Customer Reviews

Odelay

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This album is a masterpiece of the Nineties and has been much loved up and down the land by hip-cats and lovers of the bong alike. The deluxe edition is a great selection of the original album and more, with a gem of a remix by UNKLE and copious `bonus tracks, out-takes, and B-sides all of which are worthy of having. As a package and at this price it is a must buy...BUT

Track 14 on the original UK version was `Diskobox' one of the undoubted highlights for me and I'm sure many others.

Whatever clueless fool was responsible for compiling this deluxe (and presumably intended to be definitive) version somehow missed this track off amidst the welter of B-sides and remixes, thus rendering this edition fatally flawed. There seems to have been no subsequent explanation from the Geffen camp as to how this happened. Perhaps they don't really give a monkey's anyway.

Is it any wonder people have given up on record companies and are `doing it for themselves' ? There are hundreds of web experts out there who could have done a better job of compiling this...

A 5 Star album, docked one for this ludicrous ommission. If you do buy this, hang on to your original too !

On the justifiably critically acclaimed 'Odelay' Beck seems to try his hand at virtually every genre under the sun........And seems to succeed at each increasingly ambitious attempt. The album, aside from the obvious brilliance of 'new pollution' and 'where it's at', is a simply stunning exhibition of Beck's clear genius. Highlights would have to be the opening bars of 'Where its at' and the entirety of 'novacane'. Cheers Beck, you've produced one of my top 5 albums!

I 'discovered' Beck through a rather odd route, after he (or rather, his head!) guested in an episode of Futurama which included a rendition of 'Where It's At', complete with washboard break(!)

I picked up 'Odelay' shortly afterwards and its one of the few CDs in my collection that I can listen to without skipping tracks. There's a mind-boggling range of styles on offer here, ranging from blues and folk, through lounge (listen to the intro to 'Where It's At') to hip-hop. Whilst there's a serious risk of the entire album drowning in a mish-mash of sound, it's to Beck's credit that he holds everything together.

Whilst Beck is obviously an extremely talented musician, the thing that makes this album for me is the vocals - most of the time he sounds half asleep, but for some reason it seems to work. Don't ask me why, it just does. The almost narcoleptic delivery adds an extra dimension to the slower songs, although some of the lyrics tend to be a bit obtuse.

There isn't really a bad track on this album, but for me the standouts are "Where It's At", the curiously uplifting "Lord Only Knows" and "Jackass", which is a supremely moving song, despite having a sample of a braying donkey at the end.

Don't let the fact that Beck is often lumped in with 'folk rock' artists put you off, this is an extremely varied album which is well worth a listen.

Ah Beck, now here is a talent.
This, his second album, produced by The Dust brothers, was even better than his debut, and established him as a major player.
He almost recklessly mixes lots of influences, from Grunge to Hip Hop, to Blues, he mangles everything up. Sonically he throws everything in including the kitchen sink, Tablas, chains, Harps, carboard boxes, harmoniums, feedback.... This just shouldn't work, but the genius of it is that it does...it makes perfect sense in the way more conventional stuff never could...and there are some great tunes here that will stay with you long after the CD goes back in the box. At the time of Odelay, nobody was mashing stuff up like Beck.

His image of intelligent, wasted life conjures up a beautifully cinematic view of the slacker underdog. Go with him, he will take you places you never dreamed of.

Ok, i have to start off by saying that i wouldn't recomend you buy Odelay as your first Beck album because it has a very full on sound to it......i'd ease yourself in with maybe 'Mutations' or 'Guero', that'll help you get the idea of who Beck is and what he's all about.

Now 'Odelay' ISN'T my favorite Beck album, i'd have to give that honour to 'Sea Change' & i guarantee you right now that some of you out there won't like this album, but if you've become bored with some of your bland commercial music & you want get away from all of that, this is the album for you. In my humble oppinion it is one of the greatest albums ever to grace this earth.

You can't really class Beck under any kind of "genre" and this album really underlines that fact, it's a real mish mash of songs, while you have some songs like 'Jack-Ass' & 'Ramshakle' that are very slow paced and melodic, you also have songs like 'Devil's Haircut' & 'Novacane' which have a really fast paced heavy metal-ish sound to them......& even then there are songs like 'Where it's at' & 'High 5' which have elements of Rap/Hip Hop to them......so even if you don't like the album on a whole, there HAVE to be a few songs that you like because the album is so genre-bending.

In my oppinion everyone should have this album in their collection, it is as essential as Sgt pepper by The Beatles, Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan or Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys, I really do hold it in that high a regard.

I thoroughly recomend that you buy this album.

Though I've had this album for over three years I felt I needed to give a review due to the lack of them present at this site. This has got to be one of 1996s greatest albums, along with Eels Beautiful Freak, fusing hip-hop, pop, country, and alternative rock music. Beck really is a true ambassador for modern, contempary music and this is an album you must get. Stand out tracks include the singles New Pollution and Where it's at, and personal favourites are Novacane and Minus. Buy this album and be truely satisfied.

Beck's masterpiece,which is here expanded to twice the original length with the original B-Sides (including remixes by Aphex Twin & Unkle).You should really buy it.One question though:what happened to Diskobox?

There are theoretically speaking some rules or should we sayguidelines to music well Beck has taken everyone and ignored them to create his own style, which works really well. Beck is a wonder of music he does what others will not do on this album he starts of with 'Devils Haircut' is simply a great song fused by about eight different other styles of music to form one great song. In fact in this album Beck fuses every known style of music together to create his own. This 14 track extravaganza is also held together by 'Novacane and Where Its At' which is his ode to rap music and its place in music. Each song on the album is a lyrical delight and this album should be bought on sight.

This is the Best album Beck did till today, all the songs are great, its a classic from the 90's!! Everybody who really like music should have this album in a collection!!

Outstanding album, really good - would recommend it to anyone - the guy is a legend!!!!!! Cheap as well. d