KCRW: Morning Becomes Eclectic

Every city should have a radio show as fresh and intelligent as Morning Becomes Eclectic from KCRW in Santa Monica. Unencumbered by narrow genre classifications, the show has built up an audience for left-of-center singer-songwriters, art-pop bands, world beatniks, jazz fusionists, and hip-hoppers. All are featured on this compilation of live, on-air performances. While the previous four-volume KCRW series, Rare on the Air, may have featured more legends (including Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, and Joni Mitchell), and hence more consistent material, the sense of discovery and adventure of this latest sampling is seductive. The strongest cuts tend to be the most stripped down: Afro-pop chanteuse Angelique Kidjo's a cappella "Blewu," Beth Orton's tingling voice and guitar performance on "Sugar Boy," Mercury Rev's Velvet Underground-meets-the-Band "Opus 40," and P.J. Harvey's eerie dirge "Is This Desire?" --Roy Kasten