Radiohead – OK Computer (8.5/10)
“…there is a catchiness built into most of the songs that makes the album both fun to listen to and to immerse yourself in.”
1. Airbag
2. Paranoid Android
3. Subterranean Homesick Alien
4. Exit Music (For A Film)
5. Let Down
6. Karma Police
7. Fitter Happier
8. Electioneering
9. Climbing Up the Walls
10. No Surprises
11. Lucky
12. The Tourist
OK Computer can be called one of the best albums of the ‘90s, or at least Radiohead’s best because of its lush, textured sound. Even through the layers, though, there is a catchiness built into most of the songs that makes the album both fun to listen to and to immerse yourself in.
One of the strongest points on OK Computer is Thom Yorke’s vocals, with ‘Airbag’, ‘Lucky’, and ‘Paranoid Android’ standing out. Yorke is responsible for some of the best lyrics and melodies on the album, and he sings/plays them with assurance.
As a whole, OK Computer is not a singles album. There are some songs that stand very strongly on their own, such as ‘Karma Police’ or ‘Airbag’, but overall it has to be listened to as a complete work for the full effect. There are a few weaker tracks, or, in a special exception (one subtlety noted on the backside of the case), one that doesn’t belong at all, but even then they are listenable and work towards something larger.
I daresay that each and every song matters on the album and that even the apparent dud of “Fitter Happier” is an excellent song in the context of OK Computer. Remember, albums are an artform and not just a collection of singles. It is for this reason that many (including me) find OK Computer to be the greatest album of all time.
I know albums aren’t just a collection of singles, and if I made it sound like I think that way, I apologize. I just don’t like how Fitter Happier ills the flow that was building through the first 6 tracks – I can see what they were trying to do with the track but I don’t like the result.
Hello,
Great Writing! Would you consider doing a review for a New Age Album? Here is some info about it. You can also hear the title track ‘Ascension’ at our myspace http://www.myspace.com/bayareacontemporarymusic
If you are interested I can email you the tracks.
Thanks- Have a Great Holiday!
Monica Willliams
Phoenix Rising
ABOUT THIS CD …
We are living in a time of stress and struggle. There is still hunger, hatred, and sickness in a world that is also filled with such beauty, generosity, and harmony. ASCAP award-winning composer Wendy Loomis and Eastman School of Music alumna Monica Williams decided to create a CD that had the power to help people relax, de-stress, and energize with positive vibrations of gratitude for this life. While Wendy was in the middle of a yoga class, she had a vision of the CD being organized around the 7 chakras. For those of you unfamiliar, the 7 chakras are energy centers that run up the human body from the base of the spine, to the sexual center, the stomach, the heart, the throat, the 3rd eye between the eyebrows, and the crown of the head. Many people have developed systems that associate colors and tones with each chakra. Monica and Wendy decided not to be quite so literal in their interpretation, but rather incorporate the idea of energy rising from our most earthly, primal instincts up toward our higher, nobler, spiritual realm – the eternal quest to ascend toward the Higher Power. And ASCENSION was born.
7 is a lucky and inspiring number that is threaded through ASCENSION: there are 7 tones in a scale, the compositions are in 7 different key signatures, the music is played on 7 primary instruments, Monica was born in ’77, and this is the 7th CD of Wendy’s music.
With the exception of ‘Seed’ and ‘Nourishment’ which were improvisations, the themes for this CD were composed by Wendy Loomis. Monica and Wendy arranged the flute and piano sounds in a weave with instruments from around the world played by a group of very talented women: Jennifer Lim on guzheng (China); Debra Podjed on tabla (India) and goat hooves (Bolivia); Jessica Styler on hang drum (Switzerland); Suellen Primost on cello (Italy); Irina Mikhailova on voice (born in Russia); and Karen Segal on guitar (Spain/the Middle East).