fresh pack of gum or inviting her to step inside his Hyundai lol. I say it’s genius because he mentions in the chorus that he also wants to get with her sister - he “thinks” her name is Debra. And that’s the song title. Debra. Hilarious.

7. Guero (2005) Solid set of songs here. Beck doing much of what he does best with a mix of styles and a kaleidoscope of sounds that doesn’t sound forced. The quirky bounce of Hell Yes with Beck rapping over it is prime Beck - “please enjoy” indeed (spoken by Christina Ricci)! Mix in some DJ scratching and harmonica and this IS the stew - might be my favorite track on the album. Guero seems close to Odelay in spirit to me, which is no accident since the Dust Brothers were on board as co-producers for both. I think the first 10 songs are all fantastic. If the album ended there it could be perfect, but the last three songs aren’t quite up to snuff - they aren’t bad, just unnecessary. The album goes from lean & mean to a little bloated. But let’s focus on the good shall we? I love that Beck sampled the percussion from the Beasties’ So What’cha Want on the opener E-Pro since it was such a shift for the Beasties to go from the sampled wizardry of Paul’s Boutique (also produced by the Dust Brothers) to picking up instruments for Check Your Head - Beck completes that circle here. Black Tambourine is a straight up banger, and don’t sleep on understated but brilliant grooves like Missing and Go It Alone.

Beck - Hyperspace - Fonograf Records/Capitol

6. Hyperspace (2019) It’s hard to believe at the time of this ranking that it’s been over 5 years since Beck’s last album Hyperspace. This one has a bit of an otherworldly feel and I love when he goes this route. It’s still very clearly a Beck album, but it’s got a distinct vibe - it’s kind of Modern Guilt meets Morning Phase meets Odelay - but Hyperspace is the only album that sounds like Hyperspace. I know that doesn’t really say much but you’ll know what I mean if you know this album. The one obvious jam that really cooks and has all the Beck wackiness is Saw Lightning which is just fantastic. Die Waiting for example could easily be on Morning Phase - a beautiful love song but here it grooves a little more. It’s just Beck finding new ways to keep it fresh and exciting. Chemical, See Through, Stratosphere, and the closer Everlasting Nothing are all just so cool - gorgeous, ethereal, melodic - like floating through space. Hyperspace is a bit of a misnomer for the album - space yes, “hyperspace” not really? And the song with the hook that really gets me is Star - can’t explain why necessarily - I just love it. And because everyone does this (sarcasm), check out the album in A.I. Exploration - a collaboration with NASA on Beck’s YouTube channel….

5. Sea Change (2002) Beck hadn’t done anything like this and…wow. The breakup album where he pours out his heart in a set of mellow introspective songs that show a depth he hadn’t revealed up to this point. No rapping, no dancing, no sampling, no funk - just beautiful and thoughtful songcraft with aching vocals and melodies. My favorites here start with the opener The Golden Age which sets the stage perfectly for what is to come on this album. The next track Paper Tiger has a cool subdued groove with a great use of strings - the only song here that approaches something kind of funky, starting out spare and building to a lot of sound before fading away. From there on out it’s a run of gorgeous but sad reflection with titles like Guess I’m Doing Fine, Lonesome Tears and Lost Cause. The other two total standouts for me are End Of The Day and Already Dead - just incredible. Beck makes the use of space here and spare arrangements to great effect - taking it nice and slow. A real masterpiece.

