The Information (Beck album)

Last updated

It started out painless, and ended up being painful. It's as if we made the album once, and we made it again, and we made it a third time. We started the record in 2003, and we got together annually, the producer [Nigel Godrich] and I. We combed over everything, and got rid of the things we were tired of, the things that seemed trite.

Artwork

The album was issued with a blank sleeve and booklet and one of four different sheets of stickers for fans to make their own album art. Beck explained to Wired magazine that he wanted no two copies of the CD cover to be the same: "The artwork is going to be customizable. The idea is to provide something that calls for interactivity." [9] However, because the album art concept was seen as a gimmick to bolster retail sales, The Information was deemed ineligible to enter the UK Albums Chart. [10]

Album Title

Beck explained the album title in an NME track by track stating "'The Information' is the thing that occupies our minds, so we won't have to deal with silence which may make us think. The album was going to be called "International Dreambag', but I thought it was too hippy, so at the last minute I named it after this. I generally have a rule against title tracks - I wanted to call it 'Colourforms', but it was trademarked."

Promotion

A series of low budget videos were made for every song on the album. Beck explained the making of these videos—which would also appear on video-sharing site YouTube—to Wired: [9]

We filmed a series of very low-budget, homemade videos for all the songs on the record. We got a bunch of cameras and a $100 video mixer off eBay and shot 15 silly, impromptu videos against a green screen. We even invited our friends and family into the studio to be a part of the action – my mother-in-law did the lighting, and my son and nieces and nephews are running around acting crazy. It was just a complete free-for-all, done on the fly. We're putting all the videos together right now with the idea of having a visual version of the record that we'll put on the Internet. I'm totally curious to see how the videos will add to the experience of listening to the album. Or maybe they'll actually detract from the experience. That would be funny.

Beck leaked tracks and videos on his web site months ahead of the album's release. "We're moving into a time when the song and the imagery and video are all able to exist as one thing," said Beck. "It's not even technically an audio thing anymore. It's something else." He also remarked, "I've been trying to do something like this for the last three albums," having released several versions of his previous album Guero (2005), including a deluxe CD/DVD package and a remix album called Guerolito (2005). "The conventional ways aren't working like they used to, so now there's a willingness to try new things." [5]

The first single in North America was "Nausea", which was officially released to radio on September 5, 2006. [11] The song was promoted with an official music video directed by Patrick Daughters. [12]

The first single in the UK was "Cellphone's Dead", with an official video directed by Michel Gondry. [13] "Think I'm in Love" went to US radio as the second and final single and became a Modern Rock and Triple A radio hit, garnering renewed interest in The Information.[ citation needed ]

Release

Some copies of the album included a bonus DVD of the low budget music videos. [6]

On February 27, 2007, a "deluxe version" of the album was released by Interscope. [4] It included a DVD containing all of the music videos, several bonus tracks, all four sticker sheets and a disc consisting of six remixes of three songs. [14]

Reception

The Information
TheInformation.jpeg
Physical artwork
Studio album by
ReleasedOctober 3, 2006 (2006-10-03)
Recorded2003–2006
Studio
  • Ocean Way (Los Angeles)
  • Conway (Los Angeles)
  • Sound Isadore (Los Angeles)
  • Beck's garage (Los Angeles)
Genre
Length61:33
Label Interscope
Producer Nigel Godrich
Beck chronology
Guerolito
(2005)
The Information
(2006)
Modern Guilt
(2008)
Alternative cover
Beck The Information digital cover.jpg
Digital artwork
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 73/100 [15]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [16]
The A.V. Club A− [17]
Entertainment Weekly A− [18]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [19]
The Independent Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [20]
MSN Music (Consumer Guide)B+ [21]
NME 8/10 [22]
Pitchfork 6.9/10 [23]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [24]
Spin Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [25]

Commercial

The album reached number 7 on the US Billboard 200, number 6 in Canada and number 31 on Australia's ARIA Albums Chart. As of July 2008, The Information had sold 434,000 copies in the United States. [26]

