Beck Says Full Unreleased Albums Were “Probably” Destroyed in Universal Warehouse Fire

Surrounding the release of his new album Hyperspace, Beck gave an interview to The Sydney Morning Herald where he opened up about his fear that full albums of unreleased music was lost in the 2008 Universal Studios warehouse fire.

Beck said that his management “still won’t tell me what was lost,” adding, “I have a feeling that my management is not telling me because they can’t bear to break the news. He revealed that a double album of solo Hank Williams covers he recorded in 2001 is “probably gone.” He also expressed concern over whether or not a handful of other fully unreleased albums were destroyed, including outtakes from Sea Change and an entire album he made with Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in 1995.

“I went to Nashville on tour for two days and cut a country album that never got released,” he said. “I have rock albums I did in the 1990s. Before I did Odelay, I went and tried to make an indie-rock album, so there’s an album that sounds like a Pavement, Sebadoh kind of thing. ... Nobody’s telling us anything.”

Update: In an Instagram post, Beck said that “Since the time of that interview we have found out that my losses in the fire were minimal” and that he has “had a wonderful and very close relationship with my management for 25 years through to working on my current album.” Read the full statement below.

Beck was just one in a huge list of names that was reportedly affected by the warehouse fire. Nirvana, R.E.M., Hole, Nine Inch Nails, John Coltrane, and so many others were also reportedly affected. The estates of Tupac, Tom Petty, and Soundgarden have sued UMG over lost recordings.

Pitchfork has reached out to UMG.

Originally Appeared on Pitchfork