Better than ok (OK Computer - Radiohead)

Member Name: stevek181

Product:	OK Computer - Radiohead
Date:	07/10/09 (41 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful, haunting, thoughtful and mesmeric

Disadvantages: Not party music!

After the success of Radiohead's 2nd album, "The Bends", an album many critics to this day would have in their top ten of all time, the world waited expectantly for it's much-heralded follow-up "OK Computer." We were not to be disappointed. One of the masterpieces of the 1990s, it now sits firmly at the very top of many critics' lists.

In many ways OK Computer was an album of transition for the Oxford band. Moving away from their pure indie-rock beginnings, it marked the beginning of the new experimental and more electronic direction Radiohead were to take. Although generally guitar based, the album also included to various degrees the mellotron, glockenspiel, cello and electric piano amongst others.

Released on 16th June 1997, "OK Computer" was thought by many to be a concept album, although the band have refuted this. There are certainly many themes running throughout the album - consumerism, science-fiction and paranoia being three of the more obvious. It is a disturbing commentary on modern life

There is no doubting the genius that runs through it. Recorded partly in an historic mansion owned by Jane Seymour, the album is eerie, atmospheric and sometimes genuinely creepy and sinister particularly on "Climbing Up The Walls" where Thom whispers "I am the key to the lock in your door that keeps your toys in the basement" to disturbing effect against the background of minimalist ambient noises.

Thom Yorke's unique voice is probably the biggest strength of the album, somehow drawing the listener in whilst still sounding remote and detached. Most of the vocals were actually first take recordings, and sound all the better for being slightly imperfect.

For me, the highlight of the album, and the song that really absorbed me into the world of Radiohead, is "Paranoid Android". Similar to Bohemian Rhapsody, it sounds like several different songs rolled into one. Awe-inspiring though it is on the album, it sounds even better live where the complex sounds seem to take on a life of their own and fill the venue. It is anthemic in places, and builds to an unforgettable crescendo.

Another of my favourite tracks "Subterranean Homesick Alien" follows another familiar Radiohead theme - Science Fiction. It is also a commentary on alienation - The narrator is living in a town devoid of any inspiration "I live in a town where you can't smell a thing" and he feels alienated from the other inhabitants "all these weird creatures who lock up their spirits" and wants to get away "I wish that they'd swoop down in the country lane late at night when I'm driving, take me on board their beautiful ship..." For a band who've turned heartbreaking lyrics into an art form, they outdo themselves at the climax of the song "I'd show them the stars and the meaning of life they'd shut me away but I'd be alright". Although not one of my favourite Radiohead songs, this really symbolises the band for me with the beautiful haunting lyrics and sounds - at the same time it's the most uplifting and depressing thing you'll ever hear.

Other highlights include the relatively conventional "Karma Police" and "Electioneering" which are like a breath of fresh air in the stuffy, claustrophobic context of the album and are probably the only songs that could have made it onto their previous albums.

"No Surprises" is also a gorgeous song. It's beautiful pop-melody and tinkling xylophone rather hiding the dark subject matter of the song "I'll take a quiet life, a handshake, some carbon monoxide...". It is typical Radiohead.

Probably the most unpopular "song" on the album is "Fitter Happier" which is basically a robotic voice describing in monotone how he has conformed to so many stereotypes he has become devoid of personality, "a pig in a cage on antibiotics". Thom describes it as "the most upsetting thing I've ever written". It's probably a bit self-indulgent and pretentious for some, but I actually think it's quite a clever idea and doesn't sound out of place in this stark, bleak album at all.

There are certainly some songs that aren't quite as strong - "Let Down" and "The Tourist" spring to mind, but this really is an album where the sum is greater than the parts. Although it may not be a concept album, it does flow like one and each song needs to be heard in context.

Radiohead are criticised for being depressing, and it is at times gloomy and bleak. But it's also music at it's very best - five incredible musicians, Thom's beautiful voice portraying the full range of human emotion and the thoughtful and at times obscure lyrics

This really was the album that set them apart from their brit-pop peers and put them in a new league. It's never going to an album to put on at a party, but then that was never the point. Radiohead are who they are and the album is what it is - one of the masterpieces of 20th century music.

Summary: A must-have