During Winter Break...

[suprefan]

Nawww, you couldve done worse. Its just the track order, not like you cutting out a song or 2.

[mountmccabe]

I may be considered a heretic for this.. but I've thought, for a while now, that RH made a small error in their track order for OKC.

I find if I switch the positions of Fitter Happier and Karma Police, so that Fitter Happier comes right after Let Down, it works really well for me.

I like "Electioneering" in there after FH to get things going again. But this is not about me.

[TomAz]

to me "Let Down" is such an emotional, draining song that by the end of it you're just like ugh. wiped out dead. so FH being cold and distanced and not quite human but with that beautiful piano, that's like you're in a half-alive/half-dead dream state. then you wake up a bit but with this nasty concussion hangover and can only manage a pop song like Karma Police .. which quickly recharges your batteries so that by the end, singing out "for a minute there, I lost myself, I lost myself" over and over gives you enough strength to carry the fight forward with Electioneering.

[wmgaretjax]

interesting Tom. I'll have to listen to it that way. I always took the end of Karma Police as some kind of denial to keep yourself going, so fitter happier worked. but I'm gonna switch 'em next time I listen to the album.

[PassiveTheory]

You know... I think "Airbag" should be the last song on the album... Since I think that "The Tourist" in question crashed his car and becomes self-aware... Lots of looping on OK Computer.

Anyway, album review:

Pretty damn good. I still don't think I'm falling in love with Radiohead, but I have no problem listening to this record on repeat.

I don't really get "Fitter Happier", maybe with time I will but w/e, and, again, "No Surprises" is just something I cannot force myself to listen through multiple times... "Electroneering" is nice, but probably would have fit better on "The Bends" (swap with it "Planet Telex"? lol).

But the album has a tremendous ending with "Lucky" (which is my favorite song on the album) and "The Tourist". I think the production, the guitar work, and the wide-array of effects are damn good, and Thom's voice is become gradually more bearable (I'm finding myself looking up lyrics and such more often now).

If I were to pick 5 songs to keep on OKC they would be:

1. Lucky
2. The Tourist
3. Let Down
4. Paranoid Android
5. (tie) Climbing Up the Walls/Karma Police

Overall I'm going to give OKC an A- with a note saying that it needs repeat listens. I'm fucking stingy about my A's, people, I only give those to albums I've listened enough to that I've memorized a good deal of the lyrics for, but I think this record has the potential to warrant a full A at some point in the future.

[Neutral Milk Hotel]

Sweeeeeeeet

Now on to one of the greatest albums of this decade

[suprefan]

I swear after you see them live, you will hold every other band to such high standards in blowing your mind.


and yes, Kid A is going to make you want to feel everything else sucks cause its not as good.

[bmack86]

Does anybody remember not liking Kid A at first because it was so strange? I think that one is hard to hype, even though it's my favorite Radiohead album, because it's such a shift from their earlier stuff.

[suprefan]

Yes and no, it took me a bit on a few tracks. but then you get to a point when you can listen to it over and over and keep discovering parts to it. Like on Treefingers. National Anthem and Morning Bell are like my faves. Motion Picture and Optimistic are up there too.

[atom heart]

Geez supre, let Passive figure out whether or not it is "mind blowing". I've found that Radiohead takes a very specific state of mind (and I am not talking about drugs here, get Amy for that) to make it "mind blowing".

For example, a guy a knew never saw much in Radiohead's music. He thought it was well done but nothing special. His friend would always play it for him, in the hopes it would sink in somehow. One night they were on a road trip, driving through the desert in the pitch black. Off in the distance a thunderstorm brewed over the mountains, and Climbing Up the Walls started to play. The bright silver flashes and the searing, frightening music made everything about RH make sense, and he's been in love with the band ever since.

[amyzzz]

Hey now, drugs were only a recent discovery of mine. I loved Radiohead long before that. I experienced a re-introduction to Radiohead after HTTT came out and finally decided to catch them live. (also, pre-drugs). I really, really fell back in love with OK Computer then and enjoyed some outstanding tracks from Kid A, Amnesiac, and HTTT. I was very pleased that they still play quite a few tracks from OK Computer live when I saw them in Sept '03.

