Forgotten Records #1: Beck - The Information

Welcome to my new feature, “The Forgotten Records”. In this column, we take a look at different albums by established musicians and bands that either didn’t sell as well as their other albums or are often overlooked when discussing that artist’s catalogue. I’m limiting the discussion to established and well-known groups here. Though it may be a crime that few have heard of Guided By Voices’ Under the Bushes Under the Stars, that’s largely due to the group’s relative obscurity and not because that particular album is overlooked. I’ll leave those discussions to Brendan Leonard and his “Hidden Classics” column.

As a for instance, Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen each have a ton of albums, right? But have you ever listened to (or even heard of) Young’s Hawks and Doves, Dylan’s Shot of Love or Springsteen’s Devils and Dust? Why not? That’s what we aim to find out. So without further adieu, Forgotten Records #1.

Beck
The Information (2006)
Interscope

Preceded by: Guero (2005). Succeeded by: Modern Guilt (2008).

Why was it forgotten?

In 2005, Beck released Guero, arguably his biggest record since 1996’s Odelay. Though his 2002 record Sea Change was a critic’s darling and is probably more highly regarded than Guero, the latter record had a number of hits over the spring and summer of 2005 and received substantial radio play. Songs like “E-Pro” and “Girl” were alternative rock radio staples in 2005 and were heard on radio and television long after the record was released. The album’s success played a big role in bringing Beck back to national prominence after lurking in the shadows for a few years (admittedly, all the while releasing strong efforts).

The Information just sort of appeared towards the end of 2006, largely out of nowhere. Guero was still on the minds of Beck fans and songs from that album had remained in circulation for so long that it still felt like Guero had just come out. The Information was released to little fanfare and mixed reviews from the musical press, and after a few minor radio hits, the album sort of faded away into obscurity. Despite one of the most innovative covers in recent memory (the cover is a blank sheet, and the album contains “colorforms” that can be stuck to the album cover in various ways, allowing you to design your own cover), the album failed to find an audience outside of Beck loyalists. So how’d that happen?

Should it be forgotten?

Short answer: no. The Information isn’t the most accessible album, even by Beck’s standards, but it is often brilliant and almost always catchy and memorable. The Information may find Beck at his most cerebral; like a lot of his efforts, there’s a sonic surrealism at play here. Sounds bombard the listener from every direction, whether they are great beats, cell phone rings, and random electronic noises. As always, Beck’s signature spoken-word pseudo-rapping ties everything together nicely. It’s a credit to Beck that he is consistently able to mix different styles and different sounds together and create coherent songs and albums.

A lot of The Information is just plain cool. It starts off with a bang, with “Elevator Music”, “Think I’m In Love” (one of the few singles from the album), and “Cellphone’s Dead” setting the foreboding but hopeful mood for the rest of the record. There’s something pleasantly dark about these songs; they’re not happy and they have an ambient quality about them, and yet they often feature bright choruses. Whenever the record feels like it’s going too far down a dark alley, it’s rescued by a timely sunny hook or chorus. Beck never lets The Information go too far in one direction or another.

The album continues with “Dark Star” and “We Dance Alone”, two of the best songs here, which are both straightforward and uncompromising. The beats on The Information are incredibly strong, and I would have been content to listen to these songs without any vocals at all. The beats and the atmosphere they create are that powerful.

I should make sure to say that The Information is a pop record. It’s just a little out there. It’s a party record in a nontraditional sense. If it’s on in the background, you nod your head and tap your feet, but if you listen closely, it makes you think. There’s a lot going on here. The Information is very atmospheric, and even for someone as notably eclectic as Beck is, that can be a turn off for a lot of people. I can see why this didn’t fly off the shelves.

The album isn’t all beats and electronica. Some of it (including the songs “Strange Apparition”, “Nausea” and “No Complaints”) harkens back to the early honky-tonk carefree Beck records, and this dichotomy of sounds is very well done. It never sounds forced or unnatural.

Unfortunately, the album does lose a little steam towards its conclusion. Its bottom third is largely a washout. “1000 BPM”, “Motorcade” and “The Information” all struck me as meandering filler and failed to make an impression. The last track, a suite called “The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton”, despite going off the deep end in terms of ambient minimalism, worked well and was a fitting conclusion to this odd and often beautiful album.

The Information is a thinking person’s record, and a hell of an experience. Unfortunately, that rarely equals sales and notoriety these days. If you like Beck at all, or if you’d like to take a strange aural journey that includes some head-nodding and foot-tapping, check this out.

B+

John Lacey