Reviews (page 2 of 13)
It’s like being smacked in the face by a nice summer breeze. What a good album
Love it
Love me some Beck! So chill and so lyrical.
This album is such a mood. While I enjoy Beck’s more eclectic, lively, energetic albums (Odelay, Colors), the melancholy that pervades this album feels so distinct. Featuring some of his best songs—“Lost Cause,” “Guess I’m Doing Fine,” “Lonesome Tears”—the album is lush, beautiful, and heartbreaking. It’s one that I can have on in the background or can listen to intently and enjoy equally. Great lyrical and melodic writing throughout. If I have any criticism, it’s that the album is so consistent, the songs veer into the territory of all sounding the same. Nonetheless, I love this album and think it deserves the 5 stars.
Great album
I have absolutely fallen in love with this album. It's so dreamy and easy to get lost in all the diverse sounds, as well as the incredible mellow vocal performances from Beck himself. Definitely one I will be keeping in consistent rotation from now on.
A much more mellow offering than usual from Beck but a hugely important departure in his career that maintains his roots but explores new directions. There are no bad songs on this album. Standout tracks: The Golden Age, PAper Tiger, Lost Cause
I cannot believe I loved it that much. I've always recognized this album cover, but I wasn't that interested in Beck at age 6. Now, though? Hell yes.
Beck is one of the rare artists that has had 30+ year carrier and has been relevant with every album released over time. I think Beck is incredibly talented and i fucking love his music! This is a wonderfuly beautiful album ❤️
amoxicillin
A huge and welcome departure from his earlier albums. Melancholy provides a beautiful counterpoint to the party music he's known for.
Good
What an amazing twist in Beck's journey. I have always thought his lyrics were his weak point and the creative musical structures carried things and here he strips everything down and it would interesting were it mediocre but he makes a beautifully realized album and doesn't rely on his strengths. Its a marvel. I bought this album on the day my daughter was due.. it had just come out... We played it on repeat when my wife was in labor at the hopsital so it will always bring up a slew of emotions for me.
top notch album
Awesome album, Beck's best.
One of my favorite Beck albums. Mellow and relaxed.
Love this album from beginning to end.
cool
same as yesterday🤩
This album hit me like a ton of bricks. I'd never really listened to Beck before, and the album art (which looks like it could've been done in photoshop in about 5 minutes) didn't give me high hopes for the album itself. But I've been going through a melancholic phase and this was exactly what I needed to reflect on that and get through it. It's the rare album that shows up for you exactly when you need it. The album itself is filled with that bittersweet sensation - joy, sadness, melancholy, it's all there in Beck's voice, the melodies, and the quiet background. To me it captures the feeling of a lonely sunset drive. It's exactly what you need to reflect and get through a moment, and that to me is ultimately what a great album can capture. A good album has great tracks that you love to listen to, and is maybe full of them. A great album transcends that, capturing a feeling, an experience, perhaps even taking through a series of emotions and is something you turn to when you need to move through those, for whatever reason. This is that, and I would contend is one of the best albums on this list as a result. A true masterpiece.
Stone cold banger. Slaps from beginning to end. Often overshadowed by funkier/bigger albums by Beck, Sea Change is exactly that. It's so good they gave him a make-up grammy a decade later for a lesser album
10/10 I will love Beck till the day I die
Classic album that I’ve played many times and now heard live. Quintessential folksy Beck, one of my all-time favorite artists.
so depressing but exactly what I needed Good for him for getting catharsis!
Nice change of pace. Honestly surprised how much I liked this album.
The orchestration is straight up yummy, especially in Paper Tiger and Round The Bend. Wonderful, chilled out vibes with more to it than might initially hit the ear. End Of The Day forces me to slow down and match its pace in a way that's really luscious. LOVE when Sunday Sun gets a little bit crunchy, it's so freaking fun. Overall a great listen, I loved it.
Great album, really showed the artistic side of Beck.
I've been sleeping on Beck. this is such a beutiful somber album. one of my favorite parts was when the left ear was an electronic sound and the right ear was and acoustic guitar
Really loved and connected with this one! I had not heard this style from Beck before.
Spaced out country and sad, string-laden pop. A beautiful album with fantastic production. The music captures the melancholy fog of heartbreak. But the songwriting is so strong that I don’t mind spending 50 minutes with that tone. And Beck has a gorgeous singing voice. His typical style doesn’t get to showcase it as much.
Where has this album been all my life? It’s perfect. Prod by Nigel Godbitch. What a legend. Need to let this one sink in
Super chill
This is a perfect choice for this list. While albums like Guero, Modern Guilt and Mellow Gold might be more obvious choices, Sea Change is a snapshot of Beck at a pivotal moment in his career. A departure from a celebrated artist's then-signature production style that proves he's no one-trick pony. Post-breakup Beck strips it all back to plumb the depths of melancholia and psychedelia and yet nothing here feels plodding or tired. String arrangements on Paper Tiger are incredible, which makes sense given that's what his dad did for a living. B side of the record introduces elements more atmospheric like Sigur Ros, harmonic like the Beach Boys, and grungy like Nirvana alternatively. I thought I would enjoy this but I didn't anticipate it holding up THIS well.
oh hello there stranger! even more beautiful than I remembered. Worth listening to in full! I love it so much, I may need to buy it on vinyl so I can hear it all the time
More chilled than I recall it being. Also liked it a lot more than I remember.
- Sound: Sparse, minimal production. Acoustic guitar, piano, strings. Very intimate vocals. Little to no drums. - Mood: Introspective and melancholic throughout. Lots of empty space. - Instrumentation gradually builds through the middle of the album, then pulls back at the end.
The first proper surprise of this list. I didn’t know what to expect with this album but it’s a collection of beautiful songs, I thoroughly enjoyed it
It's good. Sort of like John Martyn and Radiohead but with none of the sardonic reprieve occasionally shared by either. Depressing and melodic and I don't think I'd listen again unless I massively wanted to come down. Would imagine it's best when walking hungover on a bright spring day.
I actually liked this one more than the other one. More ballads. Good album!
Beautiful production and acoustic centered arrangements. His lyrics about his relationship coming to an end, in my interpretation at least, made my own relationship anxietys flare up
I only knew Beck from the song Loser so this was not what I expected at all and far exceeded those expectations. Really wonderful instrumentals with amazing strings from guitar to cello. The melodies were also very beautiful and even while a bit repetitive at times, still maintain this cool atmosphere and chill vibe overall. The vocals are very stripped back and work so well in that context. Altogether just a great listening experience.
Really beautiful. Slow, passionate, and intricately recorded. I will absolutely listen to this again and again, a top find.
I didn’t understand this album when Beck released it, but I’ve come to love it since. Sea Change and Morning Phase are my two favorites in his catalog.
Definitely Michael Cera’s best album.
A brilliant, left turn of an album that still sounds amazing today. High 4s.
I really enjoy this one. I had listened to Mellow Gold when it came out. Then sort of stopped listening to Beck for a while. Recently this record showed up on my radar and it’s lead me back into Beck.
i, for one, quite like mellow sad beck
This was a beautiful album. Mournful and understated, I really like this version of Beck. He should have his heart broken more often and write albums from the resulting chasm of sadness. I'm sure certain billionaires will attest that this is a money-making strategy.
Beck refuses to be pinned down to any style or genre. He changes like a chameleon and does most stuff incredibly well. This is one of my favorites of his. It seems like he channeled the spirit of Nick Drake for this one.
Has anyone considered hugging Beck? It’s a beautiful album but hauntingly sad.
His Nick Drake album
Love this record. And I love when Beck would just drop a rando new style on you out of nowhere. "Lost Cause" is just one of the best he's ever done.
Utterly beautiful sounding album. Richly produced with some lush string arrangements and lovely arrangements backing an intimately recorded Beck. But what a misery. 12 slow to medium tempo ballads with more sadness than a country and western album. And yes, he had just broken up with his long term partner and his heart was broken, but an hour of it is a bit of a trial to listen to. The comedian Bill Bailey said, "I wrote a song for Adele called, I Broke Up with My Boyfriend, But I'm Not Going to Go On About It" and really you could make the same joke about Beck. I would certainly listen to individual songs again but sitting through the whole thing seems too much to ask.
