Morning Phase

I’ve been a fan of Beck’s for a little while now. After listening to his 2005 album Guero, I got hooked and bought all his other albums and loved nearly all of them. Considering the Beck I’ve always loved is his alternative-folk-electro-grunge-rock (you know, whatever Beck is) identity, the hints about this album being more in a Sea Change direction instead of an Information or Guero direction kinda make me not as excited as I usually am for a Beck release. But…you’ll notice there’s more reviewing under this paragraph, so you can already guess how bad of an assumption that was.

No matter what type of music Beck approaches, he’s the only artist I’ve ever listened to who can take apart a genre, master it, and put it back together so seamlessly, yet so ‘Beck’. The absorption of this album parallels that attribute flawlessly, like being submerged in a musical pool of bliss. Even if you’re the kind of person who can’t listen to slower paced music, I’d feel bad for you not giving Morning Phase the opportunity to induce you into a symphonic, orchestral, melodic, and soul-moving coma that we all look for in music.

Some albums take a few listens to start clicking with you mentally and musically. Also, Sea Change isn’t my favorite Beck album, so from what others started to say about it being so similar to Morning Phase, I wasn’t expecting too much out of this album when it became available. About three songs into Morning Phase in the first listen, you couldn’t tear me away from the computer.

It’s a hard emotion to describe being so equally excited and powerfully relaxed at the same time, but I think Beck has a word for it in the Becktionary: Morning Phase. I can’t say anymore without taking away the excitement you’ll feel listening to Morning Phase the first time. No, Beck didn’t rise from under the radar with another Guero, he arose with something better. Awaken to the Morning Phase and see what I mean.

What Beck brings to the turntable this time around is an collection of songs that would not sound too out of place on his 2002 album "Sea Change". Like the aforementioned LP, "Morning Phase" has a slow pace which may turn off fans of his more upbeat material but if you're like the many critics who enjoy dropping the word "masterpiece" after mentioning "Sea Change", I doubt you will be disappointed.

I'll leave the comprehensive reviews to the experts but here is a little "Morning Phase" mixology to hold you over:
Pour 12 ounces of Beck (decaffeinated) into a tall glass.
Add 2 parts String Orchestra and 1 part Country.
Stir slowly.
Garnish with a floppy hat and serve.

There is a cottage industry in the terms of the music business, which has tried to accurately pin down the LA maverick Beck Hanson over the past decades. His chameleon like tendencies that can take his music from hip hop sampling to stoner rock, from lo-fi folk to alt country have long delighted critics playing the game of musical sleuth. What is interesting however is that while his most critically lauded album is the eclectic wonder “Odelay” released in 1996, if you go to Amazon you will note that it is the 2002 masterpiece “Sea Change” which gets the “public vote” with double the amount of reviews.

This should not surprise us. Beck released “Sea Change” as a classic break up album and packed it with great songs often in the tradition of Nick Drake. With the release of this superb new album “Morning Phase” he has profitably returned to plough this furrow and produced an album every bit its equal. With essentially the same band that played on “Sea Change” this record is a more mature older brother. Beck himself has admitted that he has located this album “coming from the tradition of "California music" and said, "I'm hearing the Byrds, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Gram Parsons, Neil Young”. Throw in some British Folk and you will accurately pin this album down.

The songs are stunners. The big ballad “Morning” sounds like Pink Floyd playing country, while the sumptuous “Heart is a Drum” again reprises Nick Drake influences to excellent effect. The song “Blue Moon” has been well trailed in advance of full release and is a beautiful free flowing track with a Lindsay Buckingham tinge. On it Beck talks about being tired of being alone and how he has been “cut down to size/So I can fit inside/The lies that will divide us both in time”. Despite these lyrics “Morning Phase” is a much more uplifting and less introspective album than “Sea Change” There are lush strings based songs such as the haunting “Wave”, these contrast with the acoustic folk of the standout “Turn Away” which sees Beck venture into Paul Simon territory. Beck’s confidence throughout the album is brimming not least on the brilliant pop of “Blackbird Chain” and the “Harvest” like strum of “Country Down”. The albums big closer “Waking Light” swells with sensuous ease drawing down the curtain on a totally gripping and immersive album.

“Morning Phase” is the first new music release that Beck has released in five and half years. It is a record, which he admits he has gradually polished and finessed over the past five years which have also included a spell of illness. As he states about the songs “I found the ones that fit together the best, and then I worked on building it, stripping it back, rewriting it and just kept going until I felt like it was getting better and better." Than heavens he persevered. Beck was once described as “A Dylan In Slacker's Clothing” yet “Morning Phase” shows him refining his art, working like a Trojan and fully delivering the goods. Read more ›

Musically, lyrically, vocally, and emotionally better than Sea Change. Really love this album. I think it will rank as his second best behind only Odelay. I always found Sea Change a little dull and definitely weaker lyrically than Beck's best releases. Here Beck meticulously constructs beautiful songs and lyrics. He said he played these over and over, and it shows. Beck's creativity, so often used to create beautiful mish-mashes of musical and lyrical soundscapes, now has been plowed into creating a timeless music. Yes, it honors CSN, the Beach Boys, the Byrds, Wilco, and others, but it also does so with such reverence and care that it even surpasses most of their efforts because there are no weak tracks here. Beck shows more emotions here than on Sea Change--an album devoted to loss. Here, he's more comfortable with himself, his life, and he takes the time (5 years since his last album) to give us something wonderful.