Day 292: Ranking Radiohead

Every music fan has a list of performers they'd like to see. Having caught the elusive PJ Harvey last April, I've now seen almost all the ones I really love. If the Verve or Talking Heads re-form, I need to make a point to catch them.

And then there's Radiohead...

My best two previous opportunities, both in Dallas, were botched. This will be corrected Sunday in Kansas City.

If you don't love Radiohead, might as well shut down this post now.

First, I'm going to rank my favorite studio releases in order. A tough task. Most of the hardcore fans like Mondier have all the EPs, special reissues, the live release and the remix as well, and Mondier has some awesome bootlegs as well. We're not gonna go there, because this is almost impossible with just these.

1. OK Computer: The masterpiece, still amazing, and even the quirky "Fitter, Happier" is interesting.
2. Kid A: At first I ranked this seventh, Then I thought, no, it's seventh? Then, I listened to it again and thought, "Seventh? Really? That's insane." This could easily be first. Chuck Klosterman has forever altered my feeling about this album, however, with his linking the disc to 9/11. Recommended reading, but haunting.
3. Amnesiac: Epic tracks like Pyramid Song and You and Whose Army? stand out, but the whole album is one that resonates with me. In a tough time in my life, this album helped me get through.
4. Hail to the Thief: "There There" might be the best song they ever released. Some fans welcomed this as a return to "normalcy" after Kid A and Amnesiac, but that view is simplistic. "A Punch-Up at a Wedding" and "Backdrifts" are highlights here.
5. The Bends: This album could be ranked as high as second, low as seventh. I go back and forth on it, because I love the experimental noodling on Kid A and Amnesiac sometimes more than I love the solidity of this second release. A lot of people like this over OK Computer.
6. In Rainbows: A very solid CD; many other bands have never come close to releasing something this good.
7. The King of Limbs: Probably underrated a little bit because of the subtleties. I listened to this one morning before dawn on a long drive and couldn't believe how perfect it was for 5 a.m.
8. Pablo Honey: The only easy choice. It's just not as good as the others.

Now let's go deeper into the albums.

* Pablo Honey, 1993: The essential songs are, in order, Creep, You and Stop Whispering. The rest of the album is kind of generic and gave NO clue as to the greatness that lay ahead. I hope to hear Creep at the show, but they've yet to play it in the first seven shows of this tour.
* The Bends, 1995: Readers of this blog may remember my lengthy take on this from June 15, 2011. The album is across-the-board great; the "hits" (High and Dry, Fake Plastic Trees, Just) are obvious, but disc-opener Planet Telex is just full of win. Would love to hear that live, but so far only Street Spirit is getting attention on Tour 2012.
* OK Computer, 1997: Seriously, anything they play from this will be cool for me. That said, I'd love if they went into some of the deeper cuts here -- Subterranean Homesick Alien, Let Down, Electioneering, Climbing Up the Walls or No Surprises would probably make me cry. They've played Climbing only once so far. Airbag (a fave) and Karma Police have been in three shows, Paranoid Android four. Obviously this tour they're playing the newer stuff.
* Kid A, 2000: Despite debuting at No. 1 and winning a ton of recognition, this album is probably the band's most polarizing release ever. Listening to it as I write this, its brilliance and groundbreaking anti-music still astonishes me. This is brave-ass music-making. Like any other amazing work of art, every exposure yields new discoveries and deeper appreciation. The balls it took to follow OK Computer with such a challenging effort is admirable. The band went down a very non-commercial rathole following their muse with this one... mad respect. A very Neil Young move. I'd love to hear Kid A but I don't think it's likely, although they've played it three times this tour already. Most of all I'd like to hear The National Anthem (performed twice so far) or Everything in its Right Place (five performances so far). This will be a treat.
* Amnesiac, 2001: So a lot of casual fans probably expected the band to return to its more traditional rock stylings after Kid A, but instead the band released kind of a "Kid A, the Sequel" with Amnesiac. It was only a few lines into the disc opener when Thom Yorke dispelled that idea by singing "I'm a reasonable man / Get off my case." Loved it. Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box, Pyramid Song, etc, etc, etc... only the third track misses. I will love hearing anything they play, but I'd be blown away by Dollars and Cents (or Like Spinning Plates). The album's not getting much rep on this tour so far (Pyramid/Army three plays each, nothing else) so getting something Sunday will be a pleasant surprise.
* Hail to the Thief, 2003: I bought this CD at a funky little record store in Columbia, S.C., and it took me a few plays before I got it. By this time, the band had become predictable for being unpredictable, so you just had to buckle up and take the ride. Well worth it. There There, the best song on the disc, has made every show so far. Kickass. The dark The Gloaming has made six shows, Mxyomatosis five. I don't love Myxomatosis; would really love to hear Sit Down/Stand Up, Punch-Up or Backdrifts. Or Go To Sleep. Or even the saddest song ever written, Where I End and You Begin. Whatever -- just make sure and play There There. And play it LOUD.
* In Rainbows, 2007: We bought this online when the band tried their direct release/pay what you want model. I think we paid $12 USD for it. But I also wound up buying the physical disc and when/if they come out with a nice reissure, I'll probably buy that too. Great album. Listening to it now makes me wonder how this could be any band's sixth-best release. Very few bands can face a similar quandary -- think Beatles, Stones, Dylan, Neil -- and that's really it. Seven of the 10 songs here would be great to hear, but I MUST hear Bodysnatchers. I'm gonna dance like a dork. It's made five of seven shows. Weird Fishes and Reckoner (YES!) have made every show thus far. Nude (five shows) and 15 Step (two) would be great to hear.
* The King of Limbs, 2011: Because it's relatively new, there are probably elements here I have yet to comprehend. In time this album will surely make it tougher to rank this low. There's a very spacey, almost aloof (but not inaccessible) quality to the eight songs here. Virtually every song on the album is making every show, with one exception: Codex has only made two shows. That would be a shame as it's one of the best songs on TKOL.

