Beck Admits Potential Loss Of Unreleased Albums In 2008 Universal Backlot Fire

Beck appears to be the latest high-profile music artist to have lost a handful of master recordings during a devastating warehouse fire which took place on the Universal backlot in Los Angeles in June 2008. A shocking New York Times report on the 2008 fire shared this past June shed light on the extensive damage (which the corporate snakes at Universal never admitted) done to the warehouse which housed tens of thousands of master recordings.

In a new interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, Beck became the latest in a string of artists who have all shared legitimate doubts on the safety of their master recordings after the fire destroyed a large portion of irreplaceable audiotapes.

Beck, who just this past Friday celebrated the release of his fourteenth studio album, Hyperspace, recently told the Australian media outlet that his management team refuses to elaborate on which of his master recordings may or may not have been salvaged from the fire.

“[They] still won’t tell me what was lost,” Beck admitted in regards to his over-protective team. “I have a feeling that my management is not telling me because they can’t bear to break the news.”

Unreleased projects which Beck had stored in Universal’s lot included “10 to 20” unused recordings from his Sea Change sessions, 25 solo recordings of Hank Williams covers from 2001 which were meant to appear on a double album, an untitled country album that never got released, and a “[Jon Spencer] Blues Explosion album” recorded in 1995 which resulted in 10 songs.

“Nobody’s telling us anything. We didn’t hear about it until the last year,” Beck continued. “I have friends who work in archives and they see the tapes for legendary artists from the ’50s just lying there in a cardboard box, not being climate controlled and preserved correctly in an acid-free box … There’s a lot of neglect of masters. It’s a big problem.”

Beck’s next scheduled performance will be at the inaugural Intersect Festival at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds in Las Vegas, NV on December 6th. For more information on upcoming Beck performances, head to his website here.

[H/T Sydney Morning Herald]