journolud
Well-Known Member
Fascinating and entertaining as it is to read the eviscerating comments from @FogBlueInSanFran and @threespires (not that Thom Yorke would care) and the equally robust defence from @supercity88 I can't go to that depth either way. At the risk of alienating two posters who contribute greatly to this thread as well one can't help but wonder if there isn't an element of the intellectual posturing in the reviews that Radiohead are seemingly accused of.
This album is being held up as an extreme cynical exercise, the disconnect between the apparent message it delivers and the people delivering. That's an interesting road to go down and maybe it's not the same thing but brings to mind the old adage (or is it a new one) about not wanting to meet your heroes.
Music, most of it anyway, is made to sell and if not then to appeal to a particular audience. Whether it's the nihilistic joyless musings of Radiohead or the music by committee of Ed Sheeran. We've covered before how one of my musical heroes, Van Morrison is in real life a surly miserable bastard who has to be separated from the transcendental music that he produces.
Likewise, we all ascribe positive character traits to this City team while revelling in the flaws of that lot from just outside the City wall. Imagine the cognitive dissonance if we had an Anthony or a Fernandez or god forbid a Greenwood.
I'm not capable of the type of analysis the posters above have gone into. But I enjoyed reading it and in defence of "critics", some of the best do enhance the enjoyment of an album or a film. Funnily enough the one that sticks in my mind is Phillip French who used to do the film reviews in the Observer. They were almost works of art in themselves but I also get a lot from reading reviews online or in the music magazines. I'm old enough to make my own mind up about what I like but it's good to get an understanding of what is being aimed at that you might have missed on the kind of surface listening we tend to do. And sometimes it's worth reading a review that nudges you to revisit can album which then becomes a favourite. I hated Astral Weeks when I first heard it but it's now my favourite album ever. To a lesser extent the passionate presentation of last week's pick on here led me to a deeper appreciation of an album I had but had struggled with.
I digress. I listened to OK Computer this morning, I think I had been putting it off for a reason I can't understand. I had it on a few weeks ago but there was maybe an anxiety that having to listen to it for review I might find I didn't like it after all or not as much as I thought I did.
It's not in the best album ever lists for me but you know what, leaving aside the motives of the band, the words written about it, the analysis this is a pretty fine body of work. Airbag and Paranoid Android are good openers but it really gets into its stride for me with the next four songs, all of a mood and all brilliant.
I've always thought that Fitter, Happier was a bit pointless and not that clever but it does serve at least as a bit of an intermission after the first six tracks. The closing sections of the album aren't quite as strong but neither does it have particular weaknesses and in No Surprises has one of those classic songs us mopey types really like.
I've had an ambivalent relationship with Radiohead's later music. Kid A, Hail to the Thief I listen to less. I think I prefer those albums to be shorter. In comparison In Rainbows ( which I'm listening to as I write and being reminded what a good album it is) and Moon Shaped Pool represented a return to "form".
My favourite Radiohead album remains the Bends and there is an emotional connection there, coming at a particular time in my life. But OK Computer as it turns out, having mused earlier how many 5s,6s and 7s it would get and thinking I would be at the upper end of that range is actually more than OK and gets an 8.
This album is being held up as an extreme cynical exercise, the disconnect between the apparent message it delivers and the people delivering. That's an interesting road to go down and maybe it's not the same thing but brings to mind the old adage (or is it a new one) about not wanting to meet your heroes.
Music, most of it anyway, is made to sell and if not then to appeal to a particular audience. Whether it's the nihilistic joyless musings of Radiohead or the music by committee of Ed Sheeran. We've covered before how one of my musical heroes, Van Morrison is in real life a surly miserable bastard who has to be separated from the transcendental music that he produces.
Likewise, we all ascribe positive character traits to this City team while revelling in the flaws of that lot from just outside the City wall. Imagine the cognitive dissonance if we had an Anthony or a Fernandez or god forbid a Greenwood.
I'm not capable of the type of analysis the posters above have gone into. But I enjoyed reading it and in defence of "critics", some of the best do enhance the enjoyment of an album or a film. Funnily enough the one that sticks in my mind is Phillip French who used to do the film reviews in the Observer. They were almost works of art in themselves but I also get a lot from reading reviews online or in the music magazines. I'm old enough to make my own mind up about what I like but it's good to get an understanding of what is being aimed at that you might have missed on the kind of surface listening we tend to do. And sometimes it's worth reading a review that nudges you to revisit can album which then becomes a favourite. I hated Astral Weeks when I first heard it but it's now my favourite album ever. To a lesser extent the passionate presentation of last week's pick on here led me to a deeper appreciation of an album I had but had struggled with.
I digress. I listened to OK Computer this morning, I think I had been putting it off for a reason I can't understand. I had it on a few weeks ago but there was maybe an anxiety that having to listen to it for review I might find I didn't like it after all or not as much as I thought I did.
It's not in the best album ever lists for me but you know what, leaving aside the motives of the band, the words written about it, the analysis this is a pretty fine body of work. Airbag and Paranoid Android are good openers but it really gets into its stride for me with the next four songs, all of a mood and all brilliant.
I've always thought that Fitter, Happier was a bit pointless and not that clever but it does serve at least as a bit of an intermission after the first six tracks. The closing sections of the album aren't quite as strong but neither does it have particular weaknesses and in No Surprises has one of those classic songs us mopey types really like.
I've had an ambivalent relationship with Radiohead's later music. Kid A, Hail to the Thief I listen to less. I think I prefer those albums to be shorter. In comparison In Rainbows ( which I'm listening to as I write and being reminded what a good album it is) and Moon Shaped Pool represented a return to "form".
My favourite Radiohead album remains the Bends and there is an emotional connection there, coming at a particular time in my life. But OK Computer as it turns out, having mused earlier how many 5s,6s and 7s it would get and thinking I would be at the upper end of that range is actually more than OK and gets an 8.