Reviews (page 2 of 14)
Important at the time but would be surprised if many people still listen to it. Dated
🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑 Finally. The Enchanting Wizard of Rhythm. People don’t seem to like the overstimulated, explosive, “Where’s Waldo”esque sampling on this one? Really? THIS IS 90’S BECK BITCH! we everything but the kitchen sink in this motherfucker better take your sensitive ass back to Colors… Okay, but really, I know this is a classic, but I wouldn’t go to bat as much for Odelay as much as I would for, say, Midnite Vultures—controversial, maybe, I don’t really know, but where that album is able to channel its scatterbrained sonic mania into a scathingly sarcastic and ceaseless album, Odelay really does feel like a reanimated scrapyard monster stumbling drunkenly about with spare, rusted-out pieces clattering out of its rickety skeleton. I don’t mean that as a bad thing, per se, but sometimes it really does exceed my squirreliness metric with its whining tones and abrasive shrieks, but by god, at least he’s having fun. Beck’s musical imagination in this era felt like accidentally setting off the whole fireworks show at once, and joining forces with the Dust Brothers in a flow state reminiscent of their best work with Beastie Boys, he created a fantastic album like a playground built over a live minefield. It really does turn on a dime like that in so many myriad ways, but probably the most exciting is genre—you can tell they really geeked out collecting samples and influences to collage. For as much as its rough production occasionally makes my ears bleed, it’s also so easy to rock with—I mean, most of it is pretty chill if you can get past the occasional shrill. And what a motherfucking lineup—“Devil’s Haircut,” “The New Pollution,” “Lord Only Knows,” “Sissyneck,” “Deadweight….” and that’s not even a comprehensive list of the ones I like, that’s just off the top of my head. And don’t think I forgot “Hotwax”—did I mention Beck is really fucking funny? 1: Bad | 2: Below Okay, No Desire to Revisit | 3: Good, Conditionally (OR Inconsistent Mix of Qualities) | 4: Great (OR Technically amazing but missing the sauce emotionally) | 5: Amazing
Some 90s classics in Devils Haircut, New Pollution, Jack-Ass. Was a bit revolutionary then with it's quirky mashup of country, hip hop, sampling and alternative rock but a bit of it's time at this remove, a few tracks haven't stood the test of time. 7/10
He realized before the rest of us that genre doesn't matter any you can just do anything/everything
Hostia, había escuchado cosas de Beck, e incluso algún álbum completo (el que tiene Loser). Me suena que incluso había escuchado alguna vez este mismo... pero hasta ahora no me había dado cuenta de lo guapo que está. Qué rápido se dio cuenta Jessie del parecido entre Eels y Beck cuando escuchó al primero. A mí me costó meses darme cuenta del parecido años antes. Puro 90's.
Beck en su línea, no acabo de entrar 100%
Couldn't figure out if I rated this album or not, but in the end settled on a 3.5, got swayed by the doggy album cover
I listened to this lots as a teenager. 3 of these songs are better than I remember. His lyrics are crazy.
first venture into Beck - nice album.
Not my thing. "Where It's At" is fun tho
beck really is that bitch
Had this on tape when it came out. Been a while since I listened though. very good very 90s, the singles are total bangers. I remember thinking the first side was better than the second. I still think that, but side 2 is still fun. 4.5 rounded down Heard before? Yes Owned: Yes, 108/423 (25%) Will I get: Already have
Det holder med 2-3 låter av Beck, ekstremt overkill å ha med 3 album.
Really enjoyed how genre-bending and experimental this album was, with electronic aspects and killer vocals contributing to the overall sound. Prompt tonal differences could've been jarring, but they weren't for me, like when the Korn type nu-metal track 'Hi-five' effortlessly transitioned into the folk track, 'Ramshackle'. I think it's the great vocals which keep this body of work together. They are so integral and flexible amongst both the heavy, hard hitting songs and softer songs. Funnily enough, I hear a little Cameron Winter in the singer's voice, maybe I'll recommend this project to Geese fans!
Huh?
Een paar nummers is wel leuk, maar te experimenteren voor mij
Some of the songs were fine and some were truly awful. I didn't actually like any of the songs that much though.
is this smooth central or what!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why has no one told me about this artist!!!!!!!!!!! what the fuck this album is so good. but also. why are older albums so long............. I dont have an hour to spend listenign to music!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! where are my 1 minute long songs and 20 minute albums? Where they at?
Muita bom
Not my favorite Beck but I liked all the silly goofy little unexpected things that are akin to Midnite Vultures
A solid album with enough variety to keep you guessing but a surefire point of view. We're not talking about a desert island pick but it most certainly gets the job done.
Horrible
Need for speed ahh music
Loads of strange little samples. The beats tie it together really nicely.
I liked a few Beck tracks back in the day and was aware of the 'Odelay' album. I don't think I took that much attention of it even though it was heavily praised at the time. Not quite sure why this was, but 96 was a busy year and I guess my music input was narrowed down by everything else going on in life.... Anyway it was refreshing to sit back now and listen to the album in detail. I really enjoyed it and wondered how did I miss this! If it comes up in my local second hand record store I will 100% pick up the vinyl and give it more airtime.
A bit harsh
Man loti patika
Es paklausījos viņu citus albumus un tie ir daudz labāki imo
I'm unwell with COVID so this probably isn't the best time to listen to this album with any sort of critical mind - but with a wholly uncritical mind, I liked it. It gave me some energy, and made me smile, and made me feel a little better. So, really, that's all I need.
It’s ok…. Not as good as I remembered
I was only familiar with the singles from this album - which I generally have enjoyed, but overall it's a good listen. Great production, interesting and fun songs, and deeply creative. Highlights: "Where It's At", "Sissyneck", "Devil's Haircut"
4.5
A classic for me
Beck doing Beck things. Is the next track going to be a perennial favorite or just a noise track? Can’t know until you try! 8 keepers in 14 (57%). 2 bangers (14%). 1 klunker (7%).
Great one. Holds up really well. There are a couple odd tracks, but almost all are solid.
Inte min bag. Men kul med mer breakbeats. Var några ok låtar.
I vilken genre hamnar denna? Fuck it, fem av fem
Haha, det är bra för han är ”ironisk”, eller vadå…? Asså produktionen på hela plattan är as-fet och tycker det är ball hur han lyckas blanda genrer och helt olika sounds… Men det känns ju inte som att han själv tycker det är kul??? Plus att han inte är så bra på att rappa. Det instrumentala räddar iallafall plattan och gör lyssningen intressant.
Stark 3a! Absolut inte min musik men det här rätt bra, slingor från olika genrer som höll det intressant och levande
Good album. Don't know if I'd listen to it again, but it's Beck. So I can't bat it.
There were a lot of good moments and it brought back good memories. Overall, I'd give it a solid 3. I'd give it a 3.5 if I could I just can't quite give it a 4.
It's been ages since I listened to Odelay, so it was great to get back to this classic album.
Immediate 5/5. Loved this.
Really good. Loved a few of them.
шумный и почему то меня он бесит. но есть прикольные треки, хоть они меня не зацепили
Heard this many times but put on the headphones and read the lyrics this go around. I liked it before, much more than Mellow Gold, but like it more now. Very eclectic, the ideas, samples, instruments, screeching noises, and riffs are thrown at you rapid-fire through most of the album (Ramshackle is an exception, a mellow, downtemo track with traditional instrumenation), but it all flows in a well-orchestrated groove. Guero, Sea Change, and Mutations are subjectively better, but those came after this. Beck was really starting to shine on this one. And the cover photo is a trip.
Okay the album just felt mid overall, ad a few good tracks, but was uninspiring for the rest.
Quite eclectic. Liked some of it.
