How To Buy Radiohead Albums
A Handy Guide For Those New to Oxford’s Favourite Quintet
Radiohead have been one of the most popular and eclectic bands to ever hit the mainstream and after seven diverse studio albums they are still going strong. So here’s a run down on their full length releases so far.
Essential: The Must Have Albums
OK Computer – A necessity for any music collection. Radiohead looked at the inevitable “difficult” third album and laughed in its face as they created 12 seemingly faultless tracks. From the beautiful ‘Lucky’ to the eerie ‘Climbing Up The Walls’ to the epic ‘Paranoid Android’, it’s no surprise that this album usually tops “best ever” lists. Even the B-sides from this era were fantastic, and they were songs that didn’t make the final cut!
The Bends – After a lacklustre debut, many people had written off Radiohead as a one-hit wonder. How wrong they were, as The Bends was the point where they finally unleashed their creative side. At a time when Brit-pop was storming the charts and grabbing the news headlines, the band worked away in the background writing songs (like ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ and ‘My Iron Lung’) that sounded more original than anything else at that time.
Recommended: Once You’re Bored of OK Computer
Kid A – Following OK Computer the world and his dog expected Radiohead to adapt that winning formula for the next release. Instead Thom Yorke and co. embraced ambient electronic music and programming, evident on ‘Treefingers’ and ‘Idioteque’. ‘How To Disappear Completely’ and ‘Optimistic’ had the traditional guitar rock edge but it’s the “difficult” tracks that make this album. One that grows better with age.
In Rainbows – Although this made more noise through its unconventional “pick your price” release, it showed that 15 years on the band still have a lot to offer. Easily their most accessible album since OK Computer, In Rainbows saw the band take a more back-to-basics approach from the minimalist ‘Nude’ to the striking drum-fest ‘Reckoner’.
Acceptable: If Kid A is a Little Difficult
Amnesiac – Recorded at the same time as Kid A, this continued the leap into the realms of the unknown. ‘Knives Out’ and ‘Like Spinning Plates’ are polar opposites but equally as good while ‘Pyramid Song’ is simply gorgeous. But the second half is let down by ‘Morning Bell/Amnesiac’, a pointless rehash of a Kid A track, and the all too brief instrumental ‘Hunting Bears’.
Hail To The Thief – In making HTTT Radiohead took the tricks they had learned from the electronic phase and develop a more balanced experience. The fantastic ‘2+2=5’ kicked things off in a pleasantly noisy way while ‘The Gloaming’ was a glitchy delight. However, the depressing gothic piano number ‘We Suck Young Blood’ and the dreary ‘Scatterbrain’ left much to be desired.
Avoid: For Radiohead Completists Only
Pablo Honey – Not every band gets it right first time and Radiohead were way of the mark with this tepid interpretation of early 90s US-alt rock. Apart from a couple of decent songs (‘You’, ‘Creep’, ‘Blowout’) this is a very poor debut and should only be bought just to see how far the group have come since the beginning.
The Best of – This isn’t necessarily a bad collection (even though very obvious track selection is a tad disappointing) but as it’s merely a reactionary release by Parlophone, the band’s former label, it should be left to collect dust on store shelves.
Go here for a review of Radiohead's June 2008 performance in Manchester.
