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Absolutely amazing album.

I originally bought it on download, but I've now bought the proper CD as compressed MP3 really doesn't do justice to all the layers and vibes going on.

Easily Beck's best album since the glorious Odelay. Definately his most accessible. Yes it is only half an hour long, but when you listen to it you don't feel short changed, it's half an hour beauty.

Innovative, wise and most of all you can dance to it.

Love it.

Rating: 5 out of 5

One thing is for sure that when you buy a Beck album, you never really know what to expect, such is the multi-faceted nature of the artist, and you definitely have to approach most of his albums with an open mind. If 'Modern Guilt' could be compared with any of his previous albums, then many of the songs are closest to the melodic melancholy of 'Sea Change', but with added beats, giving this release a fresh, original sound but with all the characteristics of what makes Beck's music so aurally appealing. Danger Mouse's production matches musical influences often steeped in the late 60's and early 70's with up-front, contemporary percussion, giving much of the album a split-personality sense of laid-back, detached urgency - and it is certainly an interesting combination.

There are plenty of excellent tracks here. The album opener, 'Orphans', featuring Cat Power, is a dark and restrained, but undeniably catchy, composition which could have come straight from 'Odelay'. 'Gamma Ray' has all the hallmarks of a classic modern psychedelic dance track, 'Chemtrails' is a swirling, psychedelic piece of lyrical paranoia and misery, while the title track, 'Modern Guilt' matches a classy, strings-embellished song which could have easily been lifted straight from Elliott Smith's songbook, if it wasn't for the impossibly jaunty beat. The other track to really demand my attention and capture my imagination is the last song, 'Volcano', which is a beautiful piece of dark, alternative folk and, once more, leaves me feeling like Elliott Smith is, in fact, alive and well.

Not every single track on this album is pure brilliance, in fact, there is a bit of a mid-album lull where the music merely gets close to ordinary, but it is the album's punchy 34 minute length consisting of just ten songs which makes this album a real winner and makes it one of Beck's more instantly likeable releases, proving that less sometimes really is more. I've enjoyed all of Beck's albums since 'Odelay' - with the exception of 'Midnite Vultures' - but I'd have to say I have enjoyed this one more than most.


Rating: 4 out of 5

I had loved Beck's earlier albums all the way until 'Sea Changes', as it was just naff (in my opinion, though i know others will disagree) and then he went toooo much into the hip-hop/techno/electro style and all his music started to sound the same. Which was a shame for an artist the caliber of Beck.
BUT....
......HE HAS RETURNED!
Modern Guilt is soooo much more like the old Beck i know and love. The songs are simple and there's more guitar involved. It's much more in the vein of Odelay than say...Midnight Vultures or Mutations - and it's great because of it!
If like me, you'd lost some faith in the music of Mr Hansen, then rejoice because although he's on a new label, this is VINTAGE Beck!

Rating: 5 out of 5

After two albums that saw Hansen subdue his chameleon tendencies in favour of pusuing a sound that was distinctly 'Beck', Modern Guilt sees him back breaking new ground. You suspect that some of the credit for that has to go to producer Danger Mouse, if only because the music here, a dark brew of electronica, 60s psychedelia and pop, bears more than a passing resemblance to his own group Gnarls Barkley. It's a world away from his work on something like Sparklehorse's Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain, where he seemed hands off to the point of invisibility.

Further new elements include Gamma Ray's surf guitars, Replica's drum 'n' bass meets Aphex Twin futurism, and Chemtrails squaling Neil Young-esque guitar solo. Youthless is probably the closest thing here to Beck's past, mixing hip-hop beats, lyrical non-sequiturs and a chorus catchier than swine flu.

While Guero and The Information saw Beck juxtaposing a bleaker, more jaded lyrical perspective with his traditional party anthems, Modern Guilt is an apocalyptic vision set to apocalyptic music. The mix of conspiracy theory, scientologist imagery, and more tangible concerns (global warming, nuclear war, existential angst) combine to form a nightmarish vision worthy of Philip K. Dick.

Rating: 4 out of 5

another great album from Beck, I like everything he does so I am probably not the best reviewer but so far he hasn't astray from the path

Rating: 5 out of 5