[music] Radiohead, OK Computer (1997)

Capitol Records
Total Running Time - 53:21

Personnel
Thom Yorke - Vocals, Guitar; Jonny Greenwood - Guitar, Keyboards; Phil Selway - Drums; Ed O'Brien - Guitar, Backing Vocals; Colin Greenwood - Bass

1. Airbag
2. Paranoid Android
3. Subterranean Homesick Alien
4. Exit Music (For a Film)
5. Let Down
6. Karma Police
7. Fitter Happier
8. Electioneering
9. Climbing up the Walls
10. No Surprises
11. Lucky
12. The Tourist


By the time you read this, most music critics have named the third album by the British band Radiohead, OK Computer, to their top ten lists for 1997. There was a storm of both buzz and hype when the album was first released, and the praise seems to have been well-deserved. This may be one of the few instances where an album has actually lived up to what everyone is saying about it, no small feat in this day and age.

It's hard to pin down exactly why this album works. The song structures are hardly traditional, particularly on the first single, "Paranoid Android," a six-and-a-half minute song that doesn't repeat itself often, if ever. There are odd sounds and textures flying in from all over, with the opening "Airbag" being driven by a strong cello line, while a mellotron lends its unique texture to [find the name of the song with the mellotron]. Through it all, however, the band just sounds compelling, much in the same way that a dream, however non-sensical it may seem when over-analysed, can be compelling. The odd structures provide momentum, while the textures help draw sonic pictures, aided greatly by the urgency in singer Thom Yorke's voice. Some have compared his performance here to the late Jeff Buckley, but to my ears, he may have more in common with Roger Waters. The sense of despair, yearning, and slight dementia that highlighted Waters' work with Pink Floyd seems to be present, but not in a way that sounds derivative.

It's exactly that kind of thing that makes this album so easy to listen to. It sounds familiar. Reminiscent of bands that we know and love, namely The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and early King Crimson, the sound of the band takes us somewhere comfortable, someplace safe. Once again, the dream analogy takes hold, as the music presented here would be right at home as the soundtrack to the wanderings of the listener's mind.

This dreamlike quality has its downside, though. While the songs are entertaining to listen to, they don't seem all that memorable. I have a hard time remembering each one as a separate entity, as everything runs together into one hallucinatory whole. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, I'm not sure if it's what Radiohead intended. To run the dream analogy into the ground, only snippets of the experience remain when you finally wake up. To the band's credit, you wake up feeling satisfied.