Beck – Morning Phase (180g LP)

I am not a huge Beck fan, but there are a few albums I am in deep on, including Morning Phase (2014). I originally purchased it as a CD. This vinyl copy was sourced from the Electric Fetus “new” used bins. It appears to be an original from 2014.

Morning Phase was a return to “sad-Beck” – a companion or sequel to Sea Change (2002). Most of the musicians who recorded Sea Change returned to record Morning Phase, except Sea Change producer Nigel Godrich (Radiohead).

I reviewed the album when it first came out – see link. Back in the day, I said: “A suitable album for a pop star’s first album in his 40s. The album has lots of Classic Rock flourishes: a bit of a Moody Blues, the mellow side of Pink Floyd, the ballad side of Elton John, Nick Drake, Neil Young and even some Simon and Garfunkel. It is very atmospheric and wonderfully melancholy.”

Per Wikipedia: “Upon release, the album received critical acclaim and was nominated for five awards at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, winning three: Album of the Year, Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical and Best Rock Album. Beck performed the album’s song ‘Heart Is a Drum’ with Chris Martin at the ceremony.”

CD

Morning Phase is an elaborately orchestrated and highly engineered album. The soundscape is a significant part of the gimmick, but it is also kind of low-fi. The CD sounds fantastic, and despite the digital format, it sounds warm.

Vinyl

The LP was a bit staticky on the first pass. I gave it a serious cleaning with my Nitty Gritty, and it sounded much better. Given this is a very lush album, the analog sound of vinyl is very nice. But given that it is a quiet album, every pop, and click is exaggerated. Given how calm and mellow this album is, the digital format is preferred.

I don’t typically buy expensive used records (AKA more than $10. This album was $23 but is significantly more costly on Discogs. I love it so much that I think having a vinyl copy is worth it.

High-Resolution Stream (Tidal)

The high-resolution stream is 24-bit/96 kHz FLAC. It doesn’t sound significantly better than the CD. However, the soundstage is more expansive and rivals vinyl for analog warmth. I wish my CD player (an Oppo) and Streamer (a Bluesound Node) shared the same DAC for a more apples-to-apples comparison. The high-resolution stream is slightly better than CD and vinyl, so it is the preferred format.

I’m getting new insights into this album as I relisten: I now hear the Radiohead influence on some songs. Beck is a better vocalist than I realized—I hear Tom Yorke, Chris Cornell, and Van Morrison in addition to the influences I first noticed when the album came out (Pink Floyd, Elton John, Nick Drake, Neil Young, and Simon and Garfunkel).