The Album Review Club - Week #123 - (page 1446) OK Computer - Radiohead

[Saddleworth2]

She must improve big time for that to happen.lol.

You have just been added to my list of enemies. :-)

 

[Coatigan]

Booooo. I'm in agreement with you unless you are actually a master baker in which case I have no interest at all in your lessons learned or your journey but solely the end product of your labours :-)

Not wishing to derail the thread but I'm not sure I would want any additional sound track to a Peter Howson exhibition, I would find an entire exhibition difficult enough (in a good way) without any extras. I didn't get to the Edinburgh retrospective last year, is there something on currently?

It is a fairly current one, an exhibition of his works during covid, with hints of brexit thrown in, from 2020-2024. There is a good mix of his 'sketches' (which is what I enjoy most of his, and have always found interesting and, well, incredible) and a few 'finished' paintings. Which usually do less for me. Don't know if there are touring intentions for it, would imagine so. But as noted, not to derail the thread.

Ultimately, thought it the album would reveal more of itself with that, but it didn't. Good experiement.

 

[Coatigan]

I get quite a few thoughts popping upnas I listen to this, and I know come tuesday or wednesday I won't have been able to retain them into one long meaningful bit like a few others here, so for some of them, I'll just throw them out as and when they come.

Paranoid Android. How to make a 6 minute song feel like 20.

This is probably the reason all those years of trying came to nothing, this is where I lose interest in this album and it is almost irretrievable. At least I seem to have gotten to the bottom of that. Skipping this song makes a big difference.

And there are a few more songs like that on this one, but that being the second one in, is where the damage is done for me.

Fog often talks about this being a pink floyd rip-off. And while that is evident, I have always thought there was a bit more to it. I had intended to say this, but in all fairness, Bill has covered it better than I ever would have, so I will just refer to his post.

They have borrowed well. Really well. They haven't tried to hide it, they havent made a big deal of it. Copy from one, it is plagiarism, copy from a few - research. That is probably the biggest success of this album, something for lots to pick up on (or one to pick it all up if you are Bill), without writing it off as being too much of a tribute to anyone in particular. And as a combination, arguably sounding unique enough in its own right. And covering enough, that anyone else trying the same will sound like they have just copied this, rather than similarly borrowed from the source material.

I now get some of Rob's comments about uk indie bands a bit more. And while Radiohead have no doubt launched or at least influenced the careers of many, they have also fucking ruined it for a whole lot. Because they will always be tainted with comparisons to them.

For example I thought (and still do) he was miles off when he described orlando weeks' vocals as 'generic'. They are anything but. However, I can see if Radiohead is your go-to baseline for uk indie, why that comparison might be a touch inevitable.

I will carry on when I have more, a piecemeal review of sorts.

A bit like this album!

 

[threespires]

All music is derivative of some other music and OK Computer is. I hear elements of certain records from the past cleverly melded into their songs. I must admit to jealousy, as a part time musician and wannabe songwriter (who has sold 400...YES 400 :)) albums. I wish I'd come up with the songs, musical ideas and the harmonically expansive big sellers they did.
I've always thought there is something about Radiohead is extremely British, you can almost hear the Britishness, a sense of gloomy foreboding, an unease of societal issues, the everlasting misery of the climate is inherent, :) and it extols that cold, forever cloudy greyness one grows up with in the long winters. Ray Davies was always very good at this in some of his British flavoured songs like "Dead End Street" & "Shangri-La"
I can tell you first hand ....It's hard to be this miserable in a sunshiny blue sky country !

