A Junkyard Masterpiece and Other Treasures: Beck's Odelay

Upon hearing the 2-disc Deluxe Edition of Odelay immediately makes me want to talk historical context at length about the album. Given that the album was huge, full of hits and inescapable for the alt-rock crowd, I'll feel better resisting the temptation beyond barring some thoughts. If folks haven't heard it, they should. To this day it remains Beck's most singular expression of not only what makes him tick, but just how deep the pool of influence he pulls from actually is. Plus, it was an album that captured the entire scope of 90s music, all of which looked back while moving forward.

From the opening swagger of "Devil's Haircut" to the somber denoument of "Ramshackle" everything great about this album remains true, pure and completely ageless from its release 12 years ago. Cuts like "Hotwax" and "Where It's At" can still rock a party. "New Pollution" still induces humming along. And others like "Jack-Ass," "Novocane," "Sissyneck" and "High 5 (Rock the Catskills)" still show that Beck was at a creative peak that few will say he's matched since. Basically, for those who've not heard this album, seek it out.

The tail end of disc 1 begins supporting why Special Editions are completely worth the trouble. The 3 cuts that close out the first half of this release are the absolutely phenominal "Deadweight" and the non-lp cuts "Inferno" and "Gold Chains." The first, though rightfully left off of Odelay, deserved to be on the album becasue it's on par with its best moments. However, his movement from the funk here hinted at his long term direction while his next proper album Mutations would baffle, yet again. It's heartening for me to see this on a Beck release because for 10 years I successfully avoided buy the soundtrack to A Life Less Ordinary, thank heavens. More foreshadowing comes from the other non LP tracks. While Mutations, Midnite Vultures and Sea Change would feel like clear departures, "Inferno" and "Gold Chains" (albeit to a lesser, folkier extent) cover the same funky, 80s atari-lined digi-funk that Guero would bring forth 9 years later. This is why special editions can be so valuable: In 3 tracks recorded around the same time, we see the artist growing towards the future.

In fashion that is pure Beck, we receive not 1, but 3 arguments against special editions. Disc 2's opener, an UNKLE remix of "Where it's At," is literally 13 minutes you can't get back. UNKLE does its big beat, sci-fi thing with "Where it's At" playing underneath it. Aphex Twin's and Mickey P.'s respective remixes of "Devil's Haircut," to me just don't cut it. Of course, that could be my love for the original talking, but I'll stick by it. Following these 3, disc 2 really seems to take off with "Clock," "Thunder Peel," and "Electric Music and the Summer People." These three are made in the spirit of Odelay with there balance between hip-hop and indie rock, but sound altogether different than the album. In fact, their sequence on the disc plays like a spectrum from one to the other that takes a turn to experimental electronica at the end.

This different sound takes us back to why special editions are useful. Sure, they show what, for better or worse, didn't make the cut. However, some of the experiments concocted and extremes reached on disc 2 in songs like ".000.000," "Lemonade" and "Erase the Sun" show that Beck could've released 2 albums simultaneously that sounded completely different a la One Foot in the Grave and Stereopathetic Soul Manure in 1994. Sure, if one ended up being Odelay and the other something else, simple deduction leads us to what the better would've been. This isn't to say that disc 2 isn't worth its salt. In the 'sketches-in-a-notebook' sense it truly is something to behold. The tangents, sounds and ideas that Beck was playing with at the time will continue to spark discussion among fans and those who give them a chance. But ultimately, the right decision was made and a masterpiece was unleashed at the sacrifice of several gems who's destiny was the cutting room floor. The fact that we can hear and enjoy them in one place without having to try and hunt down the various singles they might've appeared as b-sides on is great service to both fans and collectors. Beck is one of a severe minority of artists whom this type of reissue can achieve a maximum result because he pulls from such a vast range of ideas and influences and even his throwaways are better than most of what tops the charts.

Super Bowl XLII: Yes, I Enjoyed It!

I'm going to preface this by saying a few things.
1) I'm not a fan of American football fan. I haven't been in years.
2) Though I can't argue against the NFL being the best run professional sports league in the world - in terms of treatment of players, fans and teams - I'm of the persuasion that the Super Bowl is traditionally one of the most boring events in sport. Hate all you want, this is a preference.
3) Most of all, I can't stand how long the games are. I don't care about the different positions and following the game, to me, is about as dull as dishwater.

The point of all that is to show that, I'm probably the last person some would suspect to watch the Super Bowl and its ads, let alone clean the house and invite people over in its spirit. However, that's exactly what I did. My wife and I spent Saturday afternoon into the night cleaning, running to the store to get munchies and beer and I was simply buzzing with excitement for it.

How does that happen? Well many factors come into it. Even though I avoid the sport like the plague, I still couldn't escape hearing about Tom Brady and his Patriots as they destroyed teams. Sure they had a speed bump or two along the way, but they refused to be beaten. So, up to the final game, they were 18-0. If they win the game, they'll be the second team to go completely undefeated. The Miami Dolphins were the first back in the 70s. They only went 17-0 (More teams = more games = more perfect). So there's that, which is half of it. On the other side of the 50, we have the New York Giants, the team I got behind to win. The reason for that takes a story.

When I followed American football, the team I HATED was the Packers. Rich coming from a 49ers fan is the reasoning. I picked my team watching players like Roger Craig, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and John Taylor at different times. However, there was a game I saw when I was 4. It was in the regular season and I remember being in trance because of the red and gold uniforms that won the game. It was only later that I really learned what I could at the age 5 about the team and retain. By the time they won the super bowl in 1984, I'd watched them enough to call them mine. Now, I say that because when the Packers started winning again in the 90s, everyone and their grandmother started coming out of the woodwork saying they'd been Packers fans forever and every other team is garbage. Sure, a select few had seen their team be terrible and stuck by them, but bandwagoners come at you like there's no other option while the true fans will compliment their team, but don't get in anyone's face until they win because it's only fair.

Now that I've trailed off, my reason for getting behind the Giants to win was because they kept Brett Favre and his cheese-headed band of morons out of the super bowl. Win or lose, I was greatful when I read that piece of news and supporting them against the Brady-loving Patriots fans was the least I could do.

So, for the first time in a while I was excited to watch a Super Bowl. You know what? It actually delivered the drama that it's hyped itself up to be all these years. Usually, the game's over by halftime. This was a tense affair where no team gave up its pursuit of the trophy. In all fairness, The Patriots were clearly the better team, Welker was probably the most active player on the field. The Giants did what they had to do to win and that's all that matters. The commercials were once again average at best. This was not only the first Super Bowl I enjoyed in a long time, but probably the best one I've ever seen. Sure, I watched my 49ers win some doozies, but I wasn't old enough to care in '82 when "The Catch" won it and I don't remember the '84 game all that well anymore. Even though they won more, the games were never the crescendo that this one was. Eli Manning pulled that game from the jaws of defeat in that last drive and it was brilliant. He deserves any accolades he'll receive.

However, it's not over for Tom Brady. If the Patriots don't break apart in the post season, they'll be back in force and he'll be in the driver's seat again. He's a great quarterback and will get better. All of 'em have moments where they blink, unfortunately his was on the biggest stage possible and on the brink of perfection. The future will see him as one of the greats and his career isn't even over.

As a neutral, I enjoyed the hell out of that game. But I'm happy to go back to hating it and enjoying 'proper' football, or as Howard Rogers would say, "Euro-style kick ball." But all congrats go to the Giants.