Before listening, I already know a total of three Beck songs, and none of them are from this album. I like those songs, so I'm looking forward to checking it out. • The Golden Age is a lot quieter than the Beck songs I know • Paper Tiger is too, but it has a bit more going on. I like the drums and the strings that are brought in • Lost Cause is a good song, it reminds me of Jack Johnson • The album is really struggling to hold my attention, every song feels built off the same template. • I do like how the lead guitar in Already Dead gets a little microtonal, it's something unique • Little One is a nice song While I didn't hate this album, I did find it pretty boring. The more mellow take on Beck's music is nice for a couple of tracks, but doing it over a whole album is pretty draining. The album feels fairly devoid of what makes Beck's music unique, and it doesn't really stand out as a singer songwriter album. I see a couple of other Beck albums on the list, including the one Devil's Haircut is from, so I hope those will click with me more Favourite song: Little One
With more than 20 years of perspective, this really does seem to capture the Pitchfork bro vibe of the early '00s. It's sad and melancholic and easy to listen to. Its use of strings screams sophistication, if you're the kind of person to confuse a large studio budget for sophistication. It was also a transformational record - something those hipsters really got on board with - as Hansen seemed to stop fucking around with the party sound and get down to serious biz. It captured the timber of the self-important early aughts, but, man, it's just another folk-thing chronicling the unbearable pain of being white and boring. These songs are fine enough, but are they worth making room in your life for? Not really.
Hmm, a bit boring I have to say. The voice can be quite monotone
1 absolute classic song (Lost Cause), rest is just "good" which is good enough!
Really enjoyed this. Beck puts a lot of emotion into his albums.
Good but kinda dry
Really good. Some great songs. Drags at some points.
Not what I expected from Beck. But I really only know the hits. I like “paper tigers” a lot. There is a lot happening in there. I really like “lost cause”. I really like the last song “side of the road” for the use of tremolo.
Sad Beck chills you out with sad songs. It's fine for background but never really grabbed me.
”Sea Changes” has a good title and a shushing, lullaby swing to it that grew on me over a day without ever sticking. There are some gorgeous chord changes, though none without some nagging sense of familiarity, Beck’s magpie nature never fully sublimated into free invention. It’s very tasteful: Beck curates a fine selection of influences. “Paper Tiger” was moving me more than I could rationalise until I realised it’s an adroit lift of Jean-Claude Vannier‘s sorcery on “Hiistoire de Melody Nelson”. Much of this record’s emotional weight may be carried by the mumbled lyrics. The mumbling is easy on the ear, but no line snagged, just conveying Sad Beck is Sad.
I did not like this at the time, ripped from Kazaa and deleted within a day or two. Listening today it didn't seem too bad but got steadily more dull after about 3 tracks. "Mutations" has all the sulky Beck you could need
Dreamy and melancholic, with a little edge here and there. While the album was cohesive, I wish there was a little more variation in tempo or feeling. Solid 3.
Paper Tiger is a straight ripoff of Serge Gainsbourg’s Histoire de Melody Nelson, but it’s well done. Nice arrangements here throughout that are sparse and breathe but include tasteful additions to build the song. The strings really fit the feel and bring some sophistication and drama. It gets cool when they’re paired with synthy sounds like the end of Lonesome Tears. Otherwise, just some mellow, sad guy Beck. Decent album that’s a bit slow at times, but I prefer weirdo lo-fi Beck…I should revisit his discography.
Very chill, but not as good as earlier/edgier Beck albums. Decent, but a bit bland, especially compared to Odelay.
Nr. 22/1001 The Golden Age 4/5 Paper Tiger 3/5 Guess I'm Doing Fine 4/5 Lonesome Tears 3/5 Lost Cause 4/5 End Of The Day 3/5 It's All In Your Mind 4/5 Round The Bend 3/5 Already Dead 3/5 Sunday Sun 3/5 Little One 3/5 Side Of The Road 3/5 Average: 3,33 Very somber record, with great songwriting. I felt it lacked some diversity towards the end.
On paper I should love this album. It's chill, melancholy folk. It sounds like an album that I would write. It just has the right flourishes of alternative sounds mixed in like the strings or synths. But I just don't love this album. The flourishes can be a bit overpowering and I just don't like Beck's voice. Put some Sufjan Stevens or Ray LaMontagne vocals on this instead and it might be a 5 star album for me. Between the voice and the weirdness of some of the back half I just don't enjoy it that much.
It reminds me of Willy Wonka somehow. I like it.
More I listen the more I want to kill myself.
🫤
i continue to be unimpressed by Beck.
I generally like Beck but can't really get into this album.
The Good: an album which informs us about climate change… The Bad: wait, I misread that, Sea Change is not about climate change… The Ugly: the break-up? Let me ask you this: if an unknown artist would have released this exact album, would people have been raving about it? Because I believe that the answer to that question is a resounding NO! Which makes one wonder if this album is overrated, or if we’ve been ignorant to many other albums from unknown people which should be rated a lot higher! What we’ve learned from this album is that break-ups are always great muses for musicians, and that sadness sucks… As I was never that much into Beck, I had not heard about this album, nor had I listened to the album Odelay, which I really liked. So, I was curious about this album… and now, well, now I understand better the ol’ saying of “curiosity killed the cat”… 2* for not hating it totally, but I could have been spared this listening experience...
Too depressing for me! Cheer up, Beck, it wouldn’t kill you to sing a song with some tempo you know!
I generally like morose music and Beck is talented but this is boring disguised as depressing. Too long, too monotonous and really nothing to delineate one song from another. If I am suffering from insomnia I will remember this album though
Poor me songs. Poor me for hearing them.
"I try to sing it funny like Beck, but it's bringing me down." But what if Beck stops singing it funny? I missed the album between Midnite Vultures and Guero. I don't remember why, but it is possible that I knew Beck was sad and I feared an entire album of Nobody's Fault But My Own from Mutations. Not that I dislike that song, but there is something about its sincerity than never set well with me. It is something in the quality of his voice. For so long, the grandson of the Fluxus artist was doing a bit that everything sounds like a bit to me. Nobody's Fault - a genre exercise in having feelings - was fine, because it was one collage piece among many. Sea Change is wearying though. Say you're postmodern enough and no one will believe it when you bare your soul. Or I don't anyway. This collage is made largely from Nick Drake albums cut up and arranged in such a way that you don't see the joins. Indeed, the best sounding element of the album is the sample from Serge Gainsbourg, a chink in the singer-songwriter veneer. I like Beck and I don't want him to be sad. I also want to believe him when he's expressing himself and it is the voice more than anything that stops me. He did used to sing it funny, but the wind rather than the sea changed and his voice got stuck that way. 1.5 There is a settled consensus on Beck’s Sea Change which has it as his best album; ‘Beck’s Blood on the Tracks’ seems to be a very common tag in critical accounts of it. Well I love the 3 studio albums that Beck made that precede Sea Change and I love Blood on the Tracks too. So naturally I hate Sea Change. I have tried many times with Sea Change - I bought it the day it came out, puzzled over my dislike of it over many listens since and I tried again this weekend. It’s a dreadful album and how anyone can love it and call it his best work is astonishing to me. It is, no doubt, the sound of a certain type of heartbreak but the prevailing character is not of pained recollection or confession - it is of emotional and creative numbness. Dylan explored his pain obliquely, inventing characters and rambling scenarios (Tangled Up in Blue, Idiot Wind, Shelter from the Storm) and with considerable lightness of touch (would anyone accuse even You’re a Big Girl Now or If You See Her Say Hello of wallowing?). Beck has none of that. Every track on Sea Change conveys a dazed self-absorption in maudlin cliché. ‘These days I barely get by/ I don't even try’ (Golden Age) Lonesome tears I can't cry them anymore I can't think of what they're for Oh, they ruin me every time (Lonesome Tears) I’ve seen the end of the day come too soon/ Not a lot to say, not a lot to do (The End of the Day) ‘It feels like I'm watching something die’ (Already Dead) Aye me too Beck. But let’s set that all aside for a minute because truthfully a comparison between Blood on the Tracks and almost any other album ever made is very unfair. Wouldn’t it be more just to compare it to some of Beck‘s previous albums? Well unfortunately for Sea Change those albums are bloody fantastic as well. When I think of Odelay, Mutations and Midnite Vultures - they had merely absurd (and funny) lyrics most of the time but my goodness the musical inspiration that just cascades out at you; effortless and fearless and so rich with what must have been spontaneous ideas that you have to laugh. That’s all gone on Sea Change. So is the sense of musicians playing in a room that makes Mutations so gripping. Sea Change feels like it was made in parts; it feels cleaner, airless, more figured out and yet much less inspired - ‘clinical’ is probably the word I am looking for. Listen to the guitars on Dead Melodies then listen to Lost Cause; listen to the guitar on Sing it Again then put on Already Dead. Something has died indeed. This effect is not aided by the addition of the pompous melodrama of the string parts; I find Lonesome Tears embarrassing to listen to. This is the sound of an artist and his band and his producer (exactly the same crew that made Mutations and Midnite Vultures mind!!) polishing mundane songs and mundane musical ideas to death. Death. Fuck it, let’s return unjustly to Blood on the Tracks. Despite a death-y title, Dylan’s album is actually about life, where loss is a part of it. Beck’s album, it seems to me, is merely about being dead. His lyrics are dead, his sense of humour dead, his musical playfulness, even his singing voice, dead. The band, when they arrive halfway through ‘It’s All in Your Mind’ sound like they want to be dead if they aren’t there already. This album is one mechanical dirge after another. Music that is made not by humans in communication but as a result of a mechanism being wound. To me it represents, more or less, the end of Beck artistically - though plenty of people will disagree as they do with Sea Change. When he returned with Guero a few years after this, trying desperately to relocate his Beckiness, it just wasn’t the same. Guero is actually a much more difficult album for the coroner’s table because on the surface it does do all the things that Sea Change doesn’t - it has energy, variety and humour - but somehow it is almost as creatively empty. I have done a lot of complaining here but I should reemphasise at the end that Odelay, Midnite Vultures and especially Mutations are albums that I love and will always have very high regard for. I hate Sea Change but I love Beck. While I am disgusted that the world chose to anoint Sea Change rather than reject it I don’t blame Beck for making it; he obviously couldn’t make anything else at this particular time. ‘Life is sad; life is a bust/ All you can do is do what you must’ (Bob Dylan, Buckets of Rain) 1/5
God this album is boring and painful.
