Odelay

Odelay is the fifth studio album by American musician Beck, released on June 18, 1996 through DGC/Bong Load Custom Records. It was produced by Beck Hansen, Mario Caldato Jr., Tom Rothrock, Rob Schnapf, The Dust Brothers (John King and Mike Simpson) and Brian Paulson. Like Mellow Gold, Odelay contains several disparate musical styles, including folk, country, grunge, garage rock, electro, old school rap, noise rock, and more. Most of the songs here betray Beck's roots as an anti-folk singer, reworking blues ("Devils Haircut"), country ("Lord Only Knows," & #34;Sissyneck"), soul ("Hotwax"), folk ("Ramshackle"), and rap ("High 5 [Rock the Catskills],&#34 "Where It's At").

After the commercial success of "Loser,", Odelay offered several singles, such as "Where It's At", "Devils Haircut" and "The New Pollution". The album peaked at #16 on the Billboard 200, sold over 2 million copies in the US, and went platinum in the UK. Since its release, the album has appeared on numerous lists of "Best Records of the 1990s" and "of all time". The successful album, from which 5 singles were released, won the 1997 Grammy and was ranked 16th in "The best albums between 1985 and 2005" of the ranking prepared by Spin. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it number 305 on the list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

History

Background and recording

The Odelay—pronounce: Odeley— sessions initially began as a subdued, acoustic affair. In 1994, Beck began recording tracks for the follow-up to Mellow Gold with Bong Load producers Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf. Hansen had recently experienced several personal tragedies (including the death of his grandfather, Al Hansen), and the tone of the songs as well as their production were quite somber. Only a handful of tracks from these sessions have been released: "Ramshackle", "Feather in Your Cap" and "Brother". These songs are acoustic, sparse and melancholic, and have a haunting sound very different from the more upbeat style of Odelay. Beck would finally return to this depressed style with his 1998 album, Mutations. He would eventually leave work with Rothrock and Schnapf, opting to work with The Dust Brothers. The Dust Brothers' production style was noticeably more upbeat and hip hop focused; his resume included work with the Beastie Boys and Tone Lōc.

Odelay dispelled all doubts. This album made it clear that there was a lot left in the place where “Loser” had come from. This time the range of influences ranged from Donovan and the English folkies of the late '60s and '70s to something from the lounge that was being rediscovered at the same time. As always, with the support of breakbeats, samples and everything that technology put at his feet, Beck built a set of anti-hymns that celebrated chaos and confusion and a culture made of disparate fragments that seems all the time on the verge of falling apart. under the weight of its own lightness.

Musical style and content

A Komondor, dog breed guardian and shepherd, originating from Hungary, used for the cover Odelay. Its main characteristic is the peculiar appearance of its fur, which falls forming shawls similar to the rastas.

On the album Odelay, Beck explores the small underworld created in the song "Loser", which launched him to stardom, in which he plays with different samples, mixing them with guitars distorted, moody drums and powerful basses, retaining a bit of the lo-fi of his previous work, Mellow Gold, but leaning towards a much cleaner, more cheerful production directed towards a more enjoyable side for the masses.. This allowed him to discover sounds beyond his big hit and expand it into a whole universe of possibilities. Mixing the happy with the sad, the frenetic with the calm, the good with the bad, the 13 alter egos that make up the album are the fruit of Beck's most creative side.

The album consists of 13 songs ("Diskobox" not listed) that were selected from a pool of 30 tracks. The first 11 selected songs made it into this album and the remaining two songs were enhanced versions made during Tom and Rob's sessions and Beck's studio with Mario Caldato Jr., producer of the Beastie Boys. Beck proves that he can do it all in Odelay , as the Dust Brothers do their job as producers. Beck goes in and out of his musical costumes, whether he strums his folk guitar on "Ramshackle" or does hip-hop in the style of "High 5 (Rock the Catskills)"; in "Where It's At" or blame it on the bossa nova in "Readymade". Odelay could have been an emotionless art project, but Beck loses himself in somewhat cheeky flow until his playful energy makes everyone seem tame. Of course, the hits “Devil's Haircut”, “The New Pollution” and “Jack Ass” played on all the radios, their remixes were danced to in all the clubs and the disconcerting images of their videos reached MTV, doing their bit. to the same confusion that they are in charge of pointing out and, more generally, to the patchwork of our culture. From the cover art to the lyrics, everything indicates that Beck is not ignorant of this paradox but, in fact, uses it to enrich his work.

Title and illustrations

Originally the name of the album was going to be Órale, in honor of his Mexican friends, but due to an error during the printing of the album, they had to change it to Odelay. The phrase "Odelay" is repeated in the outro of song number three on the album, "Lord Only Knows". However, according to Stephen Malkmus, the title is actually a pun meaning "Oh Delay" ("Ah, la Tardanza"), since it took a long time to record the album. The bizarre album cover is a real photo of a Komondor, a rare Hungarian breed of dog with thick matted hair, jumping over an obstacle. The image was chosen at the last minute after Beck had given up deciding on an album cover. The image was presented to him by his girlfriend and was chosen almost out of desperation. The font was chosen by a record company worker.

