The Information

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The Information
The Information cover
Studio album by Beck
Released 3 October 2006
Recorded Winter 2003 – Spring 2006
Genre Alternative
Length 61:33
Label Interscope
Producer(s) Nigel Godrich
Professional reviews
Beck chronology
Guerolito
(2005)		 The Information
(2006)


The Information is also the title of a novel by Martin Amis.

The Information is the seventh album by Beck, released in October 2006. It was produced and mixed by longtime Beck collaborator Nigel Godrich. The album was begun by Beck in 2003, but held over in favour of his previous album, Guero. Rolling Stone magazine has named it the 24th best album of 2006, while Spin magazine ranked it number 10 on their 40 Best Albums of 2006.

Contents

[edit] Release details

Before its release Beck said the album, unlike his previous collaborations with Godrich Mutations and Sea Change, was not a "stripped down" record.[1] According to Beck, "Nigel [Godrich said he wanted to do a hip-hop record" before they began work on the album. "And in a way it is, and in a way it isn't. It has hip-hop songs, and my previous work with him was Mutations and Sea Change, these sort of introspective records, and so this new one is sort of bringing those two worlds together."[2]

In an interview with the BBC[3], Beck said the album had been "painful" to make:

“ 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. ”

The first single in North America was "Nausea", which officially went to radio on September 5, 2006.[4] The first single in the UK will be "Cellphone's Dead", with an official video directed by Michel Gondry;[5] the track samples Primal Scream's hit single "Loaded" quite prominently. "Think I'm In Love" has gone to radio as the third single and is currently a Modern Rock radio hit, garnering renewed interest in The Information.

The album reached #7 on the US's Billboard 200, #6 in Canada and #31 on Australia's ARIA Chart. As of March 2007, The Information has sold 380,000 units in the United States.

[edit] Music videos

Some copies of the album include a bonus DVD of specially filmed music videos — one for each track on the record.[1] In the Wired interview[6], Beck explained the making of these videos, which would also appear on video-sharing site YouTube:

“ 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. ”

[edit] Album art

The "blank canvas" of Beck's 2006 album The Information, displayed here with all four different sheets of decals. For a more detailed view, click here.
The "blank canvas" of Beck's 2006 album The Information, displayed here with all four different sheets of decals. For a more detailed view, click here.

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[6] 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." However, because the unique album art concept was seen as a gimmick to bolster retail sales, The Information was deemed ineligible to enter the UK Albums Chart.[7]

[edit] Track listing

All songs by Beck Hansen, except where noted.

  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" (Beck Hansen/Nigel Godrich) – 3:59
  6. "Nausea" – 2:54
  7. "New Round" – 3:26
  8. "Dark Star" – 3:45
  9. "We Dance Alone" – 3:57
  10. "No Complaints" – 3:00
  11. "1000BPM" – 2:30
  12. "Motorcade" (Beck Hansen/Nigel Godrich) – 4:15
  13. "The Information" – 3:46
  14. "Movie Theme" (Beck Hansen/Nigel Godrich) – 3:53
  15. "The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton" (Beck Hansen/Nigel Godrich) – 10:36
Bonus tracks
  1. "Inside Out" (Australia/Japan/UK bonus track) – 3:43
  2. "This Girl That I Know" (Japan/UK bonus track) – 2:43
  3. "O Menina" (Japan bonus track) – 2:09

[edit] Musicians

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Beck reveals all about new album". NME. Retrieved on 2006-08-08.
  2. ^ James Montgomery. "Beck Giving Fans Sticky Fingers With Quasi-Hip-Hop Album", MTV News, 26 June 2006. Retrieved on 2006-08-09.
  3. ^ "Beck's 'Painful' Album", BBC, 02 October 2006. Retrieved on 2006-10-16.
  4. ^ "Beck Reveals More Information". FMQB. Retrieved on 2006-08-15.
  5. ^ "Beck – Cellphone's Dead". director-file.com. Retrieved on 2006-08-09.
  6. ^ a b Eric Steur. "The Infinite Album" (Interview), 14.09, Wired, September 2006. Retrieved on 2006-10-16.
  7. ^ "New Beck Album Denied U.K. Chart Eligibility", Billboard.biz. Retrieved on 2006-10-04.

[edit] External links

Beck
Discography
Major label albums: Mellow Gold | Odelay | Mutations | Midnite Vultures | Sea Change | Guero | The Information
Remix albums: Guerolito
Independent releases: Stereopathetic Soulmanure | One Foot in the Grave
Unofficial releases: Golden Feelings | A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight
Singles: Loser | Pay No Mind (Snoozer) | Beercan | It's All In Your Mind | Where It's At | Devils Haircut
The New Pollution | Sissyneck | Jack-Ass | Deadweight | Tropicalia | Cold Brains
Nobody's Fault But My Own | Sexx Laws | Mixed Bizness | Nicotine & Gravy | Lost Cause
E-Pro | Girl | Hell Yes | Nausea
Related articles
Nigel Godrich | Dust Brothers | Bendin' in the Wind
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