It is perhaps Beck's strangest album. Song Reader - the record made up entirely of sheet music - was played in full at London's Barbican Theatre on Sunday (July 7, 2013), with a huge cast of musicians including Jarvis Cocker, Franz Ferdinand and Beth Orton. This potentially had disaster written all over it, though reviews suggest the album was perfectly  realised in the historic setting.

Song Reader contains twenty new songs, all publishing on song sheets. The tracks are scored for keys, guitar and voice though Beck's intention was for fans to elaborate and change the songs to their liking. As noted by the Financial Times' Ludovic Hunter-Tilney in his review, songwriter Ed Harcourt was given that job on the piano. He was accompanied by flugelhorns, ukuleles, drums and guitars.  The veteran punk poet John Cooper Clarke read prose between songs while female vocal trio The Staves helped out on vocals.

David Smyth of the Evening Standard suggested the concert will have encouraged fans to have a go themselves, writing, "The songs Beck performed himself sounded the most predictable, with acoustic guitar to the fore, though a jazzy, catchy Do We, We Do would have stood out regardless of the singer. For those buying the book in the lobby, it was a case of do try this at home."

BeckBeck Performing At Manchester Apollo

Beck - who recently produced Thurston Moore's new album - will perform at the Americanarama Festival of Music 2013 in New York on July 27, 2013. He is joined on the bill by Bob Dylan, Wilco and My Morning Jacket. 

BeckBeck Performing In Manchester As Part of His UK Tour in 2008