New album: Morning Phase
Artist: Beck
Label: Capitol
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Beck’s first LP release since 2008 (not counting the “Song Reader” sheet-music project in 2012) is being hailed/promoted as a companion piece to his sublime 2002 album “Sea Change.” Marketing plans aside, the songs on “Morning Phase” are a welcome addition to the Beck cannon.
The short opening instrumental “Cycle” sounds like the sunnier end of the “Sea Change” track “’Round The Bend.” The orchestral wash of “Cycle” leads into the gently uplifting “Morning.” From the outset, you get the feeling that “Morning Phase” is the type of music a happier, better-adjusted Nick Drake would have made had he lived long enough.
A Neil Young influence creeps in on the slow acoustic stomper “Say Goodbye,” right down to the banjo. “Blue Moon” plays like a down-home version of The Police, with soaring backing vocals that wouldn’t sound out of place on an early Moody Blues album. The phased piano on “Unforgiven” is a ghostly reminder of the trippy Beck audio portraits of yore. In the past this audio trick would be used to add color, but now it adds depth to some of Beck’s most straightforward, heartfelt lyrics.
The highlight of “Morning Phase” is “Wave,” an eerie dirge featuring only Beck’s reverb-drenched vocals and an orchestra that sounds as if it accidentally doubled it’s Xanax dosage. Just as “’Round The Bend” did for “Sea Change,” “Wave” anchors “Morning Phase.” Another short orchestral instrumental highlight (“Phase”) pulls everything back into dreamland until the closing “Waking Light” lets in a murky ray of sunshine.
Beck outgrew the hipster funk of “Loser” a longtime ago, and hopefully his fans will as well. “Morning Phase” doesn’t necessarily eclipse Beck’s stellar “Sea Change” or “Mutations” albums, but it does rest comfortably alongside them. It’ll be interesting to see what comes next.
Classic album: Sign ‘O’ The Times
Artist: Prince
Label: Warner Bros.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Prince graduated from celebrated R&B curiosity to bona fide pop/rock genius with the release of “Purple Rain” in 1984. For a while, the Purple One was able to straddle pop, rock and R&B radio playlists with ease, but after the pixie dust settled it was evident that Prince was having a personality crisis.
Tried and true Prince fans - much like Frank Zappa devotees - appreciate every bit of music he’s ever recorded. But for the masses who pushed him up into the same airspace as Michael Jackson for a brief time, all they wanted him to do was make “Purple Rain” over and over again.
To some, Prince is the master musician who can tear it up on a guitar with the best of them. Then there’s the impish, Syd Barrett via George Clinton funk side of Prince along with the introspective songwriter side that worships the work of Joni Mitchell. Throw all of these elements together, and you’ve got a talented guy, albeit one who had trouble deciding who he was when he released “Sign ‘O’ The Times” in 1987.
A sprawling double album that attempts to showcase all of Prince’s considerable talents, “Sign ‘O’ The Times” is brilliantly schizophrenic. One minute there’s a party going on (“Housequake”, “It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night”), then there’s some freakazoid relationship issues (“If I Was Your Girlfriend”, “Strange Relationship”) and even a love song to God (“The Cross”). Even if you didn’t like the man’s music, you could never accuse him of being one-dimensional.
Much like famous hodgepodge albums such as The Beatles’ “White Album” and Zappa’s “Uncle Meat,” there’s a lot going on here, but there is no law that says every album has to follow strict guidelines about mood and content. “Sign ‘O’ The Times” plays like a mix tape someone might make for a friend who’d never heard Prince’s music. Even the fuddiest duddy would have to admit Prince hit home runs with “Sign ‘O’ The Times” tracks such as “You Got The Look” and “Play In The Sunshine.”
The only thing keeping “Sign ‘O’ The Times” from being a five-star album is its production. This album couldn’t be pulled out of the 1980s with a Mac truck.
For all of Prince’s genius, the tacky electronic drums and overly-slick late production are tough to ignore. At the time of the album’s release, these were the sounds of the day, but time has not been a friend of the stagnant drum machine heard on the title track. Prince managed to produce songs with timeless instrumentation on “Purple Rain” and “Around The World In A Day,” but for some reason he dipped the brilliant “Sign ‘O’ The Times” material in the cheesey, flavor of the week recording techniques that were popular at the time.
Jon Dawson’s album reviews appear every Tuesday and Thursday in The Free Press. Contact Jon at 252-559-1092 or jon.dawson@kinston.com. Purchase Jon’s new book “Counterfeit Sauerkraut & The Weekend Teeth” at the Free Press office or jondawson.com.