There’s also the undeniable fact that many influential albums flat-out suck, and are only influential because someone with more talent and imagination found something interesting in the muck that they later transformed into a listenable piece of music. I suspect several artists mention other artists to build up good karma and get a plug in return, while others realize that many music journalists aren’t that bright so they need to hand them a few questionable analogies to help them meet their deadlines. If you’ve done as much research as I have over the years, you’d know that Paul McCartney loves every piece of music he has ever heard and that Thom Yorke has cited different influences for the same song depending on his mood and memory. Influence is often cited as a reason, but a lot of that is based on how many famous musicians happened to mention that they liked a particular album. Record sales have as much to do with musical excellence as the popularity of Doritos has to do with culinary achievement. The “Best of Anything” is a pretty lame concept because any criterion you could use is shaky at best.
For those who can stay concentrated there is an award waiting.Because OK Computer was released on May 21, 1997, I was seriously motivated to publish this review at the start of the year to avoid becoming engulfed in the 20th Anniversary of the Greatest Album of the 9o’s hoo-hah. It works for me almost like an intermission, and perhaps that's what it is! It is certainly needed, because there are a lot of things going on, and concentration is a must. The only time when I lose my 100% interest is when "Fitter, Happier" plays. The experimentation of sound, the guitars in particular, reminded me of progressive rock bands from the past, but here the guitar almost works against the songs, providing an unease and a nervous edge which complement the lyrics about isolation, and it is filling up all the space that is left by the other sounds, making the music feel trapped. Greenwood's guitar on "Paranoid Android" reassured me quickly that this was indeed something else, and it was rather soon clear that the game changed with this album. I bought this, basically, on the strength of their previous record's last song, "Street Spirit (Fade Out)", which I adored immediately, and favored over the often a bit too "college rock"-y sound of the other songs of the album, as well as that on their first record. Great album, but a difficult one, you have to be in a certain mood to really appreciate it. Perhaps I need more listens, but on the 6th listen now, I just don't really consider it to be THAT amazing.
That being said, it is quite a weird album and very difficult to enjoy without a few listens and reading around the albums' concepts and lyrics, even so, I found the Stephen Hawking voiced skit 'Fitter Happier’ to be plain irritating after the first listen, it is (probably deliberately) a bit jarring to listen to as, the flow is an odd one, and all the songs seem to come from a different place, a couple of other songs are 'just there' as well. Many other, slightly oddball and progressive songs litter the album, like the excellent 'Subterranean Homesick Alien' and of course, the up and down, high and low volume.all over the shop mania and weird groove of 'Paranoid Android.'Ī glance at the albums' production notes online would tell you that all songs are from very different inspirations and concepts and in that regard, this is a very experimental and intelligent masterpiece, almost like a 'Dark Side of the Moon' for the 90's. Melody is probably the central ingredient here, there is a lot of dynamism and experimental/weird noises along with some excellent rhythm guitar parts, but what sticks with me the most is the memorable vocal lines, 'Karma Police' and 'No Surprises' being the prime examples of this. This is the second Radiohead album I've ever listened to after 'The Bends.' They're a band I've always been aware of, but have never quite explored for whatever reason.until I heard the various songs covered on the robot/cowboy/sci-fi programme 'Westworld,' and decided to check out those sweet melodies' origins.
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