Beck "Colors" (2017) ***1/2
Well, Colors (2017) doesn't sound much like Beck at all, but I like it regardless. Maybe I'm not cool anymore. Maybe I need my Music Card revoked. Who knows?
There's doesn't seem to be a theme or connecting tissue that I can spot on the first few listens, just a collection of catchy "single" songs. And I don't see anything wrong with that, if done well. I dig the House stylings of the title track. "Seventh Heaven" reminds me of a more dancy Mew. "I'm So Free" and "Dear Life" are solid songs that move the album along. "No Distraction" veers into Bruno Mars territory but I still don't mind it. "Dreams" is a nice little slice of pop that was released as a single back in 2015 and works well in the context of Colors. The safe Hip Hop of "Wow" somehow doesn't offend me and it's actually one of my favorite tracks on the album. "Up All Night" sounds more like those brothers that share a similar name with Mr. Hansen (who also happened to work with The Dust Brothers) but, again, I don't hate it. "Square One" is short and decent. Finally, the last track, "Fix Me", is my least favorite and doesn't do much for me at all.
As I mentioned in my review of his last album (here), I prefer "Weird Beck" most of all, but I'll still take this Beck over "Sad/Folk Beck". And let's be honest, Hansen wasn't going to "get crazy with the Cheese Whiz" for the rest of his career. Very concise (this album is 40 mins but feels like 30) and very slick but if you're not adverse to a good dance/pop album, you might dig Colors. I do.
There's doesn't seem to be a theme or connecting tissue that I can spot on the first few listens, just a collection of catchy "single" songs. And I don't see anything wrong with that, if done well. I dig the House stylings of the title track. "Seventh Heaven" reminds me of a more dancy Mew. "I'm So Free" and "Dear Life" are solid songs that move the album along. "No Distraction" veers into Bruno Mars territory but I still don't mind it. "Dreams" is a nice little slice of pop that was released as a single back in 2015 and works well in the context of Colors. The safe Hip Hop of "Wow" somehow doesn't offend me and it's actually one of my favorite tracks on the album. "Up All Night" sounds more like those brothers that share a similar name with Mr. Hansen (who also happened to work with The Dust Brothers) but, again, I don't hate it. "Square One" is short and decent. Finally, the last track, "Fix Me", is my least favorite and doesn't do much for me at all.
As I mentioned in my review of his last album (here), I prefer "Weird Beck" most of all, but I'll still take this Beck over "Sad/Folk Beck". And let's be honest, Hansen wasn't going to "get crazy with the Cheese Whiz" for the rest of his career. Very concise (this album is 40 mins but feels like 30) and very slick but if you're not adverse to a good dance/pop album, you might dig Colors. I do.
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