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Mutations is a terrific album. I'm a big fan of Beck anyway, but I think this one was a slow burner. My two favourite Beck albums remain the hip-folk classic "Mellow Gold" and sprawling Prince-esque "Midnite Vultures", but this one is a long term gem. It's so mellow and considered, yet contains plenty of emotion - something that was missing from the last album, "The Information", and also seemed strangely absent from "Sea Change" - Beck's most similar release to this one.

For me, the best thing about this record is the simple, catchy tunes and lyrics that stay with you and invite you to sing along every time you hear it. "Cold Brains", "Nobody's Fault By My Own", "Cancelled Cheque", "We Live Again", "Bottle of Blues", "O Maria"... they are all low-key classics, and there's nothing really like them in the rest of my record collection.

In summary, a very good record that, despite it's melancholy feel always picks me up and makes me feel light.

Rating: 4 out of 5

It took Beck less than a month to record and mix Mutations, and he didn't really consider it a proper follow up to Odelay. And yet, strangely, this album is perhaps the most revealing release in terms of deciphering the enigma that is Beck Hansen. It is, of course, great listening too.Mutations is laid-back country and folk for the most part, and contains Beck's most sad and moving song to date. 'Nobody's Fault But My Own' paints a beautiful portrait of a vulnerable soul; all resignation and wistful longing set to a lovely Eastern throb. Even the single 'Tropicalia' demonstrates a lyrical mood at odds with the upbeat calypso backing: "Love is a poverty you couldn't sell/Misery waits in vague hotels". By the time 'Runners Dial Zero' draws the album to a funereal close, you have to wonder how Beck could ever be considered an emotional charlatan; there's nothing here but the glorious example of a man creating beauty out of a post-modern malaise without displaying the obvious emotional scars or trite couplets.Mutations stands as a wonderful album and an essential piece of the strange Beck puzzle.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Mutations is Beck's most melodious and accessible album, but that doesn't mean he's copped out. Beck is a sponge - yet to settle down into a style of his own, but absorbing influences from all everywhere, and fashioning his own versions of them all.
Although the pundits appear to think this album occupies the semi-acoustic rock territory ruled by REM etc, to me it feels mainly rooted in the 70s - think Led Zep and you have the sitar & hurdy-gurdy laden second track 'Nobody's fault but my own' , mix in Lindisfarne's blokiness and you have 'Bottle of blues'. In between you have some pure C&W in 'Cancelled check', bossanova fun in 'Tropicalia', and a waltz Tom Waits would be proud of in 'Sing it again'.
But there are still more gems - 'Diamond Bollo**s' has a wonderful 60s harpsichord intro before diving into heavy fuzz guitars and Dylan harmonica, and the final track 'Runners dial zero' is early Pink Floyd to me.
Beck may be a sponge, but he's soaking up all the right music.


Rating: 4 out of 5

Some of Beck's other albums are strung together with a common theme. Odelay has sample-fever, Midnite Vultures has party-fever etc. Mutations is difficult because it is a long collection of individually strong tracks but they all sound quite different from one another, so the change from one song to the next can sound slightly odd.

At the same time, his ability to shift gears so easily brands him as an auteur whose tools and talent are unlimited. With Beck on guitar, his syrupy drawl automatically makes him older and somehow wiser. Mutations is the mark of a musician who refuses to conform to the sound he's created and showcases a breaking out of all toys in Beck's toybox.

It's a slow burner, but that's why CD players have a repeat button I guess.

Rating: 5 out of 5