Incubus - Morning View (2001)

Morning View is the fourth studio album by American rock band Incubus, released October 23, 2001 through Epic Records. A companion DVD, The Morning View Sessions, was released on May 29, 2002. Morning View was the last Incubus album to feature bassist Alex Katunich. With the album producing the popular singles "Wish You Were Here" and "Nice to Know You," Morning View generally achieved critical praise and went double-platinum, making it the band's highest selling album.

To record the album, the band lived in Malibu, California, near 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."

Vocalist Brandon Boyd stated that the band "needed quick access to the beach because we're kinda spoiled brats sometimes. We need that outlet. At least I do. It's nice to write music all day and be like, 'I'm going to take a break, see you guys in two hours.'"

Out of the 30 songs the band sketched out for the album, 13 ended up on the final release.

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", while CDNow noted that Incubus "has begun to grow up a bit."

Topping all previous Incubus records, Morning View debuted on the Billboard 200 at #2 with 266,000 copies sold in its first week. By December 2001, the album was certified platinum and still ranked #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.

The album is certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

In 2005, Morning View was ranked number 374 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.

On March 1, 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.

Track List:
1. Nice To Know You
2. Circles
3. Wish You Were Here
4. Just A Phase
5. 11am
6. Blood On The Ground
7. Mexico
8. Warning
9. Echo
10. Have You Ever
11. Are You In?
12. Under My Umbrella
13. Aqueous Transmission