Beck is truly one of the most important musicians of our time, and Odelay delivers all that Beck promises: interesting music, experimental sounds, cool lyrics, and a lot of fun.
I bought this album because I liked Where It's At and New Pollution, but I soon discovered that these songs are the tip of the ice berg of Odelay. The whole CD is excellent. Beck experiments with different genres--everything from hip hop to folk--and utilizes sounds and instruments in ways never thought of before. Odelay is a brilliant combination of radio-friendly songs and highly innovative songs.
Highlights of the album include Hotwax, where Beck declares himself the "Enchanted Wizard of Rhythm," and Jack-Ass, a psychedelic masterpiece. Devil's Haircut explodes as the first song on the album and Ramshackle finishes it off with its quiet, folk-inspired guitar and mellow lyrics. Beck shows his flexibility as an artist with this kind of eclectic collection.
There are a few songs, of course, that are a bit much for me. One starts out with a loud scream and is pure, hard rock for the next three minutes. But even if it isn't the easiest song to listen to, it is still brilliant because it's Beck, and whatever he does seems to be deliberately meaningless, making his music a post-modern thrill-ride. Beck is like the Samuel Beckett of the music world.
Odelay is hard to compare to Beck's other albums because he never does the same thing twice. I have Midnite Vultures, which is completely different from Odelay, but it is also characteristic Beck. Odelay has more radio-friendly songs, perhaps, but the quality of all his cd's is unusually high.
I recommend Midnite Vultures and Mutations, two completely different, brilliant, Beck masterpieces.
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