We Critique Five Interpretations of Beck's Sheet Music Song 'Old Shanghai'

We Critique Five Interpretations of Beck's Sheet Music Song "Old Shanghai"

By Sean J. O'Connell Tue., Dec. 11 2012 at 3:30 AM

SJ O'Connell

Beck Hopes You Have Been Practicing Your Scales

Not too long ago, most folks could read music in this county. Most middle class kids, at least, could bang out some chords on the piano at their parents' cocktail parties.

Nowadays, of course, pianos most often serve as furniture. But that hasn't stopped Beck from releasing an "album" that requires one to dust off an instrument to hear the songs. Via a project that's as retro as one can go, he's released sheet music for 20 tunes -- which he calls his Song Reader. Released by McSweeney's, the book is full of ridiculous jokes and painstaking design.

In any case, Beck says he won't record these songs, so it's up to his fans to decipher the music. "Old Shanghai" was one of the first songs to be leaked, and it's got a "slow swing" tempo, four separate horn parts, and a lower-register piano chart, vocals and ukulele tabs. YouTube is already littered with interpretations of the glacial ballad; here are five wildly different interpretations of it.

Unplugged70

Many folks' first instinct is to make the tune sound as much like a Beck song as possible, particularly of the Mutations-era variety. Unplugged70, then, does a decent Beck interpretation for awhile until starts to develop a strange vibe reminiscent of Beck's early releases.

New Yorker Nonet

Oh jeez. Nine New Yorker employees made this thing about as twee as you might expect. Despite the plethora of instruments, the makeshift band doesn't flush out the score more than the previous version, but the addition of violinist Rachel Lee makes for a nice mid-song solo. Although, Lee seems like a bit of a ringer for this band; her website notes that she has a master's degree at the New England Conservatory through its joint five-year program with Harvard!

Contramano

Twee again. Contramano's heavily-edited video implies that much of the work here was done in post-production; frankly we'd have appreciated the song more if we hadn't seen it. Major points to the cellist for his faithful adherence to the written trombone part. Unfortunately, these points are taken away because he appears crouching naked in the video.

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sophia58

I ordered the new Beck sheet music from Musicforte.com- can't wait to try the new songs! I hope this inspires a revival of living room music making. I think there is something human in sheet music, something that doesn’t depend on technology to facilitate it. It is a way of opening music up to what someone else is able to bring to it. That instability is what ultimately drew all musicians’ attention to this project.

bradblanco

I've been keeping a close eye on this Song Reader project and all of the interpretations I can get my hands on. I love them all. I'm having a blast looking at everything. But I have to say, that I was really struck by how turned off I was by the very idea of critiquing these versions in the way that they were critiqued on this blog. It's sort of silly. I know. I know. I know. Everything on the net is subject to criticism and everyone is free to do so, blah, blah blah... but, I dunno, to even critique them sort of misses the point. Of course, we all pick our favorites because it's what humans do: rank and criticize things. (But it's not really a remarkable skill to do so, all it takes is a minimal amount of intelligence and a heap of narcissism.). I have my own favorites and, sure, some versions are better than others, but critiquing them on the basis of who is the most original or who can play it better live or who nailed it the best versus who deconstructed it the best, or what have you, seems to be a pompous misapplication of the music critique's job. The work needs to be critiqued in the context of the experiment. For example, the "twee" New Yorkers who crammed in a living room to play the music: I found it very moving actually. When was the last time you invited people over to your house to do anything else other than drink or get high? The musicians participating with Song Reader are amateurs or only mildly-known musicians at best. They seized an opportunity to participate in something adventurous; what's the point of critiquing them by such pithy and smug standards?