Odelay
Odelay | ||||
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Studio album by Beck | ||||
Released | June 18, 1996 | |||
Recorded | 1994–1996 | |||
Genre | Alternative rock, experimental rock, noise rock, alternative hip hop, rap rock, lo-fi, anti-folk | |||
Length | 54:13 | |||
Label | DGC, Bong Load Custom | |||
Producer | Beck Hansen, The Dust Brothers, Mario Caldato, Jr, Brian Paulson, Tom Rothrock, Rob Schnapf | |||
Beck chronology | ||||
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Singles from Odelay | ||||
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Odelay is the fifth studio album by American alternative rock artist Beck, originally released on June 18, 1996, by DGC Records.
Odelay featured several singles, including "Where It's At", "Devils Haircut", and "The New Pollution". The album peaked at #16 on the Billboard 200 chart and eventually sold over 2 million copies in the United States. It was also Beck's first hit album in the United Kingdom, making #17; it has since gone platinum in the UK.
On January 29, 2008, Odelay was reissued as a two-disc package featuring a number of bonus tracks. As of July 2008, the album had sold 2.3 million copies in the United States.[1] Since its release, the album has appeared in numerous publications' lists of the greatest records of the 1990s and of all time.
Background
Musical style
The sessions for what would become Odelay originally began as a subdued, acoustic affair. In 1994, Beck started to record tracks for his follow-up to Mellow Gold with Bong Load producers Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf. Hansen had recently experienced a number of personal tragedies (including the death of his grandfather, Al Hansen), and the tone of the songs as well as their production were considerably somber. Only a handful of tracks from these sessions have been released: "Ramshackle", "Feather in Your Cap", and "Brother". All three of these songs are acoustic, sparse, and melancholic, and have a haunting sound very different from the more upbeat, "party" style of Odelay. Beck would eventually return to this downcast style with his 1998 follow-up, Mutations.
He would eventually abandon work with Rothrock and Schnapf, opting to work with the Dust Brothers instead. The Dust Brothers' production style was notably more upbeat and hip-hop-focused; their résumé included work with Beastie Boys and Tone Lōc.
Title and artwork
The title is a phonetic English rendering of the Mexican slang interjection "órale," which translates roughly to "listen up" or "what's up?" The phrase "odelay" is repeated in the lyrics during the outro of the song "Lord Only Knows". However, according to Stephen Malkmus, the title is actually a play of words on Oh Delay, since the album took very long to record.[2]
The album's unusual cover is a real photo of a Komondor, a rare Hungarian breed of dog with thick matted hair. The image was chosen at the last minute after Beck failed to decide on an album cover. The image was presented to him by his girlfriend and was chosen almost out of desperation. The typeface was chosen by a record company worker. [citation needed]
Critical reception
Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Pitchfork Media | (9.8/10)[3] |
Allmusic | [4] |
Entertainment Weekly | A−[5] |
Slant Magazine | [6] |
Robert Christgau | A−[7] |
Rolling Stone | [8] |
Upon release, Odelay received almost unanimous critical applause. Odelay was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 1997, as well as a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for "Where It's At". It was ranked 16 in Spin's "100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005". Odelay was awarded Album of the Year by the American magazine Rolling Stone. It was voted as the best album of the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll, and also in the NME's annual critics poll. In 1998, Q magazine readers voted Odelay the 51st greatest album of all time. In 2003, the album was ranked number 305 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time and number 9 on its list of the 100 best albums of the nineties. Voters in Channel 4's 2005 "100 Greatest Albums" poll placed it at number 73. The music website Pitchfork Media ranked it at #19 on their top 100 albums of the 1990s.
Track listing
Original issue
All songs written by Beck, John King and Michael Simpson, except where noted.
Produced by Beck Hansen and The Dust Brothers, except where noted.