I think this is a pretty cool album for him, it's not the album you might expect an artist who's on the brink of stardom to make, but I think that it's not really as good as he'd get. There's hints of the greatness of his future albums (see Ramshackle), but it's generally not at the level that I would want him to be at. It's decent, I can understand why it was popular at the time, but at this point there's not a lot of replay value to it. Favorites: Derelict, Where It's At, Ramshackle
Fantastic album 90’s album from one of the best to come out of that era. 4.6
Really good, interesting record. A little too weird at points to the point of being annoying. But it's genuinely innovative so worth all the risks.
I think Sea Change is better but this is still really good and has some phenomenal tracks. It does lose steam with the last few tracks though. This is a low 4
Nothing like 90’s alternative with hip hop sensibilities. First two songs aren’t great, but it certainly goes up from there. Also, side note: how come in 1996 there are three songs I know of with the word “Novocaine” all with different spellings (Eels “Novocaine for the Soul”, Modest Mouse “Novocain Stain” , and this album’s “Novacane”
Get the rhyming Becktionary out, it’s Odelay. Beck’s genre-defying masterpiece is one of those albums that makes its way into everyone’s music collection, regardless of their taste. I remember a guy I knew when I was about 16 years old, showing me his Ibanez guitar in his house. He had floor-to-ceiling shelving stacked with tapes and CDs (it was the 90s), all matching his very specific musical preference. Every single album was some form of thrash metal or extremely heavy rock. But, right in the middle of it all sat Odelay. What can I say about one of my favourite albums of all time? A lot. So buckle up. First of all there’s the background story, the lore surrounding it all. Tragically, a lot of Beck’s very close friends and colleagues happened to all pass away during a very short period, including his artist Grandfather, someone who was a big inspiration for him growing up. Beck went into the studio with the same producers he used for “Mellow Gold”, and ended up recording a lot of dark, grim acoustic songs. But then scrapped all of that, to instead shift gears dramatically, and he ended up with one of the most upbeat and positive records you’ll ever hear. And the biggest part of that shift was Beck deciding to switch producers, and work with The Dust Brothers. The last big album that they had produced was The Beastie Boys’ ground-breaking masterpiece of collage sampling, “Paul’s Boutique”. Beck and The Dust Brothers brought that layered sampling approach to indie rock music, the first time most of us heard anything like that, outside of the world of dance and hip-hop. And it worked so damn well. Big beats and funk mixed with hillbilly folk rock and blues. That’s the winning recipe for me. Hearing blues harmonica and acoustic slide guitar blending with huge breakbeats and funky bass lines is such an amazing sound. That blend comes up all over the album, but it’s front-and-center for songs like the brilliant “Hotwax” with its dirty delta blues intro sliding into to a stanky bass line grooving all over the shop. And of course in “Sissyneck” too, with its split personality, hopping between a verse that sounds like Cymande on amphetamines, and a chorus that sounds like something you’d hear in a redneck bar in the deep south of the States. And the other stroke of brilliance is in the frenzied, intentionally messy production with its layering of sound effects, samples, feedback, distortion and lord only knows what else. There’s just so much going on, but it’s never hard to take. I can’t listen to this album without smiling, and most of that joy comes from the hilarious irreverent humour of the lasagna of noises that come at you from all sides. There are surprises at every corner of every moment of every song. Just when you think you know what direction a song is going in, it’ll change course ten more times to discombobulate you completely. “Jackass” begins with the genius move of sampling Them’s cover of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" as a backdrop to a lighter and more straightforward acoustic tune, before taking off at the end with a serious beat... and a braying donkey. Songs start off in the strangest ways, like the intense screaming and feedback at the start of “Lord Only Knows”, the dystopic Lynchian circus nightmare fuel that introduces “The New Pollution”, or the jaunty whistling that signals in the huge shuffle beats of “Sissyneck”. The massive cacophony of sound collage is one thing, but what makes it feel so alive is that rather than relying on samples alone, Beck replays a lot of the origin material himself on live instruments. Some of the best moments of the album benefit from this approach: the fantastic central riff of “Devil’s Haircut”, the harmonica breaks and filthy slide guitar of “Hotwax” and the iconic keyboard intro to “Where It’s At”. I could go on and on, but we’d be here all day because it’s an album that gives more and more every time you relisten. Just when you think you know it inside out, you hear another crazy piece of brilliance hidden in the sonic fusion that makes up the layers of this incredible production. Ultimately, it’s an album that refuses to sit still and be labelled in any way. It’s a pale, skinny blonde kid with a guitar and harmonica, screaming like he’s in a metal band, rapping hardcore and playing stanky funk and electronica all at the same time. Or, I guess you could say he had two turntables and a microphone. There’s a reason why it sits on everyone’s shelf.
I think this is the kind of album I respect more than I enjoy. I usually really like eclectic musicians, but I just didn't find most of this particularly interesting to me. Don't get me wrong, the first two tracks, Novacane, and some other tracks were enjoyable but I just can't really see myself coming back to this for some reason. But yeah, I respect his ability to pull off quite a few different sounds, I just don't find them done in a way that is within my tastes at all. I think the reason I don't like it more might be because whilst it does do a lot of different stuff, a lot of it seems to struggle to decide whether it's going to be weird and interesting or more normal and boring, but songs like the aforementioned Novocane and Where It's At do definitely go in for it a bit more with some noisier/more dissonant bits and those tend to be ones I enjoyed more too.
it has some good songs, but some are bizzare. the genre is uncertain to me
I loved Mellow Gold when it came out, and I looked forward to this album. “Where It’s At” more than met my expectations when I heard the single. So I’m looking forward to hearing this again. It’s been a while since I’ve listened to it complete.30 years to be exact. “Devil’s Haircut” begins big and strong. Funky Drummer beat. Fuzz guitar. The blues riff that begins “ Hotwax” becomes a funky groove. So many samples that the Dust Brothers bring, fresh off Paul’s Boutique. “Lord Only Knows” a mock country tearjerker beginning plays into Beck’s taunting skills at mastering while making fun of the genre at the same time. Delay as a sarcastic yodel, “just passing thru”. “The New Pollution” shifts gear again with a song that would fit in on Surrealistic Pillow with a Jorma guitar riff. “Derelict” sounds like the title. It’s hard to imagine that an album with such musical talent can have lyrics of little import, but the music is much more impressive than the lyrics. “Novacane” begins with a fuzz guitar but then has a sudden disco sample. Then back to industrial fuzz guitar then another sample in a completely different mood. It’s another song that shifts and morphs at will. Samples, even something that sounds like it could be part of Metal Machine Music. Now a whimsical “Jack-Ass” which credits Dylan. Not what we expect from the title. Aah yes, perhaps the harmonica during the last minute. Now a shift to “Where It’s At” beginning with a great organ groove, which the band joins and follows. The constant “Two Turntables and a Microphone” while samples fall like rain, including the lyrics. “Minus” sounds like it could be part of early Beastie’s singles until it winds down out of control. “Siisyneck” starts with a whistled intro could be an alternative Andy Griffith. Th en shifts to a slide guitar down and out country shuffle over a funky drummer drum pattern. Laying these different genres/styles over the basic hip-hop beats gives these songs depth, but also urgency of the now. “Readymade” continues this Beck’s road lyrics with the slowed down (is that possible) samba sounds of Jobim and Mendoza just before a direct sample of sample have a strange effect. “High-Five” with rapping in a manipulated voice shifting to Tchaikovsky then back to rapping followed by the ragged voices of the chorus. Even what sounds like a BDP sample with KRS-1 telling them to turn that off. Finally “Ramshackle” with an acoustic guitar, folk sounding tune. Lyrics matching the title, put together, haphazard, ramshackle. Silent tracking for over a minute until we get a techno repetition, designed to tell us the album is officially complete. 40 seconds of the same throat clearing with telephone sounds.
Really liked this. 60s inspired a bit weird but really good.
