spoonful of honey... (Pablo Honey - Radiohead)

Member Name: geordieger

Product:	Pablo Honey - Radiohead
Date:	13/04/02 (68 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: gutsy guitars, brilliant debut album

Disadvantages: raw in places, not the finished article

The 23rd of April 1993 signified the birth of something amazing. A musical corner was about to be turned as a little group from Oxford released their debut album. The death of grunge had arrived and proper guitar based rock was about to make its way into the discerning music listener's life again, popularly called the "New wave of new wave." Spearheading this movement were Radiohead, and Pablo Honey set the foundations of an absolute genius in music.

No-one could imagine at the time how important this band would become in the progression of music, and amazingly this first album, which spawned one of the best singles of all time, is now seen as an embarrasment by the Radiohead boys.

The album kicks off with a guitar heavy "You". We are introduced to Thom Yorke's powerful vocals which complement and contrast with the sometimes melodic, sometimes rampaging backing band. A perfect introduction to what is to come.

The amazing "Creep" is next, and I expect that no-one involved could have forseen the impact that this song would make. Even though some say that this song has been played to death you cannot get away from the pure magic that is "Creep". Thom's mournful and self pitying vocals portray the lyrics excellently and the splitting guitars to introduce the chorus give a hard-core edge to what could have been a soppy ballad. Ending with the feedback from the guitars, the piano and quiet vocals just makes the song.

"How do you?" contrasts completely going straight back to screaming strings. The amature sounding is apparant but adds to the appeal. Not finely polished by any means, this sounds like your local rock group playing the club.

"Stop whispering" opens more sedately and Thom's vocals have gone from raw to more subtle. Sounding like a very young U2 this song just shows how diverse Radiohead are from the noisy grunge that had gone before. r>Jonny and Ed show their guitar talents at the end and Thom shows his talents going from subtle to sublime.

Accoustics bring in "Thinking about you", and this is the closest the band come to a ballad so far. Again another look at the diversity of the band, showing that they are not just loud guitars and screaming raw vocals.

"Anyone can play guitar" opens with distorted licks and a strong bass line. Racing towards the chorus and its a shame that this did not prove to be a big hit for the band as it has the content to have been, and was one of three singles from the album.

"Ripcord" again flashes the guitars and the melodic tones of Thom's voice comes out. This song sounds professional and would not have been out of place on "The Bends".

A change of pace again for "Vegetable" and the mournful vocals again take over. Another reminder that this album is definitely from the pop genre. The album keeps changing tone from song to song, sometimes in the same song but constantly reminds us that the main topic is frustration and the opportunity to vent feelings.

"Prove yourself" is another display of frustration with the lyrics, "I can't afford to breathe in this town, nowhere to sit without a gun in my hand, hooked back up to the cathode ray, I'm better off dead." From the passion in the vocals its hard not to believe that Thom does not mean this.

"I Can't" just continues with the frustrated line. "If you give up on me now, I'll be gutted like I've never been before." says it all. Again another solid guitar rock song.

Softer into "Lurgee" but again a similar vein running through the song. Not the strongest song on the album.

"Blow out" musically starts very differently and sounds vaguely like Dire Straits "Sultans of Swing" in parts. Not as memorable as oth
ers on the album it changes into more siren like guitars nearer the end, and the boys show off, scrambling to be heard.

This is certainly an album that is quality wise a debut, with some weaker moments, and the band sound at times like a support band, which of course they were. The album does have moments of genius and glimpses of what is to come from a fantastic guitar band with raw talent.

Not the best album ever recorded but a solid base to build from and a shame that it was not recognised more at the time.