Odelay

by

Beck

Edit

Whoa, what a disc. This cd is just great all around. Every track is very, very unique, and several are remarkable. The hits (New Pollution, Devil's Haircut, Where It's At) are all good, but the real treasures are some of the lesser known songs on here. Hotwax is a weird, funk-inflected groove that will really catch your attention. Minus is a quick rocker that is also eye-widening, and Ramshackle is a long, bizarre ballad that is equally interesting. Beck's ingenuity was displayed on a minor scale before Odelay, and after this critically acclaimed award-winner, he's been a household name. Beck's fame is condign, and he is a good example of an artist that hasn't sold out. He sticks to what he does best. And that is writing outlandish songs that coalesce all genres into one fun, blurring album. Odelay could be an album for a party, for reading, for crying, for screaming, for laughing, you name it. It's so flexible and at the same time rigid enough to evoke passion and meaning each time you listen to it. I could go on and on about Beck and his masterful song-writing, but if you kept reading, it would detract from the most valuable time that would be better spent listening to the album. So do yourself a favor and pick this up if you don't have it. It will be a treat and a half.

We tend to forget the musical influence of certain albums, and I think it partly has to do with taking for granted the genre it paved the way for. Now we hear it all the time, eg, Beta Band, Mull Historical Society, Badly Drawn Boy, but it was Beck's 'Odelay' that brought this type of quirky type of cut-and-paste experimentalism to the mainstream. It definitely embodied new musical possibilities, and all the accolades, praise and boy-wonder genius tags Beck received were certainly deserved. 'Odelay' is basically turntablist blues, folk, jazz, and country, meaning that Beck fused the latter four genres into an ecclectic mish-mash, all under a hip-hop/turntablist-type approach. Krautrock experimentalism is nothing new in music, but Beck was the first one to create a hybrid under the guise of patchwork-like hip-hop. This CD is basically a musical palate of smokey grooves, neo-psychadelica, world-music rhythms, pieced together with the meticulous yet daring touch of a DJ. Beck the risk-taker. 'Odelay's' genius is in combining musical styles that shouldn't go together, but in doing so creates something completely unique and innovative. A the time of it's release, this CD was a musical zeigeist, and this reviewer continues to recognize it's importance.