Beck - Odelay Dlx Exp (32 tracks) +Album Reviews

A uniquely half-baked reissue: pine for the days of CD Watch

David Goodwin | Westchester, NY United States | 03/15/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"So let's get this out of the way quickly: Odelay is one of the best albums of the 1990s, and is very deserving of the deluxe treatment. And this release comes tantalizing close to actually doing the album justice, collecting (or purporting to collect) non album tracks, B-sides, and other errata to flesh out the Odelay portrait. There's enough wrong here, though, to make one question the $30 purchase price (and to wonder why exactly this thing was in the works for so long)...and if you haven't heard Odelay, you're probably better off grabbing one of the thousands of cheap copies of the original that're floating around.

First, the booklet. I happen to find the "interviews" to be sort of senseless, but I can see someone enjoying them. More problematic is that the lyrics that populate the booklet have been taken directly from a fan-site, errors and all. Universal claims that this was a mistake that should have never made it past the layout phase. I agree wholeheartedly...but it did, and so early buyers (or, perhaps, all buyers) of this disc get a distinctly compromised package. Great!

There's been a lot of discussion about the above issue, but not quite as much discussion about the fact that several songs here *differ* from the original Odelay we've grown to love. Apparently, the compilers grabbed rough mixes of several of the songs (and/or decided to remix parts of the album). The differences range from the subtle (the beeps that begin "The New Pollution" utilize a different sample) to the incredibly obvious ("Hotwax" suddenly has a very evident double-tracked vocal). Why? I can't find anything in the liners that explain why the deluxe edition of "Odelay" changes so much random stuff around in the original album. Given the other issues attendant in this set, I'm willing to bet it was carelessness at play here.

...because there's more where this came from! So we get some B-sides and unreleased tracks. Fantastic! Except where's Diskobox, which was a bonus track on several international editions of the album? It's nowhere to be found here. Worse yet--and I happen to think this is really freakin' inexcusable--several of the tracks that *ARE* here are taken from lossy (i.e. MP3 or AAC) sources. Deadweight and Clock, for example, have noticeable MP3 artifacts, and the corresponding poor frequency response...heck, "Clock" has some DAE artifacts at the beginning, to boot. Was this set assembled by having some guy go on the internet and download MP3s of some of the rarities?

And so on. It's nice, I'll admit, and it's great to finally have some of these B-sides get a re-airing. The idea of charging $30 for something so poorly put together, though, is what energizes the continued appearance of record companies as out of touch, greedy, and incompetent. In the days of ICE and CD Watchdog, this set would have generated letters for *months*...in this day and age, internet warnings will have to suffice.

Summary: If you haven't yet experienced Odelay, run run run to the store and get a cheap used copy of the album. This set's exorbitant price, poor liner notes, and sound issues (as well as incorrect mixes for the original album) make it a lousy way to get acquainted with the original work."

Odelay is well deserving of the "Deluxe" treatment

Paul Allaer | Cincinnati | 02/01/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Beck was never better than on "Odelay" (with his "Guero" album being a close second for me personally), and almost 12 years after its original release, this gets the Deluxe Treatment (2 CDs, 33 tracks, 136 min.). Not sure why this is being released at this particular time, but no matter, this is a delight for Beck fans all around.

CD1 (17 tracks; 71 min, 5 stars) brings the original album, and 3 additional tracks. The album is of course a delight from start to finish, finding Beck at the top of his game. I've played it so much that it sounds like a greatest hits album to me. In addition to the best known tracks (Devil's Haircut, The New Pollution, Where It's At) there are little gems like "Hotwax" and "Readymade". The 3 additional tracks are a delightful "Deadweight" (a soundtrack contribution), and the previously unreleased "Inferno" and "Gold Chains", which are great in their own right. Please note that there are 17 tracks, not 16 (as Amazon lists) as a short 45 second instrumental track is sequenced separately.

CD2 (16 tracks, 65 min., 4 stars) starts off with 3 remixes, the first of which is a delightful, if overly long (12+ min.) remix of "Where It's At". The other 2 are not nearly as great. The remaining 13 tracks are a collection of B-sides that popped up all over the world with the various singles of the album. Not surprisingly, there is some "pick-and-choose" here, but still plentiful to appreciate. Highlights include "Clocks" which could've fitted nicely onto the proper album, a straight blues "Devil Got My Woman", a mellow (but not gold of course) "Feather in Your Cap", a beautiful pensive ballad "Strange Invitation" (with strings no less), and the closer Mexicana "Burro" (in Spanish). In all this second CD is a true smorgasbord, as can be expected of a collection of remixes and B-sides.

I am less thrilled with the booklet that comes with this reissue. The first half consists of interviews with high school students interviewed in 2006 on how they've connected to Beck and this album (who really cares?). The second half gives the lyrics to CD1 of this reissue. Most frustrating is that there is zero information on the songs on CD2, in particular no lyrics, and no info where these B-sides appeared. That aside, this is an essential collection for Beck fans who love "Odelay" and want all the music Beck, at his creative peak, created at that time. Highly recommended!"

