Radiohead - OK Computer

Back in 2009, I'd known about Radiohead for a while. I knew they had a few memorable songs that I remember seeing on TV. At this point, only Creep had made it to my playlist, and it got quite the flogging by me. Maybe it appealed to my rebellious outsider feelings, ot maybe it's just a catchy as hell song with an awesome riff that is fun to sing along to, even if I embarrass myself in the process. It was in the middle of that year, that attention was brought towards the Hottest 100 of All Time countdown. I liked to think that I was in the loop at the time, but as a music fan of merely two and a half years, I was more ignorant than I was willing to accept, (I probably still am now!) which made itself apparent when there were so many apparently popular songs I'd never thought of or could comprehend the popularity of. Back on Radiohead, they were a big talking point, having many signature songs that stood a good chance. There were "Creep" & "Karma Police" which I knew, but another I'd not heard before in "Paranoid Android". I checked it out and was immediately impressed, it just sounded like nothing I've ever heard before. As the countdown progressed, I listened to the song more and more, and grew in anticipation of its final position. My favourite point was when I realised that it had outranked "Creep", which I actually voted for regrettably!

After it all boiled down, I started to listen to Radiohead more, growing to discover many songs that I had known but not by a name (seriously, how was "Just" not the smash hit that I thought it was?). Having read around, I was given the impression that the parent album to many of the songs I liked, was considered a really, really big deal. That album was of course, OK Computer. For whatever reason, I always thought that albums as critically acclaimed as OKC were ones that were of structural consistency, and the idea of hearing a bunch more songs like "Paranoid Android" was very appealing to me. On a whim (double checking the spelling for that just gave me 'on a whim okc' as autocomplete, coincidence indeed) I checked out the full album. The tracks didn't immediately gel with me, but I found the album exceptionally good to keep something on in the background while studying.

Regardless of this, the album was on the backburner mostly as I pretty much listened to nothing but Muse at this time. However I remember casually watching Australian Idol one night, and wasn't really paying attention, until I heard something familiar. It was "Exit Music (For a Film)". Though abridged for obvious reasons, I thought it was a very solid and enjoyable rendition. But it also occured to me that I had this song lying around and hadn't really listened to it much. Re-listening to it then, it was brilliant. While it starts slow, the combination of the minimal instrumentation and Thom's brittle vocals worked wonders, and of course my favourite part is when it explodes to a big finish at the end. While this is a cliche musical occurance, in this case it's done without bombast, and the reverb production on the drumming is perfect. This is what edges it ahead of the similarly structured "There There" for me.

The important thing about this, is that it's what got me back onto the album. While a lot of albums always have the individual tracks that I like the most, and the few weaker ones that don't stand out or get played, this album has very few of them. While I do have my few easy standouts, every track is just a joy to listen to.

Going back on my pre-disposition of a cohesive album, I find that this album satisfies this greatly. While none of the tracks are greatly similar, there's an element of cohesion in listening from start to finish and finding each track fitting well next to the previous one and not being jarring to listen to. The same can be said to an extent about this album's place in Radiohead's discography. As was the case for many '90s bands who continued into the '00s, Radiohead's '90s material is distinctively more rock oriented than the albums that followed. The Bends is an exceptional rock album, but compared to OK Computer, just feels more like a bunch of songs put together than an album, as OK Computer has all the properties that make The Bends what it is, such as the excellent guitar solos, but shows hints of where the band would further venture with Kid A with the occasionally experimental exploration with the music. It's easy to forget that much of what takes centre stage is just guitar and drums.

This album is wonderful. While I don't know if it's my all time favourite album, it's certainly up there. In any case, it's certainly the high point of Radiohead's career and deserves all the acclaim it gets. A delight from start to finish, more people need to hear this album.

There, I wrote a stupidly long review that took nearly as long to write as the album took to listen to, spending half of it talking about semi-relevant stories of my personal life, and the other half losing it over how amazing Radiohead are, now I know what it's like to be a Pitchfork writer. I swear I'm not pretentious, I just love music.
Laatst gewijzigd: 26/02/2012 16:13