Be Change

Sea Change —in Spanish: Cambio radical— is the eighth studio album by American musician Beck, released on September 24, 2002 via DGC/Interscope and was produced by Beck Hansen and Nigel Godrich. The album is one of Beck's most important records and his second in collaboration with Nigel Godrich.

It contains songs of an experimental style and stands out for the use of violins and cellos, and a slower style than the songs on previous albums. Ironic lyrics were replaced by lyrics with more sincere content. He also avoided the heavy sampling of his previous albums. The album was released in four different art styles. In interviews, Beck cited his breakup with his longtime girlfriend as the biggest influence on the album.

It peaked at #8 on the Billboard 200, the last being certified gold in March 2005 by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album received critical acclaim, with several reviews calling it the "magnum opus" by Beck, which has continued to grow in stature since its release, with inclusion on "best of the decade" and "best of all time". Critics praised the change from an experimental style to a simple and emotional one.

History

Background

After touring for his previous work, Midnite Vultures (1999), Beck and his girlfriend of nine years, hairstylist Leigh Limon, broke up. Beck, three weeks shy of his 30th birthday, discovered that Limon had been cheating on him with a member of the Los Angeles band Whiskey Biscuit. Beck lapsed into a period of melancholy and introspection, during which he wrote somber tracks, based on the acoustics later found on Sea Change. He wrote most of the 12 songs in one week, but then shelved them. After a while, he decides to record them. In 2001, Beck calls on his frequent producer Nigel Godrich to produce the songs. Hansen intends to record the album at the end of 2001, but due to the attacks of September 11, he decides to postpone it. Prior to working with Godrich, Beck recorded songs with Dan "The Automator" Nakamura in January 2002 in preparation for the new record, but ultimately the songs from those sessions were not present on Sea Change. Many songs on the album were also performed live prior to release, such as "Lost Cause" and "Evil Things", the latter not charting due to wasted time.

Recording and production

Beck and his group of musicians entered the studio with the intention of making an acoustic-based record, similar to what was done on Mutations. In the recording process, Beck told Godrich that he expected to record one song per day, similar to the process for Mutations. However, each song ended up taking at least two days to record, due to the orchestral arrangements. Musical partners in the studio include multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion, drummer James Gadson, and guitarist Jason Falkner, as well as longtime musical partners keyboardist Roger Joseph Manning Jr., bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen, drummer Joey Waronker, guitarist Smokey Hormel, and cellist Suzie Katayama. Additionally, Beck's father, David Campbell, provides string arrangements. Joey Waronker left recording to travel to Hawaii; James Gadson filled in the part for him remaining days.

Recording began as soon as the band entered Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles on March 6, 2002. Much of the album's material was recorded live, with additional effects (including bells and strings) added later.. In order to capture the immediacy of the material, the artists worked quickly and spontaneously. During production, Beck noticed that his voice had deepened significantly. "Before we recorded," Godrich said, "we've listened to Mutations and his voice sounded like Mickey Mouse. His range has been reduced. Now when he opens his mouth, a great vibration comes out. It is quite remarkable. He has amazing tone." At the end of the production, the group of musicians had to work faster than they thought. Ultimately, recording lasted a little over three weeks and the album was mixed from there, finishing on May 7. In one session, Hansen began strumming his famous 1995 single 'It's All in Your Mind' on the guitar. randomly before starting a new song, and Godrich, who was delighted, commented "We have to do this."

"Ship in the Bottle" it was the only complete track not included on the record. "It was the super-pop song on the record," Beck said in a 2002 interview. Ultimately, "Ship in the Bottle" it was released on the Japanese version of Sea Change and later on the remastered version of the album.

Music

The album is built around a set of acoustic songs, showcasing the reflective side of singer-songwriter Beck. The genre shift is defined as a broad transformation, reflecting the departure in style from Beck's previous album Midnite Vultures and previous sample-based recordings, as well as Beck's desire to give each album an identity. The origins for the album's unique and passionate sound had been building up for years, according to Beck in a 2002 interview: 'There are threads of what I've done before. If you listen to my previous B-sides, you'll hear this record. I've been wanting to make this record for years," he explained. Despite the initial difficulty deciding on the name, the title comes from "Little One," the eleventh track on the album. The recordings on Sea Change include themes of broken love, desolation, loneliness, etc. Although often compared to Mutations, Beck considered the album, in an interview with 2008, as an organ more representative of their 1994 album One Foot in the Grave, and "more representative of what I was doing [in the early days]".

