Beck
Guero
(Geffen)
Odelay was like a really good knock-knock joke—as great as it may have been, there was no point in hearing it more than once. An expertly crafted style collision, it brought Run-DMC, Woody Guthrie and The Talking Heads together in songs so densely perfect that they left no room for the listener. Guero remedies this. Its songs are created from the mid-tones of a more mysterious form of bizarre. It thrives in abandoning the kitsch of Odelay, showcasing the infusion of a unique and less definable form of beauty.
—Matt Charlton