Reception

Odelay was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, but ultimately won Best Alternative Music Album in 1997, as well as a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for the song 'Where It's At'. It was ranked number 16 on "The 100 Greatest Albums 1985-2005" by Spin magazine. It was voted best album of the year by critics from The Village Voice, Pazz & Jop, and also in the NME annual critics poll. In 1998, the readers of Q magazine voted Odelay 51st on their "Greatest Albums of All Time". In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it number 305 on its list of "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" and, in 2013, it was ranked number 8 on the list of "The 100 Greatest Albums of the 90s", also by Rolling Stone magazine. In a 2005 Channel 4 poll, voters placed it at number 73 on "The 100 Greatest Albums". Music website Pitchfork Media ranked it #19 on their "100 Top Albums of the 1990s". Odelay was considered one of the best albums of that year and the work that put Beck on a par with any of his heroes.

Song List

Bonus tracks

Some non-US versions contain as bonus tracks:

Deluxe Edition

In 2008 Odelay - Deluxe Edition was released, which includes the remastered album with 4 bonus tracks and a second disc with remixes by UNKLE and Aphex Twin, among others, and more than 10 B-sides. The inside booklet features full lyrics and art, as well as an essay by Thurston Moore and the transcript of 15 high school students interviewed by Dave Eggers. The cover art was deliberately edited to look as if it were a custom copy of the album, with carelessly torn off stickers and various scribbles on it (such as a face drawn on the dog and the rainbow behind it) and such as the phrase " Property of Michael" written on the back. The exclusion of the song "Diskobox" it may have been done deliberately as a nod to the torn label on the "strictly limited edition bonus track" cover. "Diskobox", which appeared on the original pressings of Odelay in the UK, Argentina and Japan, was not included on the deluxe edition for unknown reasons. The version of the song "Debra" (later re-recorded for Midnite Vultures) from the Odelay sessions is also absent, contrary to initial statements. Some of the included tracks have been altered beyond the simple remastering. No official explanation has been given for these changes. Some of these alterations are the following:

Disc 1:

1. "Hotwax" has a more double vocal follow-up during the verses.
2. - "The New Pollution" has the same synthesized beeps from the original version, but in a different tone.
3. - "Sissyneck" has a slightly extended part around 2:00 minutes.

CD Bonus:

1. "Thunderpeel" is in a monkey, unlike the original stereo version.
2. - "Electric Music And The Summer People" is an alternative mix.
3. -"Erase the Sun" runs at a faster speed (the original version is slower).
4. - "Trouble All My Days" is in a monkey, unlike the original stereo version.

Song List

CD1

Odelay: Remastered Album and B-sides.

All songs written and composed by Beck Hansen, John King, and Michael Simpson, except where noted.

CD 2

Remixes and B-sides.

Sample Credits

Devil's Haircut

• "I Can Only Give You Everything" by MC5 (interpolate 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" of 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.

"Novacane"

• Freedom's Get Up and Dance.
• "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.

• Dick Hyman's Moog and Me.
• "A Part of Me" from Country Funk.
• "Life" by Sly & Family Stone.

"Readymade"

• Laurindo Almeida and The Bossa Nova All Stars.
• "Admit It" by Rory Gallagher.

"High 5 (Rock the Catskills)

• "No. 8 symphony in the least "Unfinished" by Franz Schubert.
• "Mr. Cool" by Rasputin's Stash.
• Part of the "Novacane" noise section can be heard.
• Grand Funk Railroad's Inside-Looking Out.

Staff

Musicians

• Beck Hansen: voice, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, guitar slide, bass, analog keyboards, electric piano, organ, celesta, clavicordio, harmonics, percussion, battery
• Mike Millius: scream (on track 3).
• Joey Waronker: battery (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)”: unknown

Production

• Beck Hansen, Dust Brothers: production, mixture (excl. 9, 13, 14).
• Beck Hansen, Brian Paulson, Mario Caldato, Jr.: production, mixture (9).
• Tom Rothrock, Rob Schnapf: production, mixture (13).
• Beck Hansen, Jon Spencer, Dust Brothers: production, mixture (14).
• Bob Ludwig: mastering
• Shauna O'Brien: coordination, production coordination
• Mark KatesA " R
• John Silva: administration

Art

• Beck Hansen, Robert Fisher:– art direction, design
• Al Hansen, Manuel Ocampo, Zarim Osborn: collage of images
• Manuel Ocampo: painting inlay
• Ludwig: photo of the cover
• Nitin Vadukul: Beck photograph

Simple

Charts

Lists (1996). Position maximum Australia (ARIA) 20 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) 30 Belgium (Ultratop 200 Flanders) 27 Belgium (Ultratop 40 Wallonia) 27 Netherlands (MegaCharts) 27 Finland (Suomen Virallinen List) 36 France (SNEP) 39 Germany (Offizielle Top 100) 30 New ZealandNew Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) 16 Norway Norway (VG-list) 23 Sweden Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) 5 SwitzerlandSwitzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) 14 United Kingdom (UK Albums Chart) 17 United States (Billboard 200) 16

Certifications Country Supplier Certification Sales Australia ARIA Gold 35,000 Canada Music Canada 2× Platinum 200,000 United Kingdom BPI 3× Platinum 900,000 United States RIAA 4× Platinum 4,000,000