- "Devils Haircut" – 3:14
- "Hotwax" – 3:49
- "Lord Only Knows" (Beck Hansen) – 4:14
- "The New Pollution" – 3:39
- "Derelict" – 4:12
- "Novacane" – 4:37
- "Jack-Ass" – 4:11
- "Where It's At" – 5:30
- "Minus" (Beck Hansen) – 2:32
- Produced by Beck Hansen, Mario Caldato Jr. and Brian Paulson.
- "Sissyneck" – 3:52
- "Readymade" – 2:37
- "High 5 (Rock the Catskills)" – 4:10
- "Ramshackle" (Beck Hansen) – 7:29
- Produced by Tom Rothrock and Tom Schnapf.
- Includes a hidden track called "Computer Rock"
- Some non-U.S. versions contain "Diskobox" and/or "Clock" as bonus tracks.
Deluxe Edition
On January 29, 2008, Odelay - Deluxe Edition was released.[9] The two-disc set contains the original album, plus 19 B-sides, remixes and previously unreleased songs. The liner notes feature complete lyrics and artwork as well as an essay from Thurston Moore and the transcript of 15 high school students interviewed by Dave Eggers. The cover art was deliberately edited to appear as if it was a personalized copy of the album, with stickers carelessly half-ripped off and various doodles on it (such as a face drawn on the dog and rainbows behind it) and including the phrase 'Property Of Michael' written on the back. The exclusion of Diskobox may have been done as a deliberate nod to the cover art having the 'strictly limited edition bonus track' sticker partly torn off.
"Diskobox", which appeared on the original UK and Japanese pressings of Odelay, was not included on the deluxe edition for unknown reasons. The Odelay sessions version of "Debra" (later re-recorded for Midnite Vultures) is also absent, despite initial statements to the contrary.
Some of the bonus tracks on the Deluxe Edition (specifically "Deadweight" and "Clock") appear to be from lossy (e.g. MP3) sources. Some of the tracks included have been altered beyond simple remastering.[10] No official explanation for these changes has been given. Some of these alterations are listed below:
First CD:
- - "Hotwax" has a more double tracked vocal during the verses
- - "The New Pollution" has the same synthesized beeps from the original version, but played at a different pitch
- - "Sissyneck" has a slightly extended 'breakdown' part at around 2:00
Bonus CD:
- - "Thunderpeel" is folded down to mono from the regular stereo version
- - "Electric Music And The Summer People" is an alternate mix
- - "Erase the Sun" runs at a faster speed (the original release may be slowed down)
- - "Trouble All My Days" is folded down to mono from the regular stereo version[11]
Disc 1
- "Devils Haircut" - 3:15
- "Hotwax" - 3:49
- "Lord Only Knows" - 4:15
- "The New Pollution" - 3:39
- "Derelict" - 4:13
- "Novacane" - 4:37
- "Jack-Ass" - 4:12
- "Where It's At" - 5:30
- "Minus" - 2:32
- "Sissyneck" - 3:57
- "Readymade" - 2:37
- "High 5 (Rock the Catskills)" - 4:11
- "Ramshackle" - 4:47
- "Hidden Track (Computer Rock)" - 0:43
- "Deadweight" - 6:12
- "Inferno" (previously unreleased) - 7:03
- "Gold Chains" (previously unreleased) - 4:59
Disc 2
- "Where It's At" (U.N.K.L.E. remix) - 12:26
- "Richard's Hairpiece" (remix by Aphex Twin) - 3:19
- "American Wasteland" (remix by Mickey P.) - 2:42
- "Clock" - 3:17
- "Thunder Peel" - 2:40
- Different version than the one on Stereopathetic Soulmanure.
- "Electric Music and the Summer People" - 4:38
- "Lemonade" - 2:21
- "SA-5" - 1:53
- "Feather in Your Cap" - 3:46
- "Erase the Sun" - 2:56
- Sped up from the originally released length of 3:16.
