Beck: Morning Phase

8.3

This is an interesting album from rock and roll's leading Scientology pundit- Beck. It is advertised as the sequel to Sea Change, but I must say, Sea Change was better. Both albums are derivative, of performers like Nick Drake and such, but Morning Phase is a bit more psychedelic, and less folky. Beck is in a weird place in his career, where an artist this prolific doesn't really know what to do, and is perhaps doing just what he wants to, or thinks this is what his fans want to hear. We don't know. Has he lost the rhythm and rhyme to rap or is he just aging gracefully into an acoustic singer/songwriter? Will we ever see the "Loser" Beck we all loved in the 1990's again? Heaven knows. But this album isn't all bad. It has its moments of ambience and atmosphere as well as some catchy hooks and offbeat lyrics. What you'd expect from a Sea Change sequel, is just what you get. I think he could have been more ambitious rather than a throw back to an earlier album and conjured up a new sound like he's done in the past, but as I said, maybe he's just out of that juice. Nevertheless, this is a great background music album to play at work, or fall asleep to at home.