One album we slept on a bit was the new Beck joint “Morning Phase”…
It wasn’t really that people didn’t say it was good, but just that Beck had seemed to become a bit dull with his Scientology and his “which bit of Universal shall I be signed to?” as well as his sheet music idea… Like it was all a bit too clever. And it didn’t actually feel better that his dad was back doing the strings. Slight shrug?
Even referencing everything back to Sea Change didn’t help much unless you loved that album because mellow, heartbroken Beck only appeals to some people. We liked Beck for “Loser” and “Mutations” and this remix of Philip Glass, In other words, musical adventures were his trademark.
But then 6 Degrees Records posted this Dreamstate mix on their weekly radio podcast thing which was then shared via one of our fave blogs evah - AOR Disco. Click HERE for the full story/tracklist.
And by cleverly sliding Beck from the new album in with the old stuff we love – after all we are on record for the thrill of David Crosby & his masterpiece “If I could Only Remember My Name” and Love “Alone Again Or” – and some sympatico new stuff – Jonathan Wilson “Cecil Taylor” for example – it felt like he was reborn.
A freed spirit of Laurel Canyon rather than a tired ghost of alternative rock.
-TH
