The 111 Best Songs By Beck

 

Why did Beck win album of the year over Beyonce?

Let’s start with the basics.  First, Beck and Beyonce both put out very good albums.  And in all honesty, Beyonce has the better album.  Personally, I prefer to listen to Beck’s album but Beyonce’s is still a triumphant piece of music.  I love Beck but this isn’t his best album.  It doesn’t even make my top five, which would be:

  1. Sea Change
  2. Midnight Vultures
  3. Odelay
  4. Modern Guilt
  5. Guero

I even prefer Beck’s Record Club’s full album cover of the Velvet Underground and Nico over Morning Phase.  So why did Beck’s good but not great album beat out Beyonce’s career-defining tour de force?  One reason: legacy.

Sad but true, the Grammys are more about legacy and proficiency than what’s trending.  It comes down to the voters.  Most of the voters are old school rockers.  So what’s more appealing to an old school rocker who still spins vinyl because he never got into that CD craze:  a funk-dified bombastic sexual dance party or an intimate portrait of a man and his guitar?  Beck has been nominated a few times for album of the year.  It’s just name recognition.  Ultimately, it doesn’t mean anything.

On Monday I may want to listen to Beck.  On Tuesday, Beyonce.  What I like at that moment has to do with the mood I am in, it has nothing to do with which album is a better piece of music.  The outrage over Beck’s win from the media, to Twitter to Kanye is totally misplaced.  We shouldn’t be mad at the voters for picking Beck.  We should be mad at ourselves for caring.

That said…ahem…here’s a list of the best Beck songs.

Here are the 111 Best Songs By Beck:

  1. Girl (Guero)
  2. Jackass (Odelay)
  3. Sexx Laws (Midnight Vultures)
  4. Where It’s At (Odelay)
  5. Lost Cause (Sea Change)
  6. Chemtrails (Modern Guilt)
  7. Debra (Midnight Vultures)
  8. Gamma Ray (Modern Guilt)
  9. Loser (Mellow Gold)
  10. Mixed Bixness (Midnight Vultures)
  11. Turn Away (Morning Phase)
  12. One of These Days (Cold Brains)
  13. I Think I’m In Love (The Information)
  14. Golden Age (Sea Change)
  15. Pressure Zone (Midnight Vultures)
  16. Modern Guilt (Modern Guilt)
  17. Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
  18. Devil’s Haircut (Odelay)
  19. Lord Only Knows (Odelay)
  20. Nicotine and Gravy (Midnight Vultures)
  21. Lonesome Tears (Sea Change)
  22. Diamond in the Sleaze (Cold Brains)
  23. Que Onda Guero (Guero)
  24. Profanity Prayers (Modern Guilt)
  25. Blue Moon (Morning Phase)
  26. Burro (Stray Blues)
  27. Hollywood Freaks (Midnight Vultures)
  28. Ramona (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World)
  29. Guess I’m Doing Fine (Sea Change)
  30. Sunday Morning (Velvet Underground + Nico)
  31. Electric Music and the Summer People (Mutations)
  32. Cellphone’s Dead (The Information)
  33. Tropicalia (Mutations)
  34. E-Pro (Guero)
  35. Strange Apparition (The Information)
  36. Heaven’s Ladder (Beck’s Song Reader)
  37. I Won’t Be Long (Single)
  38. Walls (Modern Guilt)
  39. Earthquake Weather (Guero)
  40. Sissyneck (Odelay)
  41. This Is My Crew (Sexx Laws)
  42. Inside Out (The Information)
  43. Go It Alone (Guero)
  44. Beercan (Mellow Gold)
  45. Mexico (Rare On Air)
  46. Hotwax (Odelay)
  47. Diamond Bullocks (Mutations)
  48. Heaven Can Wait (IRM)
  49. Waking Light (Morning Phase)
  50. Looking For A Sign (Jeff Who Lives At Home)
  51. The New Pollution (Odelay)
  52. New Round (The Information)
  53. Nobody’s Fault But My Own (Mutations)
  54. Missing (Guero)
  55. Nausea (The Information)
  56. Blackbird Chain (Morning Phase)
  57. Black Tambourine (Guero)
  58. Corvette Bummer (Loser)
  59. Readymade (Odelay)
  60. Send A Message To Her (Guero Japanese)
  61. Asshole (One Foot In The Grave)
  62. Salt In The Wound (Sexx Laws)
  63. Pay No Mind Snoozer (Mellow Gold)
  64. Paper Tiger (Sea Change)
  65. I Just Started Hating Some People Today (Single)
  66. The Information (The Information)
  67. Scarecrow (Guero)
  68. Youthless (Modern Guilt)
  69. Milk & Honey (Midnight Vultures)
  70. Halo of Gold (Stray Blues)
  71. Femme Fatale (Velvet Underground + Nico)
  72. Cold Brains (Mutations)
  73. Orphans (Modern Guilt)
  74. Heart Is A Drum (Morning Phase)
  75. Get Real Paid (Midnight Vultures)
  76. Hell Yes (Guero)
  77. I’ll Be Your Mirror (Velvet Underground + Nico)
  78. Rowboat (Stereopathetic Soulmanure)
  79. Novacane (Odelay)
  80. Dark Star (The Information)
  81. Fuckin’ With My Head (Mellow Gold)
  82. Beautiful Way (Midnight Vultures)
  83. True Love Will Find You In The End (The Late Great Daniel Johnston)
  84. Bonfire Blondes (Gamma Ray)
  85. Gold Chains (Odelay Deluxe)
  86. Modesto (Sterpathetic Soulmanure)
  87. Elevator Music (The Information)
  88. Sleeping Bag (One Foot In The Grave)
  89. Diamond Dogs(Moulin Rouge)
  90. Sunday Son (Sea Change)
  91. Deadweight (A Life Less Ordinary)
  92. All In Your Mind (Sea Change)
  93. Brother (Stray Blues)
  94. Ship In A Bottle (Sea Change Japanese)
  95. Peaches and Cream (Midnight Vultures)
  96. Leopard-Skin Pill-box Hat (War Child Heroes)
  97. Fume (Loser)
  98. Vampire Voltage No. 6 (Chemtrails)
  99. Soul Suckin’ Jerk (Mellow Gold)
  100. Inferno (Odelay Deluxe)
  101. Feather in Your Cap (Stray Blues)
  102. Bad Blood (True Blood Volume 2)
  103. Sisters of Mercy (Songs of Leonard Cohen)
  104. Don’t Let It Go (Morning Phase)
  105. Lampshade (A Western Harvest Field By Moonlight)
  106. Movie Theme (The Information)
  107. Little Hands (Oar)
  108. Half And Half (Youthless)
  109. Mattress (One Foot In the Grave)
  110. No Complaints (The Information)
  111. The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton (The Information)

