Guero

Guero
Studio album by Beck
Released March 29, 2005
Recorded The Boat, Silverlake, CA
September 2003 – August 2004
Genre Alternative rock, alternative hip hop
Length 49:58
Label Interscope
Producer Beck Hansen, Dust Brothers, Tony Hoffer
Beck chronology

Hell Yes EP
(2005)		 Guero
(2005)		 Guerolito
(2005)
Singles from Guero
  1. "E-Pro"
    Released: March 14, 2005
  2. "Girl"
    Released: 2005
  3. "Hell Yes"
    Released: 2005

Guero is the sixth official studio album and ninth overall by American alternative rock artist Beck, first released in March 2005 on Interscope Records. It debuted on Billboard's Top 200 Album chart at #2 (where it went gold), and in the UK at #15 (where it went silver). To date, this is Beck's highest charting album. It is seen by many reviewers as a return to the style of Odelay, his 1996 album, mainly because this album, like Odelay, utilizes production duo the Dust Brothers and Tony Hoffer. It also recalls Mutations in places with its Brazilian influences. "E-Pro" was the album's first single, with "Girl" as the follow-up. As of July 2008, Guero has sold 868,000 copies in the United States.[1]

Background

An unmixed and un-mastered version of Guero was leaked in January 2005, under the title Ubiquitous. The track listing differed slightly from the officially announced track listing of Guero. The album was released simultaneously in three formats: a standard 13-track CD with none of the bonus tracks or remixes, PlayStation Portable UMD, and a DVD/CD combo pack. The CD included all the below listed tracks while the DVD featured a 5.1 surround sound mix of the 13 album tracks along with abstract, multi-angle videos by visual artists D-Fuse as well as other videos and special features.

The track "E-Pro" was remixed by Paza Rahm and released on the Hell Yes EP as "Bad Cartridge". The EP was released on vinyl, as an iTunes Music Store download, and in CD format for college radio. "E-Pro" was Beck's first number 1 since his debut single "Loser".

Jack White of The White Stripes plays bass on "Go It Alone". Money Mark, solo artist and keyboardist for the Beastie Boys, plays the organ on "Earthquake Weather". Petra Haden, formerly of that dog. and The Rentals, provides an intricate backing vocal track for "Rental Car". Christina Ricci provides the cameo voice in "Hell Yes".

Güero (pron. IPA ['wero], sounds like ware-roh in English) is a Mexican slang term in Spanish for a pale-skinned or blonde-haired person. Beck cites having been referred to as a "güero" throughout his childhood, lending the title of the album and the track "Qué Onda Guero" [sic]. (¿Qué onda, güero? is Mexican slang meaning "what's up, blond boy?" or "hey, white boy" or "where you going, blondie?". A literal translation is "what wave, whitey?" which is analogous in English to "what's happening?". See List of Chicano Caló words and expressions)

Beck released an album of Guero remixes called Guerolito later in 2005.

The song "Black Tambourine" was featured in the David Lynch film Inland Empire, and the trailer for the film (500) Days of Summer, as well as the 2006 video game Lumines II, and the video game Driver: San Francisco.

The song "Farewell Ride" was featured in FX trailers promoting the final season of The Shield.

The cover art was done by Canadian artist Marcel Dzama.

The song "Broken Drum" is dedicated to Elliott Smith.

Reception

Upon release, Guero received generally positive reviews from critics and fans alike.

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic (78/100)[2]
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [3]
The A.V. Club (positive)[4]
Drowned in Sound (8/10)[5]
Entertainment Weekly A−[6]
The Guardian [7]
The Independent [8]
NME (8/10)[9]
Pitchfork Media (6.6/10)[10]
Playlouder [11]
PopMatters [12]
Robert Christgau [13]
Rolling Stone [14]
Yahoo! Music UK [15]