I get that Odelay is still one of the most iconic and interesting albums from the late 90s as it once again helped define Beck as a force to be reconned with, but I really am not getting this one at all whatsoever. "Oh he has some distortion on his vocals and with the music, that is so edgy!!" is exactly how I think Beck wants you to feel during this whole project and I guess that is cool but you actually have to have some interesting parts to it as well to make it all work. This album feels almost exactly how I do about Sonic Youth, there are some really interesting moments and then they are absolutely ruined by a shear lack of caring and overindulgence in extremely noisy pieces that ruin the tracks. In the beginning I had a lot of hope for this album but by the end I just wanted it to be over and done with. I have always been told I need to hear this album and now that I have I want absolutely nothing to do with it. Whomp whomp.
Another one of these albums I've tried to listen to a few times before but with it never getting anywhere. Expectations were low, and expectations were exceeded. It was a great album and I just really enjoyed all the tracks, all different enough to give variety too. Not sure I'll push it trying more Beck albums after this though
Solid. Devil's Haircut, New Pollution, Where It's At - huge singles. The rest of the album was very listenable and had a few other songs that caught my attention (Derelict, Minus). (4)
Эхх, я устал уже если честно. Все эти посредственные альбомы со временем в памяти сливаются в одну кучу... Данный альбом как будто написали несколько прям совсем разных коллективов, в первый раз хип-хоп прям по яйцам бьёт.
Never listened to much Beck other than the singles. Very creative and unique
9/10
I’ve really only heard beck through people making jokes about him. It’s like listening to Moby after the Eminem beef and being like this is actually pretty good. I liked his vocals on this one, and the sort of soulful rock is something that works here.
I read another review here that summarizes this album pretty good in a funny way for me though being a bit too harsh. "All the songs seem to me a collage of somewhat haphazard ideas. There's a lot of work and pretty innovative stuff, but unfortunately it never becomes memorable or catchy (at least for me). It was like 52 minutes of "oh yeah, we're gonna put a tambourine there, oh and a robot voice here... And a sampling of that song at this moment", but it remains irrelevant at each time." I wouldnt agree 100% with the reviewer because there were some songs I liked and I would and probably will listen to again but big parts of the album sounded exactly like the quote says. I appreciate creativity but creativity doesnt always make it enjoyable to listen and thats sadly the case with many songs on here. The heavy distortion and instrumentation used on some tracks really stressed me out too and the albums playtime was too long in combination with that. Still an interesting sound that Beck created I would put it somewhere between hiphop, alternative, folkrock, indie, experimental maybe. This is a record I will give another chance in some time because it has some interesting music but until then I won't listen to it as a whole album again. 2,7/5
Great work of Dust Brothers and Beck, just wish that it ended on a doozy and stupid secret track
Paar mooie nummers, en een paar die kunnen worden gemist
Nope
Un album qui a du chien.
Not my favorite Beck. But it’s pretty dang good
Post-Mellow Gold is best suited to a greatest hits album or two - each album has a few great tracks, but overall they usually drag a bit.
The experimental nature of the album makes it quite an odd one to listen to, featuring a mixture of alt rock, folk and hip hop, which is not a genre I associate with beck. There were a few songs from this album I have heard of before but this is another one of those bands where their singles do not completely represent their music style. the deadpan delivery of the vocals was surprisingly not offputting when listening to this album, and I hope to see other beck albums on here in the future.
Mildly interesting
2,5
I don't hate this but surprised how little it's held up for me since I first fell in love with it when I was little and it was new. For me, at least, I think my reaction to it at the time was probably relying on me not having listened to very many hip hop records. This might be the last time I put it on on purpose.
some parts of it soo good that even though a lot of it is meh, it's still a great album
Listening on the 7th of Sept, 2026. This is almost exactly what I would have expected Beck to sound like, very 90s indeed. Really quite enjoyable too and probably slightly better than the other album I got from him. Still for sure 3 stars, lacking something something to go higher for me. Honestly listening to this I am really enjoying it, at least 3.5 on RYM and I will want to REVISIT this album.
Not my vibe
54 minutter og 49 sekunder av livet som er tapt for alltid.
4.0 stars. Had some cool beats and some obnoxious ones I would skip over next time.
🙋♂️🌞devils haircut in my mind, sometimes!🙃
2,5
Beck just ain't my jam. Talented, sure; moody, varied, well put-together. All of the above. Just not for me today. Maybe on another day.
I didn't really understand anything. I find it pretty mid. I don't hate it but I don't like it at all.
I just don't care about Beck.
Very cool instrumental but definitely sounds like dad rock.
Awesome sample work, Beck at his best
I’ve always liked the idea of Beck more than his music, and this is the same. This kind of sounds like he’s got ADHD and can’t stick to an idea without needing to throw it off along the way.
I don’t really get Beck. I never have a reaction stronger than “this is fine” to his music. That’s not to say it’s bad, I didn’t dislike anything on this album. But I also don’t really understand his longevity and acclaim
Ok
a bit all over the place.. some i liked and others i was like wow okay ew
No está mal.
Jamais écouté avant. Une fois de plus, me voilà contraint de faire amende honorable : j'avais clairement une image de Beck, que j'imaginais comme une espèce d'obsédé de l'expérimentation sonore au détriment de tout le reste, le genre d'artiste dont le succès était plus dû à un élitisme intellectualisant qu'au réel plaisir d'écouter sa musique. Et pourtant, je n'avais jamais pris le temps de l'écouter. Et ben voilà, sur Odelay en tout cas, que je vois souvent cité comme son chef-d'œuvre, je dois bien admettre que je m'étais planté dans les grandes largeurs. Oui, c'est expérimental et touffu, ça part dans tous les sens et parfois - rarement ! -, ça tape à côté. Mais derrière les samples omniprésents, les sonorités électroniques tantôt groovy, tantôt abrasives, et le mélange total des genres musicaux, se cache une authentique sensibilité pop et un immense talent de songwriter (sans parler de la production, géniale), et la capacité presque magique à faire un album cohérent malgré sa longue tracklist et son éclectisme enivrant. Reste à voir ce que valent les autres albums de Beck dans la liste pour achever totalement ma rédemption. Top : Jack-Ass Flop : Novacane
A pleasant listen.
I am a Beck fan. Of the three Beck albums on this list this is probably my least favorite, but that does not mean it is bad. Beck's ability to adapt to all kinds of different sounds and genres makes him a top artist from my younger years! 7/10 Top song... Devil's haircut
A personal classic I had somehow forgotten about. The Dust Brothers do excellent work here. A five all day long.
I can't figure out what to make of this. Sometimes I enjoy what it's doing, other times it seems like a bunch of noises thrown together. Not a bad listen but I think it would take me a while to really decide my thoughts, although I quite enjoyed a few songs so I'm probably leaning more positive Highlights: Minus, Novocane
Some songs are strange but it's a good album. Ezra danced.
Lot of weird shit which I really dig. Lots of bangers too which work really well together. The second half is probably a littly weaker though. 8.5/10
Usually a big fan of noisier music but I don't think it was done great. Seems very of the time it came out but pushed forward a bit which I enjoy
I think Beck can be good, but the majority of his music is doing way too much. Very close to being a 2/5.
I wanna like beck, but his music just isn’t it. Nowhere near as bad as some of the trash on this list though
I really dug this one! Never really listened to much Beck but this was super interesting and unique.
I’ve heard this before and I own it. This came out the summer I graduated high school and I spent a lot of the summer and the following year of college listening to this. It’s been a long time since I listened to it last but it still sounds fresh and I still remember all the words. My only complaint with the album is the little noise break at the end seems tacked on and should either be an expanded noise freakout like the end of mellow gold and stereopathetic soul manure or be dropped entirely. And that’s been my only complaint since I first heard it.
I would say this is a cool concept and very indie rock for its time. Kind of fun, not my fave.