 

The 55 Best Albums of 2014 (23-33)

There have been questions about this year’s countdown…to answer the big one:  I did not do a poll this year.  Though I promised, I ran out of my time in my life, day job, and parenting duties.  So, this year, you’re just going to have to live with my list and my list only.  Enjoy the kitty.

Here are the 55 Best Albums of 2014 (23-33):

23. Johnny Cash - Out among the Stars
24. Movement - Movement EP
25. Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams
26. Jenny Lewis - The Voyager
27. Merchandise - After the End
28. Beck - Morning Phase
39. Y.G. - My Krazy Life
30. You Blew It! - Keep Doing What You're Doing
31. Cloud Nothings - Here And Nothing Else
32. The Black Keys - Turn Blue
33. Claire - The Great Escape

Buy these albums and more…now!!!

 

 

The Unknown: Beck – Six Years

It’s been six years since a proper Beck release.  Although there hasn’t been an officially slated album, Beck has been rather busy over the past half decade putting out more material in just six years than he did in his previous 10 years.  Since 2008, Beck created his “Record Club” where he gave away five full length albums covering the likes of the Velvet Underground, Leonard Cohen, INXS, Skip Spence, and the legendary Yanni all for free.  He produced three albums for iconic artists Stephen Malkmus, Thurston Moore, and Charlotte Gainsbourg.  He also was the main songwriter behind Sex Bob-Omb, the fictional band from the cult classic film, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.  That’s nine albums in six years.  But that’s not all.  Beck’s put out more than that.  He has soundtrack songs, B-sides, stand alone singles, duets, tributes, and compilation tracks, which come together to form a bonus never before heard album…Six Years.  In honor of Beck’s formal return, here’s a look back at what he’s been doing up until now.

