Colors by Beck

You all know Beck. He’s been a musical chameleon for nearly 25 years, starting with his massively successful single “Loser” in 1994. His last album, Morning Phase, has grown on me considerably since I ranked it #26 in 2014. And his 2009 project, Record Club, when he covered the entirety of Velvet Underground’s debut album, I ranked it #7 that year (Hmmm… I should go back and re-listen to that).

Beck can seemingly turn anything he does into gold. According to wikipedia, he “became known for creating musical collages of wide genre styles … he musically encompasses folk, funk, soul, hip hop, electronic, alternative rock, country, and psychedelia.” Like I said, a musical chameleon. I’ve been a fan of most of his work since he began, and it never ceases to amaze me when I’m playing something older of Beck’s and whoever is listening with me is surprised to learn that it’s him. Apparently, everybody has Beck pigeonholed into the mold of that one song they know by him (which could be any number of disparate songs). So when they’re presented with any of his other work, they’re thrown off.

Colors, his 13th album, gives us a dancey, disco-fueled version of Beck, led by the fantastically good song “Wow,” featured above. Go ahead and hit play, I’ll wait.

Did you hit replay when it was done? How many times? When this song first came out in June 2016 I was blown away, and then was disappointed to learn that no new album had been mentioned. 16 months later, Colors finally came out, and it delivered. If you haven’t yet heard it, I command you to do so.

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31. A Moment Apart by Odesza

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