[Neutral Milk Hotel]

Does anybody remember not liking Kid A at first because it was so strange? I think that one is hard to hype, even though it's my favorite Radiohead album, because it's such a shift from their earlier stuff.

I listened to Kid A first of all the Radiohead albums, so I kind of dodged this. I would actually almost recommend approaching them that way, maybe.

[TomAz]

Does anybody remember not liking Kid A at first because it was so strange? I think that one is hard to hype, even though it's my favorite Radiohead album, because it's such a shift from their earlier stuff.

the 'blublabublaubalbubalbublaublu" at the beginning of EIIRP is so compelling that I didn't even notice it was weird.

[luckyface]

Does anybody remember not liking Kid A at first because it was so strange? I think that one is hard to hype, even though it's my favorite Radiohead album, because it's such a shift from their earlier stuff.

I can honestly say I loved Kid A when I first heard it, and I was way into their older stuff. Amnesiac... that is a different story.

[wmgaretjax]

Tom has it right, I think the album grabbed me straight off, and then it was on the second or third listen that I realized how fucked up it all was.

[bmack86]

Maybe it was because I was listening to mostly punk and metal at the time, but it sounded very strange to me. Also, I was 14, and not a Radiohead fan by any means.

[fasttrack]

lee, are you going to listen to all the b-sides after you listen to the albums?

[PassiveTheory]

Eventually I will, I do want to relisten to all my 2007 albums so I can give a real comprehensive "Best of 2007" final list.

Also, the first half of Kid A is real fucking good. I will get back to it soon.

[suprefan]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. The latter half is awesome too.

[PassiveTheory]

Supre, you're enthusiasm is novel but it's scaring me...

[suprefan]

Sorry, what man? Im glad you like the album so far, better?

[shakermaker113]

Does anybody remember not liking Kid A at first because it was so strange? I think that one is hard to hype, even though it's my favorite Radiohead album, because it's such a shift from their earlier stuff.

i remember that. in fact, most radiohead albums were like that for me. but especially kid a.

i never saw it as that much of a shift though. not really.

[TomAz]

this thread makes me happy. passive, +50 for doing this and doing it so publicly.

[ADrunkPoet]

national anthem into how to disappear completely is one of my favorite transitions between songs on any record.

that and she's so heavy into here comes the sun stand out at the moment.

[breakjaw]

Tom,you have to do the Bee-Gees next,after which I'll do Dave Matthews Band...

[PassiveTheory]

LOL I hope Gabe reads this and goes "Fuck... what have I DONE!?".

Sorry for the painfully slow progress, people, I really don't want to catch 1-2 songs then zip out of the house, and then do another pair of songs like that or anything: I want to listen to the records in full, so this is going to take me a little longer than I had planned... x.x

[Alchemy]

I hope you dig Hail to the Thief when you get to it, Passive. I personally think it's the second best album after The Bends (one of the greatest albums ever made). To me it sounded like Kid A, Amnesiac, The Bends and OK Computer all having an orgy and combining powers.

EDIT: Oh and Passive, if you haven't heard the tracks off the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire soundtrack with Pulp and Radiohead, than do it after all this too. I mean, how can you say no to hearing Radiohead with Jarvis Cocker fronting for a few songs?

[PassiveTheory]

Plus I'm a Harry Potter fan (and for those who will rib me, give me a fucking break, I grew up with the books!) and, yes, anything Jarvis Cocker does blows my mind, even being referenced in a pop-culture article about Smiths conventions in LA... I hope someone catches the Chuck Klosterman reference there.

Anyway, going to finish Kid A before picking my dad up from the airport. *whistles*

[Somewhat Damaged]

national anthem into how to disappear completely is one of my favorite transitions between songs on any record.

that and she's so heavy into here comes the sun stand out at the moment.

I played "She's So Heavy" and "Here Comes the Sun" on the jukebox at the bar last night for precisely that reason.

[TomAz]

I'm so old I don't think of those songs as segues since She's So Heavy closed out Side 1 and Here Comes the Sun opened Side 2.