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Odelay
Studio album by Beck
Released	June 18, 1996 (1996-06-18)
Recorded	1994–95
Studio	PCP Labs (Los Angeles) G-Son (Los Angeles) The Shop (Arcata) Sunset Sound (Los Angeles) Conway (Hollywood)
Genre	Alternative rock sampledelia alternative hip hop experimental rock folk rock neo-psychedelia
Length	54:06
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
"Where It's At" Released: May 28, 1996 "Devils Haircut" Released: December 11, 1996 "The New Pollution" Released: February 28, 1997 "Sissyneck" Released: June 17, 1997 "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. Since its release, the album has appeared in numerous publications' lists of the greatest of the 1990s and of all time.

Recording

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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. Only the tracks "Ramshackle", "Feather in Your Cap", and "Brother" from these sessions have been released, all of which are acoustic, sparse, and melancholic. He would eventually abandon work with Rothrock and Schnapf, opting to work with the Dust Brothers instead. The Dust Brothers' production style was hip-hop-focused yet more layered; their résumé included notable work with Beastie Boys, Tone Lōc and Young MC.

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. 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.

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 5th, 1997, with a taped band performance at "Sessions at West 54th" in New York, after over 150 shows from July '96 until September '97.

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, the 1997 Grammys, Later... with Jools Holland 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. 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.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Chicago Tribune
Entertainment Weekly	A−
The Guardian
Los Angeles Times
NME	8/10
Pitchfork	9.8/10
Rolling Stone
Smash Hits
Spin	10/10
The Village Voice	A−

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". Odelay was named Album of the Year in Rolling Stone, The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll, and NME's annual critics poll.

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." Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield noted punk rock, bossa nova, Latin soul and mainstream R&B as additional influences.

Legacy

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

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

Track listing

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

• Track 13 includes a minute-long hidden track of noise.

Personnel

Credits adapted from 2008 "Deluxe Edition" CD liner notes.

• Beck Hansen – vocals (1–13), guitar (1–2, 4, 6, 8–12), bass guitar (1–4, 6–12), harmonica (1–2, 6–7), organ (1, 4–6, 8, 10), slide guitar (2–3), clavinet (2, 4), Moog synthesizer (2, 5–6, 9, 12), electric guitar (3, 7), acoustic guitar (3, 7, 13), thumb piano (5), drums (5), rhumba box (5), tambourine (5), shakers (5), electric piano (6–8), xylophone (7), turntables (9), conga (10), echoplex (12), percussion (12)

Additional musicians

• Dust Brothers – turntables (1–2, 6, 8, 12), 808 drum machine (6, 12)
• Ross Harris – wizard (2), child (2)
• Joey Waronker – drums (3, 6, 9, 13), percussion (3, 9, 12–13), chimes (9)
• Mike Millius – scream (3)
• Paolo Diaz – tablas (5)
• Mike Boito – clavinet (6), trumpet (8), organ (8, 10, 12)
• David Brown – saxophone (8)
• Money Mark – organ (8)
• Eddie Lopez – outro talking (8)
• Greg Leisz – pedal steel (10)
• Charlie Haden – upright bass (13)

Technical

• Beck Hansen – producer, mixing (1–12); art direction, design
• Dust Brothers – producers, mixing (1–8, 10–12)
• Mario Caldato, Jr. – producer, mixing (9)
• Brian Paulson – producer, mixing (9)
• Tom Rothrock – producer, mixing (13)
• Rob Schnapf – producer, mixing (13)
• Bob Ludwig – mastering
• Shauna O'Brien – project coordinator
• Robert Fisher – art direction, design
• Ludwig – cover photo
• Nitin Vadukul – Beck photos
• Charlie Gross – Beck photos, collage images
• Alison Dyer – Beck photos
• Manuel Ocampo – inlay paintings, collage images
• Al Hansen – collage images
• Zarim Osborn – collage images

Charts

Certifications

References

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Further reading

• Draper, Jason (2008). A Brief History of Album Covers. London: Flame Tree Publishing. pp. 326–327. ISBN 9781847862112. OCLC 227198538.

External links

• Odelay at MusicBrainz

• Beck albums
• 1996 albums
• Albums produced by Brian Paulson
• Albums produced by the Dust Brothers
• Geffen Records albums
• Albums produced by Beck
• Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album
• Sampledelia albums
• Albums produced by Mario Caldato Jr.
• DGC Records albums