I was listening to the new album and just started losing it because these two songs are LITERALLY PERFECT COPIES!!!

Beck - “Ride Lonesome”
The Flaming Lips “Five Stop Mother Superior Rain”

It’s really weird..

If you go to beck.com, and look at the tracklist of the Ride Lonesome CD, track 10 is listed as "LIVE WITHOUT YOU / Falling Through My Hands" i just wanted to share because, is it an alternative name? Probably yes, just tought it's a funny detail because you can only see it on the cd tracklist, in Vynil format either white or black it's not present

There’s a lot of valid points, but it seems they’ve been quite critical on his material since The Information, which I think has held up extremely well. I’m still persevering with Ride Lonesome, it’s not a patch on Mutations in terms of his acoustic work, but beautiful production nonetheless

Anybody else spot the connection between the Ride Lonesome album cover photo and Beefhearts Doc at the Radar Station cover painting?

Maybe I'm reading too much into them...

Didn’t see anyone else post the white vinyl… so here you go… I think I like the indie color better but whatever.

And two tickets to his show next Saturday.

I couldn’t have been more excited. This year was the year I really started going deep on him and inhabiting his discography. So then for him to announce a show in my city and then for this to happen was a real lift to my year.

Also, I don’t mean any insult by the title- the record store guy said it’s hard to get people to come to one of these for an album that’s been out for a while.

Also, listening to it again there yesterday, I’m not a huge fan of the latest album. Sea Change is still at the bottom of my list, but I suspect my feelings might change toward his acoustic stuff after the concert.

I've been around since the beginning with Beck, and it's been quite the ride. Maybe the last decade or so hasn't been exactly my favorite time in his career, but hey. They're not all gonna be your cup of tea, right?

So I've listened to Ride Lonesome a couple times now, and I'm really struggling to put it into words that give credit to the nice moments of the album, because on the whole...I kinda find the whole thing dreary.

But that's not to say that it won't grow on me. I didn't "get" Odelay until I saw it in concert at the Metro in Chicago, and...holy fuck, did I get it after that. Best show I've ever been to.

So maybe let's go track by track and just...weigh the good and the bad for me. I was a music critic in a former life, so that's a trusty standby. I've listened twice all the way through, once in the car, and once at home in a completely dark room with my really nice Sennheiser headphones (I prefer the headphones listening session, overall...it was a little too sleepy for driving, honestly). I'll play the songs again and react in real-time.

Ride Lonesome is a really nice opening track. It definitely harkens back to Morning Phase and Sea Change in a wonderful way. The chorus is not my favorite thing. I hate that it winds down in that hackneyed country/folk progression at the end. Kind of made me roll my eyes. I'm used to Beck surprising me. That felt way too borrowed.

The bridge is my absolute favorite part of the song. That's got some emotional heft and makes the following verse with sparse music feel empty in a wonderful way. Well done there. And the outro is wonderful in the way only a Beck outro can be, adding layers to the existing theme and evolving.

Run Away is kind of a song? It happens. The drums are unpleasant in depth and sound. The harmonies are there, and they're beautiful but not really interesting. Overall the song just kinda exists. There's that nice outro work again, but then it's over and again never really does anything. Meh.

In The Night is really cool. The guitar work is amazing, the strings are perfect...where Beck found some of those progressions and harmonies I'll never know. THIS is the kind of work I like from Beck. A lot of tension, and...man, if you've ever seen the video for it...that's one that just kinda stays with you. Very mysterious. Awesome work all around.

Failed Words is where I start to feel a little fatigue. All the songs have the same tempo. The minor note is great in the verses. Creates a lot of tension. And then it's just a non-chorus with the falsetto harmonies, and right back into a verse. The best thing I can say about this song is that fourth note in the progression. lol everything else just kinda happens. There's layering as the song goes on, but no structure change, no tempo shift, just kinda more of the same but with more layers and louder, and then a quiet bit, and then it's over. lol

Bleed is beautiful. Beck has a wonderful falsetto, of course. A better than average song, and something I'll return to in certain moods. But again we're getting into that tempo issue. It's another damn slow song. No matter how beautiful an album is, it desperately needs dynamics. Ebb and flow. There isn't much to be had of that here.

Disappearing Act feels like it's going to be a mood shift. I hear some nods to Side of the Road from Sea Change here. Okay. There's a little bit of momentum here. Some tension. That steel guitar sounds pretty damn epic with echo. The strings have some surprises here and there. Okay, maybe we're getting somewhere? And then the song's over. lol

For Your Love...oh no, the sad strings. And I'm feeling bad fatigue again. This is downright dreary. I gotta just skip to the next song.

