zoom

Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)

I kind of doubt that anyone saw this coming. Obviously, being a music blog, I review music, but this one is such an obvious choice really. It’s so widely known as one of the hugest albums ever, often compared to The Wall: it’s Radiohead’s biggest album, and they’ve only gone up from there, maybe not in popularity, but in experience. You can’t say that this isn’t a beautiful album, but from there, they’ve sort of been whittling their fanbase to a lot of real fans who actually care about them, as opposed to having a couple of their tracks lodged away on their iPod so that when you search through it, you go ‘OH YOU HAVE RADIOHE-oh, it’s Creep.’

But yeah, everyone’s reviewed this album. Everyone.

Personally, I think at the moment I’m going through a Hail To The Thief phase, but Kid A is growing on me a lot right now, and so is Amnesiac, because they really go together. Anyway, I was meant to review this album, right. But the point is, I’ve never really gone through an OK Computer phase as such - I’ve never been as thoroughly attached to it as I have been with any of the others - it’s always just been some sort of assumption that I loved it, right from when I started listening. And it is, indeed, a beautiful album which usually leaves me in tears.

I’m going to do track-by-track of this one, because it’s Radiohead. So here goes.

Airbag - Airbag is like one of those songs that completely throws you off for the rest of the rest of it. It’s a heavier track, and there’s a lot of Phil’s drum looping in there. It’s a really good beginning track, and the breakdown at the end of the song really makes for letting the rest of the album come through.

Paranoid Android - this is one of those incredibly odd songs - it trades itself a lot, in a perfectly good way. It starts off acoustic, then it launches into sinister and dark and you don’t know what it’ll do next, then, bam, Jonny! (I’ve always wanted to say that…’Bam, Jonny’ what am I doing okay I’ll carry on maybe no one noticed) There’s a huge solo, shoved to the teeth with effects with Ed’s brilliant harmonies and everything about this is wonderful.

Subterranean Homesick Alien - this is one of the mellower songs, the first of the album thus far. It’s quite relaxing, but there’s this aura of fear in the vocals, and it comes across wonderfully.

Exit Music (For A Film) - this is bitter and wonderful and even if you’re passively listening to it, you’ll notice Colin’s crunchy bass in the last half, and it’s really phenomenal. You know one of those songs that can actually get an audience to sit back and shut up? This is that.

Let Down - Let Down is one of those songs. I can’t quite describe it, I can only describe what it does, and it spirals into a lot of effects at the end and I can’t breathe.

Karma Police - this song makes me incredibly sad. It’s catchy, but for me it’s in the most morbid way: if I were singing this song to myself in my head, I’d be in tears every time it happened, which is why I’m grateful it doesn’t get in my head too often - crying fits are not what everyone else needs. It’s a beautiful, beautiful song, and a real anthem at that.

Fitter Happier - this is it, really. The point of the whole album, if there is one. It isn’t a song as much as a poem read from a computer, but the point is, it completely lacks emotion. It’s very draining and mocks everything, yet it’s still there for its purpose.

Electioneering - this is a really straightforward song, and I can’t quite describe it as messy, because it’s not. Frenzied? Yeah, that’s probably the right word.

Climbing Up The Walls - I do not even want to start on this one but I have to anyway. This is one of the only songs I know that can scare me straight off, and wherever I hear it, I want to curl up in a ball. Not that I hear it on the radio or anything, usually it’s just on the iPod, but if they played this on the radio, heaven help me. It’s distorted and lonely and dark and I’d hate it if I could but I can’t, it’s such a good song. I think this is actually one of my favourites - not on the album, but in general.

No Surprises - Jesus, this one makes me sad. It’s not even real, it can’t be. Jonny’s glockenspiel really hits home, and there’s a lot of cynicism in here, and it’s almost like a lullaby. And the vocals and the guitar and I can’t write about this coherently I can’t it’s a beautiful song and that is all I’m listening to it at the moment and I think I might cry.

———

So listening to the album whilst trying to write the review for it, in this case, was a real mistake. I’d forgotten how emotional this album makes me. Okay, I can do this. I can. Carrying on.

———

Lucky - the guitar on this album really stands out, and I’ve never had that many instruments (as opposed to vocals/lyrics) want to make me cry, but here it is. It’s really, really a great song.

The Tourist - this song is by Jonny, and it shows. It’s a wonderful piece. It just leaves you wondering, at the end, ‘is it really over?’ and it’s then that you realise that you really don’t want it to be, but it’s almost a relief all the same.

And then you listen again.

I’m probably making an estimation in saying that you probably already have this album. But if you don’t have it, you should get it.

Get it on iTunes.
Get it on Amazon.