ok then..(I apologize for my grammar, I'm sure i've made mistakes)
A powerful riff that mixes electric guitar and cello is the promising introduction to Radiohead's Ok Computer, A modern day masterpiece, an album that's been praised since it's release througout the whole world, in 1998 it won the Grammy for the best Alternative Music Performance and it's constantly found on the top ten lists of greatest albums of all time. Plus it's inspired and keeps inspiring numerous musicians.
Ok Computer deserves all the praise it's getting. At least the album has convinced me to believe that. It's because Ok Computer truly touches your "soul". It's got painful rawness and honesty in all its despair but still has optimism about seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.
Though it's not a theme album there's still cohesion. Ok Computer is an album that songs deal with the issues about the state of a modern man tackled with too much information and faced with numerous institutions that don't seem to speak the same language with him. A confused person who's terrified to face this world that keeps rapidly changing and drifting further and further away from him and his emotional needs. A "lost child", feeling like he's carrying the whole world on his shoulders, at times wanting to shut himself away from it all.
Loneliness, paranoia, sadness, anger, despair, agony, frustration, exhaustion, hope. Feelings many can relate to. Listening to this album makes you face them but also gives a long, warm, understanding embrace. It actually gives me strength. after 13 years or its release, I feel OK Computer is still topical. It definitely doesn't sound old.
Ok Computer is a perfect combination of heartbreaking lyrics and great compositions and impeccable melodies. The album art is also an inseparable part of the albums entirety. Everything works together flawlessly. The music speaks the same language with Thom Yorke's clever lyrics; There's some chaos and distortion but also calmness. The album flows beautifully as whole but the songs are very strong individually also. The album is also very versatile. I've never gotten bored when listening to the whole album through.
(so this kinda sucks, don't really know what I'm talking about here heh)
the sounds on this album are an eargasmic mix of different electronic effects(llike looping) and the use of many different instruments (strings, glockenspiels, mellotrons...) alongside with the more traditional rock sound (album is still clearly a "guitar album"). Jonny Greenwood's spacey guitaring is simply amazing. Doesn't take a musician to figure that out. Thom Yorke's distinguished singing tears your heart apart with it's raw emotional beauty. OK Computer is a step (or a few) away from the more "basic rock" sounds of their previous album "The Bends". It was maybe a pointer towards what was to come, their more experimental era with Kid A and Amnesiac.
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Ok Computer is the album that really set Radiohead apart from other bands for me. I've started to love it more and more.
When I first heard the album it was something I had never heard before. It was "weird", kind of scary, but intriguing. I wanted to hear more. And I still do.
some stats:
Ok Computer
Release: 16 June 1997
Lenght: 53:27
Producers: Nigel Godrich, Radiohead
songs:
Airbag
Paranoid Android [1st single: released 26 May 1997]
Subterranean Homesic Alien
Exit Music (For A Film)
Let Down
Karma Police [2nd single: released 25 Aug 1997]
Fitter Happier
Electioneering
Climbing Up The Walls
No Surprises [3rd single: released: 12 Jan 1998]
Lucky
The Tourist
a few lines about all the songs + some videos: (stuff I've heard, read on a magazine/the internet, thought..)
Airbag:
an hopeful tune for the starters, surviving a high-speed car crash and starting over. The references to reincarnation are inspired by The Tibetan Book of the Dead, I read from wiki. (I heard Pyramid Song was inspired by that book too.) starts with the mentioned riff that mixes electric guitars and cello.
Amazing guitar solo. Bassline's a killer.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6cJJ39PpBU]YouTube- Radiohead-Airbag @ Eurockeennes 97[/ame]
Paranoid Android:
1st single release.
kind of weird but Amazing "rock-opera"
Paranoia, anger. Falling down.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTDx0oCehtg]YouTube- Radiohead - Paranoid Android (Live on Later... With Jools Holland 2001)[/ame]
Subterranean Homesick Alien:
how the life in the big city sometimes feels like. You feel like getting abducted by aliens.
again, amazing guitars and a reference to a Dylan song in the title.
Exit Music (for a film):
Haunting and sad. Made for a film, "Romeo + Juliet"
escaping together "before all hell breaks loose."
from gentle guitar strumming to a mind-blowing climax with Thom's piercing vocal and then finally quieting down with Thom groaning: "we hope that you choke, that you choke." Chills every time.
Let Down:
Thom has said that it's "about an enormous feel of being trapped"
how you feel like you're just hanging around, not really connected with the world that's happening "out there" and how disappointing it all feels like. just floating from one day to another.
Karma Police:
also released as a single. One of Radiohead's most popular tunes. at least the title is influenced by an in-joke.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN8jJoRo394]YouTube- [HD] Radiohead - Karma Police (Glastonbury 2003)[/ame]
Fitter Happier:
not a song, it's a cheklist (read by a computer voice) of how to live a good (?) life. The piano makes this piece hauntingly beautiful too.
Thom has said that "the reason that Fitter Happier exists is 'cos of mental background noise."
Electioneering:
About politics. Rocking tune. Apparently inspired by Noam Chomsky.
Climbing Up the Walls:
very powerful and effective song about fear and paranoia that will make you lose your sanity.
Schizophrenia. The scream at the end is terrifying. as is the whole song. Noisy, strange sounds, strings, Thom's voice kind of muffled. Brilliant.
No Surprises:
The most terrifying lullaby. A suicide song. When you get tired of trying. So sad but oh, so beautiful.
this is one of my favourite performances of the song:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI53IYievtY]YouTube- [HD] Radiohead - No Surprises (Live @ Le Reservoir)[/ame]
Lucky:
Was released already in '95 on the first War Child compilation album: "Help!"
It was the first song that made me really notice Radiohead. I actually had borrowed the "Help!" -compilation from the library and Lucky really blew me away. It still has a special meaning for me.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu5LGa028Wk]YouTube- Radiohead "Lucky" Live[/ame]
It's a hopeful song. maybe you've met someone who can pick you up and running despite all the shit going on around.
The Tourist:
Jonny's song. a reminder that we need to take things slowly sometimes.
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so yeah that's it. I know i kind of repeated some stuff but oh well.
my own favourite songs if forced to pick three, are Lucky, Let Down, Paranoid Android
so I dunno, list favourite song/s up to three, and tell your feelings about the album.
(haha I don't even know how you put a poll up :P )