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BECK "Sea Change" (Geffen/Interscope) 3 stars
Making sense of Beck's music is usually a pleasant exercise in motion: zipping through curves, turning unexpected corners, coming face-to-face with a new landscape, veering away again.
Not so on "Sea Change," the first album in three years from the elastic artist _ and the most consistently straightforward work of his career. These dozen tracks are fueled by rock's most reliable muse: a broken heart. Penned shortly after Beck's split two years ago from his longtime girlfriend, they make up the most desolate material the 32-year-old musician has put to tape.
Gone is the funky imp of "Midnite Vultures," the postmodern sonic sculptor of "Odelay." For those who protest that Beck has always maintained a penchant for simple folk music: It's not that we haven't seen his sincere side _ as on parts of "Mutations" and "One Foot in the Grave"; it's that we've never seen him so naked and sad.
When "Sea Change" isn't a muffled gray, it's an icy white _ drifting from hopeless confusion to searing pain. Nigel Godrich, who produced ...
Source: HighBeam Research, What's new in music racks.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)