Beck – Six Years

  1. Bad Blood
  2. Ramona
  3. I Won’t Be Long
  4. I Just Started Hating Some People Today
  5. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
  6. Defriended 
  7. Looking For A Sign
  8. Corrina, Corrina
  9. Let’s Get Lost
  10. Gimme
  11. Green Light
  12. Blue Randy
  13. Love

Buy Beck’s new album, Morning Phase…now!!!

 

 

 

 

The 11 Best Bands at Coachella…each day

Incredible line-up this year.  Impossible to do one list for the whole festival…so here’s three lists! One for each day.  These are by no means the only good bands playing, just the ones that I’m most excited about.  And Saturday is easily the most packed day.

The 11 Best Bands at Coachella on Friday:

  1. Outkast
  2. Girl Talk
  3. Broken Bells
  4. The Replacements
  5. HAIM
  6. A$AP Ferg
  7. Ellie Goulding
  8. Waxahatchee
  9. Bryan Ferry
  10. Grouplove
  11. Zedd

The 11 Best Bands at Coachella on Saturday:

  1. Foster The People
  2. Empire Of The Sun
  3. Cage The Elephant
  4. Nas
  5. Muse
  6. Pet Shop Boys
  7. Skrillex
  8. MGMT
  9. CHVRCHES
  10. Blood Orange
  11. The Head and The Heart

The 11 Best Bands at Coachella on Sunday:

  1. Arcade Fire
  2. Neutral Milk Hotel
  3. Beck
  4. Superchunk
  5. Lana Del Rey
  6. STRFKR
  7. Calvin Harris
  8. Disclosure
  9. Preservation Hall Jazz Band
  10. Chance The Rapper
  11. Bad Manners

 

 

 

The 11 Best Songs From The Twilight Soundtracks

Harry Potter proved that a great franchise can make you a whole lot of money.  Twilight proved that a shitty franchise can do the exact same thing.  The one thing that Twilight did right was its soundtracks.  As crappy as the movies were, the soundtracks were some of the best movie soundtracks being made.  The Hunger Games franchise has arrived giving us the best of both worlds.  A great franchise and a great soundtrack.  Too bad Cameron Crowe never made Singles into a movie franchise.

Here are the 11 Best Songs From The Twilight Soundtracks:

  1. Eclipse All Yours – Metric (Eclipse)
  2. Meet Me On The Equinox – Death Cab For Cutie (New Moon)
  3. Spotlight – Mutemath (Twilight)
  4. Ours – The Bravery (Eclipse)
  5. Neutron Star Collision – Muse (Eclipse)
  6. Flightless Bird, American Mouth – Iron & Wine (Twilight)
  7. Let’s Get Lost – Beck & Bat For Lashes (Eclipse)
  8. No Sound But The Wind – Editors (New Moon)
  9. What Part Of Forever – Cee-Lo Green (Eclipse)
  10. From Now On – The Features (Breaking Dawn 1)
  11. Where I Come From – Passion Pit (Breaking Dawn 2)

Buy the Catching Fire Soundtrack…now!

The 11 Best Albums of 2009: 23-33 (Part 3)

 
As each step of this list is being unveiled, I have to say…there was a lot of music this year I really enjoyed.  Whether it was scrounging to find the unreleased Beck cover album…or the return of Franz Ferdninand…or the underrated ben gibbard/farrar duet, there was a bunch of music out there to get excited about.  Two newcomers to watch…Cut Off Your Hands and Cage The Elephant…I have a feeling they will be on these lists for years to come.

 
Here are the 11 Best Albums of 2009: 23-33 (Part 3):
23.  Cut Off Your HandsYou And I  (Turn Cold)
24.  JJJJ No 2
25.  WolfmotherCosmic Egg
26.  Franz FerdinandTonight 
27.  Cage The ElephantCage the Elephant (Ain’t No Rest)
28.  M. WardHold Time
29.  BeckVelvet Underground & Nico  (I’ll Be Your Mirror)
30.  Jay-ZThe Blueprint 3.0
31.  Steel PantherFeel The Steel
32.  Bruce SpringsteenWorking On A Dream
33.  Ben Gibbard & Jay FarrarOne Fast Move Or I’m Gone