BECK has the problem that all contented stars, how to compete with his past?

Having explored different directions, most recently the doom-laden troubadour swathed in strings on Sea Changes, Mr Hansen has clearly taken a look at his audience and decided to give them what they want.

This is normally a bad move for any artist of vision, but Guero is close to vintage Beck, with much of the playfulness and beats which made Odelay such an enduring record.

The crazy collage of styles is here but, overall, the feel is less zany and surreal. There is nothing lyrically with a fraction of the impact of Loser, and ultimately the disconnection between the accomplished tunes and scratchy words lets the album down.

Beck is clearly in a happy frame of mind; the catchy E-Pro and Summer Girl crackle with a joie de vivre notably absent on his jeg-lagged recent tour. Away from the crowd-pleasers, Farewell Ride could have sat comfortably on Mutations, while Rental Car doesn't slip into the parody of the Midnite Vultures material.

The more relentless tracks such as Hell Yes pick up the ante as if to prove The Dust Brothers were the magic ingredient missing all along. They prove their worth by throwing in grooves from extremely obscure funk records.

The pairing works well, and there is something to discover on every listen.

The pacing and sequencing show off the different angles - and this is as probably as close as Beck senior is likely to come to bettering his younger, driven self. The only certain thing is that the next record will sound nothing like it.

Updated: 08:49 Thursday, April 07, 2005