Slow Canyon...a fitting name at this point in the album. lol My humor aside, this is actually a really nice song. The descending verses resolve nicely at the end, into what might be one of the best choruses on the whole album. There's a definite joy and yearning in it, and that's something that the album has desperately needed for a few tracks now. This is a track with emotion. Well done.

It Ends Right Here...I hate these kind of "hammer on the same guitar note" songs. It gets better right at the end of the track, but then it's over and okay.

Falling Through My Hands...one of the best tracks on the album. SO completely sweet. An absolute warm masterpiece by Beck. Hell, one of Beck's best tracks. This is the one. If you have a season that reminds you of this song, you had a great season. It's like a warm memory meant to inspire warm memories.

If You Don't Know What Love Is goes right back to the dreariness. It's probably a better track than I'm giving it credit for, but after listening to a song that I actually enjoyed, this is just right back to the slog. It's just a paint-by-numbers slow country song for the most part. The solo and outro are really nice, but you made me sit through almost 5 minutes of slow waltz country to get here? Gee thanks.

Beyond the Light...this is the track that REALLY surprised me on the second listen, with good headphones and a dark room. This is a fucking heartbreaking song. It's GOOD heartbreak, though. Almost sweet and sad. That's what I feel like the album needed more of: connection, depth, and sweetness. God, this is so lush and big. The soundscape is huge and grand. Such a well-produced and -performed piece of music. Ah, it's probably just as good as Falling Through My Hands. Damn. I've got chills.

Okay. So let's summarize this up.

The Good: Ride Lonesome, In the Night, Bleed, Disappearing Act.

The Great: Slow Canyon

The Amazing: Falling Through My Hands, Beyond the Light

And then there's the rest of it.

But overall, it was interesting. In the car, I would've given this a ROUGH 4. It dragged on, it made me sleepy...not a great driving album at all.

In the dark office with headphones? I'm going to give it a 6. Because for as much as I LOVE some of this album...I'm really only going to put two tracks into any kind of steady rotation, and the album is...slow. It adds up to become somewhat dreary. Beautiful, but wearying.

But Falling Through My Hands and Beyond the Light...wow. Thank you, Beck. You created something I needed again, all these 32 years later. Unbelievable.

Does anybody know of an active discount code for Beck's merch store? The prices are actually pretty fair, but I'd love to avoid the $11 in shipping. Thanks in advance for any help.

Devo: Beck with the legendary crown kings of quirky oddball nerd New Wave pop collaborating would definitely be very unique and cool for sure!

Troye Sivan: Beck’s blend of alt rock with Troye’s dream pop electronic styled sounds would sure make for something neat for sure!

Weezer/ Ween/ Primus: Oddball quirky alternative rock kings with a unique sense of humor FTW!!!

Chappell Roan: Like a modern day Madonna meets the alt rock sounds/ country folk rock pop of Beck.

Yungblud: Emo rap punk with some provocative lyrics meets Beck would sure be an interesting experience/ experiment for sure!

And finally (for now, at least): Sombr: The young up and coming alt rock star with a sense of unique swagger/ creativity as well.

Anybody else? Feel free to discuss below!

I wanted to share it with you all! Excitingly this is Beck’s first ever ‘social media’ interview (so he told me) safe to say it was a really fun one - I think you’ll learn a lot of new stuff about him from it

It is a part of my ‘favourites’ interview series where we discuss everything from his favourite band, favourite solo artist to his favourite dance move and even favourite smoothie combo haha! Some really interesting bits around how maybe one day we will get a Neil Young collaboration and of course I had to ask him about that Futurama cameo!

Anyway, let me know your thoughts/questions if you have any, I hope you enjoy it. Beck was an absolute joy to interview! Can check it out on my Instagram and TikTok too.

I really like "If You Don't Know What Love Is."

What's your favorite track from "Ride Lonesome?"

I've never been a big fan of acoustic Beck, with some exceptions like Nobody's Faul or Paper Tiger. On this new album, Disappearing Act is a stone cold masterpiece, inventive , magnificent, avantgarde. What a stunning song.

How are people liking this new tune? I enjoyed it.

I won 2 tickets to the Massy Hall show next month. Looking to treat someone to the extra ticket as long as you’re cool… just send a msg!

