Odelay
Studio album by Beck
ReleasedJune 18, 1996 (1996-06-18)
Recorded1994–95
Studio
  • PCP Labs (Los Angeles)
  • G-Son (Los Angeles)
  • The Shop (Arcata)
  • Sunset Sound (Los Angeles)
  • Conway (Hollywood)
Genre
Length54:06
Label
  • DGC
  • Bong Load
Producer
  • Beck Hansen
  • The Dust Brothers
  • Mario Caldato, Jr
  • Brian Paulson
  • Tom Rothrock
  • Rob Schnapf
Beck chronology
One Foot in the Grave
(1994) 		Odelay
(1996) 		Mutations
(1998)
Singles from Odelay
  1. "Where It's At"
    Released: May 28, 1996[1]
  2. "Devils Haircut"
    Released: December 11, 1996
  3. "The New Pollution"
    Released: February 28, 1997
  4. "Sissyneck"
    Released: June 17, 1997
  5. "Jack-Ass"
    Released: August 26, 1997
Alternative cover
Deluxe Edition artwork

Odelay is the fifth studio album by American musician Beck, released on June 18, 1996, by DGC Records. The album featured several successful singles, including "Where It's At", "Devils Haircut", and "The New Pollution", and peaked at number sixteen on the Billboard 200. As of July 2008, the album had sold 2.3 million copies in the United States, making Odelay Beck's most successful album to date.[2] Since its release, the album has appeared in numerous publications' lists of the greatest of the 1990s and of all time.

Recording

Beck approached Odelay with trepidation. "I thought Odelay might be the last time I got a chance to make a record,” he told Rolling Stone in 2008.[3]

The sessions for what would become Odelay originally began as a subdued, acoustic affair. In 1994, Beck started to record tracks for his follow-up to Mellow Gold with Bong Load producers Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf. Together, they recorded the melancholy album-closer "Ramshackle."[4] He would eventually abandon work with Rothrock and Schnapf, opting to work with the Dust Brothers instead. Most of the album was recorded in 1995 at the Dust Brothers' home recording studio in Silver Lake, Los Angeles.[3] The Dust Brothers' production style was hip-hop-focused but layered; their résumé included work with Beastie Boys, Tone Lōc and Young MC. Their small recording room was filled with records, many of which provided samples for the album.[3]

Title and artwork

The title is a phonetic English rendering of the Mexican slang interjection "órale", which translates roughly to "cool" or "ok". The phrase "odelay" is repeated in the lyrics during the outro of the song "Lord Only Knows". According to Stephen Malkmus, the title is a pun on Oh Delay, since the album took very long to record.[5] The album's cover is a photo of a Komondor, a rare Hungarian breed of dog with a heavy, corded coat, jumping over a hurdle. The original photo was shot by canine photographer Joan Ludwig (1914–2004) for the July 1977 issue of the American Kennel Club's Gazette.[6]

Tour

The promotional tour for the album began in May–June 1996, appearing in several record stores and radio stations in the U.S. Throughout the rest of the year followed numerous U.S. tours and European festival dates.

As the tour continued into 1997, Beck began playing larger venues in America. The tour unofficially ended on September 5, 1997, with a taped band performance at "Sessions at West 54th" in New York,[7] after over 150 shows from July '96 until September '97.[8]

It was on the Odelay tour that Beck earned a wide reputation as an energetic and impeccable performer, and his profile rose after multiple appearances on MTV, The Howard Stern Show,[9] the 1997 Grammys,[10] Later... with Jools Holland[11] and more.