Rolling Stone reported that the band has a trove of 75 songs they are playing with on this tour. That's going to provide the potential for some real chestnuts and a few of these are really interesting to note. Of the odds they've played so far is an instrumental, Meeting in the Aisle, that I really like. They've played it twice. I'd love to hear it in KC. Guys, also welcome would be Palo Alto, True Love Waits and Gagging Order.

The band's also trying out some new songs on the tour.

OK writing this has taken a while. In the process I've been sampling the catalogue, and I'm now so worked up I can't stand it. Hurry Sunday.

CD Review: "The Bends" by Radiohead

Radiohead
“The Bends”
4 of 5 stars

Initially, I missed the boat on Radiohead. It wasn’t until there was so much buzz and critical acclaim for “OK Computer” that I decided to give them a listen.

My life has been infinitely better since. Years ago some friends and I had a lively discussion about the best bands of all time. It’s a topic that is always fun to get responses to, and I’ll revisit soon because it is so interesting to get people’s takes on this. But suffice to say, for me, after The Beatles, Radiohead might be the next biggest thing ever.

I was totally blown away by OK Computer, so it wasn’t long after that I got their second album, “The Bends.” At the time, some people I knew thought that this CD might actually be the band’s best release.

I dabbled with that thought at times, also. Like OK Computer, The Bends holds up. When the album was released in March 1995, although the swagger, skill and confidence the band had oozes from every note, few could have predicted that this band would become one of the most important acts going. Radiohead would not only follow up The Bends with an epic, but it would take huge, brave chances, stay grounded while becoming an international sensation, and even pioneer CD distribution methods (with the online release in 2007 of “In Rainbows”). Like other truly great artists, the band followed its muse down improbable paths, trusting that its fans would either get it, or being comfortable enough in their own skins to let them piss off if they didn’t want to go along for the ride.

The greatest acts aren’t afraid of changing and growing. They listen to the voices inside and trust their instincts. It doesn’t always work, but it’s always more interesting. Think of the musical artists who have deviated from their early successes: The Beatles. Bob Dylan. Neil Young. My Morning Jacket, PJ Harvey, for example. Lots of people hated when they went in new directions. Yet they knew they had to stretch.

I love U2, but they haven’t strayed far from being “U2” in 15 years. “Pop” was the last fresh idea they had. It’s sad, and doesn’t diminish their great catalogue. But they’ve stagnated. Same for the Rolling Stones. They haven’t released an essential work in almost 30 years.

People like familiarity. It’s comfortable. And part of what has kept “The Bends” among fan favorites is that it harkens back to the signature sound of the band while also being one of their few albums to adhere to more-or-less predictable tunesmithing. That sounds like a veiled shot but isn’t meant to be. On OK Computer and certainly “Kid A” and “Amnesiac,” Radiohead went on a trip to the edge of their collective minds. Most of it worked, some of it didn’t, and almost all of it sounded so different to “Bends”-centric fans that a line was drawn in the sand. A lot of people love “The Bends” because it represents the talent of the band without the weirdness of some of what followed. Just like a lot of people prefer the Beatles’ “She Loves You” kind of music over the things they did from Sgt Pepper forward.

These are clean stylistic breaks, but so sharp and distinct that it could seem as if they aren’t from the same parents. “Run For Your Life” and “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” sound very, very different, but were separated by less than three years.