Not the biggest fan. Cool moments of experimentation but the whole album feels like a mish-mash of everything. Maybe that's the point and I'm an idiot. Who knows but it didn't land for me. Favourite: Ramshackle
Love a bit of beck
Album 500. What could once be considered halfway, is now about 40% thanks to the randomly added tripe from site users who rate albums at an average clip of 4.72. Although if I get to add an album,. get ready for some death metal boys, girls, and otherwise. Anyway, I'm kind of looking forward to Beck and these dogs are nuts. Look at the wee fella's hair. Genuinely looks like a mop. Congrats to the mop boy on his agility. THIS is how you blend genres and sampling and produce an engaging record. You hear that, shitty garage jungle bands from the UK?? It's not just a bunch of dumb 80's breakbeat "YEAH"s. There are songs here with layers to explore. Beck seems to be able to write actual music, and the samples are thrown in for comedic flare or occasionally as the bones of a track, but there is enough creativity going on around them to keep me engaged. This was a fun time, much like the dog show I attended as a small child where there was a bulldog named "BeachBall." BeachBall would just smash through all the hurdles and didn't give a fuck about doing a good job. With the combination of warm nostalgic fuzz and the whimsy experienced by my 6 year old brain, I think comedy peaked that day. RIP BeachBall, unless you are some wonder dog who is like 27 now, then? Good boy. 4 HIGHLIGHTS: Don't hate me because I'm beautiful, hate me because I'm a cool ass dog who has mad hops
It has been an interesting experience with a lot of great songs, but admittedly the main problem is that this seems to be a random jump from genre to genre It is between 3 and 4 for me
from sad beck to funky beck in four days... surprised to learn this is his fifth studio album. i’ve seen beck twice and it’s a great show - especially the information/puppet tour. this is solid and very eclectic with a few of his better known songs, but it isn’t may favorite - night vultures is too good to not be on this list. although i’m not mad at any of the inclusions.
Had never listened to this album, I'm a big fan of midnight vultures though so this was a nice change for me
maybe its too alt for me and it sounds confusing lol a lot of weird sound effects(? definitely not the type of songs that ill listen to daily (except ramshackle tho)
"There's so many genres on this one album!" Sounds mostly the same to me, although not horrible. Ramshackle is probably favorite song.
Loved this album in the 90s, zero interest in it today. If you want to hear what Beck sounds like though, I can't recommend this enough. Pure unadulterated Beck.
Teeeeeellement expérimental, dans ses bons côtés et ses mauvais, il peut pondre des sons magnifiques puis des choses à peine écoutable
Beck’s Odelay is—in my most humble opinion—the definition of alternative. It’s strikingly weird and eclectic, yet somehow remains unusually catchy. While I never purposefully sought out or purchased Beck’s music when he was at his most popular, I always enjoyed the singles from this album and gradually came to appreciate his work more as I got older. This album was an absolute joy to revisit, and I’m sure it won’t be too long before I find myself listening to it again.
I've always been fully whelmed with Beck and this album is no exception. There is some good stuff sprinkled in here, but it's mostly just spin the wheel of samples and force two or three into every song. I swear Minus is clandestinely using Pearl Jam's State of Love and Trust as its base. As Beck goes, it's exactly what you'd expect.
In the mid 90s , artistically ‘Odelay’ had everything I was looking for in an album and to that end, I can’t really think of a great deal that has changed in 30 years. Beck had already proved himself to me. Like most people “Loser” led me into his world, but then, as well as the accompanying major label, genre-clash album ‘Mellow Gold’, I became aware of all his other independent releases; a whole acoustic album recorded with Calvin Johnson, the sprawling ‘Stereopathetic Soulmanure’ roundup, a 10” mini album and odd 7”s and more besides. That underground grab bag of indie release nonsense was already catnip for me; having bailed on grunge (once it forgot that Mudhoney was fun and went yarl), I’d already embraced the more obvious US lo-if alt underground in Ween, Pavement, Guided by Voices, Sebadoh. Beck seemed to already have the indie credentials under his belt and was capable of bigger things too. For Beck, ‘Odelay’ may have felt like it took forever to happen, and that maybe his time had come and gone, but he had the guts to abandon his original acoustic ‘Mellow Gold’ follow-up plans and hook up with The Dust Brothers. For me at the time though, having spent the interim locating and absorbing all the indie Beck material, lead single “Where It’s At” arrived only a little behind schedule, and the album was right behind it. ‘Odelay’ on the face of it is an upbeat multicoloured party of an album. On the front cover it’s got a barely believable dog practically leaping into our lap and the rest of the artwork is a grab bag of imagery that makes little sense except to set up a broad selection of juxtapositions. It promises fun and craziness and that’s just what we get. And juxtapositions? You’d better believe it. Beck and The Dust Brothers assembled a lot of this music by hanging out playing records and sampling anything that jumped out at them. They could find a riff or a loop or a beat or whatever, and collect them up as a library of “instruments” to be slotted together at a later point. The juxtapositions come from not being afraid to amalgamate samples that don’t seem like a natural fit. Sometimes they do fit of course but sometimes there is a frisson. No doubt during the process, there were a lot of things that simply didn’t work, but the skill is in knowing which do. Sampling has had a bad name over the years as plagiarism, theft, lack of originality etc, but done well it is truly an art. I can understand that taking the main hook from an old song and putting it over a sampled beat from another and rapping over the result could seem problematic. While it’s possible that with some research I may discover that ‘Odelay’ includes some material that is little more than that, to my ears, the majority of what is going on is significantly more sophisticated. Talking of sophisticated, when a track has been assembled and Beck is laying down a vocal on top, true, he sometimes does some of his “Loser” style rapping, but also here he lays down some seriously sophisticated melodies. “Lord Only Knows”, “Derelict”, “Jack-Ass”, “Sissyneck” all show a knack for quality melody writing, even “The New Pollution” is more sophisticated than it appears on the surface. The main strength though is the way Beck includes all of what he had already proved he was capable of and combines them into a cohesive piece. He saves a track from the abandoned acoustic album for the beautifully haunting closer “Ramshackle” and while the album generally presents as slick and shiny, you don’t have to wait long at any moment across the album, for the old-school Beck to stick his nose in with some unexpected random noises attempting, but failing to sabotage the professionalism. It’s a perfect example of how music can be fun but also be taken seriously at the same time. To me this album sounds like those who created it would have been very serious about making a quality piece of art, but they would also have had fun doing it. This combination comes through beautifully in an artistically successful record that was thankfully commercial successful too. Without ‘Odelay’ Beck might have gone down in history to most as “that Loser guy”. With it we instead have an artist with a satisfyingly diverse and quality career and accompanying discography that has very few disappointments and many world class highlights.
I like where it’s at. The rest of the songs I struggled through
what the FUCK is going on go white boy go
It’s a great album, but it feels very much of its time
Muy bueno
I love Beck, he’s very creative and has diy sensibilities. I was more of a Mellow Gold fan, but this album isn’t too far behind.
I had this album on CD when I was a kid but don't remember all of these songs. They were alright, with some bright spots for sure, but I didn't love it all and there were some songs I was just done with. Three stars.
Ene pesmi bi ble usec ociju, not my vibe pac ni najbl skilled pevec pa ni tok zanimivo
Slitsomt å høre på
Really enjoyed this. I was expecting rock elements but didn’t except Beck to be mixing in Hip Hop on this album. The album kicks off with a great couple of songs. Devils Haircut and Hotwax are great. My personal favourite is Novacane. I will be back to this one for more listens
I am familiar with most of the songs on this album and at first was not that excited to listen to this...part of an overall, developing ambivalence toward 1990s and early 2000s music. What a refreshing surprise and enjoyable time I had listening. There were a few gems I was not familiar with and the overall diversity and shifting styles between songs kept it interesting and engaging. Ole Beck. 4/5
Lot of different genres thrown together. Pretty good.
Day 363 Highlights Devils Haircut Novacane High 5 Devils
I didn't quite appreciate that he had a sort of raspy-grunge/rock tone to his voice.
This is mostly a miss for me. There's something off-putting about Beck. While some of the songs are vaguely interesting, they feel soulless.
Great songs on a weird mix of a record
2.25 - ugh i’m tired of this guy
A combination of funky rhythms and clever lyrics, Beck's music is uniquely creative and meant to be played LOUD. Infectious beats and the sampling is perfection. "I am the Enchanting Wizard of Rhythm."