Track listing

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "E-Pro"  Beck Hansen, Dust Brothers, Beastie Boys 3:25
2. "Qué Onda Guero"  Hansen, Dust Brothers 3:29
3. "Girl"  Hansen, Dust Brothers 3:29
4. "Missing"  Hansen, Dust Brothers, Vinicius de Moraes, Carlos Lyra 4:43
5. "Black Tambourine"  Hansen, Dust Brothers, Eugene Blacknell 2:46
6. "Earthquake Weather"  Hansen, Dust Brothers, Mark Adams, Steve Washington, Daniel Webster, Mark Hicks 4:26
7. "Hell Yes"  Hansen, Dust Brothers 3:17
8. "Broken Drum"  Hansen 4:29
9. "Scarecrow"  Hansen, Dust Brothers 4:15
10. "Go It Alone"  Hansen, Dust Brothers, Jack White 4:08
11. "Farewell Ride"  Hansen 4:18
12. "Rental Car"  Hansen, Dust Brothers 3:05
13. "Emergency Exit"  Hansen, Dust Brothers 4:02

The DVD contains:

  1. Audio visualization videos of the full album in 5.1 Dolby Digital and DVD-A
  2. Photos
  3. Two easter eggs for alternate "E-Pro" and "Black Tambourine" videos. They can be found in the "main menu" and the "speakers" menu, respectively.

Sample credits
"E-Pro"

"Missing"

"Black Tambourine"

"Earthquake Weather"

"Hell Yes"

"Go It Alone"

Personnel

Charts

Charts (2005) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[16] 14
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[17] 23
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[18] 16
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[19] 29
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[20] 2
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[21] 4
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[22] 27
French Albums (SNEP)[23] 33
German Albums (Official Top 100)[24] 33
New Zealand Albums (Recorded Music NZ)[25] 30
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[26] 5
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[27] 11
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[28] 41
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[29] 26
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[30] 20
UK Albums (OCC)[31] 15
US Billboard 200[32] 2

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Canada (Music Canada)[33] Gold 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[34] Silver 60,000^
United States (RIAA)[35] 2× Platinum 2,000,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ "Ask Billboard". Billboard. 2008-07-18. Archived from the original on 2008-08-01. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  2. ↑ Critic Reviews at Metacritic
  3. ↑ Allmusic review
  4. ↑ The A.V. Club review
  5. ↑ Drowned in Sound review
  6. ↑ Browne, David (April 1, 2005). "Guero Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
  7. ↑ Lynskey, Dorian (March 18, 2005). "Beck, Guero". The Guardian. London.
  8. ↑ Gill, Andy (March 18, 2005). "Album: Beck". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on October 15, 2007.
  9. ↑ NME review
  10. ↑ Pitchfork Media review
  11. ↑ Playlouder review at the Wayback Machine (archived March 24, 2005)
  12. ↑ PopMatters review
  13. ↑ Robert Christgau Consumer Guide
  14. ↑ Rolling Stone review
  15. ↑ Yahoo! Music UK review at the Wayback Machine (archived October 28, 2005)
  16. ↑ "Beck – Guero". Australiancharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Beck – Guero" (in German). Austriancharts.at. Hung Medien. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  18. ↑ "Beck – Guero" (in Dutch). Ultratop.be. Hung Medien. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Beck – Guero" (in French). Ultratop.be. Hung Medien. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Beck Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Canadian Albums Chart for Beck. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Beck – Guero". Danishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  22. ↑ "Beck: Guero" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  23. ↑ "Beck – Guero". Lescharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  24. ↑ "Beck – Guero". Officialcharts.de. GfK Entertainment. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  25. ↑ "Beck – Guero". Charts.org.nz. Hung Medien. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  26. ↑ "Beck – Guero". Norwegiancharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  27. ↑ "Beck – Guero". Portuguesecharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  28. ↑ "Beck – Guero". Spanishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  29. ↑ "Beck – Guero". Swedishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  30. ↑ "Beck – Guero". Swisscharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  31. ↑ "2005-04-02 Top 40 UK Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  32. ↑ "Beck Album & Song Chart History" Billboard 200 for Beck. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
  33. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Beck – Guero". Music Canada.
  34. ↑ "British album certifications – Beck – Guero". British Phonographic Industry. Enter Guero in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Silver in the field By Award. Click Search
  35. ↑ "American album certifications – Beck – Guero". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH

External links