Sea Change is the most beautiful way to mend a broken heart, drive away ghosts and reinvent yourself from a painful experience. It is the experience of pain giving birth to beauty and healing, it is the mystical experience of the artist committed to art and life. Sea Change is a sea that runs through us, giving us goosebumps, between crying and nakedness. With this production Beck broke the schemes of his previous productions, to move from intellectual and experimental structures to the delicate line of the personal, of palpable feeling, of unshared sufferings, the lyrics become direct but with that opportune management to distance him from the pitiful, after all, his intellect and talent lift him up to leave an excellent, minimalist, organic, direct record, with sounds that are lost in the wind and are preserved in memories.

Promotion and launch

Before its release, merchants were concerned about the commercial impact of Sea Change due to its sound. Analysts predicted that the album would receive no support on radio stations, noting Beck's reputation, critical acclaim, and the possibility of multiple Grammy nominations might make up for a non-commercial sound. The album's release date was announced as May 31, 2002. In addition, the album's initial track listing was also released, with songs in a much different order than its final version, as well as including the track "Ship in the Bottle". The album's title was announced in August 2002. In promotion of the record, new songs from the album were released in chronological order on a weekly basis through Beck's website in July and August 2002. Ultimately, the album was released. released on September 24, 2002.

At the time of the release, a four-track album called Sea Change Album Sampler was released. It was packaged as a CD single and contained the following tracks:

Work

Sea Change was released with four different covers, each version containing different digital artwork by Jeremy Blake on the CD and booklet. There were also different hidden messages (lyrical fragments) written under the CD tray of each version. The original album cover art was used as an effigy in the music video for the single 'Lost Cause'.

Reception

In 2002, Sea Change was one of two albums to receive the highest five-star rating from Rolling Stone magazine, the other album being The Rising by Bruce Springsteen. The magazine went so far as to call it the best album of the year 2002. The following year, the album was ranked number 440 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. It was also ranked number 17 on the list of the "100 Greatest Albums of the 00s" by Rolling Stone.

Sea Change peaked at #8 on the Billboard Top 200 chart and was eventually certified gold in March 2005. On the UK Charts it peaked at #20. As of July 2008, the album has sold 680,000 copies in the United States. The album was reissued in a remastered format by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab in June 2009.

The sound concept of the album is said to be inspired by the sound of the album Histoire de Melody Nelson by Serge Gainsbourg. Critics have also compared the laid-back, acoustic melodies of Sea Change to the works of British singer-songwriter Nick Drake and the 1975 album Blood on the Tracks by musician Bob Dylan..

Sea Change tour

Sea Change undertook many tours in support, the first of which began as a low-key, acoustic-based tour in a theater in August 2002. Each show provided a playful, energetic atmosphere., with Beck cracking jokes between performances and a surprise appearance on the show: Jack White of The White Stripes, on August 11. A lengthy tour was planned for October 2002, with the band The Flaming Lips opening, as well as Beck's backing band. The tour began in October and ended in November 2002.

During the Sea Change tour, Beck varied the set list and experimented with song structures, changing the arrangements nightly as a way to break predictability. In Beck's certain desire for a reinterpretation of his songs, he fired his longtime touring band and the group he worked with on Sea Change shortly before the start of the concert. tour. Between new and old songs at each concert, Beck covered numerous songs, such as "No Expectations" by The Rolling Stones, "Kangaroo" of Big Star, "Beechwood Park" by The Zombies and "Sunday Morning", by The Velvet Underground. Described as "stunning" Per Rolling Stone's David Fricke, Fricke also expanded on his statement: "It was a perfect fit — songs about commitment and loss, written and sung by the wounded."

Song List

Staff

Credits for Sea Change adapted from Allmusic.

Launch