I see OK Computer as an important album, a much more musically sophisticated album that say, anything by other popular bands of the time, like Oasis for example. Surely there would be no Muse if there hadn't been Radiohead?
Unusual chord sequences and time signatures. The albums longest track "Paranoid Android" seems to me to owe it's formula to The Beatles "Happiness Is A Warm Gun". Not in a sense of melody or even chord structure but more in a sense of 3 (even 4) differing passages that feel as if they belong together. Not many bands seem to be able to fit this many completely disparate components into 1 song. I remember buying The Beatles White Album and thinking that.
Another big nod to The White Album (Specifically the track "Sexy Sadie") comes in the copied chord sequence and direct feel in the track "Karma Police" "This is what you'll get" refrain, melodically slightly different but harmonically exactly the same. I must admit I copped that first time I heard it :)
An inordinate amount of care was taken over the recording of this album, any fool can tell that! Delay & reverb were carefully selected, and I believe natural reverb was used largely in some manor house that probably one of their parents owned :)
I've worked out the harmony structures for all this album and can confirm there are many what I call "deep dives" where the music is kinda tootling along then suddenly - Wham! another atonal heavy guitar laden onslaught down the the minor 3rd chord from the more optimistic major root key. Like in "Sexy Sadie" G-F# (happyish) then Bminor, (hang on, something serious is happening) also plenty of 9th and diminished chord tones .....They do this quite a bit and I must admit it's very effective.
Anyway, I hear a lot of Miles Davis "Bitches Brew" period with the thick sonic layering and unusual appearance of instruments, like the sudden appearance of a tasteful Bass guitar halfway through the verse of "Airbag" and then it suddenly disappears, then re-appears later. Nice touch.
That heavy guitar in "Airbag" is very King Crimsonesque especially their song "Fallen Angel" in fact I think Crimson are a big influence RH, you can hear at the beginning of "Airbag" the distorted guitar doubled up with a cello (an old Crimson thing).
What RH achieved though was similar to Pink Floyd, commercial sales with music that has unusual disparate elements (especially time signatures), Crimson never achieved mainstream popularity like Floyd (and RH) did.

It's an important album though and I really like it. They do borrow but the sound of Radiohead is pretty unique and their sound is their own, this sound was something fresh in the 90's. I personally think "Paranoid Android" is the most inventive and interesting single since "Strawberry Fields Forever" but that's just my opinion and I don't expect anybody to agree with me :)
There are some albums that I think of as representative of that decade (for me) "Dark Side Of The Moon" 70's, Sgt Pepper 60's. "Thriller" 80's..... OK Computer imo is the album of the 90s and a fine phsyc/art rock album it is.
Well done Radiohead, a genuine classic, I'll go for 8/10

Great review with loads of interesting points, some unarguable and others I disagree about but you've also unlocked one of the reasons for the lack of leeway I give this which was staring me in the face but I hadn't joined the dots. One of your points I thought "nice theory but I'm sure I'll think of some counter examples whilst I'm on the bog" but I haven't yet.

Your comment about your units sold has also given me a strategy to try and prise more info out of @Coatigan about his endeavours by offering an information trade about the one album I've played on :-) - (I think I just like people and am interested in them, but others misunderstand me and refer to me as a nosey bastard).

Anyway, I've got to head off and we're all in for a big day. Irrespective of today's outcome my days of things getting messy after big games are fortunately(?) long behind me so I'll be back hopefully tomorrow to witter on more about this.

Brill to see you and Sadd's back on here, so much so I might even bump my score a point!!!

 

[Coatigan]

Great review with loads of interesting points, some unarguable and others I disagree about but you've also unlocked one of the reasons for the lack of leeway I give this which was staring me in the face but I hadn't joined the dots. One of your points I thought "nice theory but I'm sure I'll think of some counter examples whilst I'm on the bog" but I haven't yet.

Your comment about your units sold has also given me a strategy to try and prise more info out of @Coatigan about his endeavours by offering an information trade about the one album I've played on :-) - (I think I just like people and am interested in them, but others misunderstand me and refer to me as a nosey bastard).

Anyway, I've got to head off and we're all in for a big day. Irrespective of today's outcome my days of things getting messy after big games are fortunately(?) long behind me so I'll be back hopefully tomorrow to witter on more about this.

Brill to see you and Sadd's back on here, so much so I might even bump my score a point!!!

You know, I think I have for a while been convinced you have some level of musicianship or involvement with music. I think I can validate that now.

Bigger things coming today though, you are right.

 

[Coatigan]

If we were to have a separate category for ranking albums - by 'word count' - I suspect this one would win hands down.

And the Streets would probably be pushing for European places ;)