Album: Odelay
Devil's Haircut was one of five singles released from Odelay, and my favourite of all them is probably Where It's At. The languid country rock guitar riff, the Wurlitzer organ melody and the sex education samples ("What about those who swing both ways: AC-DC") all create a unique sound, something Beck himself describes as "jigsaw jazz and the get-fresh flow". Watching the video recently, I also picked up on the visual Captain Beefheart reference at the end, something I missed at the time. The New Pollution was another of the brilliant singles, its weird opening giving away to psychedelic 60s drums (which sound like those in The Beatles' Taxman) and a sax riff sampled from Joe Thomas' Venus. One of my favourite non-single tracks on Odelay is Hotwax, which continues the genre mash-up approach, mixing honky-tonk country, Smokey Robinson's quiet storm soul sound and line dancing. The song closes with a futuristic chill out section, with Beck (via a sample) claiming to be "the enchanting wizard of rhythm". You can't help but agree. I also love Jack-Ass, a country ballad that sounds like Dylan's It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, but with a loop of xylophones and flutes and Beck's exhausted singing and wonderful lyrics ("I been drifting along / in the same stale shoes / loose ends tying the noose / in the back of my mind"). Sissyneck is another great track, while I love the album's closing combination of High 5 (Rock The Catskills), its hip hop scratching and high-energy drum hits mixed with a classical Schubert sample, and Ramshackle, which sounds like the acoustic blues foundation for Mutations. Odelay announced the arrival of one of pop music's most unique geniuses and remains one of my favourite 90s albums.
Artist: Beck
Born: Hollywood, Los Angeles
Released: June 1996
Genre: Folk / Hip Hop
In the early 90s, two major anthems for the outsiders and slackers of Generation X were Radiohead's Creep and Beck's Loser. Both songs launched the careers of two of the decade's most innovative musical acts, with Beck creating a genre-blending fusion of folk, blues and hip hop that was unlike any sound before it. Beck's ability to switch from the sombre folk of Mutations (1998) to the sleazy Prince-inspired funk of Midnite Vultures (1999) marked him out as one of the most talented musicians of his generation, but Odelay remans his most essential album. It's overflowing with ideas and samples and was probably the record I played most during my teenage years. Even the cover was fascinating, a picture of a jumping Komondor (Hungarian dreadlocked dog) that initially looked to my eyes like a hurdling hay bale. As part of New York's first wave of anti-folk musicians, Beck was committed to not taking himself or his music too seriously, and one admission that he made recently in an interview was that many of Odelay's lyrics were placeholder words (or "scratch vocals") that never got replaced with anything more meaningful. "We just grew attached to them," Beck said. He also admitted that many of the samples were discovered while listening to records with producers the Dust Brothers, as they waited for the computer to compile each take. Right from the opening track, Devil's Haircut, there's a sense of glorious chaos, as James Brown samples, Curtis Mayfield-inspired beats and crunching guitar riffs all compete for attention. I'm glad the lyrics turned out to be nonsense, as they mystified me at the time, while Beck's look in the video for Devil's Haircut brilliantly summed up his musical approach, his Midnight Cowboy style jacket and hat signifying his grounding in American roots music and his stereo signifying his love of old school hip hop acts like Grandmaster Flash. Odelay is thoroughly modern in its complete awareness of pop music's past.
In the early 90s, two major anthems for the outsiders and slackers of Generation X were Radiohead's Creep and Beck's Loser. Both songs launched the careers of two of the decade's most innovative musical acts, with Beck creating a genre-blending fusion of folk, blues and hip hop that was unlike any sound before it. Beck's ability to switch from the sombre folk of Mutations (1998) to the sleazy Prince-inspired funk of Midnite Vultures (1999) marked him out as one of the most talented musicians of his generation, but Odelay remans his most essential album. It's overflowing with ideas and samples and was probably the record I played most during my teenage years. Even the cover was fascinating, a picture of a jumping Komondor (Hungarian dreadlocked dog) that initially looked to my eyes like a hurdling hay bale. As part of New York's first wave of anti-folk musicians, Beck was committed to not taking himself or his music too seriously, and one admission that he made recently in an interview was that many of Odelay's lyrics were placeholder words (or "scratch vocals") that never got replaced with anything more meaningful. "We just grew attached to them," Beck said. He also admitted that many of the samples were discovered while listening to records with producers the Dust Brothers, as they waited for the computer to compile each take. Right from the opening track, Devil's Haircut, there's a sense of glorious chaos, as James Brown samples, Curtis Mayfield-inspired beats and crunching guitar riffs all compete for attention. I'm glad the lyrics turned out to be nonsense, as they mystified me at the time, while Beck's look in the video for Devil's Haircut brilliantly summed up his musical approach, his Midnight Cowboy style jacket and hat signifying his grounding in American roots music and his stereo signifying his love of old school hip hop acts like Grandmaster Flash. Odelay is thoroughly modern in its complete awareness of pop music's past.
Devil's Haircut was one of five singles released from Odelay, and my favourite of all them is probably Where It's At. The languid country rock guitar riff, the Wurlitzer organ melody and the sex education samples ("What about those who swing both ways: AC-DC") all create a unique sound, something Beck himself describes as "jigsaw jazz and the get-fresh flow". Watching the video recently, I also picked up on the visual Captain Beefheart reference at the end, something I missed at the time. The New Pollution was another of the brilliant singles, its weird opening giving away to psychedelic 60s drums (which sound like those in The Beatles' Taxman) and a sax riff sampled from Joe Thomas' Venus. One of my favourite non-single tracks on Odelay is Hotwax, which continues the genre mash-up approach, mixing honky-tonk country, Smokey Robinson's quiet storm soul sound and line dancing. The song closes with a futuristic chill out section, with Beck (via a sample) claiming to be "the enchanting wizard of rhythm". You can't help but agree. I also love Jack-Ass, a country ballad that sounds like Dylan's It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, but with a loop of xylophones and flutes and Beck's exhausted singing and wonderful lyrics ("I been drifting along / in the same stale shoes / loose ends tying the noose / in the back of my mind"). Sissyneck is another great track, while I love the album's closing combination of High 5 (Rock The Catskills), its hip hop scratching and high-energy drum hits mixed with a classical Schubert sample, and Ramshackle, which sounds like the acoustic blues foundation for Mutations. Odelay announced the arrival of one of pop music's most unique geniuses and remains one of my favourite 90s albums.
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