Beck- I Won't Be Long

Where are the David Bowies and Neil Youngs of today, old people like to ask, where are the artists that constantly change and rearrange and do whatever they want, which is sometimes brilliant and sometimees missing the mark? There's only one artist off the top of my head who seems to have the ability to jump from one musical style to another and keep growing, and that's Beck.

Even just looking at Beck's output between 1996 and 2002, Odelay, Mutations, Midnite Vultures, and Sea Change, represents a form of gleeful dancing around a kaleidoscope jukebox, and there's still great stuff on all of 'em. Sure, he hasn't approached the success of Young or Bowie, and he probably never will, but maybe he's not trying to do so. He didn't even record his last album (Song Reader), just released sheet music for others to interpret. He also spent time recording entire cover albums, from INXS to Yanni, in his Record Club project.

Anyway, I think Beck's new single, I Won't Be Long, is the bee's knees. The cat's pyjamas. You know what I mean.





Beck’s “I Won’t Be Long” single is now available everywhere digitally. iTunes Amazon

Also available on limited edition 12” vinyl, sold exclusively here.

Nobody's Fault but My Own - Live (originally on Mutations)


Sexx Laws from Midnight Vultures


New Pollution from Odelay


Lost Cause from Sea Change

Old Man Songs

Recently uncovered a cd I made a number of years ago entitled Old Man Songs. Listening, I thought, "This is good stuff, these songs really sound good together. What the heck, I should share this." So here it is.

1. If You Tolerate This - Manic Street Preachers bbc live

2. Leave - R.E.M.

3. Overcome By Happiness - Pernice Brothers Pernice Brothers - Overcome By Happiness by SubPop

4. Mission Bell - Stan Ridgway

5. I Want Someone Badly - Jeff Buckley with Shudder to Think

6. Blue - The Jayhawks

7. I Don't Get You At All - AA Sound System. Not on YouTube or Soundcloud but I contacted the man and it will be soon, so I can fix this.

go here please

8. Lost Highway - Hank Williams



9. Just Really Want to See You - Shudder to think featuring Mimi Parker & Alan Sparhawk (first love, last rites sdtk)

10. Speed of Love - John Doe

11. Men Just Leave - Glen Phillips

12. Erecting a Movie Star - Liz Phair

Sorry, not on YouTube or Soundcloud. so it doesn't really exist, does it? Go here for a taste.

13. She's a Jar - Wilco Wilco -She's A Jar by mud_hut

14. Nobody's Fault But My Own - Beck



15. Lullaby -

16. No Distance Left to Run - Blur creepy video, though... 17. Tokyo - Bruce Cockburn



18. Crowned in Chrome - Crooked Fingers



19. Fall at Your Feet - Crowded House

20. Baby Britain - Elliot Smith

21.Sexuality - kd lang

graphic at top of blog by Michael Douglas. No, not that Michael Douglas, a much more talented Michael Douglas.

Covers 6: Beck and his gang, Arcade Fire, Decemberists, Spoon, My Morning Jacket

Following up on the covers we threw you last week, here's the next two instalments of Beck's Record Club, more INXS from the Australian band's Kick.

Record Club: INXS "Devil Inside" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Record Club: INXS "New Sensation" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

On to other covers, You Ain't No Picasso has continued to share some interesting artists doing other artists, recently unveiling an Arcade Fire collection including their covers of Springsteen, Pixies, Violent Femmes, The Clash, Lennon, and so on. Check out YANP's covers archive for more collections for Spoon, Decemberists, and of Montreal. Some of them are live and the sound quality is not for audiophile purists, but there's definitely some cool and unusual song choices. Hearing The Decemberists and/or Colin Meloy solo doing Robyn Hitchcock, Heart, Bjork, Cheap Trick, Squeeze, The Soft Boys and more makes me appreciate The D's even more. And I love Spoon, so anything's appreciated, but Guided by Voices, The Kinks, Wire, Julian Cope covers, among others? No wonder Spoon turned out so durned good. And included in the My Morning Jacket collection? INXS's Never Tear Us Apart. Is INXS cool these days?

Covers 4: Beck's Record Club: The King of Music Geeks?

photo by Scott Beale/Laughing Squid

As far as cover songs revealing an artist's true rock geekdom (see previous post), Beck's gotta be the king. His record club features him and whatever cool musician-type buddies are around (like Wilco, Feist, MGMT, Giovanni Ribisi [!], etc.) covering not just one song, but entire albums - three so far, recently started fourth. The recording is videotaped and posted to his site song by song. Here's the official explanation:

"Record Club is an informal meeting of various musicians to record an album in a day. The album chosen to be reinterpreted is used as a framework. Nothing is rehearsed or arranged ahead of time. A track is put up here once a week. The songs are rough renditions, often first takes that document what happened over the course of a day as opposed to a polished rendering. There is no intention to 'add to' the original work or attempt to recreate the power of the original recording. Only to play music and document what happens."

Beck covered Skip Spence's Halo of Gold previously on the tribute album More Oar, so obviously he's enamored of Spence's Oar, which is a rock nerd signpost. The Velvet Underground and Leonard Cohen fit the rock snob yardstick too, but go to the bottom of this post if you want to see how the club's tackling some records that don't necessarily have the most street cred or cool factor.

Beck Halo of Gold by scruffy the yak

Remember you don't necesarily have to watch the video - I don't, I just like to listen.

Record Club: Skip Spence "Little Hands" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Record Club: Songs Of Leonard Cohen "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Giovanni Ribisi alert!

Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico "I'll Be Your Mirror" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

The newest album being covered is INXS's Kick. Interesting choice, but Beck says Ace of Base's The Sign had previously been kicked around as a possibility, so anything goes.

Record Club: INXS "Guns In The Sky" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

My favourite Beck cover has to be his version of Gram Parson's Sin City. I went to get it to share with you, but I found that I had already shared my disc with a friend and hadn't got it back. I'll post it soon, check back - it's worth waiting for, believe me.