Why is it always the later era album that gets picked for this list? I’d have given any of the earlier albums better reviews. This one sounds like one long boring song. Guh.
I really hated this. I like Becks other albums but this was a real chore. I didn't get the sad or melancholy that other people seemed to, for me it was just boring and flat. Same thing happened to me with Ghosteen which had similar comments about the emotion of it. I guess I just don't connect to whatever it is about this kind of music that is supposed to make you feel something.
Flatly insane to include this album on this list. It would only meet the criteria if there were more than a thousand Beck albums and then you could be like wow what a step outside of the box for Beck. Honestly beck has certainly earned the right to make this album, but it is not what I want when I go to the “Beck” section of the music store. Get it outta here
I have never heard a more boring album. This took me over a week to get through because it was so boring. Would it kill Beck to make a song that was even somewhat effective at holding my attention? Can he please stop mumbling for at least one song? The worst part is that I don't think the music was objectively bad. I just think it sounds like he went into the recording studio and had zero enthusiasm for anything he was doing. I truly don't know how this album is a "must hear".
not clear when one song ends and the next begins lost cause
I listened to 3 songs on this and it was incredibly boring. I couldn't stand it. On an note that doesn't affect my thoughts on the album, I thought for a second the album cover had Micheal Cera on it. Nope, he and Beck just look very similar. 1/5
Interesting to start an album with a slow song. Didn't even know the second song had started because it sounded like the first..... as did the 3rd song.... and the 4th...... and the 5th..... BORED !!!!
1 star. Chilled out but not engaging or interesting...just sort of droned on. Was waiting for something more energetic and familiar but it never happened, so that was frustrating
Slow and boring. How this cracked a best of list is beyond me.
Discogs said this was one of the 'best breakup albums of all time,' so if by breakup album you mean plodding, repetitive, mumbly moaning tracks and by best you mean worst, I agree.
Love this album, but why so miserable and mopey Beck?
This album has been one of my faves, the past 15 years or so (I don't own it, but have checked out the CD from the library multiple times). Beck's albums are (informally) divided into quiet and loud, and this is maybe the best of his 'quiet' albums. And it's a case (at least for me) where a fairly uniform feel throughout the album (introspective, in this case?) is a plus, rather than a minus. It's between a 4 and a 5 for me, and I'm gonna nudge it up to a 5 for slightly sentimental reasons, possibly, in the sense that it's been important for me, and an album I've enjoyed a lot, even though I have doubts about whether, musically speaking, it's fully deserving of 5 stars (though maybe it is). Anyway, it's enough to nudge it up to a low 5, for me. This is a great album for mellow contemplation and quiet introspection.
This is such a gorgeous, mellow, sad masterpiece.
One of the best break-up albums of all time. 5 stars
Look, it's a vibe. Maybe everyone else has a different rating scale than I do but I fuck heavy with a vibe album. Someone else mentioned Air, I'd toss Panda Bear in as well. Something I can put on, lay back, and enjoy in a hammock
Oh, geeze. You win, Beck. This gets a 5. Normally I'd give Morning Phase the 5, but this will have to do as it's the only one that holds up. Word of advice. This album was generated the day before my wedding, and I stupidly listened to it the morning of. Don't do this, unless you'd like to bawl your eyes out before what should be the happiest day of your life. This album is heartbreaking yet beautiful. Conflicting emotions of love and loss, truly mature but full of experimentation with reverb, odd chords, and vicious string arrangements. Only Ween's Quebec comes close, in my mind, as far as confessional rock albums go. It's a difficult listen, yet filled with hope. I can't believe I missed it after all this time. Maybe a bit too long and painful, but listening it in phases is perhaps better (akin to how we grieve). Nothing more to say here. Truly sensational.
Using this album as a way to help him get over the breakdown of a long-term relationship, Beck drops his goofy persona and releases an album that is full of sincerity. You can hear Beck taking influence from folk artists like Nick Drake. Beck sounds heartbroken, but this isn't a sad sack record. The strings are beautiful here and gives the sings a sense of hope as they build up. They feel like the light at the end of the tunnel as Beck works through the aftermath of the relationship ending. On "Paper Tigers", the instrumentation sounds so lush and cinematic that it reminded me of the music that you would find in a Serge Gainsbourg album. "Lonesome Tears" is my favourite song on here as the soaring strings build up to a euphoric crescendo. This is one of my favourite discoveries so far whilst doing this project and I will definitely be diving in to Beck's other albums.
Beautiful heartbreaking record. It was great to revisit.
Amazing album. I love how Beck changes styles and keeps things interesting from album to album. This is definitely more accessible than some of his weirder stuff. Everything about it is great - voice, arrangements, production. I think John Grant owes this a debt of gratitude too as it was out before the equally brilliant Queen of Denmark and it's very similar.
Летняя тоска
Another album I was able to listen to on CD. My favourite Beck album, Lovely.
Yep, he’s a genius.
Loved it, listened multiple times throughout the day. Some slow burn deep tracks that I can't get enough of
LOVED!
Though it falters a bit on Side-B, Sea Change is an absolute masterpiece of a record. The folksy psychedelia is a perfect balance to what has to be one of the best modern breakup albums. I could listen to it infinitely and never grow tired of the subtle beauty found in between the sadness.
muy muy bueno, los sonidos la guitarra, simplemente me ha encantado, es melancólico, te transporta a otro mundo, yo que solo conocía loser de beck es que nadita que ver
I absolutely love beck. So chill and his sound is quite unique as well. Fully aware my review is bias due to significant childhood nostalgia of my parent owning and playing this CD loads when I was young. Don’t care. Still obsessed.
If you love this album, I can guess your age within 3 years, how tight your jeans are, and if you’ve sat cross legged on the floor of a two-bedroom house that four roommates shared while a scene-famous artist played a secret show.