Critical

Jon Pareles of The New York Times credited the album's dark themes as a reflection of the world's condition at the time and felt that Beck had made that apparent in the videos released alongside the album. Pareles described the album's approach as being a 1960s pop-infused sound with a more driven message. [27] Mike Driver of Drowned in Sound suggested that The Information was a mature and honest attempt at a multiple genre production without recreating what Beck had already accomplished. Driver praised Beck's variation in vocal style, ability to create a logical flow of tracks and the album's reflection of his unpredictable styles. [28] Barry Walters of The Village Voice described Beck as being as detached on The Information as he had ever been and opined that the band was far more energetic than he. Walters noted that Beck's work with Nigel Godrich was more sample-heavy than his collaborations with the Dust Brothers had been and felt that the album ultimately suffered from Beck's disconnected approach. [29] Nate Patrin of Pitchfork reviewed the deluxe edition of the album, which he felt was mostly a cash-in on an overlooked album, but praised the disc of remixes, which included mixes by big name performers. [30]

Rolling Stone magazine named The Information the 24th best album of 2006, while Spin magazine ranked it number 10 on their 40 Best Albums of 2006.

Retrospectively, Sean McCarthy of PopMatters felt The Information suffered from being overly long and was Beck's least interesting album, although he praised "Think I'm in Love," "Cellphone's Dead" and the title track. [31]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Beck Hansen, except where noted

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Elevator Music" 3:38
2."Think I'm in Love" 3:20
3."Cellphone's Dead" 4:46
4."Strange Apparition" 3:48
5."Soldier Jane"Hansen, Nigel Godrich 4:00
6."Nausea" 2:55
7."New Round" 3:26
8."Dark Star" 3:45
9."We Dance Alone" 3:56
10."No Complaints" 3:00
11."1000BPM" 2:30
12."Motorcade"Hansen, Godrich4:15
13."The Information" 3:46
14."Movie Theme"Hansen, Godrich3:52
15."The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton"Hansen, Godrich10:36
Total length:61:33
Bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
16."Inside Out" (box set + UK and Japanese releases)3:43
17."This Girl That I Know" (box set + UK and Japanese releases)2:43
18."O Menina" (box set + Japan releases)2:08

Deluxe version

Disc one contains the original 15-track album re-sequenced with "New Round" moved from track 7 to 14, "Dark Star" moved from track 8 to 7 and "Movie Theme" moved from track 14 to 8. The disc also includes all three Japanese bonus tracks from above for a total of 18 tracks.

Disc two – Remixes
No.TitleLength
1."Cellphone's Dead" (Ellen Allien remix)5:37
2."Nausea Pirates Mix" (Bumblebeez remix)2:28
3."Dark Star" (David Andrew Sitek remix)4:08
4."Nausea" (The Chap remix)3:55
5."Cellphone's Dead" (Jamie Lidell Limited Minutes remix)4:32
6."Cellphone's Dead Villalobos Entlebuch RMX" (Ricardo Villalobos remix)14:38

The third disc contains the following music videos. Most of them homemade by Beck.

Disc three – Videos
No.TitleLength
1."Elevator Music"3:47
2."Think I'm in Love"2:58
3."Cellphone's Dead"5:00
4."Strange Apparition"3:48
5."Soldier Jane"4:06
6."Nausea"2:52
7."New Round"3:29
8."Dark Star"6:18
9."We Dance Alone"1:32
10."No Complaints"2:59
11."1000 BPM"2:39
12."Motorcade"2:35
13."The Information"4:00
14."Movie Theme"4:00
15."The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton"11:01
16."Inside Out"4:32
17."This Girl That I Know"2:57
18."Cellphone's Dead" (directed by Michel Gondry)9:34
19."Nausea" (directed by Patrick Daughters)4:31

Sample credits

Personnel

Technical

Charts

Chart (2006)Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA) [33] 31
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [34] 56
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [35] 22
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [36] 50
Canadian Albums (Billboard) [37] 6
Danish Albums (Hitlisten) [38] 15
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [39] 58
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) [40] 39
French Albums (SNEP) [41] 40
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [42] 78
Italian Albums (FIMI) [43] 29
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [44] 37
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [45] 20
Portuguese Albums (AFP) [46] 26
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [47] 32
US Billboard 200 [48] 7
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) [49] 3

The United Kingdom's Official Charts Company deemed The Information ineligible to chart, as they felt its customizable sticker album art gave it "an unfair advantage" in terms of album sales. [50]

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [51] Gold50,000^
United States (RIAA) [52] Gold500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

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