Seriously, go look up the Metacritic reviews for Guero and take a drink every time one of the reviewers talks about how happy they are to hear Beck doing “Beck music” again after Sea Change. You’ll be under the table very fast. Christgau gave SC a good rating but bafflingly said “somebody didn’t have its heart in it.” HUH?!?

Beck’s divorce from Marissa Ribisi was apparently pretty damn painful, but it didn’t really inspire an album.