Radiohead Ok Computer CD

OK COMPUTER was nominated for the 1998 Grammy Award for Album Of The Year and won the 1998 Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance.

OK COMPUTER, Radiohead's third album, is the bombastic follow-up to 1995's sleeper hit THE BENDS, which left critics and listeners as impressed with the band's ability as they were curious about their potential. In spite of its technological-sounding title and apocalyptic sci-fi themes, OK COMPUTER is firmly grounded in the rock verities. Waves of guitars rage beneath the haunting melodies and near-hysterical fits of singer Thom Yorke. This complex, intense swarm of guitars is held aloft by a solid, inventive rhythm section and an impressive array of piano and keyboard textures.

"Paranoid Android" is a six-minute-plus epic with alternating time signatures, wild dynamic shifts, drama and adrenaline to spare. "Let Down," with its double-tracked vocals and rhythmic throb, may give a brief glimpse back at Radiohead's past, but at no point is OK COMPUTER anything but a hurtle forward.

With the exception of Nirvana's Nevermind, no rock of the '90s is as widely accepted as a masterpiece as Radiohead's 1997 OK Computer, and even partisans of Nirvana would have to acknowledge that OK Computer creates its own universe in a way that Nevermind does not. This makes it a bit of a tricky candidate for a deluxe reissue like this 2009 double-disc set: it's nice to have it enhanced with all the released B-sides from the "Paranoid Android," "Karma Police," and "No Surprises" singles, along with three BBC sessions, but it's not necessary. A large part of this is because all of the great songs from the sessions wound up on the album proper. While some of the non-LP B-sides here are quite good -- particularly "Pearly," "Melatonin," "Meeting in the Aisle," and "How I Made My Millions" -- they're not a patch on what is on the album; they're a nice addition, but they don't enhance the album and that is true of the live cuts here, which are noteworthy only in how they illustrate that Radiohead's creativity was not limited to the studio (the remixes of "Climbing Up the Walls" sound like electronica artifacts compared to these). While none of this material is bad -- and much is quite good -- this isn't a disc that's necessary to the appreciation of OK Computer. It's not revelatory; it's a good set of footnotes carrying some mildly interesting supplemental material. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

2009 expanded two CD edition of this 1997 album from one of the biggest and most critically successful UK bands of all time. From their beginnings sandwiched between the Grunge and Britpop music scenes to their groundbreaking internet releases, Radiohead has consistently and successfully challenged themselves musically with each album and continue to raise the bar with every passing year. Disc One contains the original album while Disc Two is filled with rarities, B-sides, BBC sessions and more. 27 tracks. EMI.

Engineers include: Nigel Godrich.

Personnel: Sam Hardaker, Henry Binns (programming).

Audio Mixer: Jim Warren.

Audio Remixers: Sam Hardaker; Fila Brazillia; Henry Binns.

Radiohead: Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Colin Greenwood, Phil Selway.

Additional Personnel: Adam Cummings (guitar).

Rolling Stone (p.64) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[P]anicked, paranoid and product-coded; tranquilized, arena-size and indelible."
Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.65) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's."
Rolling Stone (7/10-24/97, pp.117-118) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...OK COMPUTER - a stunning art-rock tour de force - will have you reeling back to their debut, PABLO HONEY, for insight into the group's dramatic evolution..."
Spin (9/99, p.122) - Ranked #9 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s."
Spin (1/98, p.86) - Ranked #2 on Spin's list of the "Top 20 Albums Of The Year."
Spin (8/97, pp.112-113) - 8 (out of 10) - "...Unlike their majestic models U2, Radiohead take on techno without switching instruments or employing trendy producers....As with post-rockers Tortoise, Laika, and Seefeel, Radiohead have a fuzzbox or two and obviously know how to use 'em..."
Entertainment Weekly (Spring 2000, p.166) - Ranked #4 in EW's "Top 10 albums of the '90s"
Entertainment Weekly (7/11/97, pp.65-66) - "...Shrouded in wafting guitars, swoony rhythms, and moody-blue strings, it shrugs off mosh-pit conventions for a poignant delicacy and breadth, with Yorke's cracked-throat voice the album's melancholy center....For all of Radiohead's growing pains...their aim--to take British pop to a heavenly new level--is true..." - Rating: B+
Q (6/00, p.91) - Ranked #2 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums"
Q (12/99, p.92) - Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums Of The 1990s."
Q (10/01, p.112) - Ranked #1 in Q's "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime"
Q (1/98, p.114) - Included in Q Magazine's "50 Best Albums of 1997."
Melody Maker (12/20-27/97, pp.66-67) - Ranked #2 on Melody Maker's list of 1997's "Albums Of The Year."
Melody Maker (6/14/97, p.49) - "...unlike anything I've ever heard....I definitley know it isn't good for me, and I'm certain it says more about my life than I'd like....in terms of composition and performance, it's very impressive. Radiohead have excelled themselves. They've seen the future."
Village Voice (2/24/98) - Ranked #2 in the Village Voice's 1997 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.
Mojo (Publisher) (p.67) - Ranked #3 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "OK COMPUTER sought to disturb as much as delight. It's still succeeding."
NME (Magazine) (12/20-27/97, pp.78-79) - Ranked #2 in NME's 1997 Critics' Poll.
Pitchfork (Website) - "[R]eal songs and tunes, but ones that didn't shrink from the increasingly unlimited possibilities of modern music-making. In that sense, Radiohead were not only record-collectors but futurists..."
Record Collector (magazine) (p.89) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "It's a brilliant album....[V]isual, visceral and complete..."