Music
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best of 2009
Best of 2008
Best of 2007
Best of 2006
Best of 2005
Best of 2004
Best of 2003
Best of 2002
Best of 2001
Best of 2000
Best of the Decade
Upcoming &
Recent Releases
75
2562
54
30 Seconds to Mars
62
50 Cent
71
AC/DC
70
The Album Leaf
52
Kris Allen
68
Tori Amos
66
Animal Collective
84
Animal Collective
77
Annie
57
Apse
63
Asobi Seksu
59
Bad Lieutenant
83
Julianna Barwick
82
Beach House
72
Beak>
72
Bibio
65
Justin Bieber
76
Biffy Clyro
74
Blakroc
75
Mary J. Blige
78
Blockhead
52
Bon Jovi
54
Susan Boyle
57
The Bravery
39
Chris Brown
64
V.V. Brown
70
Basia Bulat
79
Chew Lips
74
Citay
65
Clipse
66
Cold War Kids
75
The Cribs
58
Dashboard Confessional
81
Dave Rawlings Machine
70
Delphic
78
The Doors
58
Echo & The Bunnymen
73
Edan
59
Editors
69
Eels
80
Felt
74
First Aid Kit
69
Flyleaf
83
Four Tet
82
Ben Frost
82
Fucked Up
83
Charlotte Gainsbourg
63
The Gilded Palace Of Sin
68
Githead
65
Joe Goddard
58
Good Shoes
72
Gucci Mane
75
Holopaw
82
Jesca Hoop
79
Hot Chip
72
The Hot Rats
88
Ray Wylie Hubbard
54
Hurricane Chris
66
Allison Iraheta
59
Jay Sean
82
Freedy Johnston
57
Nick Jonas And The Administration
73
Norah Jones
49
Juvenile
58
Ke$ha
62
R. Kelly
66
Alicia Keys
68
Kid Sister
81
King Midas Sound
63
Lady Antebellum
76
Lady GaGa
71
Adam Lambert
78
Lawrence Arabia
61
Leona Lewis
74
Lightspeed Champion
36
Lil Wayne
82
Lindstrom & Christabelle
77
Lissie
78
Los Campesinos!
70
Lostprophets
73
Magnetic Fields
72
Massive Attack
64
John Mayer
71
Paul McCartney
58
Katherine McPhee
86
Memory Tapes
72
Midlake
88
Motion City Soundtrack
63
Mr. Hudson
53
Mudvayne
75
Oh No Ono
70
OK Go
72
Ola Podrida
61
OneRepublic
80
Owen Pallett
80
Pantha du Prince
90
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
80
Phantogram
60
Pit Er Pat
63
Priestess
70
Radian
79
Corinne Bailey Rae
54
Rakim
79
Real Estate
77
Retribution Gospel Choir
76
Rihanna
64
Rjd2
65
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
77
Sade
77
Gil Scott-Heron
72
Shakira
82
Shining
61
Snoop Dogg
62
Snow Patrol
71
The Soft Pack
80
Spoon
64
Ringo Starr
59
Stereophonics
76
Angie Stone
79
Surfer Blood
74
Switchfoot
75
Them Crooked Vultures
74
Robin Thicke
50
Timbaland
79
tUnE-YaRDs
80
Vampire Weekend
79
Laura Veirs
79
Tom Waits
78
Wale
65
The Watson Twins
66
Kanye West
76
The Whitefield Brothers
64
Robbie Williams
80
Yeasayer
62
Young Money
75
Neil Young
61
Rob Zombie
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Guero
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 39 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 112 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Geffen
Release Date: 29 March 2005
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Alternative, Rock
Summary
This much-anticipated release for the eclectic performer--a return to the "fun" Beck of 'Odelay' and 'Midnite Vultures'--was produced by the Dust Brothers and Tony Hoffer.
Also By This Artist: Guerolito Midnite Vultures Modern Guilt Sea Change The Information
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Alternative Press
Long live the king of hip. [May 2005, p.132]
Drawer B
Even though Guero sounds familiar sonically, it still pushes Beck further into a league that he all but owns.
Read Full Review >Uncut
A mouth-watering feast of beats and grooves... as welcome as anything he's done. [Apr 2005, p.100]
Delusions of Adequacy
Guero is Beck’s most enjoyable long-player because it doesn’t pretend to be more than what it is: a fun collection of disparate, delicious songs.
Read Full Review >Stylus Magazine
Beck has shed himself of Sea Change’s need to shelter himself in his songs. We have our urban craftsman back, to stir the dust in sampled record grooves and unearth for us, again and again, the new in the old and vice versa.
Read Full Review >Drowned In Sound
'Guero' contains several familiar sounds merely repackaged and freshened up - remnants of the party album mentality of 'Midnite Vultures' sit next to the eclecticism of 'Odelay' and the folk sensibilities of 'Mutations'. What negates this is the conviction with which it's all delivered.
Read Full Review >The New York Times
Where his previous albums have seesawed between comedy and despair, "Guero" comes closer than ever to merging them. [21 Mar 2005]
Blender
Bubbles with kooky sounds and melodic invention. [Apr 2005, p.112]
The Guardian
Guero's easy, confident flow makes it easy to underrate but, despite his reputation as a slacker, Beck's biggest weakness has always been trying too hard. It's good to hear him so happy in his own clothes.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
A thoroughly enjoyable LP that sounds warm and familiar upon the first play and gets stronger with each spin.