Meh. IF I’m in the mood for Beck, I’m going to Midnite Vultures.
This is the Beck album I'm throwing on if I want to listen to Beck.
Got a unique sound has our Beck. Good job.
Some bangers here. The singles are great. Gets a bit lost near the end
Hes real good beck! Great this he was class at glasto too!
Got this album at home. Always liked it. Think Midnite Vultures is better IMO. Devils Haurcut and New Pollution obvious standouts. Rest of album is deliciously listenable though Sissyneck great
I love the spirit of just going out into the music collections of the world and picking up whatever odd cheap things you can find and falling for them, and I also happen to love a lot of the tones of stuff Beck found here while doing that, so unsurprisingly it’s a bit enjoyment for me. Alternative Rock feels like the easiest umbrella, but darned if he didn’t slap a lot of stuff in here just for the fun of it, bouncing about like a journey into the hyperactive mind before we all knew how they felt. Also I can easily be into the tone and delivery of vocals more than the actual lyrics, so can’t complain on that either.
An amazing collection of songs that remain weird and interesting, with both pathos and whimsy in abundance. Always feels about 2 songs too long, but they're all undroppable.
Pretty impressive album sound for the whitest looking dude I’ve ever seen
I rate this album five Becks out of five. Mans just getting real weird with it, and for me it clicks.
For ages I couldn’t figure out what it was that I find so irritating about beck, but I think it’s that the moving between genres feels insincere, it’s hard to actually immerse yourself with it, instead it feels like flipping through the Argos catalogue, also his lack of emotion and distance is so off putting
Shallow radio music -
This makes me feel like I’m in girls idk how to explain it but it’s a 2014 Williamsburg dirtbag kind of way
Another Beck album I just don't get.
Probably my favorite overall Beck album. Some tracks on the b side aren't my taste, but there are few of them. Mostly great stuff led by the singles released.
This is nothing short of a breakthrough album. Perhaps more than any other contemporary artist, Beck seamlessly blends styles and instrumentation to create something fresh and beautiful. Even things like how claves are used - not only as rhythmic accents but rapid trills that add flavor. Lyrics are creative and intelligent. Vocal performance is versatile and committed. This is an easy five star effort.
Had some elements and vibes that I liked but found other parts too loud and grating Album is too long
Trochę lepsza przygoda niż dwie poprzednie, natomiast wiem, że Beck'iem się nie polubimy na stałe, doceniam, ale nie polubimy.
doggy :)
Liked: 3,4,8,11,13,14 Disliked: 1,2,5,6,7,9,10,12, Total Songs: 14 Ratio: 6/14 Converted Score: 2.14/5 Top 3 1. Diskobox 2. Lord Only Knows 3. Ramshackle
Definitely not my style, It was a bit annoying to listen to.
*1996. *Devil's Haircut, Where It's At, and The New Pollution. *I like Beck and think he's a huge music talent, but most of the time he's too unique and innovative for him. I root for him, but I don't always get it. RATING - 7/10
A good album that lacks emotion.
I don’t understand this one? Clearly experimental but so much of it feels out of place and forced? Why am I getting random robot noises? What is that adding to this album? Other than it being…annoying?
beck is a name i've heard thrown around a lot but i've always personally stayed away from because the stuff i've heard is a bit too hip-hoppy for my tastes, so this is my first exposure to a full album of his. honestly it wasn't the worst thing ever, even though i didn't really enjoy it, i just thought it was alright more than anything else. if anything i was a little frustrated; the tracklist is filled with a bunch of weird experimental songs that aren't the worst thing ever but don't really work for me, and then a few songs on it are randomly quite good (notably the more indie rock or folkier songs, like the closing track and "lord only knows", my favorite beach boys song), leaving me wishing the rest of the record was like that. but overall it wasn't the worst thing ever, just mostly forgettable and a tiny bit annoying. low 3/5, probably does not deserve to be here
Probably by favorite experimental album on here yet just because half of it isn't very experimental, and I like that. The other half was kinda just noise as experimental usually is. I did like some of the more abstract songs, but only really a couple. Favorite Track: Sissyneck
alright, more beck!! i briefly mentioned this album when talking a bit about guero, and this album was that blueprint that beck pulled from later down the line. his most popular album, this is more of that delightfully weird sleazy alt stuff, lazy beats, sample-flips, and beck's quirky way of throwing stuff together, all of it's in this album. beck was nervous about the development of this album; if he blew this chance, he probably wouldn't attempt making a big album ever again. well, a lot of the things i brought up with the last album, i'm probably going to bring up in this one. if we wanna talk about artists with trademark sounds, beck absolutely has one of his own. i love how downright lazy these beats sound, a lot of these songs sound like waking up after a disgustingly long catnap on the couch, you're smacking your lips, wiping drool off your mouth and stretching your arms out like a zombie, trying your hardest to stand back up. what a cool sound, it's delightfully strange, varied and contagious. you've essentially heard albums about the american dream, and ones about the american struggle, and this album feels like the american "what the hell, i don't know anymore, i just got here". so much is packed in this cd. don't let it pass you by!
Sounds like a singles collection
Yet another artist where I've only been familiar with bigger hits as opposed to full albums, but I'm pretty disappointed in myself for waiting so long to check out more Beck. This is the kind of offbeat music that is right up my alley. A unique artist and album for the period they debuted that still holds up well to this day with weird sounds forming together Voltron style into some incredible songs. Those opening 3 tracks really got me invested and my attention was never lost. Especially the guitars on Lord Only Knows which are just so attention grabbing especially that riff in the middle of the song. New Pollution had some beautiful piano, punchy drums, and saxophone of all things that form this just groovy sound, one of my favorites on the record. Great sampling and looping throughout, Beck is amazing at taking these loops and building something greater than the summer of its parts. Where It's At is a perfect example of this. I really love the experimentation here, its different yet it still sounds great. Experimental music will sometimes lean too far into trying to sound different and lowkey sound unlistenable at times, but Beck can create something odd and still have it be extremely catchy.
Man has so many hits
Meh, wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but don’t think it was this
Perfectly listenable. Not really my jam. A lot of the songs sound like eachother, and this isn’t aided by the Dylan-esque word-salad lyrics that are typically talk-sung in a low voice. I do like some of the tracks and I’m not saying it’s bad by any means. If I loved the singles off of this I’d be totally in love with the record. However, I like/don’t mind them, and consequently like/don’t mind the record as a whole. Again, not my jam.
Spotify didn’t have the best song, Jack-ass, on its version of the album so be aware. Beck is always hot or miss for me. I appreciate the musicianship but sometimes it just comes across as weird for weird’s sake.
Some of the songs were ok, but some were very repetitive and sounded too similar to each other.
Still sounds fresh. Guitar hip-hop. Worth a read-listen, and plenty of good tracks beyond Devil’s Haircut.
Prime drum'n'bass-achtige popmuziek, maar dan heel rustig. Op dit album niet de bekende hit, maar op zich goed te luisteren.
Too idiosyncratic for my taste. He has released better albums than this
Cool, irreverently creative music for driving around in Phoenix like I was today, a little ear-rapey at some moments though
Classic Beck. I wasn’t familiar with this album though.
This was cool. Never really gave Beck much of a chance before, so this was a welcome surprise. 4/5
Yeah. This is the era of Beck I dig. I think he hit his stride with this album. It's just cool
Not actively unpleasant, but not a single thing that's actually memorable. 1990s polyfilla.
Really, really good!
beck in the studio like I JUST MADE SOME BULLSHITTTTT
I respect this more than I like it. The sound on songs like Lord Only Knows is a rock solid 4 but when we get down in the muck things get a bit moody for my tastes.