4. The Information (2006) At over an hour long it’s Beck’s longest major label release and it actually leaves you wanting more which is saying a lot. We’re at the part of the list where I could almost be okay with making any of the remaining entries #1. I LOVE this LP. Even the packaging was brilliant with a whole bunch of stickers that came with the CD for you to make your own cover - how cool is that? Oh - and it came with a DVD with videos for the whole album which really makes it a great one to play on the screen if you’re having a party - the videos are all a bit of a piece with a DIY feel (if that’s a thing) and fun effects. As for the music it’s just so much fun. Starting off with a count of “One, two, you know what to do” on a song called Elevator Music that is anything but. “What’s wrong with a little grind and bump?” Nothing - absolutely nothing. Wasting no time with the funk, this is a thrilling ride. Remember the “stew” I referred to with Guero? This is the last Beck album that really embraces that stew with all the ingredients. Think I’m In Love is cool and it’s nice after the breakup emotions of 2002’s Sea Change to hear him saying he thinks he’s in love 4 years later even if it makes him kind of nervous to say so. Cellphone’s Dead is incredible - with a herky jerky funk groove that will make you want to get up and move with the hilarious voice chiming in with “one by one I’ll knock you out!” The tour de force continues with varying styles - the propulsive Nausea kicks ass, Dark Star is a bottom heavy killer groove that will force you to turn up the volume, the title track has an addictive groove and really everything here is awesome (maybe with the exception of the disruptive curiosity 1000 Bpm - not sure why that’s here. Then there’s the epic closer medley-refrain-recap-spoken-word-space-travel-planning thing The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton which as is often the case with Beck, kind of defies explanation. So, yeah. If Odelay wasn’t THE place to start with Beck I’d say this album would be.

Beck - Morning Phase - Fonograf Records/Capitol

3. Morning Phase (2014) The mellow masterpiece that was presented as the sequel to Sea Change. It’s a perfect companion piece matching the downtempo vibe and approach, but it’s even better. My apologies if I’m sounding like I’m just gushing over and over about Beck. It’s hard to describe his art without using a lot of superlatives. But there is some creative brilliance going on at this point in the ranking that make you say “who comes up with something like that?” Ideas you’ve just never heard anyone execute. This album feels like a warm blanket and after a little instrumental intro it kicks off in earnest with the opener Morning which feels indeed like the opening companion The Golden Age on Sea Change - both amazing. From there we get such gems as Heart Is A Drum, Say Goodbye and Blue Moon. Say Goodbye in particular blows me away with the nuanced vocal delivery of “these are the wooooooooords we use……………to say goodbye.” Beck doesn’t get enough credit as the incredible singer that he is. Next is where we get into “who comes up with that” territory with the strings-backed Wave. It took me a while to understand its greatness, and seeing him perform this one live on SNL with the full orchestra certainly helped. Blackbird Chain and Turn Away are also amazing - both are songs I might not have thought would be my favorites on paper but they are undeniable. I think part of what makes these incredible to me is they came from the guy who did Loser and Where It’s At - the range is off the charts. This album isn’t as bleak as Sea Change emotionally with the death of a relationship (his take not mine) dominating the proceedings, and maybe peeling away that layer is what frees this material up a little, but it’s not like it’s a “happy” album either with lyrics like “I’m so tired of being alone” in Unforgiven - it just seems the sadness is less dominant. An all-timer.

2. Modern Guilt (2008) It’s going to be tough for me to do this one justice. I just have a feeling most will not agree with me putting this at #2, but it’s MY snobbery and I’ll rank them how they SHOULD be ranked damnit. Hehe… This album only clocks in at 33:43 and it’s not like it’s material Beck has never dabbled in before. And yet it doesn’t sound like any other Beck album at the same time. I guess there’s something about a Beck album without the samples, the hip-hop references and all of “the stew” I’ve referred to that forces him to create something just as Beck but completely organic. It’s just completely exciting in it’s uniqueness that it’s hard to put my finger on. For those who get it I’d love to hear from you in the comments. I’ve used otherworldly to describe much of Beck’s material but this album is where he really nails that, especially on a track like Chemtrails which sounds like no other song. The ghostly vocal delivery with insane drumming with the music-less breaks followed by the insane fills - a powerhouse performance by Joey Waronker that somehow dominates the song and doesn’t dominate at all - at the same time. I can’t explain it. This is Beck’s only collaboration with Danger Mouse and I can only hope they do another someday. The other song that I can’t explain at all is Replica. The beats here make no sense - they’re so unconventional and ultimately make perfect sense (?)…..I think (?). It’s just fascinating - I feel like no song has ever had this rhythm before. Pulled straight out of the ether somewhere and existing on its own plane. Genius - a true gift. I won’t break down every single track here but yes they’re all amazing - a perfect LP. The jams that follow Replica - Soul Of A Man and Profanity Prayers are both total bangers, but they fit the vibe - everything here has a certain subdued vibe - that otherworldly feel even when the songs cut loose a bit. I feel like I’m struggling to describe Modern Guilt, and that’s appropriate in the very best way. It’s also strange that as much as I love this album it’s not one I would start with for Beck. The one I would start with is absolutely…..

