Rock and roll is dead -- at least commercially. Creed is the biggest selling rock band in the world; the Strokes are being hailed as innovators for ripping off the British punk sound that originated when they were still in diapers; and some band named Puddle of Mudd is having runaway success with a song entitled "She Hates Me."

The yearning for true rock 'n' roll is so intense that Elvis and the Rolling Stones recently topped the Billboard charts for album releases while an eight-year-old track by Nirvana took the number one spot on the singles charts.

Enter Beck. That laid-back hipster can't save rock 'n' roll É can he?

Ever since Beck Hansen burst onto the scene with his stoned ode to slackers, "Loser," he has matured into a constantly changing artist who has been persistently seeking his voice with each successive album. Beck's new release, Sea Change, is his personal equivalent to Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde.

Much like Dylan, who made a huge leap from acoustic protest songs and three-chord rock songs to the wild, mercury sound of Blonde, Beck is breaking new ground with Sea Change. Gone are the adolescent lyrics of Mellow Gold and the trippy, synthesized beats of Midnite Vultures. They are replaced by an album that details the attitudes of heartbreak, solitude and desire and that plays over the most delicately crafted music he has produced to date. Beck has created his masterpiece.

Beck is very conscious of his new sound and embraces it. He opens the album proclaiming his new direction. "Put your hands on the wheel/Let the Golden Age begin," he sings on "Golden Age." Each of the 12 tracks on the album reveals the artist's feelings more than any other album in recent memory (though Dylan's previous two efforts come to mind). "It's only life that I'm living/It's only tears that I'm crying/It's only you that I'm losing/Guess I'm doing fine," he slowly drawls in "Guess I'm Doing Fine."

Indeed, Beck recently broke up with his longtime girlfriend, and his longing for her is revealed in many songs. On "Lonesome Tears," a standout track, Beck is trying to convince himself to leave behind his love and the tears it caused.

For this album Beck enlisted the help of producer Nigel Goderich. The last time the two paired it was on Beck's previous best effort, Mutations. Goderich, who produced Radiohead's dazzling OK Computer, as well as their other albums, brings the same sound to Beck. It's a familiar sound, with tinges of Pink Floyd, '70s Dylan and a symphony orchestra, but Goderich and the artists he works with manage to make the sound their own. This is most evident on the sonic yet simple adventure of "Lost Cause" and in the haunting violins on "Round the Bend."

Sea Change won't save rock 'n' roll. It can't. Beck has neither the star-power of Axl Rose nor charisma of Kurt Cobain, a tough sell in such a commercially driven industry.

But commercial success is not what Beck is after. He continues to make music that pleases the mind and soul and doesn't sell himself out to appease his record company or make a splash on the charts. Beck will save rock in his own way. Not commercially, but musically.

Two weeks after Sea Change debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard Charts, Bon Jovi's new release hit No. 2. Even if rock did want a savior, it doesn't deserve one.