Odelay's breakthrough into the main stream would launch a thousand great experimental indie songs down the line. Sure, it's haphazard at times, but Beck pulls off the genre melding pretty well. He's one of my favorite weird indie artists, and even if he's not to everyone's taste, I think his random instrument/sample inserts (mostly) work, and his witty lyrics are entertaining
On first listen this album really struck me. Beck's reputation precedes him and I was really impressed by the grooves, the variety and the energy. It felt like an album built by Doc Brown - real mad scientist stuff. So I was excited to listen again, which I did, three more times. But found it diminished with each listen. Madcap on first listen, but I got used to the surprises pretty quickly. Going four because it's so distinctive, which is always cool.
He’s such a weirdo . Good for him
Better than I remember, nicely varied
This was infinitely better than the first Beck album we got. This one had some uuumph to it. More upbeat, more groove. I was listening to this in the office so had ear buds in. The weird high pitched sounds and beeps right in my ear weren’t great but I’ll take this over that depressing shit on Sea Change any day.
I like Beck’s music when he’s actually making music. The overuse of sound effects takes away from the experience and ruins all the cool shit he does. That being said, I’m conflicted in how to grade this. The songs that I like, I do really like, but there are not enough of them to rally this album to good standing.
The magic of Beck is that nothing makes sense and yet everything makes sense. It’s pretty amazing and endlessly frustrating, depending on your mood or point of view. This one caught me on a good day, so I found it to be a fun listen. Tomorrow I might hear it again and think it’s terrible, pretentious shit. That’s Beck for ya!
Beck is certainly unique. Choas grounded by monotone vocals. There are some great songs on here, half the album is great stuff I'd put on a playlist. The other half is a bit too far out there for me and makes the album challenging to get through.
A bit weird but some nice outliers 2,5
This is a really welcome album after a more trying listen the day before. This is the soundscape I associate with high school, which was when I came to the States. It sort of embodies a youthful stress free feeling from that time. It’s just a delightful listen. 4/5
Such a stark contrast from yesterday's album (Bjork - Vulnicura) and a much more fun listen. Lots of upbeat, inventive samples throughout, some better integrated than others. Very few points to outwardly dislike in the album, but some tracks while fun/distinct still aren't ones I'd come back to over and over again for repeat listens. 3.5/5
It's okay
Det e vel andre album av Beck æ sett høyere enn det her, som det tidligere lytta til Sea Change. Men det va helt ok underholdning det her også.
I feel like I should enjoy this more than I should. There's a lot of cool stuff going on here. But I ignored this when it came out except for the songs that were everywhere on the radio because they were unavoidable. I like it enough, I respect it...but it's the soundtrack to someone in a '98 Civic with frosted tips. When I was listening to this, I thought "Why am I listening to this when I could be listening to the Beastie Boys?" And this doesn't have as much bounce or as much fun as the Beastie Boys but what'd Apple Music play directly after this album was over? The Beastie Boys. And that was vastly better than this.
Quirky and fun all the way through
I hate to call it pretentious...but maybe...don't be pretentious then
Sorta sounds like the Beatles. The village might come after me with pitchforks and torches for that one, but I’ve seen how fast the village walks and I’m not worried
[4/5] alt rockish with a bit of everything. lot of glitchy fun sounds, some funk, some spook, some alien invasion. vocals switch from lounge to rap to swag to blues. some may dislike the genre switching but i think it works well. 4.5. track notes: 1. no idea what's happening, but it's catchy alright 2. funky glitchy country folk? like my car has broken down in mexico 3. unsure start, choice #1 or #2 would have been better than the reality. sounds jaded 4. whimsical window shopping thwarted by the taxman 5. spoopy tune, snake charming 6. angy, cell tower being hacked, angy again, long outro displaying both themes again 7. floating through lazy life 8. weird sex ed samples with a fun swagger 9. punchy and crackling, it's a sensation. FROGS 10. sus lines for the current year 11. birmingham bin strikes 2025/2026 12. like an area 51 alien invasion with ballerinas 13. made me think a lot about the lyrics 14. explosive tune, very nice piano
Yo Beck, a good one, not his best though, there's a few tracks that don't grab me as some others do, but maybe I need a few more listens.
Artiste inconnu. Album trop long et ennuyeux, collage de styles et de samples qui ne m'a pas du tout intéressé. Pas loin d'être aussi désagréable que du hip-hop pour mes oreilles. =>1.5/5 arrondi à 1 (je n'ai pas réussi à aller au bout)
Ik heb een zwak voor Beck
Odelay heeft echt knoeperts van hits. Where It's At, Novacane en Hotwax zijn vooral super. Het leuke aan deze era Beck is dat de muziek alle kanten op schiet, van hiphop naar funk naar rock. Vind persoonlijk Mellow Gold net iets meer exciting nog, maar deze plaat heeft wel de hits. Laatste deel is wel echt wat minder.
це цікаво....треба краще послухати
Jew
Raro
sympa mais certains morceaux font grincer des dents 2.5+/5
3 1/2 Stars: Took me right back to my college radio days. We played the shit out of this record. Still remains one of those uneven albums where the hits are really f'ckin great while the filler tracks are merely just okay. It's almost like Beck is straddling the weirdness of Mellow Gold while attempting something a little more mainstream. Regardless, this is a pretty formative record from my younger years.
Não é minha vibe
I realllly wanted to give this a 5 because I LOVE Beck over the years and especially when I was younger. But there were enough cacophony with the sometimes jarring interference of harsh, unexpected sounds that made some of the songs just plain unpleasant for me to listen to. And sometimes this would happen in the middle of what felt like a perfect song (like Where It’s At). But Beck is a musical genius and the songs that were pleasant to listen to were perfect. I especially love The New Pollution (and the music video is fun to watch).
Same people on production as Paul's Boutique huh? Devil's Haircut didn't do much for me. Fun, but not exciting. Lol Hotwax is just missing a KICK IT! This is a lot more up my alley, I don't know if I'm fond of his vocals or not yet. He's a little ha ha goofy for me, but it was 1996.. I love recognizing samples, the horns in the back of the last part of the track... also my favorite part of the track. Ok yeah I don't like xDD random lyrics. Unfortunate for me... I like Lord Only Knows. The guitar is good, the vocal melody is pleasant to the ear, and the drumbreak sits so nicely with everything else! New Pollution grew on me. A fun rhythm and pretty solid and straightforward lyrics Derelict is super cool. A little odd for sure. It's still just as cool my second time through. Ok the third time through I'm a little over the middle eastern music drum solo we get midway through. The overall sound is dope tho. I don't like the brand of quirkiness Beck brings to the table. I think it was a 90's thing; in 2026 we're all quirky white boys with a blend of interests across genres. Hearing Beck talk about his two turntables and a microphone, and then turn around to do blues vocals two songs later... it just doesn't do what it should for me. But I can't fault him for it. Where It's At isn't my jam. The instrumentation and production are all there but I just don't like the final product that we get all that much. Sissyneck has good drums. Actually this whole song is good as fuck I like this one. And the synth noise halfway through? Cool song. Idk. It's just a little too hodge podge and not enough grabbing, interesting moments in that hodge podge. Well no, there actually are quite a few of them, but they're so fleeting that I forgot. It makes me want to go listen to Paul's Boutique. Like, really bad. I didn't like Jack-Ass first time around but now I quite like it. The donkey at the end made me giggle. I've totally heard Where It's At all over the radio. Readymade is fine - another interesting one that pulls you in a little. I like the lyrics and overall vocals of this one! Rare. I don't like High 5. It is all over the damn place and for no reason; I guess it's supposed to be this fun and silly ode to hip hop parties... but it just does not make for a great song. Sometimes he hits these nice internal rhyme schemes and I'll give him credit there. Ramshackle is a nice moment. I think it's a really good way to end an album that has been so consistently absurd up to this point. Favorite: Novacane(?) Least: High 5 Shoutout: Jack-Ass, Sissyneck, Readymade
4/5. Some cool stuff, lots of different styles and vibes. Ramshackle for me
was good, not much to say about it, 7/10
decent
Outside of Loser, I do feel Beck is a slightly forgotten/unappreciated artist, which is a shame because this album is really interesting. Despite starting off a catchy alt-rock album, it goes off in various different directions and experiments which never feel indulgent, and are all pieced together by Beck's disaffected and lackadaisical singing voice.
