Morning View is the fourth studio album by American rock band Incubus, released on October 23, 2001, A rerecorded version of the album, titled Morning View XXIII, was released on May 10, 2024.
Background and recording
To record the album, the band lived in Malibu, California, on a street called "Morning View Drive". Former bassist Alex Katunich (aka "Dirk Lance") noted that the band had previously "tried to do that for at least the writing portion of Make Yourself, but we didn't have enough clout at the time. When we were getting ready to write this one, we knew that we needed to get into a more creative place. The idea was to not feel as if you were driving [somewhere] to work on a record. You could just get up and it was a natural extension of your day."
"Drive", the band's final single from their prior album Make Yourself, was released in late 2000 and started gaining popularity by the time Incubus moved into the house to record Morning View. Boyd said in 2012, "we were seeing fruits of our labor for the first time. But also everything that comes on the coat tails of new success; hence the fond memories as well as the challenging ones. I think perhaps that is one reason Morning View turned out the way that it did. It was unconsciously and consciously imbued with very real emotions, hopes, disappointments, and triumphs." Boyd had recently broken up with his girlfriend who he met during the recording of Make Yourself. Before meeting her he had just split from his previous girlfriend who was having an affair. He said in 2021, "I was coming off the heels of two, really just heartbreaking separations, like one after the other. So I was coming into the recording of Morning View excited, elated, filled with enthusiasm, and heartbroken all at the same time. Looking back, I feel really lucky because I was able to experience those things through the lens of music and art." After a month at the house, the band finished recording the album in May 2001, with Einziger remembering in 2002 "we were just on the verge of a musical orgasm after we finished Morning View. We felt like you'd feel after having the best sexual experience of your entire life. Exhausted, but extremely satisfied." The film featured Jared Leto in a small role, with his band Thirty Seconds to Mars later touring with Incubus in 2002.
Music and lyrics
Morning View has been described as an alternative rock, alternative metal, hard rock, Regarding the album's sound, Einziger notes that it "would've been really easy for us to try to replicate certain songs that did well on our last record, which we didn't do. We didn't do anything even remotely close to that. We put pressure on ourselves to make a good record because if none of us were happy with it, we'll all be miserable for the next two years while we're on tour."
The final song, "Aqueous Transmission", employs the use of Chinese instruments such as the pipa and features a Japanese-style orchestra led by multi-instrumentalist Suzie Katayama. The pipa used on the recording was given to Mike Einziger from Steve Vai. Katayama later collaborated with Einziger on the experimental Time-Lapse Consortium project in 2003, and he credited her with inspiring his deepening musical comprehension. "Aqueous Transmission" is the longest song on the album at 7 minutes and 46 seconds long, with the last minute consisting of frogs croaking outside the house in Malibu. At the time, Boyd joked that the song was intended to make "the listener pee in his/her pants" from relaxation. He later claimed in 2021 that the song was influenced by the music of Björk, saying "Mikey and I grew up kind of mutually obsessed with Björk’s music. There was so much we loved about it: the weirdness of it, the instrumentation, the arrangements, the choices that she was making and that the producers were making. So we were like, 'let's make a super Björky sounding breakbeat that’s really cool and eerie and mellow'." He adds, "from there, I started messing around with the lyrics, and I remember when he started playing that little riff over that kind of trip-hop sounding beat, I just started singing: 'I’m floating down a river'. That’s what it sounded like. To me, it sounded like we were on this psychedelic river cruise somewhere."
The follow up single "Nice to Know You" gained substantial airplay as well. The video for "Nice to Know You" was shot on November 28, 2001 in
San Diego at the UCSD's Rimac Arena.
