[music] Beck, Odelay (1996)

DGC Records
Total Running Time - 54:06

Musicians
Beck Hansen - Guitars, vocals, harmonica, bass, drums, percussion, keyboards; Joey Waranker - Drums, percussion; Mike Boito - Trumpet, organ; Charlie Haden - Bass; David Brown - Saxophone; Ross Harris - "The Wizard"; Gregory Leisz - Pedal steel guitar; Mike Millius - vocals (scream)

1. Devils Haircut
2. Hotwax
3. Lord Only Knows
4. The New Pollution
5. Derelict
6. Novacane
7. Jack-Ass
8. Where It's At
9. Minus
10. Sissyneck
11. Readymade
12. High 5 (Rock the Catskills)
13. Ramshackle


Watching Beck's ascension to pop superstardom has been a revelatory experience, in terms of the rock media machine. When his quirky single "Loser" gained him substantial attention, critics almost unilaterally dismissed him as a novelty act. The subsequent release of Mellow Gold was received as interesting but inconsistent. It was almost as if the press seemed too jaded to believe that someone could be original in the fashion that Beck was cutting himself out to be. Maybe they didn't have anything to compare him too, and that pissed them off. I don't know. In any case, Beck's sophmore release, Odelay, seems to have silenced most of his critics, and with good reason. It's a damn fine album.

There's also a prevailing sentiment that Beck Hansen is some sort of poster boy for the slacker element in Generation X. While his lyrics and quirky delivery may lead listeners to that conclusion, the arrangements of the thirteen tracks on Odelay show a different side entirely. Hansen deftly weaves samples, grooves, and 70's throwback analog synthesizer noises into a multi-cultural tapestry that the listener can easily get wrapped in. With such heavy borrowing from the past, one of the real testaments of this album is that it doesn't ever sound too kitschy. Everything seems to fit within the context of the song, from the guitar chords on the backbeat of "Devil's Haircut" to the robotic vocals that pop up in "Where It's At". Beck even leans occasionally toward the exotic, with a tabla and sitar passage in "Derelict" that takes the tune in a different, unexpected direction.

This is a great album to just sit back and groove with, as opposed to turning up loud and singing along to. The lyrics are still quirky and somewhat nonsensical, but the rhythms and melodies of the words make you forget all of that. To be perfectly honest, I am surprised at how much I liked this album. Beck has proved that he is not a fluke, although it remains to be seen if he can sustain the depth and nuance of his originality in the future. I certainly hope he can.