My Top 100 Albums: #81 - Beck, ‘Odelay’
81.
Beck, ‘Odelay’
DGC Records, 1996
In the early 1990s, Beck was a folk rock artist releasing underground records on independent labels to a small audience. If the hit single Loser was a sign of what Beck could accomplish (and its album Mellow Gold a slightly underwhelming mainstream debut), Odelay was the real deal: an hour long statement of just what this artist was capable of, and more than a glimpse into his very storied future career. Odelay just about runs the gamut of Beck’s creative output - it is a luxurious manifestation of rich soundscapes, assorted genres, diverse samples and Dylanesque lyrics. Where Beck’s conception and execution are ambitious, the album’s production, courtesy of hip-hop stalwarts the Dust Brothers, is flawless. Loser thrust Beck into the public consciousness, but it is Odelay that defined him as an artist, capable of laying down track-after-track of quality songwriting, with little consideration for uniformity or the limits of genre. I’ll attempt here to highlight the diversity of this album’s sound. The album’s first two tracks establish Beck’s now signature hip-hop style, before Hotwax devolves into a funk groove bursting with samples of ‘60s soul. The following track Lord Only Knows is a particularly compelling alternative rock offering. Then we have The New Pollution, which evokes The Beatles, particularly in its vocal line. Derelict is an angsty rock piece before we hear Novacane, in which an acoustic guitar intro gives way to a Beastie Boys-style rap rock track (the Dust Brothers were perhaps best known for their work with the Beastie Boys at the time of this release). The following Jack-Ass could have been taken straight from The Velvet Underground’s eponymous third studio album before we hit the album’s centrepiece Where It’s At, with its slick groove and instantly recognisable organ intro. Minus is another alternative rock piece, this time in the style of a Pixies or Nirvana track, and then we get the country rock-style guitar backing of Sissyneck. The laid-back Readymade gives way to the Latin acoustic guitar intro of High 5, which quickly becomes a fierce Public Enemy-style ‘80s hip-hop track. Then we finish with Ramshackle, which feels like a Leonard Cohen song with its dreamlike acoustic guitar lines and winding vocals. Clearly, then, this is not an album for the faint of heart. Don’t expect a cohesive unit of alternative rock canon, instead prepare yourself for a journey through Beck’s creative vision. The inevitable consequence of this freedom of expression, of course, is that the record is often rather self-indulgent - I’m thinking particularly of the vocal decompression on Devil’s Haircut, the intercut robotic vocal passages on Where It’s At, the heavy vocal and electric guitar distortion on the likes of Minus, and those strange dial-tone reminiscent space-age sounds on Novacane. The predominant feeling I get, however, is one of gladness that Beck is so intent on indulging his creativity on Odelay. Coming off the back of Loser’s success, it must have been easy to play it safe with this record, and relax into the patterns that had sustained his relative obscurity in the early ‘90s. Instead he forged his own path, a path which has led to him establishing himself as one of the most expressive and experimental artists of the past three decades. Odelay should be cherished for its extravagance, not scrutinised for it.
Hidden Highlight: Lord Only Knows
Devils Haircut
Hotwax
Lord Only Knows
The New Pollution
Derelict
Novacane
Jack-Ass
Where It’s At
Minus
Sissyneck
Readymade
High 5 (Rock the Catskills)
Ramshackle