Although I allow myself to
immediately review newly purchased albums, in recent years I rarely do. Usually it only happens when I have a new
album that coincides with a live event I’ve seen, like the recent Lyle Lovett
or Shins albums.
Instead, where there is a gap in
the CD shelf, I just stack the new albums I’m still getting to know, and hope
that I roll one. On this last roll, I
rolled the section with all the new albums, but disappointingly I ended up with
an old one anyway. It is fitting, I
suppose; Radiohead often disappoints me.
Disc 541 is…. OK Computer
Artist: Radiohead
Year of Release: 1997
What’s up with the Cover? Remember those old photos of freeways, before they
were busy, and all the cars were old fifties models? Remember how those photos were kind of
OK? Well, here is one of those photos,
which appears to have been scratched all the hell by some demented child
wielding a rusty nail. I believe it is
intended that this be considered some form of art, and I suppose it is – bad
art.
How I Came To Know It: I already knew Radiohead from their early days, but
this record was bought by Sheila who liked their sound and had heard good
things about “OK Computer.”
How It Stacks Up: We have seven Radiohead albums. This is one of the better ones, and I put it
third best.
Rating: 3 stars
At the outset I’d like to admit that I am going to
enjoy writing a lukewarm review for an album that is the darling of music
lovers and critics alike. Radiohead is a
talented, capable band, but that doesn’t mean I like everything they offer, and
for me, “OK Computer” is the beginning of their descent into self-absorption.
This is a band with a tortured genius for
music. Their first album, “Pablo Honey” may be reviled by many of their fans, but it is a solid, thoughtful rock
album and its follow up, “The Bends” is even better. Yet fast forward five years to “Amnesiac” and these guys have been reduced to an insufferable series of
technological sounds only vaguely resembling music.
When the hell did this happen? The start of that
answer is, sadly, “OK Computer.” This is
an album that is lauded for its experimental sound, but like Beck’s “Odelay”
is also partly limited by its own ambition.
First, the good stuff, and there is good stuff on
this record. “OK Computer” ably captures
a mood of social disconnect and its resulting feelings of dread and depression. Lead singer Thom Yorke always sounds like he’s
channeling the secret messages of aliens, and on songs like “Paranoid Android” that is exactly what
is called for. The song is complicated,
and the fact that it and “Karma Police”
were both embraced by radio seems an unlikely, but happy accident. They are good songs, even if in places they
are a bit overwrought in their production and arrangement. Even that I can forgive, as that is Radiohead’s
gig.
Unfortunately, the whole album does not hold itself
up to this standard. Musically it is
interesting yes, but it is also drones and moans in places. “Exit
Music (For a Film)” was particularly annoying. It literally sounds like exit music for a
film; inoffensive, but somehow summarizing that you’ve just had some experience
or other. I say that in vague fashion,
because that is exactly how the song leaves me feeling, vague and
disconnected. It is the kind of song
that when it appears at the end of a movie you push stop and then “delete
recording” and go watch something else.
Recreating that experience is not what I look for on an album.
A lot of the music on “OK Computer” would be better
served without a lot of the extra effects filling in all the space. Even a sonically thick song still needs room
to breathe. As an example, “Karma Police” gives the piano room to
establish mood, and that deliberate piano keeps everything on an even keel,
letting the rest of the song’s construction something to flesh out. From there, the boys can really draw you in
with their genius. Also, “Karma Police” isn’t a bad idea, although
I think technically Karma delivers its justice without the need for
police. Maybe that’s the point.
While it is true that a lot of what leaves me not
wholly satisfied with “OK Computer” is
the weird production decisions and self-absorption, I strangely enjoyed the
Stephen Hawking-like spoken word piece “Fitter
Happier.” A nice use of computer
simulated voice to underscore our lack of human connection and then the kicker –
summing up our various ‘virtues’ and then labeling us as nothing more than pigs in cages on
antibiotics. It is disturbing and
Orwellian, but effective.
Unfortunately, too often the album just descends
into weird mood songs, like the distorted falsetto of “Climbing the Walls” groaning away in minor chords. Sure it makes you feel uncomfortable, but not
in an interesting way. It is like eating
too much cotton candy; the experience makes you feel queasy, but all it really
teaches you is to not eat so much cotton candy.
Because all over this album I see the band preparing
to descend into the mirror-covered spider hole of “Amnesiac” and “Hail to the
Thief” it is hard to truly love it. That
said, there are enough flashes of brilliance that I also can’t deny that it is still
worth a listen.
This record is – for lack of a better word – OK, but
I can’t help being disappointed in feeling only OK about something the rest of
the world seems to think is Radiohead’s greatest work.
Best tracks (although they
could use shorter titles): Paranoid Android, Karma Police,
Let Down
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