Fantastic chilled album, no notes
I enjoyed the bit I read from wiki about this album and what Bwck went through for these songs. The Golden Age & Lost Cause were highlights for me. Unclear if I’ll explore more of Becks work but I enjoyed the opportunity and exposure to this album.
Quite amazing. Every time Beck announces a new album, the listeners never know what to expect. However, whether you like the chosen style or not, there is a darn good chance that it will be a quality production.
Loved it, beautiful and serene
#346/1001. First Beck encounter on this list, hopefully there will be more. This was the period when every second Beck album was a mellow meditation and every second a musical montage - and I still like both of those styles. all that said, even though I count it among one of my possible desert island discs, Sea Changes is the last Beck album in that alternating cycle that I paid close attention to. Perhaps good to quit when the party is at its highest peak?
Absolutely incredible! I’m in love with how well produced this album is. Through the expansive arrangements and stripped-down, intimate ones, this album never seems to lose its emotional resonance. This album creates a sound that is both lavish and reserved. Another interesting layer comes from Beck’s voice, which works perfectly with the soundscapes he’s working with. Overall it’s an album that turns heartbreak into something beautiful, while also creating an unforgettable experience.
One of the greatest morning albums ever recorded.
Melancholic and magnificent. One of Beck's best.
cool album
One of the greatest albums of all time. Can even forgive the Scientology.
I have loved all of Beck's albums so far, on and off of the list. The best part about them is that you never know what's coming next. This was a very good and enjoyable listen.
Beck the chameleon. He can do it all and on Sea Change, he does it to a remarkably high standard. I'm as happy listening to electro Beck as I am acoustic Beck. Not a bad song on this album. In fact, I like it so much, it's getting a 5. I especially like the flurry of dynamics towards the end of the record with Sunday Sun (which could easily have fit on Mutations) and Little One (especially the reverb on the vocals.) Best: Paper Tiger, End of the Day, The Golden Age.
Når Becks hjerte knuses sender han en musikalsk gave til verdenen. Heldigvis/desværre er det kun sket et par gange. Men både Sea Change og dets senere søster-album Morning Phase er smukke mesterværker.
Ah man I love this album. It’s such a gentle experience, but there’s so much mood and texture to it. Beck’s voice is simply sublime. I was lucky enough to see him at the Royal Albert Hall last year, along with an 80-piece orchestra (!) and it was one of the best gig’s I’ve ever seen. Naturally he mined quite deeply from this album. Going in, I was very much looking forward to them getting into the ending of ‘Lonesome Tears’ and it did not disappoint. Spine shivers! It's also worth pointing out that thanks to this 1001 project I can now also identify how much ‘Melody Nelson’ influenced the track Paper Tiger (in particular). The bass and strings are completely on-point. I think you can charitably call it an homage. I love this. And mad props to the guy for putting out such a vast array of music in all sorts of styles, and doing all of them so well. He’s a true artist.
Track one is gentle and lovely. Like the xylophone touches. Track two takes it a step further with lovely string production. 3 is a powerful one lyricaly. Great guitar work. I'm very impressed so far. 4 is another great reflective tune. I enjoye his singing more than I expected. 5 is the most mainstream one here but so beautiful again. Xylophone comes back. 6 is another one with stunning production from Nigel Godrich, whom I love dearly from his work with radiohead. 7 Is a small self incorouging song. Lovely. I was waiting for a dark-dark song on here, which came in the form of 8. A massive song. One of my favorites here. 9 is back to the acoustic vibe with some great vocal and guitar lines 10 has a bit of beatles in India sound to it. Refreshing in this track list. Some great piano touches here and there. 11 is the most "American" track here, I don't know how to explain it really. Strange harmony in the verses and a powerful chorus. A grower. 12 is a perfect closing track. What can I say. A gorgeous album. From the albums I heard for the first time on the generator, this is one of my favorites. The songs are incredible and very moving. The production is incredible. Very influential but also restrained. Nigel has an incredible ear. It has to be 5.
Outstanding, like radiohead minus inconsistency
Þessi er aftur á móti stórfengleg í allri sinni melankólíu. Var falleg og góð 2002 og er það enn í dag.
Atmospheric
Top of the class …
If you ever want to wallow in heartache, this is the album to listen to. And I mean that as a compliment. A total gut punch and so different from what Beck had done before. A masterpiece in misery. Favorites: The Golden Age, Guess I’m Doing Fine, Lost Cause, End of the Day Would I listen to it again: Yes
16/03/2026 *1. the golden age - nice guitar... slide guitar!!!! wowowowow! immediately this is right up my street! kindof shoegazey? love how dreamy it is! love the backing vocals... absolutely gorgeous <3 *2. paper tiger - love the opening drums... bass is great! loving the strings!!!! it's like this song was made in a lab for me!!! aaarjgh!!!! guitar with the strings is phenomenal!! *3. guess i'm doing fine - lovely guitar... love the kindof country sound? also the very 60s chamber pop vibe... his hair on the cover reminds me abit of scott walker. loving the piano on this!! beautiful! *4. lonesome tears - loooooving the start!! wowowoow!! the strings are beautiful <3 5. lost cause - reallly sweet guitar. absolutely lovely :) *8. end of the day - really love the two guitars together... wow! 7. it's all in your mind - really beautiful <3 *8. round the bend - loving the start! very atmospheric... more like a soundtrack... fantastic!! 9. already dead - more acoustic again. really lovely :) great! *10. sunday sun - ooo liking it immediately! very psychedelic... great! looove the ending! *11. little one - love it! bridge is fantastic!!! *12. side of the road - lovely... very sweet <3 wasn't sure what to think going into this based off of the cover and loser being the only beck song i've listened to before, but absolutely loved it!!! incredibly beautiful <333
top adoreis
Strangely I don't remember ever listening to this album and yet almost all of the songs felt quite familiar. Unexpectedly great. I've sworn off sad guy music - a la Ryan Adams or Nick Drake - but I think what makes this great is that Beck is such a fun guy in his other music that this feels like a fully balanced human portrait, not just a depressive/suicidal dude. Musicianship and songwriting is A+ from start to finish even if it does blend together. May have to get this on vinyl.
4.5/5 great somber album full of texture
Album som handler om brud, sorg og kærlighed og hvordan man dealer med det. det er Barouqe Pop som man kan høre på strygerne osv, som giver den der lidt orkestrale filmiske lyd. Nogen synes det er et godt samlet værk, andre synes det går lidt for langt væk fra hans eksperimentelle lyd. Jeg synes mange af sangene er virkelig gode. Er faldet i søvn til det en del gange efterhånden og jeg kan virkelig godt lide hans vokal. Jeg synes den er blød på en eller anden måde. Der er nogle sange hvor jeg føler der er en del reverb på hans stemme som gør det minder mig meget om in rainbows. Produceren er åbenbart en som har arbejdet sammen med Radiohead også.
(98/100)
Great
Just a nice vibe
Really loved it! It's not very flashy at all, but it's a really beautiful album nonetheless. The instrumentals were lovely and his voice matched the mood perfectly. With albums like this, they tend to bore me after the first five or so songs since they tend to get boring, but this was really enjoyable! Lost Cause and Sunday Sun were definitely my favourites.
nice and chill
Sea Change has been one of my favorite albums for more than 20 years, but I realized it’s been a long time since I really listened through the whole thing. The experience was like visiting an old friend and realizing you’d actually grown together, in parallel. What an emotionally complete experience this is! I found myself profoundly moved by tracks that hadn’t even been favorites before like End of the Day and It’s All In Your Mind. The opening and closing tracks are perfect bookends to enjoying this on a long drive and just letting your mind wander. Special shout to the bass playing on Paper Tiger too. Nigel Godrich and Beck are a match made in heaven. The Information is a stellar follow-up for the partnership, but Sea Change is the pinnacle. Perfection.
Love this album, one of my favorites and probably my favorite Beck album. Every song is good. The album has a stripped down feel compared to most Beck albums. The lyrics are emotional, lonely and starkly sad. Again, every song is notable.
BEST SONGS: - Paper Tiger - Guess I'm Doing Fine - Lost Cause - Side of The Road
95
I love this album.
