You know, this is actually pretty good, for the most part. I’ll confess, my expectations were pretty bloody low for this album, given the extreme variability of Beck’s recent work.  Actually, the extreme variability of all of his work.

I loved Mutations, I liked Guero, I sort of liked Odelay and Mellow Gold, I like most of Sea Change, but albums like Midnite Vultures and The Information rather passed me by.  Maybe I need a Best of Beck playlist, and then I could just give up on expecting his albums to be great, because pretty much none of them are.  Almost all of them contain great bits, some more than others, but really only Mutations is great all the way through.

This particular outing is not bad though, and explores something of an indie-rock vibe, before settling into slightly more uneasily electronic-tinged stuff that will come as no surprise to his more regular listeners. It actually sounds not at all unlike Radiohead a lot of the time. Maybe the man just needs to release six or seven track mini-albums in order to focus on the best stuff.  If you trimmed his albums down to that length he’d look like a genius, but for the most part the material ends up being a bit thin for twelve song long players.

This is no exception.  Gamma Ray is good, Orphans is excellent, Chemtrails and Modern Guilt are both good, but then things drift a little before picking up right at the end.  So as I said, pretty good.  But that’s about it.

Beck – Orphans
Beck – Modern Guilt

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I wrote this recently for the new collaborative blog project to which I am contributing called Fun & Heartbreak. Some of your favourite bloggers are involved and it sounds like fun.

It’s very long and very, very personal so you won’t be seeing things like it on Song, by Toad anytime soon, but if any of you are that interested then a story of melodramatic heartbreak awaits, the likes of which Mills & Boon can only dream of.

And it gives me a chance to post one of my all time favourite songs, ever:

Tom Waits – Fish & Bird

This one seems kind of appropriate as well:

Beck – Guess I’m Doing Fine

You should all be off for a good cry after those two.

I don’t know if there is another group of more low-life lizards on the face of the planet than gaybashers, particularly those who make a song and dance about gay marriage being some sort of issue.

There are more evil and more psychopathic people, for sure, and more cynical and dishonest. Even the Iraq war cheerleaders are responding to the clear and serious danger of terrorism, albeit in the most insane way I can imagine. But at least the issue is real.

Gay marriage opponents who pretend that allowing other people the same rights they enjoy is in some way a threat to ‘families’ are basically using the relentless persecution and alienation of people who have done nothing to them as some sort of whipping boy (Rrowrr!) on which to inflict all their own insecurity, fear and self loathing. They are pathetic and they make me sick.

Mrs. Toad’s best man was gay. I have been to more gay weddings (two) than straight ones (my own) and the idea that this ‘gayness’ can in any way affect myself and my young lady’s desire to spend the rest of our lives together and raise a couple of irritating little gob-shites is so utterly farcical as to barely warrant a response.

So these disgraceful fucking lizards use their religion as little more than a stick to beat other people with and get all het up about the danger posed to families by people wanting to actually make more families. And yet, with a sort of depressing inevitability, there is nary a whisper heard about what our culture of entitlement and instant gratification might do to people’s determination to stick it out through the good times and the bad as their lover grows old and fat and wrinkly. I’m not making any claims, of course, but it seems a little more relevant than sticking your nose into the relationships of people who have absolutely no involvement in your life whatsoever.

What brought this on? Well apparently gay marriage represents a threat to families and children, but this sort of idiotic stunt doesn’t. Right. In the words of Wendy Leach: ‘Well thank you for popping in and protecting us.’

Beck – Sexxlaws Yes, I know, the obvious one.
Fleetwood Mac – Family Man Don’t whinge. I’m not a massive fan, but I heard this quite a lot growing up so I don’t hate it as much as my inner indie snob thinks I should!
Iggy Pop – A Family Affair
The Magnetic Fields – When My Boy Walks Down the Street