Track Listing

1. The Golden Age
2. Paper Tiger
3. Guess I'm Doing Fine
4. Lonesome Tears
5. Lost Cause
6. End Of The Day
7. It's All In Your Mind
8. Round The Bend
9. Already Dead
10. Sunday Sun
11. Little One
12. Side Of The Road

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9875 in Music
• Released on: 2003-08-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds
• Running time: 52 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Beck is really bummed. And if song titles such as "Lost Cause", "Lonesome Tears", "Already Dead" and "Nothing I Haven't Seen" don't make the point, his achingly sad lyrics and Sea Change's unerringly downcast sound do. While 1998's Mutations--arguably the singer-songwriter's masterwork and Sea Change's spiritual cousin--was filled with unflinching self-examination, moments of levity were found in songs like "Tropicalia". Not so on Sea Change. Beck's woozy, almost narcoleptic delivery seems to amplify the set's sense of ennui.

But sad isn't necessarily bad, and despite the sombre tone, there's much to praise, not the least of which is the return of producer Nigel Godrich (Mutations, Radiohead) who wraps Beck's gloom in a dreamy, warm blanket of soft strings and floating bleeps and gurgles. Like Daniel Lanois, Godrich is all about vibe, and even Beck's most bare-bones songs benefit from billowy atmospherics. That's especially true of "Paper Tiger" a restless, slowly building epic improbably propelled by a languid orchestra and Beck's expressionless drone. The inky black feel of "Round the Bend"--a glacially slow dirge with muffled vocals--may be the darkest thing Beck's ever written, not counting the very grim "Already Dead".

Whatever's going on in Beck's world, at least we know he's purging. All things considered, this may be better for his soul than ours. --Kim Hughes

CD Description
'Sea Change' is the fifth album for Geffen records by the eclectic, LA-born artist, Beck Hansen. It follows 1999's Prince-influenced, 'Midnite Vultures' and was produced by Nigel Godrich who worked on his 1998 album, 'Mutations'. The material on this release has been described by critics as a fusion of folk and psychedelia.

Customer Reviews

A Late Night/Sunday Morning Classic
Dont even bother reading this review - just go and buy Sea Change....it is an absolute master of an album.

Do you know when you stumble across an under-promoted album and you've got to tell everybody about it because you want to share a little bit of treasure with all your friends?

I had ignored Beck (Mutations/Midnite Vultures) after his Odelay album, which was enjoyable on its release but seemed to date pretty quickly. Imagine then, the sheer delight of hearing an album end-to-end that doesnt contain a bum track and makes you want to play it over and over again (just to check it really is THAT good).

Beck has stripped right down to melancholy and deep songs with an evocative early 70's folk style throughout. If you love the dreaminess of Nick Drake, John Martyn, Tim Buckley (Happy Sad) and Joni Mitchell's style, Beck has adopted all their highest moments and delivered an album that evokes the "floating comfort" which is called for late at night or on a Sunday morning. Listen to how stark and open it is when driving in the dark too!!

Stand out track for me is Round the Bend - an orchestrated masterpiece very similar to the beautiful River Man by Nick Drake.

As a result, I'm going back to the Beck albums I've missed in the hope that there is more of the same.....don't allow yourself to miss this one - you wont be sorry.

Not his best, but likeable all the same
That just about sums it up. It's kind of a shame because it's clear from Beck's unusual focus in this album that this style of broken-hearted acoustic songs is what he most wants to do. However, it is wrong to think that just because this is Beck, renowned for his surreal but poignant lyrics, he can get away with wheeling out the old break-up cliches. What I really missed in this album was Beck's legendary ability to communicate what he was feeling without having to fall back on things that have already been sung before. The highlights of this album are when he really connects with his swirling, inky music, and makes you feel like you're really there: - "End of the Day" and "Lonesome tears" will never fail to send a shiver down your spine. However all too often Beck chooses to strum his guitar and drone away at sentiments that have already been catologed a thousand times, and, I may add, catologed better. Songs like "Lost Cause" and "Guess I'm doing fine" plod along, offering nothing in atmosphere nor excitement in terms of music.
Towards the end, the broken-hearted one opts for more obviously Beck-orientated songs: - "Sunday Sun" and "Little One" could be easily mistaken for Mutations work. These two work so much better than the mind-numbingly boring dirge of "Round the Bend", and highlight why Mutations is better than this: - the lyrics are better, and Beck himself sounds more interested.
Beck has shown through this that he is still an extremely talented musician, and the fact that this break-up album is better than a lot of artist's work who strive towards the ultimate break-up album all their lives shows just how great his ability is. However my feeling on Sea Change is: - fine, you've delved into simple love songs, just like you have white rap, alt-country, funk, and indie, with success. But please don't think you've found your groove in this particular genre. Please?

How did I overlook this?
OK, I admit it, I was woefully late coming to this offering from Beck. His first few albums were in the collection, and then for some reason I stopped buying them when Midnight Vultures came out, don't know why. It was only with the release of Guero that interest was rekindled , and I started to look backwards again at what I'd missed.
Beck really is an artist to be treasured.
Sea change is an intimate, heartfelt record, and it's touch is light but it runs very deep. After the first listen, I felt it was OK...but as soon as it finished I thought I'd put it on one more time...and again....and again. It's one of those albums which just grows and gets better with repeat listens.
Criticisms? OK you can spot the wholesale lifting on a couple of songs: Paper Tiger is L'histoire de Melody Nelson by Gainsbourgh...and Round the Bend is almost identical in arrangement to River Man by Nick Drake...but you can forgive him ... if you're going to steal, make it from royalty. This is an album born of heartbreak that will heal the soul. Beautiful.