Primer: Beck Part 8- Guero

You could be forgiven for calling Guero a "return to form." This is exactly the sort of thing reviewers usually mean when they play this card: an artist/band returning to what made him/her/them so beloved in the first place. Problematically, Beck is beloved not just for Odelay, so calling this album "a return to form" is technically incorrect. It's a return to the Odelay sound, and while I do like the album, something has always escaped me. Something I can't put my finger on; some intangible quality that means I don't enjoy the album nearly as much as I might have. Something that goes beyond "it's a slightly different and ultimately weaker retread of Odelay."

It's dangerous for an artist to take inspiration from him or herself. 'Dangerous' being a relative word, allow me to explain. Not dangerous in the sense of a bomb or gun being dangerous, or a serial killer on the loose being dangerous; dangerous in the sense that it rarely works out and makes the artist seem narcissistic. It's acceptable for people to take inspiration from others--after all, Guero's opener 'E-Pro' is based on a sample of the Beastie Boys--but it seems egotistical to take inspiration from your own work. Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way, though. Guero wasn't inspired by Odelay. Moreso I get the feeling that Beck, after a couple albums of exploring his whims and various, unique aesthetic directions, felt he had nowhere else to go. So, why not return to your roots?? If anyone could record a newer, better Odelay, Beck would be the safest bet.

The Beck of 2005 is not the Beck of 1996, for better or worse. A decade of other projects, of incredibly varying character and sonic direction, show influences on Beck's modern-day-Odelay. I don't want to imply that Guero needed to be all new ideas for it to succeed; if anyone had the right to record a "consolidating all the strengths of my last few releases" album, it was Beck. Unfortunately the combination of the sounds of Mutations, Midnite Vultures, and Sea Change doesn't quite match up to the free wheeling levity of Odelay. Guero is a darker and weightier album that sinks beneath the waves as much as it manages to float above them.

Guero gets off to a great start with the two-hit combo of 'E-Pro' and 'Que Onda Guero', both songs that tip their hat back to the incredibly fun sample-fests of Odelay. Things quickly detour with 'Girl', one of the most surprisingly stripped down and catchy pop songs of Beck's career. This is really more of a full band pop/rock song driven by guitars than it is a loop and sample heavy Odelay-ish track. 'Missing' harkens back to both Sea Change and Mutations, the former for its depressed lyrics and string saturated atmosphere, the latter for its Brazilian/Tropicalia-style percussion. 'Black Tambourine' is a slight, mid-tempo bass fest that makes little impression. Stripped of a few elements, 'Earthquake Weather' could have fit neatly on Sea Change, with its ponderous flow and "these days I barely get by"-slow motion chorus. 'Hell Yes' attempts to restart the album with a Midnite Vultures-esque funk/rap shot-in-the-arm before 'Broken Drum', the album's worst track, quickly kills the momentum. This song, with no changes at all, could have fit unto the end of Sea Change, and no one would have batted an eye. Look, Odelay had some sad and searching songs, too, but they were inventive and interesting. 'Broken Drum' drags and drags and doesn't give the listener enough to latch unto. 'Scarecrow' is fun and catchy if unremarkable, while 'Go It Alone' is the most strikingly new idea on the whole album, with its addictive groove (partially courtesy of Jack White on bass) and percussion-heavy sound.

With the album's last stretch I realize why I don't like Guero as much as I might. I said earlier that Guero is a slightly different and ultimately weaker retread of Odelay, and it is. But in bringing up the "taking inspiration from himself" idea, I think this issue with the album comes to a head on this last stretch. The main difference between the two albums is that Odelay is much more fun and much sillier than Guero. You never really know what Odelay will throw at you next, whereas Guero is pretty tame in comparison, and also manages to remake Odelay into a methodical, almost death obsessed album. The pallor of Sea Change hasn't quite left Beck's system and it infects Guero for the worse even when he tries to fashion it into new forms, like the chain-gang blues of 'Farewell Ride.' Return to Guero after hearing Odelay again, and it's shocking how reserved and introverted Guero really is in comparison. Especially once you get past the obvious funmakers of 'E-Pro', 'Que Onda Guero', and 'Hell Yes.'

Ultimately, I'm continually surprised at how little Guero holds up to my memory. I always go into it remembering it as a newer Odelay, but by the time its over, I'm left with the impression that it's an inferior follow-up to Odelay with incongruous lyrical themes and musical content. Guero's reputation is largely built on less than half of its contents, and though I don't think it's a complete waste, it's also not exceptional. Guero represents the first time Beck began to repeat himself, and though this is not automatically damning, I certainly feel like he could have done better.