Sea Change (album)

Following Beck's tour for his Midnite Vultures album, Beck and his fiancée, stylist Leigh Limon, ended their nine-year relationship. Three weeks before Beck's 30th birthday, he discovered Limon had been having an affair with a member of Los Angeles band Whiskey Biscuit. Beck lapsed into a period of melancholy and introspection, during which he wrote the bleak, acoustic-based tracks on Sea Change. He wrote most of the album's 12 songs in one week, but shelved them. "Songs sit in my head for a while," he told Time in 2002. "I have dozens in there, songs from eight years ago that I've written but never recorded. After a while, I just sort of decide to record them." Beck had also strayed from the songs to keep from talking about his personal life, as well as to focus on music and "not really strew my baggage across the public lobby." Eventually, however, he found the songs speak to an experience (a relationship breakup) that is common, and that it would not seem self-indulgent to record them. In 2001, Beck drifted back to the songs and reteamed with his producer for Mutations, Nigel Godrich. but no songs from those sessions were used for Sea Change. Many songs, such as "Lost Cause", were performed live prior to the album's recording. Another new song, "Evil Things", was also performed and demoed but ultimately not recorded for the album, due to loss of time. Regarding the performances of more personal tracks in the days before Sea Change, Beck explained in a 2008 interview that "Those were the kinds of songs I would play in the middle of the show. I'd try to throw a couple of them in. I just remember the audience kind of disregarding them, or moshing, or throwing things. Just because those were the kinds of persons that came out." ==Recording and production==

Beck and his group of musicians entered the studio with intentions to make the record an acoustic-based offering, in the vein of those for his emotive 1998 disc Mutations. Early in the recording process, Beck told Godrich that he was hoping to record one track per day, similar to the process of Mutations. However, each song ended up taking at least two days to record, due to orchestral arrangements. Much of Sea Change was recorded live, with extra effects (including bells and strings) added later. "Ship in the Bottle" was released on the Japanese version of Sea Change and later remasters. ==Composition==

Sea Change is based around a musical suite of reflective, acoustic-based songs that showcase Beck's singer-songwriter side. Despite initial difficulty upon deciding on the name, the title originates from "Little One", the eleventh track on the album: "Drown, drown / Sailors run aground / In a sea change nothing is safe". Although often compared to Mutations, Beck himself regarded the album, in a 2008 interview, as more representative of his 1994 album One Foot in the Grave and "more representative of what I was doing [in the early days]." Beck would later produce and collaborate with Gainsbourg's daughter Charlotte on her 2009 album IRM. ==Promotion and release==

Before release, retailers worried about the commercial impact of Sea Change due to its sound. Analysts predicted the album would not receive heavy radio support, noting that Beck's reputation, critical acclaim and the possibility of multiple Grammy nominations might offset an uncommercial sound. "Lonesome Tears", "Guess I'm Doing Fine", "Little One", and two versions of "Lost Cause". ==Artwork==

Sea Change was released with four different album covers, each version containing distinct digital artwork by Jeremy Blake on the CD and the booklet. There were also different hidden messages (lyrical snippets) written under each version's CD tray. The original cover art for the album was used as an effigy in the music video for lead single "Lost Cause". ==Reception==

Critical In a five-star review, Rolling Stone critic David Fricke wrote that Sea Change was "the best album Beck has ever made, and it sounds like he's paid dearly for the achievement." It was ranked number 17 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 best albums of the 2000s. Commercial Sea Change peaked at No. 8 on Billboard's Top 200 chart and was eventually certified gold in March 2005. In the UK charts, it peaked at No. 20. As of July 2008, Sea Change had sold 680,000 copies in the United States. ==Tour==

Sea Change yielded many tours in support, the first of which began as a low-key, theatre-based acoustic tour in August 2002. Each show gave a playful, energetic atmosphere, with Beck telling jokes in between performances, and a surprise appearance by Jack White of the White Stripes at the August 11 show, which MTV News described as getting "a standing ovation from the sold-out crowd of college kids and beatniks." A larger tour was planned for October 2002, The tour began in October and ended in November 2002. During the touring for Sea Change, Beck varied the set list and experimented with song structures, changing the arrangements each night as a way to break away from predictability. True to Beck's desire for re-interpretation of songs, he dismissed both his longtime touring band and the group he worked with for Sea Change shortly before touring began. Between new and old original songs at each concert, Beck performed many improvisational covers, such as "No Expectations" by the Rolling Stones, Big Star's "Kangaroo", the Zombies' "Beechwood Park" and "Sunday Morning" by the Velvet Underground. David Fricke of Rolling Stone called the live covers "breathtaking", adding that they were "a perfect fit — songs about commitment and loss, written and sung by the wounded." ==Track listing==

;Musicians • Beck Hansen – vocals (tracks 1–12), acoustic guitar (tracks 1, 3, 5–12), synth (tracks 1, 3, 7), glockenspiel (tracks 1, 10), harmonica (track 3), background vocals (tracks 3, 5, 10–11), keyboards (track 4), banjo (track 5), percussion (tracks 5, 10–11), electric guitar (tracks 7, 10–11), Wurlitzer (track 7), piano (track 10) • Justin Meldal-Johnsen – electric bass (tracks 1–4, 6, 9–11), background vocals (tracks 3, 5, 11), electric guitar (track 4), upright bass (tracks 5, 7–8, 10, 12), glockenspiel (tracks 5, 10), percussion (tracks 5, 10–11), piano (track 10) • Roger Joseph Manning Jr. – synth (tracks 1, 5, 7, 10), Wurlitzer (tracks 1, 7, 10, 12), glockenspiel (track 1), piano (tracks 3, 10–11), Clavinet (tracks 3, 5–6, 10–11), background vocals (tracks 3, 5, 11), percussion (tracks 5, 10–11), harmonium (track 10), banjo (track 10), Indian banjo (track 10) • Smokey Hormel – electric guitar (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 10), acoustic guitar (tracks 4, 5, 7, 9), percussion (tracks 5, 10), background vocals (track 5), acoustic slide guitar (tracks 6, 10, 12), piano (track 10), bamboo saxophone (track 10), megamouth (track 10), tape recorder (track 10) • Joey Waronker – drums (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 10–12), percussion (tracks 1–7, 10–12), background vocals (tracks 3, 11), beatbox drums (track 10) • James Gadson – drums (tracks 2, 4, 6, 9) • Jason Falkner – electric guitar (tracks 2, 11), background vocals (track 11), percussion (track 11) • Nigel Godrich – keyboards (tracks 2, 4, 6), percussion (track 2), synth (track 3) • Suzie Katayama – cello (track 7) ;Technical • David Campbell – string arranger (tracks 2, 4, 8), conductor (tracks 2, 4, 8) • Nigel Godrich – string treatment (track 8), producer, engineer, mixing • Darrell Thorp – assistant engineer • Bob Ludwig – mastering • Autumn de Wilde – cover photo • Jeremy Blake – artwork • Kevin Reagan – art direction, design • Beck Hansen – string arranger (track 8), art direction, design • Ekaterina Kenney – Geffen creative • Elliot Scheiner – SACD/DVD-A surround sound mix == Charts ==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==