Once they had finished recording their new album in 2001, Incubus began touring with Hundred Reasons in Europe from June until the first week of July. They were also invited to play Moby's Area:One Festival alongside the likes of Outkast, the Roots, Paul Oakenfold, Carl Cox, and Nelly Furtado. In August, the band performed their first shows in Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Amidst touring, Incubus was still experiencing commercial milestones for Make Yourself, and they continued to headline throughout the remainder of the year. They were one of the first bands to play in New York City following the September 11 attacks, with the event not affecting the band's touring schedule. DJ Chris Kilmore told Billboard in November 2001, "we’re taking the stand that we’re not going to let some idiot who just wants to kill everybody affect our lives. We’re just going to keep doing what we do, and hopefully, everything will be alright."
In January 2002, the band toured Europe with 311 and Hoobastank. Incubus played on the Late Show with David Letterman on February 14, 2002. For the remainder of February and March, the group performed throughout Australia, New Zealand and Japan again as part of their "Pacific Tour", this time playing at a larger number of venues in these countries. While in Australia, they also shot the video for "Warning" in Sydney. They then returned to the US for their long-awaited Honda Civic Tour; joining their long-time friends from California, Hoobastank and Phantom Planet. These shows kept ticket prices low through sponsorship and saw the band give away cars to fans.
Incubus embarked on an American headlining tour on August 31, 2002, supported by Thirty Seconds to Mars. Their last concert during the Morning View touring cycle took place on November 2, 2002. The band took a break from touring and releasing music following this, and their next concerts would be at the Lollapalooza Festival in July 2003. Einziger told MTV in 2002, "we kind of had a seamless transition from our last record to our newest record, and we think maybe that this time around we should disappear for a little while." Boyd added in the same interview, "I think we're all getting sick of ourselves, so we need to run away, but we'll run away together 'cause we can't stay away from each other. Probably go and hang out in some place tropical, hopefully." Bassist Alex Katunich was asked to leave the band in October 2002, reportedly over personal and creative differences. His departure was announced to the media through a statement from Brandon Boyd in April 2003, with no official reason being given; He was replaced by Ben Kenney of the Roots.
On August 5, 2023, the band announced the release of Morning View XXIII, a complete rerecording of their 2001 album set for release on October 6 (subsequently postponed to 2024) by Virgin Music. Prior to the release of the album, Kenney departed from the band despite his recovery from cancer. Bassist Nicole Row (already touring in his place during his cancer treatment) was promoted to a full-time member, and played on Morning View XXIII. The re-recorded version, Morning View XXIII has three singles: Echo, Circles, and Under My Umbrella.
Commercial response
Topping all previous Incubus records, Morning View debuted on the Billboard 200 at No. 2 with 266,000 copies sold in its first week. By December 2001, the album was certified platinum and still ranked No. 38 on the Top 200. Many of its singles would remain on the charts throughout the following year. After heavy touring and single rotation, Morning View would be the 40th best selling album of 2002.
Reception
Critical response
The album received generally positive reviews, with a Metacritic score of 62, based on 10 reviews. Q stated that "even at their most acerbic or delicately downplayed extremes, Incubus are compelling", AllMusic's Deren Svendsen awarded it a similarly high score of four-and-a-half out of five stars, noting, "the ratio of softer and mellower numbers have increased dramatically, to the point where hardcore fans of earlier material may be bewildered. For the most part, the transition works." However, he did note a higher number of acoustic songs, observing that, "Morning View shows a softer Incubus, yet it also affirms the group as being visionary among today's hard rockers." She concluded her review by stating, "yes, Brandon, you are a towering heartthrob amid booty-obsessed playa-pimps, but do we really need this saccharin-coated love goo?."
Legacy and accolades
On March 1, 2003, Einziger, along with Scott Litt, Dave Holdredge, and Rick Will, were nominated for a Grammy in the "Best Engineered Album (Non Classical)" category, for their work on Morning View.
The 2003 book The Rough Guide to Rock reflected that it was the band's "most fully realized take on their artistic vision", and that "the rock bits rock hard and the relaxed bits are quite gorgeous." Jim DeRogatis included it as an example of a modern psychedelic rock album in his 2003 book Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock, writing that Incubus took their sound "to a new level with this effort, shedding its earlier Primus and Red Hot Chili Peppers obsessions and merging hard rock, ethnic percussion, DJ scratching, string sections, analog synthesizers and a dramatic use of dynamics."
