Beck: Morning Phase

Beck: Morning Phase

2014

Capitol Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Cycle  2. Morning  3. Heart is a Drum  4. Say Goodbye  5. Blue Moon  6. Unforgiven  7. Wave  8. Don't Let it Go  9. Blackbird Chain  10. Phase  11. Turn Away  12. Country Down  13. Waking Light


Oh, man...I forgot I even bought this one...I should have covered this album a week or so ago but glossed right past it...My CD rack is still a little out of order since the flood last year and blah blah blah I'm too lazy to put them back in order...

This was released after a six year wait, during which I figured we might have heard the last of Beck...I figured he had bowed out of the whole album every two years cycle to focus on writing sheet music, doing digital only cover albums, etc...Which I don't begrudge him...You don't always feel like making an album...I get it...

But the announcement last year of a new Beck album last year was surprising news and when I heard it was gentler, acoustic stuff I immediately thought, "Hmmm, like 'Sea Change?"...Then I saw the album cover and exclaimed, "EXACTLY like 'Sea Change!"

  Hey, I really like "Sea Change' so if he wants to revisit that muse, that's alright with me...And it does sound a lot like "Sea Change"... Mellow and reflective with sparse yet lush production...Slow Drumbeats, languidly strummed acoustic guitars and hazy string arrangements...I'd say where it differs is the actual emotional content..."Sea Change" had a very specific emotional hurt whereas "Morning Phase" just has a general malaise surrounding it...."Sea Change" has always sounded great when you're in a gloomy mood, but  the mood of "Morning Phase" is much harder to define, allowing you to somewhat project your own mood onto it...I've heard of the album described as "sad," but to my ears, I interpret it as a "silver lining" type of thing...There's still some darkness on tracks like "Wave" but then "Don't Let it Go" comes on and I instantly feel a little better...In fact, the final moments of album closer "Waking Light,' with its woo-ooo-ooo's and gospel grandeur read as downright uplifting to me...I guess "Morning Phase" could be viewed as a more "adult" album in that sense...There's not the pretense of "Yes, cocoon yourself in my infinite darkness"...It's sounds more conflicted... A jumble of many moods at once, which I tend to equate with the prevailing emotional state of adulthood...

And the whole thing sounds great...Play it on some nice headphones or big speakers and the warm ambiance will suck you right in...Like a big thick comforter for the ears...That said, a lot of the songs don't stick with you like the ones on "Sea Change" did..."The Golden Age"? "Paper Tigers"? "Little One"? "Guess I'm Doing Fine"? I swear to you those were etched into my brain immediately, on the other hand after listening to "Morning Phase" again I was like, "Oh yea...This song! Oh, yea...This song!" Take from that what you will... Is immediacy a prerequisite for great art? No, not at all...I actually kind of admire how elusive and amorphous this is...It will probably never draw the immediate emotional response that a replay of "Sea Change" does for me...But  I bet it's going to continue to sound new and interesting on ...When you really think about it, Beck is really the...Awww, man...Here comes Kanye West...

"Beyonce'! Beyonce'! Beyonce'! Nobody respects a true artist like Beyonce' (and not the army of producers and song writers who record all the music and write all the songs for her album)!"

 (channels his talentlessness into an autotune program that processes him to sound exactly like T-Pain, thereby creating the illusion of talent to folks who have never listened to anything more challenging than Lady Gaga..) Bleeeooo-bloooorp-bleeeeep!!! (translation: "Look like a fat booty Celine Dion! Sex is on fire! I’m the King of Leona Lewis!"  (somehow writes this garbage and still has the nerve to consider himself a genius (Devil's Advocate: "But wait! Isn't it a type of genius to suck and still have the nerve to call yourself a genius?" Naw, it's still just nerve...Misplaced nerve...))).

Ahhh, shit...It was actually kinda classy of him to apologize...Maybe I misjudged him...Maybe I ought to apology to Kanye now:

I Would like to publicly apologize to Kanye, I'm sorry Kanye...

...I'm sorry that you suck!!

I'd like to apologize to The word "suck" for comparing it to Kanye West...I'm sorry suck....

Wait! What am I doing sitting around apologizing for? It's Friday night! Saturday morning is when I normally do my apologizing! Let's crack a beer and listen to some music...

(Note: Some people may see this Gold and White beer as Black and Blue...)

...Here's  "Don't Let it Go" by