| Product Summary | | UPC: 00602517067172 | | Release Date: 10/3/2006 | | Buy.com Sku: 202993428 | | Item#: M36HTY | Format:  CD |
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| | Over a decade of criss-crossing genres makes it easy to forget that Beck's first big hit was, essentially, a rap song. It's not surprising, then, that about half of the songs on 2006's The Information are some shade of hip-hop, house, or dance-floor funk. And while no one's going to mistake Beck for Young Buck, he brings his own brand of intelligent, laid-back confidence to every track, from the stuttering brilliance of "1000 BPM" to the lolling funk of "Elevator Music" to the lo-fi house grooves of "Cellphone's Dead" to the 10 minutes of atmospheric chill-out that close the album.
But the presence of Nigel Godrich--who produced both the most beloved (Mutations) and underrated (Sea Changes) of Beck's albums--insures that this isn't going to be a one-note affair. Godrich shapes the more pop-leaning songs into low-gloss gems, exercising both imagination and restraint: the intensity of "New Round" comes not from big, fancy production but from multiple layers of the same insistent vocal line. "Think I'm in Love" is a sticky little garage-rocker with a hyper bass line, while "Strange Apparition" is a bit of Laurel Canyon folk-rock amidst all the funk & crunk. It's reassuring to know that on his seventh full-length album, neither Beck nor his best collaborator have run out of fresh ideas.
The release comes with a bonus dvd + a sticker sheet to design your own album cover.
| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | Personnel: DJ Z-Trip, David Campbell , Greg Kurstin, Harvey Mason, Sr. , James Gadson, Jason Falkner, Joey Waronker, Justin Stanley, Alex Acu¤a, Nigel Godrich, Roger Manning Jr., Sean Davis, Smokey Hormel, Steve Black, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Brian Lebarton. | | Over a decade of criss-crossing genres makes it easy to forget that Beck's first big hit was, essentially, a rap song. It's not surprising, then, that about half of the songs on 2006's THE INFORMATION are some shade of hip-hop dance-floor funk. And while no one's going to mistake Beck for Young Buck, he brings his own brand of intelligent, laid-back confidence to every track, from the stuttering brilliance of "1000 BPM" to the lolling funk of "Elevator Music" to the lo-fi breakbeat grooves of "Cellphone's Dead" to the 10 minutes of atmospheric chill-out that close the album. | | But the presence of Nigel Godrich--who produced both the most beloved (MUTATIONS) and underrated (SEA CHANGES) of Beck's albums--insures that this isn't going to be a one-note affair. Godrich shapes the more pop-leaning songs into low-gloss gems, exercising both imagination and restraint: the intensity of "New Round" comes not from big, fancy production but from multiple layers of the same insistent vocal line. "Think I'm in Love" is a sticky little garage-rocker with a hyper bass line, while "Strange Apparition" is a bit of Laurel Canyon folk-rock amidst all the funk & crunk. It's reassuring to know that on his seventh full-length album, neither Beck nor his best collaborator have run out of fresh ideas. | | Beck began work on 2006's The Information after Sea Change but before he reunited with the Dust Brothers for 2005's Guero, eventually finishing the album after Guero was generally acclaimed as a return to Odelay form. So, it shouldn't come as a great surprise that The Information falls somewhere between those two records, at least on sonic terms. Musically, it's certainly a kindred spirit to Guero, meaning that it hearkens back to the collage of loose-limbed, quirky white-boy funk-rock and rap that brought Beck fame at the peak of the alt-rock revolution, with hints of the psychedelia of Mutations and the folk-rock that was the basis for Sea Change. Since this is a Nigel Godrich production, it's meticulous and precise even when it wants to give the illusion of spontaneity, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, since it also pulls the album into focus, something that the generally fine Guero could have used. Guero had many strengths, but its biggest weakness was the general sense that it was unfinished, a suspicion fostered by its endless issues in deluxe editions and remixes. Beck embraced these changes, most extravagantly on the cover of Wired, where he was hailing the future of the album, which would now no longer be seen as finished: it would be a project that covered a certain amount of time, the artist would package it one way, then listeners would offer their own spin. That is precisely what Guero turned out to be, so it would have made sense that The Information would run further down that field, particularly because it has a design-your-own-art for its cover and is supplemented by a DVD filled with quick-n-dirty videos for each of its songs. But Beck isn't so easily pigeonholed: as it turns out, The Information is far more of a proper album than Guero, coming fully equipped with recurring themes and motifs, feeling every bit the concept album Sea Change was. Credit might go partially to his collaboration with Godrich -- who is nothing if not a taskmaster, helping to sharpen and focus erratic talents like Paul McCartney and Stephen Malkmus (for good in the former, not as good in the latter) -- but this also feels like the work of a refocused Beck, who shook off the cobwebs by reuniting with the Dust Brothers, thereby getting his "return to Odelay form" notices out of the way, and then getting down to the real work here on The Information, as he tackles the hyper-saturated info-world of the new millennium here. | | If it initially seems like surprises are in short supply on The Information -- even when the tracks take a left turn, it doesn't feel like Beck and Godrich are wandering off the map -- the craft is strong and assured, and closer listens reveal the depth of the detail within the album, whether it's in the construction of the production or how those productions illuminate Beck's themes. Ever the obscurist, Beck's meanings aren't always crystal clear, which is no doubt deliberate, but his overall intent is easier to ascertain, especially when "Cellphone's Dead" juts up against "Nausea." There's a greater sense of craft here, and while craft isn't necessarily the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Beck, it's what happens when an eccentric sticks around for over a decade: he turns pro. He's done his exploring and now he's learning how to apply what he's discovered. While this may have the inevitable side effect of making his music a little less bracing and exciting, at least on first listen -- and that's especially true when he's in his pop chameleon mode as he is here, since it often seemed like his collages were quickly thrown together instead of immaculately assembled as they are here -- it nevertheless makes for a well-constructed, intriguing, and satisfying album, which The Information assuredly is. Upon first listen, it might seem to slide by a little bit on texture and sound instead of song, but that doesn't necessarily mean it feels even as groove-oriented and hip-hop-driven as Guero (let alone Midnite Vultures), despite the fact that many of the best tracks are built on muscular, intricate rhythms, like the dense, paranoid "Nausea" or the opening fanfare of "Elevator Music." But those further listens -- something that a neo-concept album like this demands anyway -- reveal the complexity within the productions, and how Beck is bridging the two sides of his personality, finding a common ground between his folk roots and art rock sides. All those little details give each cut a dramatic flow, and as the cuts pile up, they all add up to something. Like a picture where you have to stare intently to find the hidden item buried in a seas of colored dots, it can be far too easy on The Information to look at the individual dots and not see the big picture -- but at least here the dots are interesting in and of themselves. And if you give it time, The Information eventually reveals itself as Beck's tightest, most purposeful album yet. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine |
Producer: Nigel Godrich |
| Entertainment Reviews
 | Beck - The Information - CD Cinema Blend CD Reviews Published on: 10/8/2006 | | The groovy ?Elevator Music? kicks off the album saying, ?One, two, you know what to do?? and truer words are hard to find. The Information is an hour of mellow electro-pop with Beck?s signature style stamped all over it: the droning vocals, the layered synthesizers and sound effects?all the intricacies that make Beck?s tracks so genuinely interesting are present and mastered. He knows what to do, all right, and he?s doing it damn well. ...read the full review |
| | Compilation Appearances |
| | Associated Artists and Works |
| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 10/03/2006 | | Original Release Date : 2006 | | Catalog ID : 0007576 | | Label : Interscope Records (USA) | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00602517067172 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Rolling Stone (p.126)
- 4 stars out of 4 -- "[O]ne of the best albums Beck has ever made....Dense in its rhyme games, rhythmic details and overdub antics."Rolling Stone (p.105)
- Ranked #24 in Rolling Stone's "The Top 50 Albums Of 2006" -- "[T]here is a moving clarity to Beck's cleverness..." Spin (p.97)
- 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Beck's twitchy pop-funk has rarely come across as this confident. Consider THE INFORMATION his reanimation." Spin (p.61)
- Ranked #10 in Spin's "The 40 Best Albums of 2006" -- "[A] talking-points primer on just about every phase of his career..." Entertainment Weekly (p.68)
- "[A] swarming, psychedelic set...It's a sonic tour de force, and Beck seems comfortable in the info-storm..." -- Grade: A- Q (p.138)
- 3 stars out of 5 -- "[A]n other-worldly, psychedelic hip hop mix..." Alternative Press (p.198)
- "[T]his collision of dirty loops and polished pop is INFORMATION you need." Mojo (Publisher)
(p.100)
- 3 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t's nice to hear the first half of this album continues in na earthy, upbeat and funk vein..." Rolling Stone 8 of 10
The Information -- one of the best albums Beck has ever made -- starts with him going backward. "Elevator Music" is a mundane jumble of talking blues and hip-hop bricolage that sounds like it should be on a record called More Mellow Gold. The rest of The Information is just as dense in its rhyme games, rhythmic details and overdub antics. But it is a compelling overload, combining the sample-delic bloom of Beck's best-loved album, Odelay, and the folk-pop introspection of his least-understood, 2002's Sea Change. - David Fricke
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| | Bio | | Beck Hansen, the quintessential California slacker, came up among the lo-fi ranks, pushing a blend of country blues, Dylan-inspired wordplay, punk, and hip-hop. His straight-out-of-the-gate smash, "Loser," made him a star seemingly overnight. Subsequent recordings found him alternately accumulating even more disparate influences in his "mess-thetic" approach (Prince, tropicalia, psychedelia) and scaling down for the occasional back-to-the-roots lo-fi album. By the end of the 1990s, he was recognized as one of the preeminent singer-songwriters of his generation.
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