In April 2002, Incubus were placed 29th on Spins "Top 40 (Only Bands that Matter)" list, with the publication reflecting that, "over the past 11 years Incubus seamlessly evolved from funk metal dreadheads into a spiritual Sugar Ray that rocks." They add, "the California-dreamy riffs and gentle beats of 2001's Morning View gave modern rock radio an even fresher kick. Plus, lead singer Brandon Boyd's perennially exposed abs (the group's unofficial sixth member) inspired hordes of 12-year-old girls to discover what 'Aqueous Transmission' means."
In 2005, Morning View was ranked number 374 in Rock Hard magazine's book The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time. In 2021, Kerrang! ranked it as the 17th best album of 2001, remarking "as really, really, ridiculously good-looking as they were, Brandon Boyd and his Calabasas compatriots were more than just pretty faces." The publication placed Morning View first when ranking Incubus's studio albums in 2020. In 2023, Alternative Press also placed it first in their ranking of the band's discography, as did Brandon Boyd in a 2022 Louder Sound article. In 2024, Loudwire staff elected it as the best hard rock album of 2001.
On October 23, 2021, the band performed a 20th anniversary livestream concert at the same location in which the album was recorded. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the band had hoped to do a 20th anniversary tour for the album in 2021, following the success of their 20th anniversary tour for Make Yourself in 2019. On August 5, 2023, the band announced the release of Morning View XXIII, a complete rerecording of the album set for release on October 5 by Virgin Music.
Track listing
Personnel
Credits adapted from album's liner notes.
Incubus
- Brandon Boyd – vocals, percussion
- Mike Einziger – guitars, pipa on "Aqueous Transmission"
- Chris Kilmore – turntables
- Dirk Lance – bass guitar
- José Pasillas – drums
Additional musicians
- Strings arranged and Conducted by Suzie Katayama
- Violins: Joel Derouin, Mario De Leon, Peter Kent, Gerry Hilera, David Stenske, Eve Butler
- Violas: Evan Wilson, Karie Prescott
- Cello: Larry Corbett, Dan Smith
- Woodwinds: Jon Clarke
- Assistant contractor: Marne Boomershine
- Background vocals on "Are You In": Dawn Beckham, Stephanie Alexander
Production
- Produced by Scott Litt and Incubus
- Recorded by Rick Will, Dave Holdredge, Mike Einziger, and Scott Litt
- Mixed by Rick Will and Scott Litt
- Digital recording/editing: Dave Holdredge
- 2nd engineer: Tom Sweeney
- Mastered by Bob Ludwig
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Weekly chart performance for Morning View
! scope="col"| Chart (2001–2002)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Europe (European Top 100 Albums)
| 26
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Portuguese Albums (AFP)
|9
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Weekly chart performance for Morning View XXIII
! scope="col"| Chart (2024)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
! scope="row"| Australian Vinyl Albums (ARIA)
| 10
|-
|-
! scope="row"| Croatian International Albums (HDU)
| 32
|-
! scope="row"| French Physical Albums (SNEP)
| 67
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"|Spanish Physical Vinyl Albums (PROMUSICAE)
| 87
|-
|-
!scope="row"| UK Album Sales (OCC)
| 24
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+ 2001 year-end chart performance for Morning View
! scope="col"| Chart (2001)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
!scope="row"| Canadian Albums (Billboard)
| 104
|-
! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 183
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2002 year-end chart performance for Morning View
! scope="col"| Chart (2002)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
!scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)
| 73
|-
!scope="row"|Canadian Albums (Billboard)
| 159
|-
!scope="row"|Canadian Alternative Albums (Billboard)
| 51
|-
!scope="row"|Canadian Metal Albums (Billboard)
| 25
|-
!scope="row"| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)
| 16
|-
! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 40
|}