1. Odelay (1996) This is the quintessential Beck album. The most famous of his releases and still the peak - the blueprint. That does NOT mean everything is “downhill” from Odelay, it’s just that this album is a moment in time that won’t be/can’t be replicated. The first time Beck brought ALL of his powers to bear. It’s the blockbuster - the one that sold millions of copies and gets ranked on every best albums of all time list you’ll see. It’s warrented. It will never age, it will always sound fresh and groundbreaking. It’s THE Beck stew. Folk, rap, rock, funk, hip-hop, country - it’s ALL here. That had never been done before - not like this at least. To be clear he’s not the first to bend and blend multiple genres - he just took it to a new level. And it’s not just the feat of combining all of these genres - it’s the total command of all of them and how to fit them together WITH perfect execution and such amazing songwriting to boot that is such a marvel. The opening riff of Devil’s Haircut and the roads that track travels in only 3:14 makes it just as exciting today as the first time I heard it almost 30 years ago, and the album never takes a minute off from thrills, dips, turns like the best rollercoaster you’ve ever ridden. Where It’s At felt like the follow up Beck rap hit to Loser at the time, but when people discovered what else was going on here with the other singles like the aforementioned opener Devil’s Haircut and The New Pollution they took notice. The trolling going on in the album too - the weirdly awesome electronic breakdown that follows the 25 second interlude of straight noise at the 3:18 to 3:43 mark of the hyped up banger Novacane - it does indeed show up again at the 2:28 mark of the song (if you can call it that - really more of a party on tape) High 5 (Rock The Catskills). That’s of course before someone abruptly cuts it off yelling (likely at the DJ whomever that is) to “Turn that shit off man! What’s wrong with you man? Get the other record! Damn…” Hilarious. You probably suspected it shows up twice without ever really processing that it does or where. I know that’s how it happened for me. There’s the grungy Minus that might not sound out of place on a Dinosaur Jr. album, the mellow single Jack-Ass reimagined as Burro - a fantastic mariachi version released on 2000’s Japanese import EP Stray Blues and now available on the Odelay Deluxe Version). There’s the for-some-reason-hilarious and hilariously-named Sissyneck which is one of my favorite songs on the album, and the smooth mellow funk of Readymade - oh and we skipped right over tracks 2 & 3 Hotwax and Lord Only Knows - both awesome. The closer Ramshackle is a downtempo and folksy number that ends the ride on a mellow note. A hall of fame album that should never be overlooked in the conversation of the best art created in the 1990’s and maybe in American History.

So there you have it! The Doug’s Snobbery ranking of Beck albums! I’m hoping I’ll have to update it soon with a new LP…. Meanwhile share with your friends and let me know what you think in the comments!

M10 Social is owned by Doug Cohen in West Bloomfield, MI and provides social media training and digital marketing services from the Frameable Faces Photography studio Doug owns with his wife Ally. He can be reached there at tel:248-790-7317, by mobile at tel:248-346-4121 or via email at mailto:doug@frameablefaces.com. You can follow Doug’s band Vintage Playboy at their Facebook page here or visit www.VintagePlayboyBand.com. You can also visit our other business Detroit Jerky at the website www.DetroitJerkyLLC.com!

Doug's Music Snobbery

Let's Rank All The Beck Albums!

Let’s Rank All The Beck Albums!

M10 Social