Never really got into the bloke. This is the only album I'm even vaguely familiar with, some interesting ideas and influences, it's an OK listen but nothing special for me.
7 - couple o bangers and mostly good
An interesting listen from end to end, there’s never a dull moment as Beck bounces from genre to genre with enthusiasm and verve. Not everything was my cup of tea but I’d happily listen a few more times.
Not so much
meh
Really great
Quite an interesting ride for Beck as an artist and this album. I remember hearing loser for the first time as I was painting someone’s bedroom in Los Angeles during the summer of 1992. The folkie meets sampler meets slacker captured my attention as did this quite accomplished album. While no longer strikingly original, nor my preferred musical style, Odelay has a great deal to offer. Beck’s pastiche incorporates hints of country, classic rock, slinky R&B to build on his earlier hip-hop acoustic guitar sound. The big hit, “Where It’s At” is one of the few songs where Beck drifts into G. Love land of imitating style, but it has enough love and humor to survive. “New Pollution” puts “Taxman” to good use. I cannot nail down the Bob Dylan song in “Ramshackle” but Beck got me to pay attention to a mediocre song. . “Jack-Ass” is a sweet song with a dumb name. It and “Lord Only Knows” effectively utilize slide and pedal steel guitar. Several songs have stomping beats that Beck interrupts with some megaphone vocals and strange noise interludes. He is a bit too willing to use a cut-and-paste approach as if Beck was not quite sure you could pull off the songs without some weird musical flourishes. I can imagine being a bit embarrassed if some 40-something tossed this album on at a party, but I also might end up singing alone quite a bit.
ja !!!!
Goin' back to Houston to get me some pants
Fun. Energizing. Deep 90s. Probably nostalgia giving it a bump.
Gawd awful
I was hoping to enjoy a real Beck instead of Jeff Beck's one note blues, but this album was not the one for me. I really wanted to enjoy this album... I liked Beck's opening song in Eternal Sunshine, the album art is cool, and some of the songs in here were nice. But alas, the more raucous instrumental tracks put a damper on my mood. Maybe I should try to give it another listen?
I hear the pre-Cambrian iterations of a lot of recent genres I really like in here. But it’s so all over the place it loses cohesion.
I can’t decide how I feel about this. On the one hand, it’s Beck at maybe his most unique. On the other, it sounds like Damon Albarn produced this record but made it sound kinda shitty on purpose. There are some standouts: I did really enjoy “Novacane” (in spite of Beck dialing phone numbers for thirty seconds near the end) and “Jack-Ass,” but I struggled to find many more tracks to latch onto. I’d be hard pressed to rate this lower than I am if for no other reason than the production value and the variety of instrumentation. But lyrically and stylistically, I just don’t think this is for me* *and to be totally honest, Beck is mostly not for me anyway
i used to listen to this one a lot in high school, but i have always liked Guero more. coming back to it now at my big age, i don't really remember what drew me to it. i didn't dislike it, but there's nothing here that would've piqued my interest back then. that being said, it's still fun and good and i might have to pick back up listening to beck.
I like this album for how forward-thinking it is (was), but also Beck kind of kills me when he tries to rap. It's like he wants to sound nonchalant, but it's also so apparent how much he wants to be a Beastie Boy.
I LOVED this when I was in high school so I was kind of surprised that I groaned when it came up today. Had my tastes really changed so dramatically? No. Turns out it’s still great. I just forgot. Hooray. Dude seriously I think I’m a closet Beck superfan but never think about him for whatever reason. Love the instrumentals on basically all these songs.
I enjoy shit like this so much. Mosaics of samples, fusions of genres, and the oddity of Beck have always clicked for me. I feel that it resonates because it mirrors some of the ways that my brain works: flashes of creativity, the flipping around of anxiety, and a sense of humor. If you dislike this album, you basically hate my brain chemistry!
I think every time I've listened to Beck, it's been quite hit and miss. I think this is the third or fourth album I have listened to, but I've still not been convinced by his music all that much. I think some stuff is okay, but maybe I just won't ever fully connect to his tracks the same way some people do. Each album I have listened to has been a very different feeling, with 'Sea Change' definitely being the most brutally honest and stripped of them all. This was more upbeat, with some tracks genuinely interesting me... but again, as a whole, I just don't think it's my thing. Stand-outs: Where It's At High 5 Novacane
9- / 10
Great album. A few songs didn’t quite hit, but overall it flows well and the production is terrific.
I like beck, good head banging album, but not particularly special to me. Not to say I didn't like it!! I liked it!! Just not a standout imo
ik weet eigenlijk niet zo goed wat ik hier van vind, ik vond in sommige liedjes de combinatie van zoveel verschillende albums leuk, maar in sommige voelde het een beetje gek en te veel. zou hier denk ik niet snel zelf naar luisteren
This was really cool given the time. 90s alternative was a great genre because of albums like this. Obviously this gave Beck a couple of his bigger hits, but where some reviewers heard "noise" and "disconnect" in the music, I heard experimentation and opportunity. I enjoyed this album.
nothing stands out, and it goes on for too long
No soy muy fan del country psicodélico, pero guay
Reminds me of American shibuya-kei. I love this album. I bounced off Beck for awhile because I thought he was alternately too zany and boring and I still SOMETIMES think that but this album is fully great. 'Jack-Ass' is a perfect song.
Funky, groovy and rocky. Bit of a classic.
3.5
I quite liked the first beck album on this list but this one just feels a bit tacky. Still listenable though
Alternative rock, sampledelia, alternative, hip hop, experimental rock, folk rock, neo-psychedelia.
I heard this album a lot when I was younger, riding in friends cars...maybe that's why I don't really care for it much anymore. Feels dated to me. Much prefer his records prior to and after this one. Beck does know how to get a lot out of the studio and the various instruments he uses, synths, etc. 3.
Sits perfectly at a 3. Good, but not overly great.
3.5/5
I remember discovering Beck right about when this came out and I was a teenager who bought a new album every week to try and listen to anything - Beck's voracious love of all genres of music made immediately sense to me
it's fun and sometimes impressive, but a bit too clever for its own good and not quite the sum of its parts
This still holds up as a fun, interesting record all these years later.
Haven't heard this for over 25 years but it still holds up well
Thank you for taking us to better Beck territory RGP, here’s hoping for some “Mellow Gold” at some point over the next three years!!!!!! 3 lovely stars for this one. Tom.
I had heard this one before, but it kicked it up with the rock for me this time. Raw and gritty in a way I can love a little more than before
classic
boooooooof
Sonically bold. Parts of each song sound like a joke until it comes together like magic. Crispy. Fun. Lots of dopamine… like ADHD-core type shit before smartphones. The hits: devils haircut and where it’s at, are awesome. Honestly they kind of blend right in with the rest of the album. Don’t think i would have picked them out among the rest if I hadn’t heard them before. They’re all good tracks, if not a little random and dissonant. The
Beck is gold
Strangely unique. If more songs were like ramshackle I would have loved this album. Derelict gave me vibes of the voodoo song by Godsmack. At least I think that was the song.
So many iconic little hooks across this album, but I have to say I could have done with less (not necessarily none) of the feedback and ear scraping bullshit. That aside, this slaps hard with nostalgia and feels vital to the essential late 90s music catalog. Side thought: Beck is LA's (delayed) response to NYC's Beastie Boys.
Probably one of the best albums of the 90s, I loved Beck's mix of genres adn aesthetic in HS. Been meaning to revisit this one, and actually did a couple weeks ago....its a 4.5 with the slightest of round downs, just because some of the bloated production. But a great album.
I like Beck but maybe tried one too many things on this one
I like when Beck brings in a noise that sounds like a broken power tool. No notes
I've never connected with Beck and listening to a full album has not changed that for me. He brushes on a lot of genres, which might be technically impressive, but doesn't dive into any of them. For some reason this is unsatisfying for me.