Deluxe edition

On January 29, 2008, Odelay – Deluxe Edition was released. The two-disc set contains the original album, plus 19 B-sides, remixes and previously unreleased songs.[12] The liner notes feature complete lyrics and artwork, as well as an essay from Thurston Moore and the transcript of 15 high school students interviewed by Dave Eggers.[13]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[14]
Chicago Tribune[15]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[16]
The Guardian[17]
Los Angeles Times[18]
NME8/10[19]
Pitchfork9.8/10[20]
Rolling Stone[21]
Spin10/10[22]
The Village VoiceA−[23]

Upon release, Odelay received almost unanimous critical acclaim. At the 39th Annual Grammy Awards in 1997, it was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and won for Best Alternative Music Album, as well as Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for "Where It's At".[24] Odelay was named the best album of the year in Rolling Stone,[25] The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll,[26] and NME's annual critics poll.[27]

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine observed that, like Mellow Gold, Odelay incorporated elements from various genres, including "folk and country, grungy garage rock, stiff-boned electro, louche exotica, old-school rap and noise rock."[14] Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield noted punk rock, bossa nova, Latin soul and mainstream R&B as additional influences.[28]

Legacy

In 1998, Q magazine readers voted Odelay the 51st greatest album of all time. It was voted as one of the top 10 pop albums of the 1990s by the music writers of The Associated Press.[29] It was ranked No. 16 in Spin's "100 Greatest Albums, 1985–2005".[30] The music website Pitchfork ranked it at No. 19 on their top 100 albums of the 1990s in 2003[31] and No. 93 in their updated Top 150 list in 2022.[32] Rolling Stone ranked the album No. 306 in their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2009,[33] and later ranked it No. 424 in the 2023 edition,[34] as well as No. 9 on its 2019 list of the 100 best albums of the '90s.[35] Voters in Channel 4's 2005 "100 Greatest Albums" poll placed it at No. 73.[36]

In 2000, Odelay was ranked No. 54 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[37] It was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die in 2010.[38]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Beck Hansen, John King and Michael Simpson, except where noted.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Devils Haircut" 3:14
2."Hotwax" 3:49
3."Lord Only Knows"Hansen4:14
4."The New Pollution" 3:39
5."Derelict" 4:12
6."Novacane" 4:37
7."Jack-Ass" 4:11
8."Where It's At" 5:30
9."Minus"Hansen2:32
10."Sissyneck" 3:52
11."Readymade" 2:37
12."High 5 (Rock the Catskills)" 4:10
13."Ramshackle"Hansen7:29
Total length:54:06

Personnel

Credits adapted from 2008 "Deluxe Edition" CD liner notes.[13]

Additional musicians

Technical

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1996) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[40] 20
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[41] 30
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[42] 27
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[43] 27
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[44] 27
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[45] 36
French Albums (SNEP)[46] 39
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[47] 30
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[48] 16
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[49] 23
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[50] 5
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[51] 14
UK Albums (OCC)[52] 17
US Billboard 200[53] 16

Year-end charts

Chart (1996) Position
US Billboard 200[54] 101
Chart (1997) Position
Canadian Albums (Nielsen Soundscan)[55] 72
US Billboard 200[56] 63

