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Nov 11, 2019 By Christopher Roberts Beck

Beck is releasing a new album, Hyperspace, on November 22 via Capitol Records. Now he has done a session for Amazon Music at Prince’s iconic Paisley Park studios outside of Minneapolis where Beck and his band do a medley of Prince classics (“Raspberry Beret,” “When Doves Cry,” “Kiss,” and “1999”), as well as performing Beck’s own classic “Where It’s At” (from Odelay) and “Up All Night” (from his last album, Colors). It’s been released as a three-track EP, Paisley Park Sessions, which you can stream below if you have Amazon Music. There’s also a behind-the-scenes video of Beck recording the session, which you can watch below. And starting on November 18 there will be individual videos released of him recording each track. According to a press release, Beck is the first “major music artist” to record at Paisley Park’s Studio A since Prince’s untimely passing in 2016.

Prince’s 1982 album, 1999, is getting the deluxe reissue treatment on November 29 via Warner Records and last week one of its bonus tracks was shared, “Don’t Let Him Fool Ya,” a rarity that’s never before been officially released.

Seven of Hyperspace‘s 11 songs feature co-writing and co-production from Pharrell Williams. The album features other guest producers and collaborators. Greg Kurstin co-wrote and co-produced “See Through.” Paul Epworth co-wrote and co-produced “Star.” Coldplay’s Chris Martin features on “Stratosphere” and Terrell Hines provides guest vocals on “Hyperspace.” Cole M.G.N. co-wrote and co-produced “Die Waiting,” which features backing vocals from Sky Ferreira. Much of the album also features longtime Beck bandmates Jason Falkner, Smokey Hormel, and Roger Manning Jr.

Back in April Beck shared the Hyperspace‘s first single, “Saw Lightning.” Beck co-wrote “Saw Lightning” with Pharrell Williams, who also “contributes drums, keyboards, and mumbles” to the song. Then in July Beck shared a grainy black & white video of him performing the song with simply a harmonica and his voice. The new version was labeled “Saw Lightning (Freestyle)” and actor Giovanni Ribisi directed the video. Then when the album’s details were confirmed Beck shared the album’s first two tracks: “Hyperlife” and “Uneventful Days.” Then he shared a video for “Uneventful Days” directed by Dev Hynes (aka Blood Orange) and featuring notable actresses Evan Rachel Wood, Tessa Thompson, and Alia Shawkat, among other performers. Then he shared another song from the album, “Dark Places,” via a lyric video for the track.

In July Beck also guested on a cover of Van Halen’s 1984 hit “Hot For Teacher” by The Bird and the Bee (aka Inara George and Greg Kurstin), from their new covers album, Interpreting the Masters Volume 2: A Tribute to Van Halen, that features covers of 10 songs (11 if you get the vinyl version) of the 1980s rock band and came out in August via No Expectations/Release Me.

In March Beck teamed up with Cage The Elephant for the new song “Night Running,” a single from Cage The Elephant’s latest album, Social Cues, which is their fifth and came out in April via RCA. “Night Running” was one of our Songs of the Week. There was also a video for the song. Also, Beck and Cage The Elephant went on a co-headlining tour this past summer, dubbed “The Night Running Tour.”

Beck’s last album, Colors, came out in October 2017 via Capitol. In February he shared a new song, “Super Cool,” that featured Robyn and The Lonely Island, and was written for the animated film The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part and plays during the end credits of the film. “Super Cool” was one of our Songs of the Week. In January Beck also shared another new track, “Tarantula,” which is a cover of a 1983 song by Colourbox and is on Music Inspired By the Film Roma, which features songs inspired by the Alfonso Cuarón-directed black & white Spanish language film Roma. Beck performed the song on The Late Late Show with James Corden, where he was joined by a backing choir that featured Feist, Alex Lilly, Bat For Lashes (aka Natasha Khan), and The Bird and the Bee’s Inara George. He was also accompanied by the LA Philharmonic, conducted by Philharmonic music director Gustavo Dudamel.

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