Classic alternative music from the 90’s
Liked this album way more as a kid.
Beck is always solid, but mainly unspectacular. This was no exception.
Cool
Actually just shit screechy noise. Shame because I liked Guero. I liked Ramshackle; that's what saved this from 1 star
Can't be mad at this. More variety would've been pretty neat, but who am I to say that the Hammond Organ isn't an iconic enough sound to necessitate an entire album? As somebody who's slowly been getting into the history of Stax records, I found a lot to enjoy on this album, but maybe not enough for me to come back to it anytime soon.
decent.
some really good parts, others were very experimental
Tiene temas muy buenos, pero me ha pillado en un día que no estaba para escucharlos. Le pongo 3 estrellas pero deberían ser 4.
mtas sonoridades de bandas independentes de hoje, muita coisa que foge do som atual do beck e que é até experimental. interessante
This is what you get when you combine a visionary and a master musician. This album has such a unique sound and I am here for it.
That was fun! I do enjoy an eclectic sounding album, especially as I've just had the Ramone's first album. I've also realised I know more songs from this album than I thought I did. Four stars.
You know I’m not exactly sure how to feel about this one? At first it was kinda giving a poor attempt at trying to sound like Nirvana, then there was rap and rock and??? Can we talk about the end of Novocaine like what was that 😭 it’s like when people make terrible beats and then send them to Doja Cat for her to react to lol. I will say I don’t think I gave the album my full attention because I was driving in a rainstorm while listening and trying not to die and some of it sounded good but I think it overall just wasn’t that memorable.
I had forgotten "The New Pollution," which I really like.
average
I don't know what I was expecting but it was this
To "warm up" for high school concert band every day I used to play the main riff of Beck's "Where It's At" on the marimba. Relatively few people ever seemed to notice what I was doing; they either didn't recognize it or didn't care. Which was fine - I wasn't really doing it for them - but then who was I doing it for? Myself, I suppose; I gravitated to Beck. His existence seemed inspiring in ways I couldn't articulate at the time. I loved that he made danceable music for people too embarrassed to dance (a.k.a. White people). Knowing his music made me feel cool by osmosis - which I needed, because I was very, very uncool. In hindsight I can hear now why *Odelay* in particular was so crucial for a teenager trying to figure himself out - it's the sound of a twentysomething artist trying to do the same thing. Beck's picaresque upbringing is the stuff of legend: born to a Warhol superstar and raised half-Jewish, half-Scientologist as the only White kid in the vicinity of MacArthur Park, he busked, breakdanced, performed slam poetry, and made himself a fake ID so he could audit literature classes at LACC. In the process he found himself fascinated by music of literally every genre - punk and New Wave ("Devil's Haircut," "Minus"), jazz ("The New Pollution"), country and folk ("Lord Only Knows," "Jack-Ass," "Sissyneck"), worldbeat ("Derelict"), alternative hip-hop ("Hotwax," "High 5 (Rock the Catskills)"). And on *Odelay* he finds a way to represent all of those parts of his identity without giving any of them short shrift. Frequently he stacks them on top of each other: witness the hair-metal blast in the middle of "The New Pollution," or the punk screams that bookend the otherwise stately "Lord Only Knows." The Dust Brothers, finally having found someone who can keep up with their *Paul's Boutique* production techniques, provide crucial support throughout. Beck's biographical experience was unique and seemingly wouldn't have made sense to very many other people, and yet it was *his* experience and it deserved to be given voice. This album is the sound of someone being understood. That's why I loved it, and love it still; it stands for the proposition that the struggle to be understood need not be the gut-wrenching, psychosexual *strum und drang* of Cobain et al. It might be as simple as getting two turntables and a microphone. Looking back, that knowledge might have saved my life. It definitely saved my soul.
really cool album
Beck - Odelay ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Day 18 and I’m already on my second Beck album. Which is fine by me because this album is excellent. While the first one I listened to (Sea Change) wasn’t very inspiring, this album delivers a collection that actually sounds like Beck. Groovy guitars, sound effects and lyrics mix together in a gloriously fun way. The second to last track, Ramshackle, is the only misstep here.
I was a little disappointed by this album 🙁. I thought a lot of the songs would sound more like Where It’s At, but it was very weird and very random. I still liked it, just not as much as I thought I would 🙂. Overall, I’d give it a 3.9/5!
not as good as Joni Mitchell’s Blue
Not bad, not my thing though, loved the creativity
Still making my way through it. Preferred guero but this is pretty cool
Another perfect ten, from my teenage years
Beck doesn’t know me, but I do know Beck and a few of his other albums. I don’t think this album is very good. Two stars…
How is it possible for an album to be annoying and charming at the same time? Whatever it is, it works.
Not really listened to Beck before but I dig it. I like all the funky found sounds and experimental vibes, will come back to his one
It always seemed like Beck was cool because some kids started saying that Beck was cool… but really, Beck kinda sucks.
This was better than the other Beck albums I have heard. Plus, Where Its At still slaps!
Sounds like a wholesome version of "Bone Machine" by Tom Waits. Unique instrumentation. Sometimes pretty vibey but didn't fit my jam, for someone into this genre it'd be pretty fire.
I recall being in grade school, my mother driving me and some neighbor friends to school, and her stopping and excitedly shouting that we “needed to hear this.” It was Loser, by Beck. We all thought she was insane, but not for long. That was the kind of shock to the system that Beck was at the time. And while he kind of was already fully formed when we got Mellow Gold out of him, Odelay is the album that really cemented him as a genius for a good decade. Beck is at worst a collage-ist. Weird slacker rap, samples, multi-instrumental flourishes, word salad lyricism (heads are hanging from the garbage man trees/ mouthwash, jukebox, gasoline). There isn't really anything that sounded like Beck from about here to Guero. At this point not even Beck sounds like Beck. It’s got country vibes without being trash. It is always too awkward to feel appropriative in its hip hop. It is always too goofy to not be an antidote to a sometimes too serious grunge scene. And songs like Derelict, Ramshackle, Readymade… this is like the city cousin to Tom Waits in some ways, the shabby undertones feeling a lot like the carnivalesque of Waits’ world (and cmon, “bottles and cans and just clap your hands” could describe Tom's music just fine). But come now, you listen to The New Pollution, full of iconic riffs, retro vibes with modern execution. It's weird that we had so many dull as hell djs get big in the 90s when Beck was making music like this and putting them to shame. I think “Jackass” is probably the forgotten standout on this album, dreamy but tired, Beck weaving a monotone but stunning and sad vocal throughout. But every song feels like a microcosm of the mid 90s rock scene, where labels were so desperate for a new Nirvana that everything was potentially being tossed at the wall. There might not be an album that more succinctly explains the post-Cobain, pre-Korn era. And appropriately, it doesn't -really- explain anything. It just exists as a beautiful cacophonous chaos that feels impossible at any other time I can imagine. It's almost a shame this already came out. I think Beck would capture the minds of a generation raised on lowest common denominator slop. He would be like a bomb dropped if he hadn't already detonated almost exactly 30 years ago. Maybe that was the magic of the 90s for me… it felt like weird was cool and normal, it felt like one big rock and roll tent with a hundred weirdos making their weird rock songs. It's absolutely impossible to reflect on it totally outside of the nostalgia and potential of Youth, but I want to go back to there. It really was kinda where it's at. Anyway, I got deeply excited about this one. It's like a Where's Waldo of weird little glitches and sounds and riffs coming together into catchy singular songs. There's never a bad time for 90s Beck. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ½ but I'll round it up to 5 for the sake of the generator.
He told us who he was from day one. It's all beats, slide guitars, and slacker rhymes.
Ok album. I only like on music tho
Experimental for the sake of it, but bangers aswell. 2.5
I hadn't really listened to Beck before and the front half of this album was a blast. I really felt connected to the musicality, even with the simple beats. Normally this kind of stuff would be a whatever but there's some special sauce that elevates this. 4/5