Beck!: On a Backwards River

Grammy-winning cut-and-paste recording artist of ""Loser"" fame Beck (aka Bek David Campbell) has blessed the music press with some of the most hilarious and articulate pull quotes in recent pop history. Take, for instance, this nugget that closes Jovanovic's preface: ""All you've seen so far is `This is a test,' not the actual broadcast. Prime time has not come on yet. I've got a million ideas."" It's a sound bite that Jovanovic, a rock writer based in England, should have taken to heart before embarking on this first full-length biography of the alternative musician. Although undeniably talented, painstakingly hardworking and, like Bob Dylan, remarkably self-educated in American folk and blues, at 30, Beck seems just too young to merit a biography. Thus far, he's only released four, albeit inventive, major-label albums: Mellow Gold (1994), Odelay (1996), Mutations (1998) and Midnite Vultures (1999). Jovanovic dedicates a chapter to each, blandly recounting the trials and tribulations of recording processes, band lineups and live performances, with the occasional biographical aside (e.g., Beck's maternal grandfather is the late Fluxus artist Al Hansen). Exactly how Beck taps his schizophrenic muse remains a mystery. A noticeably stiff writer, Jovanovic is unable to synthesize the plethora of magazine, radio and TV interviews upon which he relies so heavily into his own narrative. Like many biographies on precocious musicians (e.g., Mac Randall's Exit Music: The Radiohead Story), this is a labor of love that doesn't transcend basement-tape enthusiasm. 8 pages b&w photos, discography, gigography, index. (Apr.) Forecast: Although Beck has myriad and sundry fans, they may not be motivated to buy this book until late fall when Beck is due to release a new album.