Beautiful. Great headphone album for walking around aimlessly.
Good album. Enjoyed the laid back pace and tone of the album.
The production, songwriting, and execution are all very well done. If I had to make a criticism, I would say it feels slightly performative. We all know what it sounds like when an artist cuts themselves open and bleeds all over the page; this ain't that, but it is still an excellent listen.
Absolutely lovely album definitely listened to it many times in the past one of my go to for Sunday mornings, but also really great to Late at night chills everyone out just with the doctor ordered back really shines as a guitarist on this album and I think this in morning phase are just as good as some of the more upbeat albums that he has nothing beats midnight vultures but great listen
Holy Melancholia Batman! Love every note of this album. Sitting at the car stealership for auto maintenance, and I'm about in a puddle. Will put this on again in those days when all one can do is weep! The voice and the arrangements have all worked to wring out my heart....in a good way. Listened before? N Saved tracks? Y Favorite tracks? Lost Cause, Round the Bend, Sunday Sun, Paper Tiger, Guess I'm Doing Fine ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Loved it. Saved many tracks
You know some shit went down whenever Beck, the guy who on the album before this made a gag G Funk song, is writing slow, confessional ballads. You hear it in his voice, low and helpless in its delivery. Something went wrong and that thing was him breaking up with his long-term fiancé and then finding out she had an affair. So then this album was written and played around a bit before recording and releasing in 2002. The result is Sea Change produced with the help of Nigel Godrich. What strikes me so much about this album is not only how convincing the change was for Beck (stylistically), but it's because I just went through this shit. Albeit on a lesser level, I basically split with my long-time best friend who I had feelings for. It's a long ass story, but I at least have a feeling of what it's like when someone you loved and trusted leaves you for brighter pastures. It sucks, it fucking sucks. It leaves you questioning what you could've done differently, and yada yada yada, you get it. My main point is that Beck captures these feelings so accurately that I don't feel sad when I listen to it. I hear it and I'm like "Damn bro, I can relate, but it's gonna pass". I say that as if I was the one that also was in a committed relationship that ended with an affair. I'm sure I'm gonna go through worst shit in my life, and when those times come, I know what album I'm turning to. These songs sting and heal at the same time and I am grateful for that. But man, Nigel Godrich is responsible for hella depression with this and Radiohead (9/10, 5/5 on this scale) (Update: 8/10, chill, bro)
Det her albumet e gravert inn i min sarte sarte tidligste 2000-tallssjel, så det e jo helt umulig å forholde mæ til det på en noenlunde fornuftig måte. Men æ elske det fortsatt, og det e langt mer americana-inspirert (i mangel av en bedre terminologi, svak på musikksjangre som æ e) enn æ huska, så det e ikke rart æ likte det.
Not familiar with much of Beck’s work and from what I gather this is a bit of a departure, but this is a beautiful album. Uncluttered wonderful production that lets the instrumentation have space to breath. Overly sad songs and not for everyone but this hit right today. I didn’t feel winged at though, it felt honest. Looking forward to delving into the back catalogue.
haunting, emotional, richly layered masterpiece
This album made me feel honest-to-God feelings as I drove to work in the rain on this Friday at the end of a long, sad week; at the beginning of what will surely be a difficult year; in the middle of a decades-long decline. Hearing these songs evoked strong memories of the times and places and people in my life when the album first came out. Leaving Cincinnati. A blue Hyundai Tiburon. The end of the 1990s. An apartment next to a stockade. A downpour on our drive home. Auburn. The production on this album is beautiful...simple, natural and warm, yet there is a ton of depth and complexity to the instrumentation that elevates the songs from being a bunch of sad, slow acoustic numbers to something completely new and interesting. It has a kind of a Mazzy Star meets Radiohead vibe that doesn't seem like it should work, but it does. Very much like Aimee Mann's Magnolia soundtrack or Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago, you can feel the rain/snow falling outside and the thoughts swirling in the artist's mind while these songs are playing. When recorded music is done well like this and I can tap into the artist's vision, listening to a full album is an emotional experience and one of the many reasons I appreciate this 1001 Albums project. Five stars.
loveeed this actually
Very consistent and catchy I loved his vocals and instrumentals, very good album
Someone mentioned this has Nick Drake vibes, yeah, I feel that, especially the song Round The Bend. Haunting and beautiful album.
A friend once tried to get me into this album and it didn’t click with me after a few songs. I liked Beck, but the more upbeat, groovy, unpredictable version. My friend assured me repeatedly that this somber iteration of Beck was very, very good but I was pretty meh on it. Today I learned: it’s very, very good. Why didn’t anyone ever tell me? Didn’t realize it was a post-breakup album, but hot damn is it a good one. It sounds like a breakup where you get to sit in a warm, cozy room with lots of pillowy furniture and soft blankets and just be comfortably sad.
My 2nd favorite Beck
Very good album. I'm a big Beck fan. So I didn't want to be biased but this is still a great album
Favorite Beck album
Very nostalgic album for me, this was on heavy rotation in a bike shop I worked in in high school, despite it being a breakup album, it is a good hang, with lush chill arrangements. Lost cause was also on many mixes throughout my teens.
Leve...
Sea Change is Beck’s masterpiece. Beautiful, haunting, incredibly deep melodies. Atmospheric and soulful. Godrich proves he is an absolute genius as well (which everyone already knew thanks to Ok Computer and Kid A). Maybe the greatest sad album of all time. Perfect. Hangover music. 9.0/10
this is actually an amazing album. Not what I would have expected from Beck but it's better than that. I'm a sucker for some soft spoken singer-songwriter stuff and there's some other cool noises in the background that elevate it. It's like a 9.5/10 so I'll round up to a 5
Great album, haven’t listened to it in years. Slow burner but so pretty and well produced, it gets better with every listen.
Can’t go wrong with Beck
Did anyone expect a work with such vulnerability level from an artist like Beck? This guy proved his versatility without compromising authenticity. This album is next level in many ways. So deep, so emotional. At some point, I thought I was listening to Roxy Music or 70s Bowie. Highly recommended for snowy days.
Incredibly chill banger of an album, hits a perfect blend of sad and powerful, causes instant reflection
Loved this album. I can't really believe I hadn't heard much of it before
One of my favorite albums ever. The overall vibe of this album is just so immaculately melancholy, it's an almost perfect soundtrack for contemplation. We listened to this SO MUCH in my freshman dorm room in 2002 so it does carry the weight of nostalgia, but I've listened to it relatively regularly ever since. Lost Cause is my personal favorite, but there are so many other great moments - the orchestral flourishes on Paper Tiger, the Rhodes accents throughout, the washes of synth and subtle electronics, the interlocking acoustic guitars on the closing track in particular. It's all just so good.
This is one of my favorite albums of all time already.
Had me cryin
So much going on in this album that makes it such a great headphone album, or a great stereo system. A wide variety of instruments give each of the songs a nice and distinct style. All of that is to help Beck as he works through a break-up. The simpler lyrics makes it a much easier album to attach to. Hope shrouded in grief, as he pulls back the layers one by one. Beautiful and melancholy.
pretty good
9.5
Smitten
This is a 4 or 4.5 for me, I think, but I also think that I need to round up, because this is a very beautiful, consistent album that was a "sea change" with a lot of music at the time and really did show a whole new side of Beck. Unfortunately, after this, I felt he most just repeated himself in different ways, which wasn't always to bad results but felt less fresh and new.
Never heard this album by Beck before - Got to say I really enjoyed the laid back and melodic style of the music. Need to revisit the album to get a feeling and understanding of the lyrics - highly reconmended
got rear ended by a pickup truck at high speeds on the 610 loop and almost died listening to this cd back when it came out 5 stars
Beck is one of my all time favorite artists, and I will never rate anything of his below a 5.
