Track Listing

1. Elevator Music
2. Think I'm In Love
3. Cellphone's Dead
4. Strange Apparition
5. Soldier Jane
6. Nausea
7. New Round
8. Dark Star
9. We Dance Alone
10. No Complaints
11. 1000BPM
12. Motorcade
13. The Information
14. Movie Theme
15. The Horrible Fanfare / Landslide / Exoskeleton
16. Inside Out
17. This Girl That I Know

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7203 in Music
• Released on: 2006-10-02
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 68 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Old-school Beck fans rejoice - The Information finds Beck Hansen in goofy mood for the first time since Midnite Vultures, chucking out inspired wisecracks and surrealist couplets like the sombre, acoustic-tinged moods of 2002's Sea Change never happened. Produced by sometime Beck collaborator Nigel Godrich, last seen working on Thom Yorke's The Eraser, The Information is a strange mix of bluesy Americana rootsiness, wonky hip-hop beats and cosmic synthesiser, all wound together in accordance with Beck's fried, futuristic, utterly individual vision.

Most importantly, it's enjoyable and instantly accessible. The opening "Elevator Music" recalls the free-wheeling spirit of "Where It's At", all rolling beats, clacking Tropicalia scraper and distant melodica, while the excellent "Cellphone's Dead" imagines "Voodoo curses, Bible tongues/Voices coming from the mangled lungs" atop a track that veers between squelchy hip hop and Screamadelica-style acoustic strum. And sure, it gets weird – see the broiling, funky cyberpunk narrative "1000 BPM" ("Telemarketing people with cellular headsets on their skulls/Selling you wisdom from a plexiglass prism,") or the 12-minute finale "Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton", which ends with a hushed conversation about travelling into space, possibly born of Beck's membership of Hollywood celeb-religion Scientology – but the out-there moments bookend some of Beck's finest, funnest material in years. If you lost him for a bit there, now's time to tune back in. --Louis Pattison

CD Description
'The Information' is the seventh studio album from eclecticAmerican singer/songwriter Beck Hansen. Produced by Nigel Godrich - who worked with Beck on 'Sea Changes' and 'Mutations' - the album sees Beck return to the hip hop inspired sound that graced his earlier releases while managing to retain the introspective sound that appeared on his Godrich produced albums. The single 'Cellphone's Dead' is also included.

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Customer Reviews

Beck does it again!
Back in the day when Odelay was released I'd encountered Beck only from the Loser video I saw intermittently on MTV. Liking this track and having heard a snippet of Devil's haircut, I decided to take a chance on the CD. Now considering all I lived for at that time was pure dance/garage, this was a big step. I remember listening to the album in its entirety and although it was ok I doubted that it would ever feature in my top 50 of all time. Luckily i listened a second time, and a third, and a fourth and found the sonic world of Beck opening up to me. So much so that it's addictive nature has made it one of my favourite discs of all time!! I expected more of the same from midnight vultures but was hugely disappointed. Even Guero didn't scratch that same itch. The information however has taken me back to that special place. Again it's a grower. But what a grower!!! Each track answers the music needs you require and compliments every other track. A masterpiece as good, if not better, than odelay. Free your mind and your ass will follow.

Beck is Back
Never written a review of anything before, but the return to form of America's most consistently interesting songwriter was not something I could leave unheralded. Guero, the album Beck had out only eighteen months ago, was such a major disappointment that I had no real expectations for The Information.

Well, I only bought The Information yesterday evening and I am already giving it a fifth run through, with harmonies, grooves and melodies solidifying in my mind and new sounds, unexpected angles and hidden corners being uncovered with every listen. The songwriting is better and the sound, produced expertly again by Nigel Godrich, is richer and fuller.

Beck is back, thank God(rich)!

Beck's masterpiece
Beck has always proved a bit of an enigma; part post-modern playboy and part wounded troubador and some are not sure which is best. Some would claim the shallow fun of Odelay is his stroke of genius; while others claim Sea Change (the album most claim to be a real bore-their wrong; it's beautiful) to be the one. Well with The Information I belive he's finally done it! And the reason? He's successfully married his weird, funny cool rap style with his sensitive side. The Information is all about our modern times; the confusion, the fear, the craziness is brilliantly captured on an album that will leave you breathless. So we get those crazy indie hipster rap songs of old (Elevator Music, Cellphones Dead) and beautiful heartache songs (the brilliant Soldier Jane and We Dance Alone).
Some of said the 17 tracks is a bit much, but I disagree, there's such a range of styles here you don't have time to get bored. This is a musician realising how to marry up the contrasting musical sides of his nature, as well as telling us about our messed up modern world. This is an album that reflects this time in history; and that makes it very important!
Album of the year; no doubt; possibly album of the decade! I am not kidding; buy it NOW!