- "000.000" - 5:25
- "Brother" - 4:47
- "Devil Got My Woman" - 4:34
- "Trouble All My Days" - 2:25
- "Strange Invitation" - 4:06
- "Burro" - 3:13
Sampled music
- "Devil's Haircut"
- "I Can Only Give You Everything" by the MC5 (Interpolated by Beck)
- "Out of Sight" by Them
- "Soul Drums" by Pretty Purdie.
- "Hotwax"
- "Song for Aretha" by Pretty Purdie
- "Dookey Shoe" by Rasputin's Stash
- "Universal Rhythms" by Mandrill
- "Up on the Hill" by Monk Higgins & The Specialties
- "Lord Only Knows"
- "Lookout for Lucy" by Mike Millius
- "When It Comes" by Edgar Winter
- "The New Pollution"
- "Venus" by Joe Thomas
- "Derelict"
- "Get Up and Dance" by Freedom
- "I Just Want to Celebrate" by Rare Earth.
- "Jack-Ass"
- "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" by Them
- "Where It's At"
- "Sex for Teens (Where It's At)" by Dr. Stanley Z. Adams
- "Needle to the Groove" by Mantronix
- "I Don't Care If U Disrespect Me (Just So You Love Me)" by The Frogs
- "Military Scratch - Scratch Mix" by Grand Wizard Theodore
- "Get Out of My Life, Woman" by Lee Dorsey
- "Sissyneck"
- "The Moog and Me" by Dick Hyman
- "A Part of Me" by Country Funk
- "Life" by Sly & The Family Stone
- "Readymade"
- "Desafinado" by Laurindo Almeida and The Bossa Nova All Stars
- "Admit It" by Rory Gallagher
- "High 5 (Rock the Catskills)"
- Symphony no. 8 "Unfinished" (first movement) by Franz Schubert
- "Mr. Cool" by Rasputin's Stash
- Part of the noise section of "Novacane" can be heard
- "Inside-Looking Out" by Grand Funk Railroad
Personnel
Musicians
- Beck Hansen – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar, bass, analog keyboards, electric piano, organ, celeste, clavinet, harmonicas, percussion, drums
- Mike Millius – scream (on track 3)
- Joey Waronker – drums (6, 9), percussion (3, 12, 13)
- Mike Boito – organ (8, 10, 12), trumpet (8)
- David Brown – saxophone (8)
- Greg Leisz – pedal steel guitar (10)
- Charlie Haden – bass (13)
- Jon Spencer - keychain (14)
- Ross Harris - “(The Enchanting Wizard of Rhythm)” (Ending of "Hotwax")
Production
- Beck Hansen, Dust Brothers – production, mixing (exc. 9, 13, 14)
- Beck Hansen, Brian Paulson, Mario Caldato, Jr. – production, mixing (9)
- Tom Rothrock, Rob Schnapf – production, mixing (13)
- Beck Hansen, Jon Spencer, Dust Brothers - production, mixing (14)
- Bob Ludwig – mastering
- Shauna O'Brien – coordination, production coordination
- Mark Kates - A & R
- John Silva - management
Artwork
- Beck Hansen, Robert Fisher – art direction, design
- Al Hansen, Manuel Ocampo, Zarim Osborn – collage images
- Manuel Ocampo – inlay painting
- Ludwig - cover photography
- Nitin Vadukul – photography of Beck
References
- ↑ "Ask Billboard". Billboard. 2008-07-18. Archived from the original on 2008-08-01. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
- ↑ "Q&A: Stephen Malkmus on New LP, Beck + More". Retrieved 2011-07-07.
- ↑ 1996 Pitchfork Media Review
- ↑ Allmusic Review
- ↑ Entertainment Weekly Review
- ↑ Slant Magazine Review
- ↑ Robert Christgau Review
- ↑ Rolling Stone 2008 Review
- ↑ Beck's Odelay Given Deluxe Reissue Treatment
- ↑ Beck Forum • View topic - Odelay Remastered ??? (or something)
- ↑
External links
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