Highlights: Lonesome Tears, The Golden Age, Round The Bend
This is a gorgeously arranged chamber pop masterpiece. It was especially surprising coming from Beck, the master of sound collage and absurdist lyrics, delivering these earnest, sincere songs about lost love and moving on. Nigel Godrich's production is a huge part of what makes this album so great. There are echoes of Nick Drake in songs like "It's All in Your Mind" and "Round the Bend" and, elsewhere, amazing string arrangements that elevate songs such as "Paper Tiger" and "Sunday Sun." There's also some Laurel Canyon influence in songs like "Guess I'm Doing Fine." This is my favorite all around Beck album and, though he tried the same approach later with a kind of sequel, "Morning Phase," this one is better. His songwriting has never been as direct, plaintive, and masterful as here.
I really liked this and I did not expect to. it came at a great time as I needed something chill and it was very soothing and pleasant. Will listen again.
One of my favourite albums of all time and remains such. Deeply melancholic and moving. From the portion of Beck's career were he couldnt help but make melancholic bangers. 10/10
nice i like this
Absolutely love this album. Gets me every time and I have listened to it 100s of times if not 1000s. It is beautifully melancholy. It is truly an amazing album full of feeling and emotion that isn't often felt by hitting play on a record. A masterpiece.
Maybe my favorite Beck record. A break up record with powerful lyrics and the beauty and depth of the music is incredible. You can feel the pain in every verse
You ever hear an album you haven't listened to for a while and hope it's still as good as you overplayed it years ago and it's even better cuz you understand music a bit more? Also, how is this the same nigga that made Loser
Finally some concrete proof that Scientology works! Why he disavowed it I’ll never know.
Another beachy, contemplative album, so close after Neil Young... and both are great. You wouldn't expect this sound from Beck after only knowing "Loser"
Incredible, incredible album. No notes.
This is genuinely one of the best acoustic albums of all time. Paper tiger and little one are clear highlights for me. Side of the road is a great closer.
Love this album!
All-time heartbreak classic
serge but less creepy
why does pitchfork hate beck? 10/10 no notes
The greatest breakup album ever made.
Beautiful music. I felt like this album flowed perfectly. When taken track by track, the music doesn’t evoke the same response. As a whole, it’s a great example of what an album should be.
Good
As a fan of the breakup album, this is along with Midnite Vultures my fav Beck album, despite - or perhaps because of - them being polar opposites. Exquisite string arrangements by his da' throughout, this is an album that richly rewards repeated - and close - listens. The Beatles influences that I had largely previously missed had me swooning this time around, the Glass Onion to Day In The Life strings on Lonesome Tears, the harmonies and Helter Skelterish rising cacophony on Sunday Sun. Also loved the switch away from the Grounge revivalist style towards the end of Little One and the pacing of Round The Bend, so achingly slow it almost comes to a standstill..
Doesnt get much better than this as a complete album
I rememeber this album so well when it came out. I listened to it so much. Why isn't it in my regular rotation anymore? Don't know but it's going back in.
I remember when Beck appeared out of nowhere with the song Loser, a song he will be known for his whole life and beyond. I wasn’t too impressed and never really got into him. It seems I might have made a mistake. I thought Beck was just samples, bad white boy rap, and goofy nonsensical lyrics, then he gets his heart broken, and he makes a brilliant album about heartbreak and loss, which is not nonsense. In fact, it's brilliant. Beck’s Sea Change can be described with two words: beautifully dark. This isn’t a feel-good album, but the music, combined with the dark lyrics, gives the whole album this melancholy feeling of loss, disappointment, and grief. Beck broke up with his special lady friend and decided to just write actual songs with very personal lyrics. Then he had his dad, who composes music for movies, add string arrangements to the album. The strings put this album over the top. I read on Wikipedia that this album was a huge critical success when it came out, and it won Rolling Stone’s album of the year for 2002. I rarely agree with RS on its top albums, but in this case, I feel like they nailed it. In fact, Sea Change might have been a top 3 album of that decade. I can’t stress to you enough how good this album is. It made me feel like I was driving around Los Angeles aimlessly, trying to solve a problem, before ending up in the desert alone on the open road. Sometimes albums will put a specific location or setting in my head. Sea Change is one of those albums. I’m not sure if Beck’s other albums are this good, but Sea Change has made me want to explore more from an artist I had written off years ago.
this album feels like laying on the couch after a long day, i love it so much
Wow, this album blew me away. Perfect for a hazy fall evening with the fam. Maybe the most slept on album for me on this whole list.
Beautifully emotional. Makes me feel like an emo/Batman. Going thru some shit with a girl rn lol so good timing.
I really like Beck.
Tasteful guitar, beautiful voice. Might be a new favourite.
Just… beautiful till the end.
# In-Depth Review of Beck's *Sea Change*: A Heartbreak Masterpiece ## 🎵 Overview *Sea Change*, released in 2002, is Beck's eighth studio album and marks a significant departure from his earlier genre-blending, ironic style. Instead, it is a deeply personal and melancholic exploration of heartbreak, inspired by the end of Beck's nine-year relationship with his fiancée. Produced by Nigel Godrich, the album is often compared to classic breakup records like Bob Dylan's *Blood on the Tracks* and is regarded as one of Beck's most emotionally raw and cohesive works . --- ## 📝 Lyrics: Emotional Honesty and Simplicity ### Pros: - **Directness and Vulnerability**: Unlike Beck's earlier surrealist wordplay, the lyrics on *Sea Change* are straightforward and deeply personal. Songs like "Lost Cause" and "Already Dead" convey despair and resignation with lines like "There's too many people you used to know / They see you coming, they see you go" . - **Universal Themes**: The album explores heartbreak, loneliness, and introspection in a way that feels relatable rather than self-indulgent. Tracks like "Lonesome Tears" and "The Golden Age" use simple yet poignant language to evoke emotional resonance . ### Cons: - **Repetitive Tropes**: Some critics argue that the lyrics rely too heavily on clichés of sadness (e.g., "bluebird outside my window," "sun don't shine even when it's day"), which can feel unoriginal compared to Beck's earlier innovative style . - **Lack of Beck's Trademark Irony**: Fans of Beck's playful, genre-bending lyrics may find the album's earnestness monotonous or overly sentimental . --- ## 🎶 Music: Minimalist and Orchestral ### Pros: - **Acoustic Foundations**: The album prioritizes live instrumentation over sampling, featuring acoustic guitars, strings, and subtle electronic textures. Tracks like "The Golden Age" and "End of the Day" blend folk and country influences with Beck's signature melancholia . - **String Arrangements**: Beck's father, David Campbell, contributes lush orchestral arrangements that elevate songs like "Paper Tiger" and "Lonesome Tears" into cinematic experiences . - **Dynamic Range**: The album's pacing balances quiet introspection ("Round the Bend") with moments of cathartic intensity ("Lonesome Tears"’ string crescendos) . ### Cons: - **Lack of Energy**: The album's slow, somber tone can feel emotionally draining, with limited rhythmic or melodic variety compared to Beck's more energetic work . - **Overproduction**: Some critics argue that Nigel Godrich's production feels overly polished, stripping away the rawness that could have made the songs more impactful . --- ## 🎛️ Production: Nigel Godrich's Sonic Signature ### Pros: - **Atmospheric Depth**: Godrich's production creates a cohesive, immersive soundscape. The use of reverb, subtle electronic effects, and meticulous mixing (e.g., the reverse vocals on "Lost Cause") adds layers of texture without overshadowing the songs . - **Hi-Fi Quality**: The album is praised for its audiophile-friendly dynamic range, with each instrument and vocal nuance clearly articulated . ### Cons: - **Uniformity**: The production’s consistency can make the album feel monotonous, with fewer sonic surprises compared to Beck's earlier albums . - **Over-Reliance on Orchestration**: Some tracks feel overly reliant on string arrangements to evoke emotion, rather than allowing the songs to stand on their own . --- ## 🌊 Themes: Heartbreak and Transformation *Sea Change* is a concept album centered on loss and introspection. The title itself refers to a profound transformation, mirroring Beck's personal upheaval . - **Breakup Narrative**: The album chronicles the stages of grief, from denial ("The Golden Age") to acceptance ("Side of the Road") . - **Solitude and Melancholy**: Tracks like "Already Dead" and "Round the Bend" explore themes of isolation and existential despair, reflecting Beck's emotional state . - **Universality**: Despite its personal origins, the album’s themes resonate widely, making it a timeless breakup record . --- ## 📈 Influence: Legacy and Impact - **Critical Acclaim**: *Sea Change* is often ranked among the best albums of the 2000s and won a Grammy for its "companion piece," *Morning Phase* (2014) . - **Artistic Validation**: It solidified Beck's reputation as a serious songwriter beyond his "loser" persona, influencing later artists like Bon Iver and Phoebe Bridgers . - **Hi-Fi Benchmark**: The album remains a reference point for audiophile production, praised for its engineering and dynamic range . --- ## ✅ Pros and Cons Summary | **Pros** | **Cons** | |--------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Emotional depth and lyrical vulnerability | Overuse of melancholic clichés | | Cohesive, immersive production | Lack of rhythmic and melodic variety | | Beautiful string arrangements and instrumentation | Overproduction diminishes rawness | | Universal themes of heartbreak | May feel monotonous or emotionally exhausting | | Influential and critically acclaimed | Not for fans of Beck's ironic, genre-blending style | --- ## 🎤 Conclusion *Sea Change* is a landmark in Beck's discography, showcasing his ability to channel personal pain into art that is both intimate and universal. While its minimalist, melancholic approach may not appeal to all listeners, its emotional honesty, lush production, and cohesive themes make it a masterpiece of the breakup album genre. Despite minor flaws in lyrical originality and pacing, it remains a powerful and enduring work . For further reading, you can explore the sources cited in this review.
