MOG

Beck

Odelay Deluxe Edition

8 out of 10

Beck is the Renaissance Man of modern music, the Madonna of the rock world: crossing genres, mixing styles, and reinventing himself from album to album. Unlike Madonna, however, he still maintains an underground appeal that's part slacker and part pretty-boy.

As an artist, would you rather be eulogized by the masses for something that has a shiny, polished veneer but doesn't fully reflect your artistic potential; or would you rather receive creative applause for something that is a direct representation of yourself and makes you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside? Beck's deconstructed brand of music is deliberate and self-imposed. He compromises a certain “warm and fuzzy” approachability for tangles of beautiful contradictions. He's not a musician who extends his hand to shake yours with universal appeal like U2 or the Police.

Thus, I must confess that I am what you could deem a tourist, wandering the brilliance of Beck. Sure, I know his hits, and I do my best to beat-box to "Where It's At" when no one is around, but I never actively sought out a Beck album. Alright, I own Guero, but that doesn't count. As a kid, I grew up always hearing Beck, but it went right by me in my radio comatose. I finally woke up when I heard "Girl" in early 2006. Something about the super-tight, glitchy solo-keyboard in the beginning followed by the guitar and Beck's bouncy but lazy vocals really pulled me in. Revisiting the song, however, it now sounds tame in comparison to Beck's older material; it features a less-spontaneous, more-streamlined Beck who may have lost some of his innovative fuel.

It was truly with a fresh ear that I listened to this "Deluxe Edition" of Odelay, as I'd never heard the entire album the first time around. After some sleuthing, I learned that Odelay was the album that really cemented Beck's spot on the mainstream map in 1996, even nabbing him a Grammy award for "Best Alternative Album," whatever that means. Stepping out from beneath the shadow of "Loser," Odelay, produced by the Dust Brothers, highlighted the heterogeneity of Beck's musical talents. As a first-time listener, I honed in on that aspect of the album and was blown away by the uniqueness of each track. I especially like how he tied together tracks with nothing more than certain sonic elements, such as plugging a mike into an amp and doubling his own vocals with a static-y screech, as featured on at least five of the songs.

About 12 years have passed since Odelay was first released, and I've still got a lot of catching up to do. The first disc of this new two-CD set features the original 13 tracks you've all come to know and love, two previously unreleased tracks from those sessions ("Inferno" and "Gold Chains") and one ("Deadweight") that appeared on the soundtrack to A Life Less Ordinary. The second disc offers three classics remixed by the likes of U.N.K.L.E. and Aphex Twin that shine a new light on the prefix "re" with their rebirth, and 13 others, some of which were previously unreleased, while others were B-sides.

Blast-off to 2008 where my journey begins and I discover first hand why hits like "Devils Haircut," "New Pollution," and "Where It's At" have stood the test of time: their sporadic compositions and quirky lyrics are innovative even by today's standards. By the time I hit "Derelict," it finally sinks in, what I'm getting myself into: a flurry of samples, tribal drums, fitting into funk-influenced free-styling grooves. It's insane how he shifts gears on "Hotwax," first starting off with an acoustic blues guitar, then throwing in an electric that would make Credence Clearwater Revival proud. The parody is complete with gringo-spewed hip hop lyrics. My favorite tracks are "Jack-Ass" and "Lord Only Knows," because they're the most melodically consistent and mellow and would make any patron of the nineties proud. If I didn't have the other 16 tracks to listen to on the second disc, I'd probably keep playing "Lord Only Knows" and its beautiful potpourri of distortion and country slide guitar.

As for the first disc's additions, "Deadweight" casually greets the ear with Beck's slinky, slack vocals and spacey effects that counter the acoustic drone in the background and give us a whiff of the turntable madness to come. I doubled back when I heard "Gold Chains”: "Did he really just start a song off with 'People lookin' FRESH in their lightnin' bones' and then throw in a harmonica solo?!"

I must warn you to turn the volume down a few notches before you pop in the second disc. "American Wasteland" comes in kicking, screaming, and biting its way into your ears as an early live version of "Devils Haircut." The Aphex Twin techno remix of the same song follows, aptly dubbed "Richard's Hairpiece." Personally, the whole techno-rap sound isn't my thing. I prefer the unchained growl of Skip James's "Devil Got My Woman" and the cello-ridden "Strange Invitation," the first of two alternate versions of “Jack-Ass.” Those tracks are the closest you'll get to blues and a concerto on the same album. On "Devil Got My Woman,” the empty pauses between the steel strings and his throaty voice really do me in, and are reintroduced with even more reckless abandon on the soulful "Trouble All My Days.” Beck's elasticity extends out to "Burro," a comical yet faithful mariachi version of "Jack-Ass" sung completely in Spanish. The B-side "Electric Music and the Summer People" once again ironically pairs distortion with dainty keyboards and effects. The end result is marvelous. Just remember to thank the Beastie Boys when you're done.

After listening to both discs many times, I prefer the original version of Odelay to the other material here. All these years later, one can really appreciate what a groundbreaking artist Beck is. Though Aphex Twin and U.N.K.L.E. get a gold-star for effort, their remixes are just not to my taste. The original 13 tracks off Odelay are like a great party that never stopped. They're just what I needed to get my foot in Beck's door. My experience with disc two was akin to eating a box of See's candy; I never knew what I was going to get next, and most of the tracks were delicious. Whether you're a first-time listener with some feline-threatening curiosity, or a seasoned veteran in the market for some nostalgia, this album is a thrill. Re-heat, re-serve, and re-visit this re-release of Odelay.