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Member since:22.09.2002
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After producing something as special 'The Bends', Radiohead really had a task on their hands with the follow up. 'OK Computer', however, is majestic and proved beyond doubt that they were (if you forget 'Amnesiac')incapable of producing anything that was slight and easily forgotten.
Radiohead possess an intensity that is all too rare and lead singer Thom Yorke's voice is at the same time fragile and powerful. You get the sense that he lives his life through his music although his head must be a scary place to be if ideas like that on 'Ok Computer' are floating around in there.
'Ok Computer' pays homage in no small part to Douglas Adams' classic sci-fi novel 'The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy'. Read the opening pages and you will note several references that appear throughout this album. In fact why not set up 'Paranoid Android' in the background while you're doing it and perhaps it may all make sense. The book flies at every angle with weird and wonderful ideas highlighting a fertile imagination struggling to control the urge to get all the ideas down on paper, Radiohead simply paint the aural backdrop.
'Ok Computer' opens with the guitar driven glory of 'Airbag', full of atmospherics making its point with the effiecency of a sharpened needle. This mark of greatness continues right through to the sombre candy that is 'Lucky' near the end. In the process Radiohead produce a royal flush at every turn but it is far from an easy listen and unknowing ears could be turned away quite easily.
The strength of the albums early moments almost eclipse the quieter moments that creep in as the album progresses. This is by no means an indication of an album running out of steam, it is a band with a full grip on how the listener should be treated.
The jewel in the the albums crown is undeniably 'Paranoid Android'. This is a two-part masterpiece that sucks you in with its delicate beauty and then when you think you're safe a large burst of chords strangle your peace to create a chaotic frenzy that is almost as attractive. The accompanying video was heartfelt and hardhitting in a clever understated way. It added nothing to the fog of confusion that the song evoked but that doesn't matter because you know that the digs are been made and the guilty have taken note.
'Subterranean Homesick Alien' is expansive, vast and is musically similar to early Verve movements (go see). 'Climbing up the Walls' is a frightening vision. Thankfully then 'No Surprises' and 'Let Down' resemble Radiohead circa 'The Bends' which is no bad thing because as simple pop songs they provide a bit of relief from the aural challenges that are thrown out in abundance all over the album.
That's it in a nutshell really. Ok Computer does take a few listens to see the true genius but perseverance is paid off handsomely. How they manage to come up with this sort of stuff is their genius. They have the world at their feet (if they drop their Korg's). What fresh little interesting toes they have too.
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Whilst one suspects some kind of pre-millennial hysteria prompted Q magazine's readers to ... more
vote OK Computer The Greatest Album Ever Made scarcely five months after its release, it certainly doesn't look stupid up there in the pantheon. Following the hot...
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