It’s time for a pallet cleanser. I’ve gone far too heavy into the comic book realm despite having interests that go far beyond just one medium.

I haven’t talked very much about music on this site, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a large staple in my formulative and latter years. Within that time I have gone from the typical radio listener to delving deep into the darker side of progressive rock with bands like Tool as well as that swath of nu-metal uprising and eventually settled into the avantgarde ways of Tom Waits and the like.

In all that time, though, one musician had persisted, slowly and quietly, toward the upper echelon of my musical leanings: Beck.

My history with Beck began in the mid-’90s when songs like “Loser” and “Where it’s At” were pervading the airwaves nigh ad nauseum alongside other overplayed songs like Mambo Number Five and Black Hole Sun. Like Black Hole Sun, however (and very much not like Mambo Number Five), I never got tired of the overplayed Beck. Eventually Sea Change was released and that marked a far deeper appreciation for this musical savant. With introspective lyrics and emotive landscapes, a new dimension was revealed in his artistry, showcasing versatility and depth. Over time, Beck began to transition from a fun listen into an artist whose albums I have on near perpetual repeat.

For this article I will be rummaging through the mines of each album and deciding on their ranking from worst to best. Caveit: it’s important to note that even his “worst” album remains enjoyable, highlighting Beck’s consistency in creating a compelling ditty throughout his career. Caveit to the Caveit: there are two albums which I actually consider to not be particularly stellar, and that’s the first two on the list.

A Third Caveit: I wrote this list prior to the release of

14. Golden Feelings

There isn’t much to be said about this one. It and Stereopathic Soul Manure are the only albums I would consider to be actually bad.

13. Stereopathic Soul Manure

Here we are again. I can understand people’s like of these first two albums. They’re chaotic and edgy. There is a grit there still present in albums like “Odelay!” but they are unrefined. You can tell something was learned when the album after these was released.

12. The Information

While The Information is, for all intents and purposes, a solid album – it just never hit me the way the albums below did. I think I may have been at a different phase in my life where I was looking for more avant-garde albums like The Mars Volta, and I was starting my foray into the Tom Waits library (whom rocketed to my favorite musician of all time).

11. Mutations

This has everything it needs to be great but the shadow of Odelay! looms over it constantly, which makes it hard to listen without wanting to swap straight to that album in lieu of it.

10. Modern Guilt

A combination of Danger Mouse and Beck is a sight to behold (but for music). Modern Guilt has so much going for it. Why isn’t it higher on this list? Well, probably because it isn’t the best of either of their work. I think, at the end of the day, Beck needs to be producing his own work, because it did neither of them favors despite this being a solid album.

9. One Foot in the Grave

One Foot in the Grave takes everything from Golden Feelings and shurks a lot of Mellow Gold to make a good home folk album that is just too good!

8. Odelay!

This is considered the cream of the crop! Everyone who’s anyone who’s heard of beck and was born in the 80s or earlier knows this album. It marries the everything done before it to perfection, honing it all and finding a way to make it Pop.

7. Sea Change

It feels almost criminal to put this album so low on the list. This is the album that truly kicked off my forray into Beck as a serious artist. Every album after Odelay! continued to be compared to it, I suspect to the point where Beck just wanted to do something completely different. Thus: Sea Change. To go from almost pure pop (with alt-rock sensibility infused) to California Folk music was just >chefs kiss<

6. Mellow Gold

While in so many ways this is inferior to its successor, Odelay!, there is a rawness to it that pushes it forward for me. It continues to hit me to this day on subsequent playthroughs.

Standout Songs: Loser is the big one, but I really also love Truckdrivin’ Neighbors Downstairs for its brutal honesty.

5. Guero

Guero is, to my mind, the first time Beck struck out of his Odelay! shadow but still continuing the pop track. It has so many hits inside of it that it’s bursting at the seams.

Standout Songs: What’s interesting is that Guero has SUCH solid music but doesn’t really have any super standouts. I like Scarecrow and Hell Yes a lot, I suppose. They’re all super good, just no standouts really.

4. Hyperspace

A newcomer to the list and fast approaching top tier, Hyperspace has so much that I love and so little that I dislike.

Standout Songs:

3. Colors

Colors continues to rise up every single time I listen to it. To have an album so good and so new is something to behold!

Standout Songs: 7th Heaven and Dear Life hit SO GOOD

2. Morning Phase

This album takes everything from Sea Change and improves on it. The quest for folk and acoustics is dialed up to 11 and I am so here for it. I can’t wait for what could be the third album in this tract!

Standout Songs: There isn’t a single bad song on this album but my big one is Turn Away

1. Midnite Vultures

Coming up with your number one in a sea of ones is a difficult task. Midnite Vultures makes it easier because it’s the Prince album that never was. It has soul, funk, and Beck’s intense dirty alt-rocker hillbilly sensibilities. Hearing a song called Debra where the song is actually about the other girl, and Debra is her sister. Plus he met her outside JC Penny.

Standout Songs: The biggest standouts are Debra and Peaches and Cream but man do I like every song on this album.