An easy 5 star, by far the most intimate thing Beck has ever done
Favourites: The Golden Age, Paper Tiger, Lonesome Tears, End Of The Day, It's All In Your Mind, Round The Bend, Sunday Sun, Side Of The Road
I’m just stunned. I love his beat- and sample-heavy sounds, and then he drops this gorgeous, introspective, heartbreak album full of warm guitar notes and beautiful misery. The songs take my breath away.
awesome chill album love beck <3 my fave other than morning phase....i miss english class :(
Sad boi album that rly resonated with me
Immaculate. Anything less than 5 stars feels wrong.
This is part of my collection. Great album.
like Radiohead but acoustic. very different from later Beck but not bad
The epitome of a heart break
I’d heard of this record before. I knew it was considered a reference quality audiophile record. It sounds awesome. Musically, I’m wasn’t sure it was my style, for I’ve tried to listen many times, but haven’t fully gotten into it. But this time, it really clicked. There are truly some great moments throughout this album. Overall, pretty mellow, which I enjoy for decompressing and thinking. But, it’s bursting with interesting bass lines, pleasing progressions, unique sounds. The longer the record went on, the more I found myself vibing. I enjoyed it more than I expected. Every time I listened to this, the more it grew on me; I found myself gravitating to melodies that were beautifully different, yet pleasing and shockingly emotive. Right now, I’m feeling 8.5-9 Standouts: The Golden Age Lonesome Tears Lost Cause Little One
Beautiful.
Wow this was great! Perfect for my melancholic mood today.
Beck's saddest album..... but it's super chill. Feels like you're floating down a river with sad Beck.
My favorite Beck album. I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of how to get drums to sound as amazing as this album, really it boils down to hitting them as soft as you can while mainly using close mics, very little to no room mics. This is an approach that you can hear on all the instruments and with all the layers it creates a bed that is super cozy to lay in. I love it. Beck has gone from bombastic colorful albums to this subtle masterpiece and it’s another reason why I feel he is not talked about enough outside of the usual “loser” or “two turn tables and a microphone” narrative that follows him. This is also a perfect break up album on a par with 808’s And Heartbreak, Lemonade, Vulnicura, Blonde, etc. You’re hurting, you have a hole in your chest and these albums temporarily fill that hole till you truly move on. All the artist’s albums I just listed went through that pain too but also archive those emotions into songs. In some cases there’s an empowering feeling of independence as in Beyoncé’s Lemonade but in the other examples and this album in particular, it’s loss, loneliness and almost a fear of what’s next. You hate to hear that someone went through this but it’s inspiring to hear that they used their art to move on. Easy 5 for me.
I already know this is a 5, and I can't wait to listen to this again. Man, I love a good breakup album. Beck does a great job releasing the sorrow on this one, and I've sobbed several times listening to this in the past. Too many good ones for me to name a favorite. Probably, Lonesome Tears. Fantastic album.
So rich and multi-layered, experimental over a traditional song structure and it works as both separate and a whole. Really a departure from the Beck I'm familiar with.
One of the best breakup albums I've listened to
Masterpiece of an album leaning heavily into melancholy. I regret not listening to a full Beck album sooner.
Can’t give half stars so gave it 5 after a full listen. Another album I’ve listened to multiple times especially about 18 years ago. Great album. Hard to choose a favorite Beck, but after listening again in full realized just how strong it is.
5/5
--The Golden Age...good morning music --Paper Tiger...easy listening symphonic funk. cool --Guess I'm Doing Fine...feels like a sequel to Golden Age. Not a bad thing --Lonesome Tears...the production is glorious --Lost Cause...simple and sad. wonderful --End of the Day...first track I didn't love. Still good --It's All in Your Mind...feels similar to End of the Day --Round the Bend...hear some Radiohead in this. beautiful --Already Dead...gorgeous --Sunday Sun...seems like a bridge to Beck's past with the electronic beat, but still sounds at home here with the piano and acoustic guitar --Little One...interesting. Not one of the better tracks but it could grow on me --Side of the Road...Beck's voice and the production are nice, but this feels like a 90 second idea of a song that's been stretched to 3 minutes
Absolutely incredible. Love this album, long time fan.
This year I've become something of a Beckhead (Beckfreak? Becker?), and from the outset many of the albums of his I've entertained have taken several listens to really feel like I could fully appreciate them... However, any of his more somber, slow songs like "Ramshackle" or "Blackhole" immediately clicked with me. Sooo its a no-brainer that I adore this album. Astute listeners will notice the beautiful production thanks to Nigel Godrich, a pretty prolific fella. Beck excels at writing total gobbledygook lyrics that somehow translate into musical profundity; that isn't too on display here, meaning we get some sappy realness from this alleged NOT Scientologist. Great stuff ! Another album great for a blistery morning walk in the dead of winter
lo mejor de BECK
Hay algo de Nick Drake ahi
What a quiet masterpiece, with country elements. Every song brings emotions.
This is Beck's most emo album, from an era when emo was finally cool. Thank you for giving us one of the saddest records ever recorded, Beck Hansen.
Leider aus Sicht so mancher schlecht gealtert - ich finde, das Gegenteil ist der Fall - ein Album für die Insel. Phantastisches Songwriting, brillante Arrangements, ein sonnig-fiebrig-schläfrig glänzendes und flirrendes Sommeralbum, der Soundtrack zur Hitzewelle, und todtraurig. Wahrscheinlich unter meinen ewigen Top 20. 5/5
His best
Love this album. A mature Beck emerges from the free styling kinetic energy of his earlier releases. I’m still a bigger fan of the early stuff but this is solid.
Beck is an "one of a kind" I love his music
Wow. This hit deep. A breakup album but beautiful music and the voice melts into the music too as its own instrument. Sometimes I felt like he was singing for me (like a normal album), sometimes I felt like he wanted to sing alone and I was observing. It works as a whole album that needs to be listened as one.
Love this album exploring love lost.
This album was beautiful but not as much fun as Odelay.
In a year that included masterpieces by Wilco, The Flaming Lips, The Streets, Interpol and Eminem comes Beck with Sea Change, my favorite of the pack. An album, heavily influenced by Serge Gainsbourg’s dark, soaring orchestration, was a constant companion after my divorce a few years ago. Songs like I Guess I’m Doing Fine and Lost Cause defined my life at that time. Some say it’s a depressing record, but no, hints of optimism are weaved through it culminating in this line: Yesterdays are mending Sunday Sun
When I was around 15 years old, I remember hearing a few Beck songs and loving how he refused to stay within one genre between albums. My English teacher (The Danks) told me that Sea Change was his best album, and I went away to listen and found it hard to say which was the best. Comparing Beck albums is like comparing apples to oranges, because they can be so different. I did love it though, and I love it to this day. He’s probably the one artist that I’ve never seen like but would love to see more than anyone else. This is an album full of dreamlike beauty, like meditation to a beat.