Remember the summer of '96?

Jake | St Paul, MN United States | 01/31/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Remember the summer of 1996 and hearing New Pollution and Devils Haircut on the radio for the first time. Then seeing Beck at Edge Fest on his Odelay tour. Hard to believe that a dozen years have passed. This deluxe edition is a welcome and surprising addition. The new mix definately brings to the front all of the percussion, background talk and sampling so that nothing is lost. Its great to hear so much 'new' detail. (You can even hear Beck speaking during 'High 5.' ) The new songs are great especially 'Gold Chains,' and the b-sides borrow a handful of tracks from the 'Stray Blues' B side collection with a longer and slightly different version of the great 'Electric Music And The Summer People,' Even 'Thunder Peel' (originally on Stereopathetic Soulmanure) is here in a different form. The booklet is deluxe with all of the artwork (and 4 Beck created postcards) that were used on the albums singles. Inside Dave Eggers interviews 15 high schoolers about how 'Odelay' changed their life."

4 stars for Universal Music Company (Deluxe Edition) 5 for B

phloydian | Fairborn, Ohio United States | 02/02/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Just wanted to add a comment to the comments. Although it's pointed out that the Booklet is a disappointment because of the 'High School interviews', what makes it worse is it appears these are fictional or scripted. Someone trying to be funny. I could have seen some worth if they were real, but what's the point otherwise. They still might've been okay but there's like 10 of them. Maybe 2-3 could've been cute, othewise it's a complete waste of 5 pages of the booklet. Now go out and buy everything Beck ever did."

Loaded with mid-90s bonus tracks (and love)

Gregory W. Locke | Seattle, WA | 03/10/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Beck's second major label album, Odelay, was released in 1996, just as some of my friends were working on wrecking their first cars and finding their first girlfriends. I remember having someone drive me to a gas station to meet up with a radio station van that was running a live feed; I'd won an advance copy of Beck's then unreleased classic album over the phone, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. I'd been a fan of grunge, rap and classic rock for the whole of my young life, so, needless to say, I flipped the first time I heard the genre-bending "Where It's At" on MTV. Sure, I liked "Loser" and some of Beck's previous songs, but Odelay was instantly something different; it was and still is an incredibly produced genre-masher no one could've ever expected. Because of this personal history with Beck's funky pop classic I wasn't surprised to find myself racing out on the day-of-release to pick up the uber-expanded reissue of the album, after all, this was arguably the most creative and influential Platinum-selling album of the 90s.

Lets start by stating the obvious: most reissues are little more than a ploy by record labels to get people to pay for an album a second time, sans all the initial recording, design and marketing costs. Most include demos, live songs, videos, interviews or alternate recordings, but not usually anything really a whole lot that warrants the price of readmission. Such is not the case with Odelay: Deluxe Edition. Along with the original 13-song album, buyers also get a rare Odelay-era soundtrack song, two unreleased songs called "Inferno" and "Gold Chains," three remixes and, most importantly, 13 mostly rare proper b-sides. Remixes aside, this 33-song collection only further establishes the greatness of Odelay.

An underdog experimentalist before the release of this album, Beck worked long and hard on these dense, imaginative recordings, reportedly writing and recording enough material for three albums, a rumor proven by the girth of this reissue. The core album - which in retrospect could most easily be described as a mishmash of the Beastie Boys, grunge, pop and folk - still sounds bigger than life and about as brainy and varied as anything from its era. Pair the 13 b-sides with the three other rare studio tracks and you have yourself Odelay, Pt. 2. No, it's not as good as the core album, but it does make for a nice compliment to an already essential album.

The "bonus album" here, which is being playfully dubbed as Deadweight (after the aforementioned soundtrack song of the same name) in fan circles, sounds consistent to Odelay's core material, though rightfully not quite as memorable. The songs bleep and burst, usually feeling more like cut-and-paste projects than actual songs. We learn from the extensive liner notes that Beck plays most of the instruments on the songs, accompanied most often by production cohorts The Dust Brothers, who add a programmed layer of static-y grime that offers this expansive collection a needed element of continuity.

In addition to the completist-friendly content on Odelay: Deluxe Edition, you also get a few unexpected perks. Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, for one, contributes a write-up that works as a foreword to the Dave Eggers-penned liner notes. All lyrics and original art is included, as well as some rare additional art, a protective slipcase and some goofy, spiffed-up exterior art made perfect to remind listeners that Odelay is supposed to be a fun record. Where most reissues prey on the loyalty of devout fans, this project - coordinated by Shauna O'Brien - is a generous collection of material that should not only make fans feel nostalgic for the sound of the summer of 1996, but also offer the very worthwhile scraps left in Beck left in his very determined rubble. Material too good to let go undocumented.

Not every generation gets a Bowie, but the rockers (and rappers, and funkers) of the 90s did, and this is his masterpiece: an album that still sounds great some 140 months later. It was and still is youthful music for youthful days; an album that will likely forever sound fresh, artistically ambitious and stylistically wandering. (Greg Locke)"

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