If you took ‘Odelay’, ‘Mutations’ and ‘Sea Change’ and played them in a blender for a bit and then wait a while as the layer’s separate as the Brownian motion is done, you get Guero (meaning a White man in Spanish.) A decent but generally a letdown, ‘Guero’ is indeed Beck at what he does best – a collage of different musical styles – this time all in one album. Alas there is no ‘Devil’s Haircut’ or ‘Bottle of blues’ and not even a ‘Golden Age’, in other words nothing that sounds out on its own merit as a brilliant song. In fact, if you aren’t paying attention, you might not realize the tracks change as you play the whole CD.

Beck’s fans will enjoy it but if this is your introduction to Beck’s music then you will wonder why he is considered such a sonic genius.