18th June - Beck's Odelay

Artist – Album: Beck – Odelay!

Released: 18^th June 1996

Sounds Like: Attention Deficit Disorder

Despite branding himself a loser on the ultimate slacker anthem of the same name back in 1994, Beck has managed to forge a long, triumphant and still relevant (check out his work on the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World soundtrack – it’s ace!) career from his baggy, chequered shirts and Californian drawl. The highwater mark of a career full of peaks, however, remains his 1996 album Odelay.

Pre-Odelay, Beck was seen as something of a one-hit wonder, despite the considerable acclaim for his second album Mellow Gold (but very much in keeping with the cultish efforts Stereopathetic Soulmanure and One Foot in the Grave). He’d indicated on his breakthrough hit that he was working on something more than just plain rock or mere hip hop or simple folk; he’d been putting together some kind of Unified Theory of Music (UTM™), taking his favourite parts from all genres and making them work together. Unfortunately ‘Loser’ was the only one of his early alchemic concoctions to take off, and by 1996 people were beginning to question whether he’d bloody do anything of bloody note again. Beck himself begun to shy away from his magpie music, and the initial recordings for the album were sombre, melancholic affairs in line with his personal headspace following a number of personal tragedies. Somewhere along the way, however, he was shook out of it and convinced to continue with the uptempo style of before. 

The resulting record was the eclectic work of a genius. From the catchy opening riff of ‘Devil’s Haircut’, the album encorporates hip hop beats, funky bass, countrified slide guitar, and a multitude of samples from artists from MC5 to Grand Funk Railroad, from Lee Dorsey to Sly & the Family Stone to Them to Franz Schubert. There’s even snippets of car horns, donkeys eeyore-ing and, in the Futurama cartoon at least, Bender’s washboard solo. Only occasionally does the pace relent, and beautiful acoustic ditties such as ‘Ramshackle’ show how different things could have been had his initial slower sessions seen fruition. Thankfully though, this energetic hotchpotch was instead laid down and a star was (re)born.

Albumaday... rating:  8/10

1.       Devils Haircut – 3:14

2.       Hotwax – 3:49

3.       Lord Only Knows – 4:14

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 – 2:32

10.   Sissyneck – 3:52

11.   Readymade – 2:37

12.   High 5 (Rock the Catskills) – 4:10

13.   Ramshackle – 7:29

Listen to ‘Jack-Ass’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDh_hzNh_Vc

Also released on the 18^th June:

2007: Justice - Cross

3rd April - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's B.R.M.C

Artist – Album: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – B.R.M.C

Released:  3^rd April 2001

Sounds Like: Deep Purple meets Jesus & Mary Chain

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club scored a moderate indie rock hit in the early 00’s with the brilliant ‘Spread Your Love’, a great big dirty rocker that had it’s roots in 60’s psychedelic garage rock bands and the heavier stuff released in the 70’s by the likes of Deep Purple. I remember it being sung at school, I remember watching the video on MTV, and I was thrilled when I found it on a compilation album that I had bought. But, since then, B.R.M.C have kind of just drifted around.

Their albums are generally well received by critics and the public alike, but it’s hard to find anyone outside of their actual fans that could name a second song by them. Some of it may be due to an apparent lack of direction by the band. Other head bangers from the first album include ‘Whatever Happened to My Rock and Roll’ and ‘Love Burns’, but elsewhere the album sounds influenced by The Jesus and Mary Chain and shoegaze, whilst the closing couple of songs are gentle acoustic ballads. Everyone likes an album that mixes it up a bit but here it feels a bit confused, and the shift in tone from song 9 to 10 was baffling.

Later albums followed a gentler, almost gospel tinged feel, and perhaps that’s where their hearts really lie. Who knows? All I’d say is that this debut - good in parts, great even at times - still sounds like that of a band who don’t quite know what they’re trying to achieve yet.

Albumaday... rating:   6/10

1.       Love Burns – 4:05

2.       Red Eyes and Tears – 4:00

3.       Whatever Happened to My Rock ‘n’ Roll (Punk Song) – 4:38

4.       Awake – 6:12

5.       White Palms – 4:55

6.       As Sure as the Sun – 5:52

7.       Rifles – 6:59

8.       Too Real – 4:55

9.       Spread Your Love – 3:45

10.   Head Up High – 5:35

11.   Salvation – 6:06

Listen to ‘Spread Your Love’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abKjC7EX2Zs

Also released on the 3^rd April:

1968: Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends

Also released on the 3^rd April:

2000: Doves – Lost Souls