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Beck

Odelay - Deluxe Edition  Hear it Now

RS: 5of 5 Stars Average User Rating: 4.5of 5 Stars

2008

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On his early records, Beck made it all sound so easy, people fell for the idea he wasn't trying very hard. He was happy to play the role of a musical innocent — just a blond surfer-poet dude with a guitar and a dazed grin, the happy-go-lucky Snoopy to Kurt Cobain's Charlie Brown. Now that he's matured, and revealed in his music what a misery goat he is, we can appreciate how much imagination went into Odelay. After his 1994 indie single "Loser" accidentally crashed the mainstream, Beck realized he liked it up there and decided to ham it up with a shameless pop record. So for Odelay, he hooked up with the Dust Brothers to play around with punk, hip-hop, acoustic folk, bossa nova, Latin soul, mainstream R&B and line-dance country — there's as much Babyface as Bob Dylan on this record, and as much Billy Ray Cyrus as Biz Markie. The grooves are so funny, Beck had fans rolling in the aisle before he opened his mouth.

On this two-disc deluxe edition, the greatest moments still come from the original album: "Where It's At," "Jack-Ass," "Lord Only Knows," "Hotwax." But the rarities and B sides are so good, they'd add up to Beck's third- or fourth- best album on their own. "Electric Music and the Summer People" is one of his best; "Gold Chains" and "Inferno" are worthy outtakes; "Burro" has the album's best song, "Jack-Ass," sung in Spanish with a mariachi band. It flows into a summary of Nineties rock & roll wiseassery, a sonic version of the sensibility that would turn into Johnny Knoxville and Owen Wilson. "Hotwax" was never a hit, but it still sounds like Beck's theme, because it means (among other things) stolen music — the sound of a very shrewd kid stealing his way onto the radio like a burglar in broad daylight.

ROB SHEFFIELD

(Posted: Feb 7, 2008)

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Review 1 of 3

timmythepirate writes:

5of 5 Stars


To say that by reissuing(and remastering) a classic cd is "BS", is completely idiotic. Which fans dont want to hear some of their favorite songs sound even better than they once did? And to say that such an acclaimed and praised original artist such as Beck is "to young to have greatist hits" is just as ignorant. So I guess that means that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana is not credible to being a greatist hit because they were only a band for 8 years. And the same can be said for many other bands. How long exactly must you be in the music business before your eligble to have "greatest hits" anyway? Because 20 years, obviously isnt enough. Awesome re-issue with enough b-sides and bonus tracks to drown a house hold cat. Any Beck fan should indeed pick this one up(even if they own the original). The bonus disc alone is worthy enough to be sold on its own.

Mar 16, 2008 10:59:00

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Review 2 of 3

garywells writes:

2of 5 Stars


I have to admit I liked a few of his songs. That said he isn't old enough to have greatist hits, much less have greatist hits. Two hit wonder? Duh I dunno dude!

Mar 11, 2008 08:23:52

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Review 3 of 3

seanebones writes:

1of 5 Stars


What was wrong with the first edition? Guess we can look forward to a bunch of artists doing the same "re issue" BS to get us to buy the same songs again. Oh wait, they already do.

Feb 5, 2008 18:54:47

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