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01-27-2009, 10:28 PM | #1 (permalink) |
The Great Disappearer
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: URI Campus and Coventry, both in RI
Posts: 462
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OK Computer - Radiohead
note: I posted this before but I don't think it got the exposure it deserved, namely because I tried to start a thread where I posted all my reviews but it bombed, so I'm reposting this and will work on more reviews I will post in a while, anyway, enjoy and discuss.
Radiohead - OK Computer 1. Airbag: YouTube - Airbag - Radiohead 2. Paranoid Android: YouTube - radiohead - paranoid android 3. Subterranean Homesick Alien: YouTube - Radiohead Music Video - Subterranean Homesick Alien 4. Exit Music (For a Film): YouTube - Radiohead ~ Exit Music (For a Film) 5. Let Down: YouTube - Radiohead Let Down 6. Karma Police: YouTube - KARMA POLICE-RADIOHEAD 7. Fitter Happier: YouTube - fitter happier 8. Electioneering: YouTube - Electioneering 9. Climbing Up the Walls: YouTube - Radiohead - Climbing Up The Walls 10. No Surprises: YouTube - Radiohead - No Surprises 11. Lucky: YouTube - Radiohead - Lucky 12. The Tourist: YouTube - The Tourist - Radiohead (this is actually a really cool video) Man, it took me a LONG time to fall in love with this album. I first heard it months ago in full, and over the last week I’ve been listening to it over and over again. There was a point where I realized I pretty much liked all the. Radiohead is a band that took me a while to get into, but now that I know this album inside and out, it’s worth it. The first track, Airbag has a really nice guitar part that slides up and down. This albums has a real industrial feel to it, yet still it sounds like it could have been made hundreds of years ago. It’s like a gospel for the MP3 age, with all the excess, noise and confusion that accompanies our modern age. Paranoid Android may be the best track on the album. Its as if he’s screaming up towards the heavens “What’s thiiiiiiis?, surveying a modern desert landscape, with broken computers and obsolete technology littering the land. At least, that’s what I picture. Subterranean Homesick Alien and Exit Music (For a Film) are nice tracks that start off mellow and increase tension throughout the song. This sort of song structure seems to be a motif of the album. Let Down is such a 90s song. It’s a weird thing to say, but it fits in perfectly with the decade and the style of music that really was predominant then. It makes sense then, that Radiohead was one of the main influences of this sort of sound. Karma Police is my favorite song on the album. It reminds me of the Pixies and how they structured their songs. The chorus is one of my favorites of all time, “This is what you get…This is what you get…when you mess with us.” It sounds wistfully bitter. Fitter Happier was a song that really impressed me when I first heard it. It seemed to be channeling the mood of Revolution #9 except with a more concise message. That’s not to say that it is a rip off of Revolution #9, because when I first heard it I stopped what I was doing and just listened, I really hadn’t heard anything quite like it before. Electioneering paints a really fun, yet desolate landscape. It’s like they’re saying “Hey, we’re all living in a wasteland but lets dance!” Climbing Up The Walls is an interesting song. Listen to the first 30 seconds or so of it; it seems to be channeling a bit of “Welcome To The Machine” by Pink Floyd. It’s a nice song, which builds on the earlier motif of the album by slowly building tension through the song. No Surprises could easily be my favorite song on the album(a tie between Karma Police, Paranoid Android and this one? PERHAPS!!!!!), but I guess it all depends on mood. It opens like a lullaby and the chorus is simply beautiful. You know what, the whole damn song is beautiful. Lucky is also another really good song. The opening lyrics and melody are especially good. This may be the only song on the album where I don’t like the tension build up, but I like when it gets quiet and he sings “And we’re standing on the edge” The Tourist is a really nice close to the album. It has a mellow feel to it, and a sad, wistful tone to it. This album is not so much an indictment of a modern, computerized, robotic wasteland, it’s more of a mirror that’s held up to your face. In the end, it gives a big shrug, because it’s not like an album can tear down this giant machine. So let’s just dance! 9/10
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01-28-2009, 02:02 AM | #2 (permalink) |
Registered Jimmy Rustler
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 5,360
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Im really no a Radiohead fan but I enjoyed the review. Very good job with linking up songs and descriptions.
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01-28-2009, 02:38 AM | #3 (permalink) |
Juicious Maximus III
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Scabb Island
Posts: 6,525
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Nice review!
I agree with you, I think this album is strangely underappreciated on MusicBanter, a sad fate shared by many other popular artists and albums. I guess it might be a mix between wanting to remove oneself from the mainstream and perhaps the hive mind. I bought this album when it was new and that's quite a while ago now and so even if I don't really listen to it anymore, I know it like the back of my hand. My current favourite track may well be Subterranean Homesick Alien, although before that, I've had several other favourite tracks on the album that eventually got overplayed .. I see you're missing the release year (1997) which should always be included somewhere .. Thanks for another good review.
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01-31-2009, 02:58 PM | #6 (permalink) |
Ba and Be.
Join Date: May 2007
Location: This Is England
Posts: 17,331
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I can honestly say that I barely listen to this album and it is hugely overated. I find the production very mechanical sounding (with the albums title it was probably intentional) but since re-buying it on CD a couple of years ago, I have played it once!
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“A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.”
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01-31-2009, 04:04 PM | #7 (permalink) |
Music Addict
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 120
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One of my favorite albums of all time. There isn't a single thing that I don't love about it.
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02-01-2009, 04:57 PM | #8 (permalink) |
Music Addict
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Northern Virginia
Posts: 73
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I've never been able to get into Radiohead. As a matter of fact, I just got through giving them one last chance. I listened to OK Computer, In Rainbows, Kid A, Hail To The Thief, and Pablo Honey in their entirety in the last 3 days and I have to say, I am still not impressed. I'm not sure why; I just can not get into Radiohead. In fact, the only song I'm keeping on my computer is Worry Wort because it's part of a compilation I really like. Don't hate me for this!
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02-02-2009, 11:33 AM | #9 (permalink) | |
Account Disabled
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Miami, FL
Posts: 118
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Quote:
Hmmm...not sure if I can agree with that. However I understand how Thom Yorke's voice can turn off some listeners...and Radiohead seems to polarize people as indicative by this thread. Personally, I think Thom Yorke is a genius, and you could put me on a deserted island with nothing to listen to but OK Computer, Kid A, and Amnesiac...and I would be happy. I am surprised that given your enthusiasm for Pink Floyd you are not into Radiohead in the fact that both bands 'march to the beat of their own drummers' when it comes to making great art and concept albums. |
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02-02-2009, 11:58 AM | #10 (permalink) | |
Ba and Be.
Join Date: May 2007
Location: This Is England
Posts: 17,331
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Quote:
This is the problem I have with Radiohead. I don't dislike them but the fact that there is so much good music out there that goes out relatively un noticed starts to build up a resistance to Radioheads music.
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“A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.”
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