"OK Computer": Classic Or Dud?

In Rainbows was the first Radiohead album that came out after I had become a superfan, and yeah listening to the 2006 shows threw me for a loop. the album sounded so thin and dry, almost like a radio session.

Ed O'Brien on "Lift" and why they left it off the album:

We played that live with Alanis Morissette. It was a really interesting song. The audience, suddenly you’d see them get up and start grooving. It had this infectiousness. It was a big anthemic song. If that song had been on that album, it would've taken us to a different place, and probably we’d have sold a lot more records—if we’d done it right. And everyone was saying this. And I think we subconsciously killed it. If OK Computer had been like a Jagged Little Pill, it would’ve killed us. But “Lift” had this magic about it. But when we got to the studio and did it, it felt like having a gun to your head. There was so much pressure. But saying that, I’ve got a monitor mix, and it is pretty good.

http://pitchfork.com/news/73241-radioheads-ed-obrien-says-they-subconsciously-killed-lift-because-it-wouldve-made-them-too-popular/

seems like the prevailing take on this album is no more enthusiastic or nuanced than "lol 90s"

I think OKC holds up pretty well, doesn't sound very badly dated to me.

The stuff they did before is definitely too lol 90s for me though, I wasn't really old enough to be aware of them at the time so I don't have much in the way of nostalgia for The Bends, which I've always found pretty dull.

the prevailing take on it outside of this forum is quite a lot more positive than that - it's probably the most deeply 'canonized' record post-1970s

what, 'The Bends'? OKC is way more deeply canonized

was talking about OK Computer

ah ok nvm, my b

ok computer is THE GREATEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME according to rym, which makes it both difficult and pointless to say anything nice about it

OKC just sounds really sterile to me these days, I can't really listen to it after the first two tracks. It's kinda weird actually, since I still really enjoy listening to everything from Kid A onward.

In case you haven't been around New/Old song "I promise" was released today with a music video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sFvFVkeGVg

So happy to hear Thom's 90's vocals again.

did they ever play this one live? don't remember it, unlike Lift/Big Boots/Manowar

This bootleg live version has been in my MP3 collection since 1999 or so:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlWR8hCFg_o

It's kind of the same as the live version we've had. I'm thinking the studio version of lift and manowar will also be pretty much the same.

They're not amazing songs since they're not even b-side worthy by Radiohead standards and you can tell from what we have that they're some of the weakest songs from the bends/okc era, still I'm so happy to hear mid-90's Thom's voice. He was at the top of his game back then.

I think Ed once described 'I promise' as sort of a Roy Orbison inspired number, now I kind of wish there was a Roy Orbison cover of this one.

Personally I'm hearing an REM influence. Thom is a big REM fan... I know he sang 'Be Mine' with the rest of REM for the Tibetan Freedom Concert back in 1998 I think? .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2VAHF2o0TA

I thought of Orbison right away.

did they ever play this one live? don't remember it, unlike Lift/Big Boots/Manowar

― flappy bird

yeah, a documented part of their set during 12 shows in '96 (more often than big boots, which was almost exclusively played in november of '95):

http://58hours.com/58_performancehistory.php?external_song_id=pJjds3upgnAq

so . . . "i promise", "man of war", and "lift" studio versions are not that bad

Definitely a better fit with 'The Bends'-era b-sides, though not as strong as most of them. The songs might be almost as good as some, but the production is definitely very pedestrian--sound more like demos (were it not for the strings). Fun to hear them, though--definitely keen to hear the cassette, assuming it's not a C90 of 30-second snippets or re-re-re-re-re-recorded on a boombox so as to give it some sort of cassette authentic experience. . .

Yeah these are excellent considering they're C-Sides. Wouldn't fit in The Bends or OKC (mayhaps I Promise could in Bends) but many britrocks bands from the era wishes they had something half as good as these and they're practically fodder for Radiohead.

Ah, Radiohead fan hyperbole, how much I've missed thee.

I haven't heard the new edition, but the hype around it somehow got my 12-year-old son interested in Radiohead (what he latches onto and why is always unpredictable). So we're listening to OKC and Moon Shaped Pool a lot in the car these days, and even though it's been years since I thought or cared much about these guys, I've been enjoying it. Good band!

considering how much i connected with radiohead as a depressed person, i kinda hope my son doesnt get into them that much when he gets older. (current favs: kraftwerk, daft punk, yellow magic orchestra, zapp, the monkees).

