Beck has been eligible for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame since 2019 and was nominated once, in 2022. That’s not a long time compared to some other snubs but he still feels overdue.
The singer-songwriter has had commercial success (a top ten hit in ‘Loser,’ several Gold and Platinum albums), strong critical acclaim, and industry recognition (he has won eight Grammys and been nominated for Album of the Year three times, winning for 2015’s Morning Phase).
David Lynch’s final feature film was his most confounding.
After winning praise for delivering a conventional story in The Straight Story and earning the best reviews of his career with the sublime Mulholland Drive, he returned in 2006 with Inland Empire, a strange and unsettling experimental film.
This is a three-hour movie with no discernible plot. It was shot on standard definition video using a camera Lynch operated himself. He also handled editing duties and composed most of the music. It fulfilled his desire to strip filmmaking down to the basics and make a film in a way anybody with a camera and some willing actors could.
I can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that 2005 is nearly 20 years ago. That was the first thought I had when I started prepping for my latest installment of the Decades series, wherein I look back on my own favorite albums from a particular year as well as highly-regarded albums I missed at the time.
When I make it into the 2000s, as I will the next few weeks with 2005, I start to think in terms of recent releases. But 19 years ago isn’t all that recent. My life was so different when I listened to these albums for the first time, yet it seems like hardly any time has passed.
I read in the New York Times last week that Beck has a new song out with the alternative band Phoenix, with whom he will be touring. I decided to feature it this week along with some other recent releases.
When looking up that song, a fun Euro pop track called ‘Odyssey,’ I came across another new Beck tune, this one released in February. ‘Thinking About You’ is in the vein of his albums Sea Change and Morning Phase — my favorite flavor of Beck — so I called an audible and featured it instead.
The Random iTunes Fairy is at it again, giving us a Beck twofer this weekend. Today’s track is a deep cut from the 2005 album Guero, Beck’s best-selling release in the 26 years since the multi-platinum Odelay.
Guero reunited Beck with producers The Dust Brothers, who worked on Odelay, and the album has a similar alt-hip-hop vibe. Today’s track features Jack White on bass, and was co-written with White and the Dust Brothers.
Meet Me In Montauk 