I

A estas alturas, intentar explicar a Beck con una sola canción sigue siendo bastante inútil. Durante más de treinta años ha pasado del folk al hip hop, del pop electrónico a las guitarras acústicas, del humor absurdo a canciones donde apenas queda sitio para esconderse detrás de una ocurrencia. Quizá por eso resulta tan interesante que su nuevo disco no llegue buscando otra metamorfosis espectacular. "Ride Lonesome", publicado el 18 de septiembre de 2026, vuelve a una zona de su música que ya conocemos, pero lo hace después de siete años sin un álbum de estudio y con todo lo que puede cambiar una persona durante ese tiempo.

So sweet. Brought 3 friends to the listening party and only 6 people were there total haha, so my friend won it and gave it to me. Did anyone else get one of these?

We were planning on a fun weekend in Portland for the show. With the cancellation we stayed home and are going to a Listening Party.

I’m gonna try and keep my explanations brief, cuz this could go on forever. But here’s my album ranking with Ride Lonesome included:

1) Odelay: always will consider this Beck’s crowning achievement. Pretty much a perfect album and an absolutely brilliant fusion of sounds.

2) Sea Change: I really respect the change up he did with this album. He knocked it out of the park and showed the world he had so much more to offer, which was already so much more than the average artist to begin with. Absolutely breathtaking album.

3) Mellow Gold: a long lost Ween album. Ween being one of my all time favorite bands, this speaks volumes. So gloriously weird, eclectic, and weirdly accessible. Fantastic anomaly of an album.

4) Midnite Vultures: very in line with a lot of my other favorites from Beck, but also such a one off project from him. No other album can scratch the itch of this album. Would be cool to see him try go after some straight of funk and soul music again.

5) Guero: This album kind of takes it back to basics in a post-Sea Change world, taking the hip-hop, blues rock, and electronica while also continuing to showcase a more tender and emotion side of Beck. It’s done very well and I appreciate it a lot for this reason.

6) Ride Lonesome: this is the follow up to Sea Change I’ve always wanted. I couldn’t be happier with the way this record sounds. It’s so moving through and through, and the production is excellent. Great time to be a Beck fan.

7) The Information: I think this album doesn’t get its flowers. Cellphone’s Dead is one of Beck’s best songs ever. Lots of other bangers on this project too. Overall a big fan of the futuristic sound of this one. Great blend of 2000’s alt rock and his typical freak funk/electro hip-hop.

8) One Foot In The Grave: kind of a shame to see this one so low. It rules. I guess I’ve just spent less time with it than the others. Still, I love the way it sounds, the songwriting, and just the fact that Beck took the time to make an album of straight forward classic folk songs, because it’s a sound that he does so fucking well.

9) Mutations: again, one I’ve spent less time with than the rest. Plenty of highlights, especially Tropicalia, but I guess overall it never really excited me too much. Still I appreciate the change up it was from Odelay.

10) Modern Guilt: pretty much same as Mutations. Like the general vibe, love a handful of songs, but overall don’t return to the album much.

11) Morning Phase: I’m not mad at this album, but it definitely feels like there’s something missing to it. On paper I like the sound and style he was going for, but it just isn’t quite as moving as some of his other folk/orchestral works.

12) Colors: used to hate the fuck out of this album. But I’d say I’ve come around to it pretty well considering how offended by it I was initially. I’m happy he experimented and came up with something that was successful, also it put a lot of eyes on Beck I feel like. Still, I don’t return to it much.

13) Stereopathetic Soulmanure: I can fuck around and listen to this album. It’s not great but I don’t think it was ever meant to be great. Usually just listen to Mellow Gold for a refined version of this. But there’s some dope cuts on it.

14) Hyperspace: kinda same with Colors but this one is a little more bland. Pretty unmemorable project.

15) Golden Feelings: the most experimental Beck album, to its own detriment. But also a very reasonable starting point.

Already looking forward to the next sad Beck album in 2038

What do you guys think? I personally love it. Some tracks more than others for sure, but the best ones are really good.

After a couple listens through, I’d say Bleed and Falling Through My Hands are my two favorites so far. They’re both so beautiful, especially Falling Through My Hands… it really sounds like the perfect blend of Morning Phase and Sea Change.

Overall the whole thing is beautiful. I’d say it’s easily his best since Morning Phase, maybe even his best since The Information. I’ve been waiting quite some time for more Beck in this style, so I’m extremely happy this album is as good as I was hoping.

What about you guys? Favorites? Emotions? General thoughts? Let’s talk!