Ah, Radiohead fan hyperbole, how much I've missed thee.

― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), miércoles 21 de junio de 2017 3:11 (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm not necessarily saying they are great songs, I'm saying the britrock movement from the 90's kinda sucked.

I disagree, there was a lot of very good guitar music from the UK in the '90s.

m bison yr son sounds really cool

He is! 😄

http://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/ok-computer-oknotok-1997-2017

this review details the cassette which sounds very very promising

it's very understandable that lift and man of war were never released until now, neither really feels like a definitive take unfortunately, though lift is still really nice. it's sort of a shame they've finally given up on songs like that though

I wish I could just buy that cassette. On CD.

Any thoughts/opinions about the sound quality of the remaster?

After 'True Love Waits' appeared on the last album, I find it impossible to rule out any old idea appearing on a new Radiohead release. If 'Lift' suddenly appeared a couple of albums down the line in a radically different version, I wouldn't be surprised at all.

I would, now.

I need to hear that cassette.

holy shit:

But hang on, there’s more. For the utterly besotted there’s the now-customary “Super Deluxe” version, complete with a lavishly illustrated book and a C90 cassette, the contents of which appear to have gone under the radar in the run up to this release. It’s been described, with typical understatement, as a “mix of session archives”, suggesting it’s strictly for the hardcore.
And initially it feels that way; dizzying bleeps, studio found sounds, pretty but inconsequential doodling about – the sort of thing that completists listen to once and then file away. But about seven minutes in a version of Let Down emerges from the bluster, all campfire-like acoustic guitars and double-tracked, resigned and vulnerable vocals from Yorke. It suggests that the song was brought to the sessions fully-formed and is so strong that lesser bands may have left it that way, that they didn’t only emphasizes the invention and wit poured into the arrangement of the final version.

exactly. read that recordcollectormag review, there's much more of that where it came from. early versions of motion picture soundtrack, others as well.

yousendit??

yeahhh so uh who bought the deluxe edition

i miss what.cd

m/r/radiohead/comments/6ix8wv/some_details_on_contents_of_oknotok_cassette/

SIDE 1
Let Down (acoustic)
[UNKNOWN SONG WTF]
Motion Picture Soundtrack (piano acoustic)
Climbing Up the Walls (creepy little girl spoken word version)
[Karma Police sketches]
2 Fitter 2 Happier
No Surprises Please
Talk Show Host (early version)

SIDE 2
Climbing Up the Walls (trip-hop version)
[Paranoid Android sketches]
An Airbag Saved My Life
Big Ideas (Don't Get Any)
The National Anthem (early version)

[UNKNOWN SONG WTF]

I trust this is the actual title.

i don't know about everyone else but i'm approximately 100000000000% more excited about this than hearing the studio versions of i promise, big boots, and lift. nothing against those songs, but i've been listening to those since high school and went through the full cycle of obsession with them a long time ago.

i'm trying not to get my hopes up too much because i expect them to be really rough cuts, and i realize there's a reason they left these old versions behind, but i want to hear them noooowwwww

yeah i feel exactly the same. i've wanted to hear alt-arrangements of Motion Picture Soundtrack & the National Anthem for years. and iirc the rhythm track of the final version of The National Anthem was recorded during the OKC sessions, or shortly thereafter, maybe when they were putting together that Airbag EP. so this is either the Kid A base rhythm track OR an entirely different early rough version, yeahhh so who has the cassette

hopefully it'll hit soulseek at some point

listening to these c-sides on spotify, yall this band seriously DOES NOT KNOW WHAT THEIR BEST SONGS ARE i hate them so much

Lift is a song that really sneaks up on you... fucking brilliant. but another victim of Creep PTSD

haha just came here to say "lift" is the one, im not bowled over by the rest of the new three.

where is melissa w

Lift is the bomb but this new released version is pretty much identical to the one that's been floating around since 1996, just sayin''''''''''mmmm pizza

hopefully it'll hit soulseek at some point

― global tetrahedron

everything hits slsk, except apparently for the toulouse record which exists only on rym threads from 2003

"i promise" is their masterpiece; unfortunately, it contains no music.

After hearing the acoustic version of 'Motion Picture Soundtrack', I was surprised/delighted when I heard the studio version on Kid A - I'm not expecting an acoustic piano version of it to be revelatory, nor would I expect the early version of 'The National Anthem' to be much different - some different lyrics/no lyrics at all and def. no horns.