Colors
by Beck
  • Record Label: Capitol
  • Release Date: Oct 13, 2017
Metascore
72

Generally favorable reviews - based on 34 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 34
  3. Negative: 1 out of 34
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  1. No Ripcord
    Nov 27, 2017
    60
    Charging power-pop anthems like I’m So Free and Dear Life agree with his current stature as an elder statesman who can try to keep it cool, except that when he veers into strummy gloss pop (Up All Night, Square One) it makes him sound out of touch.
  2. The Line of Best Fit
    Oct 17, 2017
    60
    Beck’s Colors is a musical invitation to a soiree that ultimately lacks both substance and staying power, and is crucially missing the self-awareness that something more important is at stake than merely having a good time.
  3. The 405
    Oct 17, 2017
    60
    Overall it’s a fun album of two halves. The first half tows the line between the cheesy elements of radio pop that even the snarkiest Slayer fan secretly loves, and some truly inspirational, if not fleeting, compositional substance. The second half, although still very much a fun listen, somewhat strays.
  5. The Observer (UK)
    Oct 16, 2017
    60
    Infrequently there are bursts of brilliance--the Bowie meets Men at Work-style funk of the title track; Wow’s theatrical reimagining of hip-hop--but happiness does not become the impish shape-shifter.
  6. The Independent (UK)
    Oct 13, 2017
    60
    All told, it’s pretty crowded territory, with too many jams.
  7. Clash Music
    Oct 13, 2017
    60
    There are plenty of hooks and the pace rarely relents, but it’s hard to ever imagine Colors ever being in anyone’s top five favourite Beck albums.
  8. Record Collector
    Oct 12, 2017
    60
    Colors suffers for sacrificing personality for immediacy.
  9. The Guardian
    Oct 12, 2017
    60
    Colors is extreme, featuring some of the best and worst songs that Beck has ever written.
  10. American Songwriter
    Oct 10, 2017
    60
    At times this slick party vibe sounds like Hall & Oates at their least soulful, which is to say the music has an inevitability to it that initially feels fresh, but starts to wear thin when it’s clear the entire album is cut from the same glitzy cloth.
  11. Mojo
    Oct 6, 2017
    60
    It's a messy, vibrant record, and if his palette occasionally blurs into muddiness, at least he's still trying for a rainbow. [Nov 2017, p.102]
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  12. Slant Magazine
    Oct 13, 2017
    50
    At times, it seems as though Beck is grasping at something, anything, to add conflict and tension to this effusive album. But all he comes up with are the most well-worn of sentimental platitudes.
  13. Pretty Much Amazing
    Oct 13, 2017
    50
    Colors is the opposite of The Information. The first time you listen to it, you know its average and you keep listening, begging it to give something that hasn’t had its edges shaved off by a production style that strips all weird aesthetics in favor of aerodynamics that no one wanted and no one will like.
  14. Drowned In Sound
    Oct 12, 2017
    50
    Whether Colors will be a success within the pop world it is clearly aimed at remains to be seen, but one suspects even pop fans will see through this for it appears to be: an album documenting a mid-life crisis.
  15. musicOMH.com
    Nov 8, 2017
    40
    The problem with Colors is that where once he innovated, Beck now seems to be imitating the slew of fizzing faceless pop clogging the airwaves buried under a mesh of corporate production.

Awards & Rankings

49
#49 Most Discussed Album of 2017
74
#74 Most Shared Album of 2017

User Reviews

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User Score
8.1

Universal acclaim- based on 151 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 125 out of 151
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 151
  3. Negative: 7 out of 151
  1. BeckFan
    Oct 29, 2017
    10
    Colors is a fantastic album. I am a massive Beck fan, loving everything he has done. Among the very best rank Odelay, Sea Change, Guero,Colors is a fantastic album. I am a massive Beck fan, loving everything he has done. Among the very best rank Odelay, Sea Change, Guero, Morning Phase, and Mutations, but all of his albums are great in their own way. As a Beck fan, I recognize that every album he records is a vast departure from the last. Really only two are even similar, in Sea Change and Morning Phase, and they were recorded more than a decade apart. So I dont understand the people saying he's lost his touch, or not the same. Thats the point. He is never the same, something that makes him great, and vastly unique in today's music.
    Colors is one great song after another, until its over. It might be his most "complete" work to date. The opening title track kicks things into gear, and songs like Seventh Heaven, I'm So Free, Dear Life, No Distraction are intant classics in my book. Dreams is great, and like every other song, extremely upbeat and catchy. Eminently listenable, this is the first album in years where I never want to skip a song looking for a better one. The songs and his vocals, are melodic, fast, and fun. It puts a smile on your face to listen. For the first time in a while, it sounds as though Beck is truely happy in his music. I am too. This may be my new favorite Beck album.    … Full Review »
  2. DavidWasHere
    Oct 14, 2017
    7
    As a Beck fan, I like this album, but I will admit that it is one of his weaker albums and I'm not sure if I like this change of pace. It'sAs a Beck fan, I like this album, but I will admit that it is one of his weaker albums and I'm not sure if I like this change of pace. It's not egregious, but much like Morning Phase it is Beck playing it super safe and not trying to push boundaries. It's basically Beck trying to cash in on all the alternative dance songs that make it onto the alternative radio stations, acts like Foster the People or Portugal. the Man or even Passion Pit (the album closer Fix Me definitely sounds like a song that could slip into Gossamer). If you like those type of bands, you might like this album. But if you are looking for the man who made boundary pushing albums like Odelay or Midnight Vultures, you'll be left hanging. I mean say what you will about Morning Phase, when looking at his Grammy-winning last album it made sense considering it is a companion piece to his masterpiece Sea Change, Colors is just an attempt at Beck cashing in on different trends without really doing anything all that innovative. That's not saying that the album is bad. For a dance album, it's plenty of fun! The production is colorful at times, the grooves are solid, and the lyrics can be clever a lot of the times. But unfortunately it can't save how safe, generic, and at times stiff this album can be.

    Like I said before, I'm a fan of Beck and I will admit I do enjoy this album overall, but it does not come as close as Mellow Gold or Odelay or Mutations or Sea Change or even Morning Phase. The album is well produced as a dance album and it has it's moments, but for die hard Beck fans, I wouldn't really recommend it honestly. And as a Beck fan, if this is the type of music he'll be making in the 2010s and onward, I don't think I'll like it. Just saying.    … Full Review »
  3. fredphoesh
    Oct 14, 2017
    4
    This album is dull and just lacks the sparkle or substance you get from many other Beck albums. There are some good bits, but the bits thatThis album is dull and just lacks the sparkle or substance you get from many other Beck albums. There are some good bits, but the bits that are good are really just sections of songs, or sounds used, which are interesting for a few seconds, but then somehow they do not click into a shape that has power.… Full Review »
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