First off, what are our expectations for a new Beck album?
While we all dug "Loser" and the radio hits from Odelay tat came out last century, Beck has done little to explore similar territory in the ensuing two decades. Occasionally, he finds a decent groove and mines it for all its worth, as he did on 2006's The Information (his last truly great album), but then he immediately flip-flops by making a gritty, modern funk record (Midnite Vultures/Modern Guilt) followed by an introspective song-oriented affair that works best as a cure for insomnia (Sea Change/Morning Phase).
Which brings us to Beck's new effort, Colors.
Now, before I go any further, I must ask why Beck continues to rely so much on outside producers to shape the direction of his albums when its obvious that he, himself is capable of producing the likes of Dwight Yoakam?
Such a reliance upon outside producers may have been necessary at the beginning of his career, which would not exist without a tip of the hat to Karl Stephenson (who performed and produced "Loser") and the Dust Brothers (who did much the same for Odelay).
Since then, the quality of each new Beck album has rested almost entirely on the quality of the producer enlisted to shape the album's direction, yet Beck is continually the one hailed as a genius.
In reading the liner notes for Colors, we see that current flavor-of-the-week Greg Kurstin (Adele) co-produced the album with relative newcomer Cole M.G.N. (Nite Jewel/Real Estate).
Based on only this information, I presumed the album would wind up sounding like a sophisticated sonic collage of pop songs that bear a striking resemblance to Foster The People's breakthrough album Torches.
Now, this is not a bad thing, as Foster The People's Torches (which featured the smash "Pumped Up Kicks") was an irresistible slice of machine-driven pop that seems to have become the proverbial blueprint for sophisticated West Coast hipster acts and, coincidentally, was also co-produced by Greg Kurstin.
What I was hoping for was some sense that Beck would contribute something to the sessions to truly put his stamp on the album, but, sadly, such a moment never arrives.
Thinking maybe I was just being cranky, I set out to confirm this theory by informing a friend, who is a die-hard Beck fan, that the album we were listening to in his car on the way to see "Blade Runner 2049" was, in fact, the new Foster The People album.
His response after hearing "Seventh Heaven" was that they were really trying to write another "Pumped Up Kicks". The rest of the album massaged our ears quite pleasantly, but never enough to raise my friend's suspicions that this was not a Foster The People record.
Hoping to draw even one comparison to Beck, I asked on numerous occasions who the vocals reminded me of, as if I couldn't quite put my finger on it, at one point going so far as to opine "Beck maybe?", which received a dismissive look from my friend.
Needless to say, as pleasant as the album may be, Beck seems to have only succeeded in making a decent Foster The People album which, last time I checked, Foster The People were still capable of doing on their own.