The Bends drifts to an open with “Planet Telex” and immediately states the case: “Everything is broken. Everyone is broken. Why can’t you forget?” The music on the CD lifts your spirits. The words bring you back to earth. Just about every lyric speaks to heartbreak and alienation. These are themes that the band didn’t just hint at with its first hit, “Creep,” from “Pablo Honey,” remember? “I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo, what the hell am I doing here, I don’t belong here.”

A sample of lyrics from the rest of the tracks on The Bends:
* The Bends: “Where do we go from here? The words are coming out all weird, where are you now when I need you?”
* High and Dry: “They’re the ones who’ll hate you when you think you’ve got it all sussed out.”
* Fake Plastic Trees: “She lives with a broken man, a cracked polystyrene man who just crumbles and burns.”
You get the idea. More of the same can be found throughout the album. Even the places that seem might match lyrical and musical happiness reveal pain, like in “(nice dream)” where the simple title refutes every potential positive. Thom Yorke throws this little disclaimer in so coolly that you have to stop and think about how brilliant the put-down is. Remember “Getting Better” from Sgt. Pepper: “I have to admit it’s getting better” gors the line, immediately followed subtly by “Can’t get no worse.”

The album is a bitter pill. It’s so beautiful to listen to, but so sad to hear.

I always thought the third song, “High and Dry,” was about Evel Knievel. Maybe it is. Which would be weird for a non-American to write about a quintessentially odd American daredevil from the 70s.

Track four, “Fake Plastic Trees” is another heartbreaker. I love this band because to me they see beyond the shine and polish of American life and see the sorrow and phoniness that we’ve come to embrace so lovingly. This song seems to be a lament about a plastic surgeon and how no amount of “augmentation” or cosmetic cutting can cover up the emptiness so many of us carry around. That this was probably the biggest hit on the album probably makes the band laugh, and then wonder if the U.S. audience really gets what’s going on. For mixed messages, it’s like Nirvana’s “In Bloom.”

“Bones” to me is one of the CD’s weaker tracks. If you had to pare the CD, this would probably be the first to go.

Up next is “(nice dream).” It’s got a lot sunnier sound than Radiohead normally makes. It’s so cool that it sounds as if the singer might be sedated. He’s hoping things calm down, life settles… if it takes a heavier dosage, that’s cool. Just make it nice. Nice dream.

“Just” is legendary for the amazing video that the band recorded for the song. Check it out, and tell me what you think the guy says. The song rocks. A simplistic summation, but this is also one of the band’s most direct rockers. Sometimes it’s the message, and sometimes it’s the intensity of the message. The latter half of the song, the band really airs it out. My recommendation: Turn this one up to 11. I had to play this song twice in a row, and was tempted to go for a third round.

But “My Iron Lung” wouldn’t let me. This is a song that has grown over time. I think the band is speaking to the normal disillusionment of youth but there’s something darker here… people use whatever they can to get through the daily shit. If you’re sick, you might need an iron lung. You might think you need a ciggy, or a blunt, or a drink, or even music. At the end of the day, though, these things might artificially keep you going, but really, you’re on your own. Good luck.

So after eight songs of misery and hopelessness, it’s time for… pure agony. “bullet proof.. I wish I was” sounds to me like a last will and testament from a rejected lover. The song doesn’t take much analysis, really. Listen to it, and if you don’t feel the loss, chances are good you’re already dead.

“Black Star” almost sounds like a conventional love song. However, a closer look shows that it’s a love song about a lost love. The couple is no more, but the singer still thinks about the lost love. And, apparently, the breakup was recent. As in, days ago.

At one time, I looked at “Sulk” as maybe one of the album’s lesser efforts. I have grown wiser. It’s a simple song, but powerful. Plus most people probably don’t even consider the meaning of the following lyric: “You look so pretty when you’re on your knees, disinfected, eager to please.”

Can we be at the last track already? Under duress, if I had to, “Street Spirit (fade out)” might be the other song I’d slice from my iTunes library. It’s a pretty song, but a little slight. Maybe it’s just that after having been beaten and bitten for 11 songs, we’ve tired of the fight. So we can let this one slip from our grasp.

“The Bends” is a stunning piece of work, all the more remarkable to me in the leap made in quality from Radiohead’s first release to this. Looking back on it now, some 16 years later and against an impressive body of CDs, it seems obvious this band would become legendary. At the time, no one knew what they had. The album peaked at 88 in the Billboard charts. Crazy.

One last note: In 2009 the band reissued The Bends in a collector’s edition with a second disc that includes the phenomenal song “Talk Show Host.” Fans know of this one, but if you’re looking to get a little deeper into the band’s back catalogue, don’t miss it.