Photo Courtesy Capitol Records
Rating: 3.8
I know what many of you are thinking right now: Who is Beck? His latest album Morning Phase won a Grammy for “Best Album” of the year, as well as “Best Rock Album.” He won over artists like Ed Sheeran, Beyonce and Sam Smith. It was a complete shock for anyone, even for an album that is this good. I know I usually would review albums that are released the week of the review, but in honor of the biggest joke of an awards show (I’m looking at you, Grammys), we’re going to review Morning Phase.
Beck’s style took a complete turn for Morning Phase. His most famous song, “Loser,” was a simple guitar lick with some simple yet strong words (“I’m a loser baby/So why don’t you kill me?”) The music from an average Beck album consists of musical confusion, mainly mixed with a sense of frustration and trying to find a happy place. When he first started in the 1990s, Beck wasn’t just some mainstream rock. He wasn’t Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam singing about feeling alive. He wasn’t Sonic Youth.
Morning Phase is an album in between his two favorite elements. This is a folk-rock album to the fullest, and I can guarantee you Beck listened to a ridiculous amount of Pink Floyd while recording this. “Heart Is A Drum” sounds exactly like something that could come off of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall.” I mean the lyrics even have that similarity (“Keeps you turning when you’re standing still”) of Pink Floyd. One of my favorite tracks off Morning Phase is “Morning.” Opening up with a simple acoustic chord progression and some falsettos, Beck perfectly envisions the instrumental version of waking up. “Morning” has Beck at his most desperate (“Can we start it over again this morning?/I lost all my defenses this morning/Won’t you show me the way it used to be?”), as he seems to want to start over his day even though it’s just beginning.
Beck’s vocals and instrumentals on Morning Phase are his best I’ve ever heard. It really adds another dimension to the album by the way Beck uses his voice. Adding more reverb than usual to make his voice sound more of an angel from above blends in with the slow acoustic instrumentals. It’s something Pink Floyd does well with too (nothing wrong with sounding like Pink Floyd), and “Unforgiven” is his best vocal performance here. It’s a bold move to go from something like “Girl” in his early days to this folk sound, but his versatility shines on Morning Phase.
With all of that said, Morning Phase seems more of a tribute than an actual personal production. I think I’ve mentioned numerous times how Beck bites off of Pink Floyd’s style on this album, and that’s bad to an extent. Beck became known as a musician for his lack of lyrical structure and guitar riffs that were easier than Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water.” Here it’s almost like he’s making a sequel to “The Wall” so it could fit the Wizard of Oz conspiracy (really recommend looking that up on YouTube when you get free time). Along with Pink Floyd, Beck sounds like a Radiohead tribute band on “Wave,” especially with the symphony orchestra. It all just sounds too safe for a Beck album.
While I don’t agree with the Grammy awards Morning Phase won (definitely didn’t deserve “Best Rock Album”), this is still a really good album. Fans of older rock bands would definitely appreciate Beck’s ability to pay tribute to others before him while personalizing his sound. It doesn’t come off like something that could change the genre, but Morning Phase is a rare safe approach for the 44-year-old.