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[57] Gold 35,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[58] 2× Platinum 200,000^
Japan (RIAJ)[59] Platinum 200,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[60] Platinum 15,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[61] Platinum 300,000^
United States (RIAA)[62] 2× Platinum 2,300,000[2]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. "Billboard". Nielsen Business Media. June 8, 1996 – via Google Books.
  2. "Ask Billboard". Billboard. July 18, 2008. Archived from the original on August 1, 2008.
  3. Edwards, Gavin (February 21, 2008). "Beck's 'Odelay': The Secret History". Rolling Stone.
  4. "Inventing the Post-Genre World: Beck's 'Odelay' at 25". TIDAL Magazine. June 17, 2021.
  5. "Q&A: Stephen Malkmus on New LP, Beck + More". July 6, 2011.
  6. "Beck's "All Original Collage" – the Artwork of 'Odelay' and How It Matches the Music within". June 18, 2016.
  7. Beck - Sessions At West 54th Sep 5th 1997 Complete, May 17, 2013
  8. "Hijacked Flavors - A Beck Concert Database". whiskeyclone.net.
  9. Beck "Novacane" on the Howard Stern Show (1997), November 14, 2020
  10. Watch Beck Win Best Male Rock Performance For "Where It's At" In 1997 | GRAMMY Rewind, July 9, 2021
  11. Beck Devil's Haircut Later With Jools Holland 1997, February 2010
  12. Thompson, Paul; Phillips, Amy (January 2, 2008). "Beck's Odelay Given Deluxe Reissue Treatment". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on January 6, 2008.
  13. Beck (2008). Odelay (Deluxe Edition) (CD liner notes). Santa Monica, California: Geffen Records. B0010262-02.
  14. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Odelay – Beck". AllMusic.
  15. Kot, Greg (June 27, 1996). "Beck's Whimsical 'Odelay' A Musical Smorgasbord". Chicago Tribune.
  16. Smith, Ethan (June 21, 1996). "Odelay". Entertainment Weekly. No. 332. p. 65. Archived from the original on September 26, 2023.
  17. Romney, Jonathan (June 21, 1996). "Beck: Odelay (Epic)". The Guardian.
  18. Scribner, Sara (June 16, 1996). "Beck Takes Quirkiness to New, High-Tech Level". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 17, 2016.
  19. Cameron, Keith (June 22, 1996). "Mr Boho Rising". NME. p. 54. Archived from the original on October 16, 2000.
  20. Schreiber, Ryan (June 1996). "Beck: Odelay". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on October 3, 2002.
  21. Kemp, Mark (June 13, 1996). "Surrealistic Pillar". Rolling Stone. No. 736. pp. 77–78.
  22. Norris, Chris (July 1996). "Beck: Odelay". Spin. Vol. 12, no. 4. p. 87.
  23. Christgau, Robert (September 17, 1996). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice.
  24. "39th Annual GRAMMY Awards". Grammy Awards.
  25. "Ten Best Albums". Rolling Stone. No. 752. January 23, 1997. p. 44.
  26. "The 1996 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll". The Village Voice. February 25, 1997.
  27. "NME's best albums and tracks of 1996". NME. October 10, 2016.
  28. Sheffield, Rob (February 7, 2008). "Odelay – Deluxe Edition". Rolling Stone.
  29. "Albums of the 1990s". December 24, 1999. Archived from the original on January 23, 2004.
  30. Itzkoff, Dave (July 2005). "SPIN 100 Greatest Albums 1985-2005". SPIN. p. 75.
  31. "Top 100 Albums of the 1990s". Pitchfork. November 16, 2003.
  32. "The 150 Best Albums of the 1990s". Pitchfork. September 28, 2022.
  33. "500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time". Rolling Stone. May 31, 2009.
  34. "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. December 31, 2023.
  35. "100 Best Albums of the '90s". Rolling Stone. October 4, 2019.
  36. "Top 100 Greatest Music Albums". BestEverAlbums.com.
  37. Larkin, Colin (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 60. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  38. Dimery, Robert; Lydon, Michael (March 23, 2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN 978-0-7893-2074-2.
  39. Sutherland, Scott (March 28, 1999). "The Hidden Track: Already a Worn Trick". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 1, 2024.
  40. "Australiancharts.com – Beck – Odelay". Hung Medien. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  41. "Austriancharts.at – Beck – Odelay" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  42. "Ultratop.be – Beck – Odelay" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
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  44. "Dutchcharts.nl – Beck – Odelay" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  45. "Beck: Odelay" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  46. "Lescharts.com – Beck – Odelay". Hung Medien. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  47. "Offiziellecharts.de – Beck – Odelay" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved January 4, 2026.
  48. "Charts.nz – Beck – Odelay". Hung Medien. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  49. "Norwegiancharts.com – Beck – Odelay". Hung Medien. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  50. "Swedishcharts.com – Beck – Odelay". Hung Medien. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  51. "Swisscharts.com – Beck – Odelay". Hung Medien. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  52. "Beck Songs and Albums | Full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  53. "Beck Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  54. "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1996". Billboard.
  55. "ALBUMS : Top 100 of 1997". Archived from the original on March 20, 2001.
  56. "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1997". Billboard.
  57. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1997 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association.
  58. "Canadian album certifications – Beck – Odelay". Music Canada.
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  60. "New Zealand album certifications – Beck – Odelay". Recorded Music NZ.
  61. "British album certifications – Beck – Odelay". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Formats field. Type Odelay Beck in the "Search:" field.
  62. "American album certifications – Beck – Odelay". Recording Industry Association of America.

Further reading