with for the last few years, Beck is as agile and muscular a craftsman as he's ever been -- firing off ragged buckshot-blast chords on the rotgut-blues classic "Rollin' and Tumblin'" (aided by Imogen Heap's soulful vocal) and unwinding long, curvaceous notes that give the surprising raga-flavored "Nadia" exceptional charm. Beck remains enthralled, in a slightly anachronistic sort of way, by the multiple voices he can squeeze from the throat of his Stratocaster, delivering screams, wails and growls as he traverses this record. What's missing is the modern edge that would give Beck's fiery playing a better context. Too often, the techno-funk rhythm driving the action here sounds stiffly electronic, like a Chemical Brothers castoff from the Nineties. It's not that it's bad, it's just that Beck deserves so much more. (RS 862)

DAVID THIGPEN