 Beck Critic-darling Beck's follow-up to Odelay has me asking one question … "Where's my copy of Odelay???? I'm all for radical departures and abrupt direction changes between albums, but Beck has me bewildered with this one. It seems he's been spending a little time with Harvest-era Neil Young. This doesn't make Mutations a terrible thing, but it's largely lacking in spunk. I keep wanting to put jumper cables on it, so it will rev up a little. It's just not the kind of music I want from Beck … other artists do it much better, so if I'm in a mellow mood, I'll go to the source. "Tropicalia" is tuneful, but is almost out of place amid all the indifferent meandering of the rest. If the album were interesting, I might be inspired to give it the 10,000 listens it requires to become a "gem." Instead, I think I'll just sell it back and move on with my life.
Review by PAL |