Fun loser Beck is good, but I love sad melancholy Beck too. This is actually one of my favorite Beck albums. It felt like such a hard turn from his other stuff. “Lost Cause” is such a beautiful song.
'Sea Change' was the second record Beck made with Nigel Godrich, the unofficial member of Radiohead who, just like George Martin did with The Beatles, produced every single Radiohead record to incredible ends. Beck and Nigel's first collaboration, 1998's 'Mutations' was a mixed bag — the beginnings of the stripped-down, world-weary singer/songwriter side of Beck is present, but that record had more upbeat moments. 'Sea Change' dug it's heels into the lusher, cinematic vibes from their first collaboration — an approach undoubtedly influenced by the persistent subject matter of 'Sea Change': heartbreak and transformation. 'Sea Change' is eery and moody, strongly evoking artists emerging from the initial folk boom of the early 60s like Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake who incorporated gorgeous string arrangements and maudlin posturing to great effect. The track 'Round The Bend' so closely resembles Nick Drake's 1969 track 'River Man' in both content and style — and their send-ups to the iconic sound throughout Drake's 'Five Leaves Left' are such pitch-perfect homages. But Beck and Nigel build on these influences, capturing the emotional and sonic essence while adorning it with more-modern instrumentation and production; tracks like 'Paper Tiger', 'Lonesome Tears', and 'End of The Day' hint at the work Nigel would go on to produce with the wave of expertly engineered European chill-out music Air and Zero 7 were pioneering a few years later. It's not hard to hear the threads connecting 2002's 'Sea Change' and 2014's grammy-winning 'Morning Phase'. 'Morning Phase' directly builds upon 'Sea Change', but the latter record, without the steady undercurrent of heartbreak, does not bore as deeply into the soul — it comes off as an incredible aesthetic achievement (again, grammy-winning) to vibe out to, and a record that end-capped the evolution of sad-boy Beck, but 'Sea Change' is without a doubt the better of the two — and possibly Beck's greatest, most complete work to date.
The chameleon himself. I loved this album and still do. Makes me want to kill myself in the best way. Folky and funky and weird and feels out of time. Crazy follow up to his funk masterpiece Midnite Vultures. 5/5
Beck using his powers for sad is so goddamn effective.
Beck’s breakup album and that’s an undersell if there ever was one. This one is as personal as Beck is going to get and this one is much more stripped down than is typical of Beck.
One of my all time favourites ❤️
I love this album. I've loved it since the day it came out.
Very emotional. Not quite the Beck I thought I knew, which is cool. This felt very introspective and somber at times.
Soy un paradon
This was great.
The two extremes of Beck. This and Midnite Vultures. This is my favourite though.
I really enjoyed this album!
Great
own
Perhaps Beck's greatest album.
So good. One of my very favs
It's rare that I don't love a Beck album (although, his newer stuff isn't so great)... Fun fact, I didn't like "Loser" when it came out.
Balanserar på gränsen mellan trött och fenomenalt, känns ibland som en tidig manlig version av Lana Del Rey, och det kan ju obv inte vara dåligt. Perfekt vibe!
I love this album. It's like a warm, comforting blanket. You have to be in the right mood, though. This is not a dance party.
Sea Change is without a doubt the Beck album that I've listened to the most. It's a departure from his more samplepedia and hip-hop inspired records, but Beck being Beck, he still manages to hit the mark and create an beautifully harrowing album. "Lonesome Tears" and "Little One" are highlights, but the album wouldn't be the masterpiece that it is, if it didn't work as great as a whole as it does.
custom_rating:9
Didn’t know about this album prior to this opportunity. What a great find.
This is most likely my favorite Beck album and also generally one of my favorites overall. Every song is memorable.
Weird for workout music though
One of the best albums ever
Before: I have absolutely no idea what to expect from this. I only know Beck from the song Loser and this album cover does not look like it would contain music like Loser lol Standouts: The Golden Age Paper Tigers Least favorites: Guess I'm Doing Fine It's All In Your Mind During/after: Ok SO I was right that this does not sound like Loser. The harmonies in Golden Age are absolutely beautiful and a great opening to this record and an introduction to the interesting instrumentals throughout - the strings and bass in Paper Tiger go CRAZY. The strings in Round The Bend are amazing as well and create tons of depth - very "wall of sound." I'll have to relisten with higher quality headphones or speakers. Sea Change is an amazing heartbreak record that demonstrates the process of healing from a breakup. It feels like it really took a turn with Lost Cause and became more of a story than a sad mopey album. My one critique is that the first half of the album seemed stronger to me, but the whole thing was still wonderful. Beautiful, love it, chef's kiss, this will definitely be on the rotation. 5/5
This is a very familiar album to me. I’ve always loved it - super smooth, with an edge of despair.
Not as good as the Scott Pilgrim vs the World soundtrack. Just kidding. Very thoughtful great music that I wouldn't have guessed this guy made. I think I mostly think of him as a low produced grungy dude and this opened my eyes to what he is capable of. Lovely.
This is just lovely. Guitar so clear it plays in every room. On every level. Vocals that are enough. Enough is all you need. Lost Cause is very Elliott Smith. This just makes me listen because it's so genuine. Who knew I was such a Beck fan? It's all in your mind - and that's the gentle strength of this album. Perfect.
Beck goes from goofy quirked up white boy to the most maudlin man in existence and creates an incredibly powerful emotional album, with some of the most incredible crescendos and nakedly honest lyrics going.
Geggjað. Svo falleg plata.
Frábær plata frá frábærum tónlistarmanni.
this shit fucks.
Good
Staggeringly beautiful
Beck was real sad for this one. Fortunately for everyone else, that means we get a pretty great album. The music here is quite beautiful and really emphasizes the emotions that Beck was feeling when writing these songs. One of the songs (Round the Bend) reminded me of my favorite Nick Drake song, The River Man, which really sucked me in. Other great songs here are Paper Tiger (such a funky base line), Guess I'm Doing Fine, and Already Dead.
Great arrangements Good vocal production Meaningful lyricism
very good melancholy rock
I wasn't familiar with Beck's game
Stunning emotional record. It also led me to discovering Serge Gainsbourg.
Love, love, love this album. Not just for its status being one of theses deified "breakup albums," but because it's so musically rich and it just so happens that heartbreak goes well with some classy strings, punchy basslines and well written songs.
Sounded great on headphones
Je ne saurais pas dire quoi, mais il y a quelque chose qui fait que cet album marche très bien pour moi. Je trouve certaines chansons vraiment magnifiques
Probably my favourite Beck record, absolutely beautiful.
A very mature album, and very unexpected from the guy who made "Loser." Excellent use of soothing melodies and deep lyrics to make this a pleasure to listen to. Probably the best chamber-pop album I've ever heard, no weak spots or skippable tracks either.
It's a great album, melancholy with country undertones and guitar work on par with the likes of Nick Drake ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Beck is always gonna be great, but this was really something, and not what I expected from Beck at all. His dark brooding vocals really reminded me of Eddie Vedder in some places, and I really liked it. Very sparse instrumentation, and just all around nice to listen to. Five stars.
having only listened to odelay before, this was a massive change of style and i am loving this so much. it’s like a blanket for my soul. i’m hearing sounds of ryan adams, air, and nick drake. especially nick drake in the song “round the bend” - which is my favourite from the album.
I love this album. I love Beck and the fact that Sea Change is a Beck album is only part of the reason I love it so much. I would love this album if it was by a one and done I had never heard of before. But because it's a Beck album also helps make it that much better. With the complete departure of his style came an incredible, raw emotion we are not used to getting from such a whimsical artist.
Another album I was able to listen to on CD. My favourite Beck album, Lovely.
2002. Folk Rock. Chamber Pop. 9/10 The Golden Age/Paper Tiger/Guess I'm Doing Fine/Lonesome Tears/Lost Cause/End of the Day/It's All in Your Mind/Round the Bend/Already Dead/Sunday Sun/Little One/Side of the Road
I love sad Beck. Guess I’m Doing Fine is one of my all time favorites. One of the best rainy day albums in indie rock.
Great but sad
Not what I expected at all Excellent heart break album