Read Full Review >Tiny Mix Tapes
It's probably best that the album we've been waiting so long to hear is as safe as Guero is. At this point we just want our Beck, and Guero is as Beck as Beck can be.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine
Beck integrates his personae into a fairly seamless whole, and his knack for synthesizing disparate musical elements (hip-hop, robot funk, blues, country, jazz, garage rock, etc.) extends beyond samples and individual tracks. The songs migrate smoothly from one to the next; there aren’t any throwaway numbers to sabotage the album’s momentum; the whole thing coheres.
Read Full Review >Flak Magazine
One of Beck's most admirable traits is that when he tries on a new culture, he makes fun of his effort louder than anyone else can.
Read Full Review >Filter
Finds [Beck] consolidating his considerable talent by combining all his disparate influences into one coherent collection of songs. [#15, p.90]
Magnet
Remarkably, the shifts in tone and mood only serve Guero in the end. [#67, p.85]
The Wire
Guero turns out to be much stronger than its provenance suggests. [#256, p.66]
Lost At Sea
One must realize that this album was created to be fresh but not necessarily edgy. The difference means that the effort is intended to be highly enjoyable but not breakthrough material.
Read Full Review >Urb
Beck at his best. [Apr 2005, p.100]
New Musical Express
'Guero' represents a very clever man being clever enough to recognise what he's good at. [19 Mar 2005, p.58]
Spin
It's his most varied record, but it also sounds for the first time like he's tryinig to make a "Beck album." [Apr 2005, p.97]
No Ripcord
Guero is a record with lots of great ideas and some very good songs... but I can't help thinking that there's just something missing from this release.
Read Full Review >Billboard
"Guero" explores all of Beck's influences and revisits so many of his finer ideas. It's not the cheeky soul-funk orgy of "Midnite Vultures," but something more mature.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
It sounds like a shadow greatest-hits album, a collection of also-rans offering intriguing variations on past styles.
Read Full Review >Village Voice
Beck's sampler-songwriter m.o. feels freshest on songs evoking some version, real or imaginary, of Southern California.
Read Full Review >Paste Magazine
While it lacks the churn or drama of his earlier work or the dour intensity of Sea Change, it’s an album remarkable in its consistent, pleasant above-averageness, punctuated by bursts of true genius.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
On one level, Guero is the quintessential Beck album, incorporating aspects of everything he's done.... Yet in tone these songs all carry with them the heaviness of Sea Change.
Read Full Review >ShakingThrough.net
Guero is all over the map but the majority of its detours simply aren’t worth the trip.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle
Guero isn't exactly Odelay. It's more like a photo album tracing the phases in Beck's musical career.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Many of the songs appear to be little more than weak echoes of their similar predecessors.
Read Full Review >Neumu.net
There is nothing here that thrills with its audacity, beauty, beat or lyrics. Instead, we are given a solid batch of songs that for any other artist would be a crowning achievement, but for Beck is just mediocre.
Read Full Review >Junkmedia
It's endearingly all over the place, but depressingly self-referential.
Read Full Review >Mojo
While there are enough inspiring moments on here to suggest Beck hasn't yet run out of ideas, it demonstrates that the best way for him to revisit former triumphs would be to travel somewhere new. [Apr 2005, p.92]
Q Magazine
The production lacks the loose-fit liveliness and lightness of touch which was The Dust Brothers' trademark back in the mid-'90s. [Apr 2005, p.114]
cokemachineglow
If this record had come out in ’94 it would have been groundbreaking. ’98 and it would have been good. But it’s ’05 now, and there aren’t many reasons to be impressed.
Read Full Review >Playlouder
Too often tracks drag us down below the high standard an artist like Beck Hanson has set himself. Red Hot Chili Peppers outtakes with some harmonica and vocoder balanced incongruously on top are frankly not good enough.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 112 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
nas haq gave it a4:
No way as good as Sea Change. Three good songs and the rest some awful hip pop.
Ryan R gave it a9:
"Girl" is possibly the best song by Beck, even if the chorus is "cyanide girl". I love "Que Onda Guero" 's street sounds. Interesting note, the songs "Go It Alone" and "Farewell Ride" are written in collaboration with the Beastie Boys.
Pat O gave it a10:
Guero is the best album by Beck ever, of 2005 and probably one of the best of this millennium so far.
Adam W gave it a9:
Guero & The Information sound like 2 halves of one very long double album..Guero is the better half though. Playful and somber at the same time, the majority of Guero sounds like Beck enjoying the up-side of a bout of manic depression.
Andy gave it a5:
The most disappointing Beck album yet.
Tom B gave it a10:
back to his very best; from the grin-worthy e-pro to the soulful girl and the yeah yeah yeahs of rental car...a masterpiece.
Luis G gave it a9:
....back in the groove .....and back on land( from SEA CHNAGE) beck delivers again ala odelay and mutations but with more ambition and less blab....some tracks highlight extraordinare others just bounce off the walls making you hit repeat again and again....too bad the market in inundated with hip-hop crap.....heck even becks plays tribute but with creativity and non abrasive words and beats ......WE LOVE BACK HERE !!!
