"OK Computer": Classic Or Dud?

Has anyone culled out the subset of tracks that are all in the vein of "Climbing Up The Walls" yet? Those are the only things I'm curious to hear.

for example, listen to the early version of paranoid android that starts around minute 18 of the fourth disc

― i will never make a typo ever again (Karl Malone), Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:46 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

doesn't sound like any of them had this part completely worked out when they started recording. phil doesn't sound bad his parts just trail off sometimes?

i am a bad drummer though, who can say

Totally agree about Selway, have talked a lot with friends about Radiohead's rhythm section being very conservative and safe, nobody seems to agree.

There's a scene in the Grant Gee documentary of Selway playing The Tourist live (iirc) and he just keeps playing the same rubbish drum fill over and over and over and it was then I realised that he was kinda cow-like in his approach, it's disguised generally, but you can hear him scratching around on the leaked tracks trying to figure out the cut bars and time signatures in Paranoid Android and his playing is really unadventurous.

can't say i think conservative and safe are inherently bad qualities for a rhythm section cf. "weird fishes"

and "the national anthem"

his playing is really unadventurous.

yep. and the thing is, if you're unadventurous, cool, but then you should either be very steady and reliable, or have a really good feel/groove/pocket. during the 90s selway was neither adventurous or steady, at least in these rehearsals

can't say i think conservative and safe are inherently bad qualities for a rhythm section cf. "weird fishes"

― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, June 12, 2019 3:00 PM (thirty-one seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and "the national anthem"

― american bradass (BradNelson)

i do think his playing started to get better/more interesting around kid a and afterward. on Pyramid Song, for example, he manages to make a pretty complicated composition and time signature sound very natural, and that isn't easy!

oh yeah the drumming on "pyramid song" is completely fucking sick

i guess your criticism is fair karl, i did notice the other day he plays the same fill on "subterranean homesick alien" over and over again (but i love that fill! it's like another hook!)

I mean they have two drummers now, so go figure

pedestrian f'ing four armed rhythm section

on Pyramid Song, for example, he manages to make a pretty complicated composition and time signature sound very natural, and that isn't easy!

He makes a 4/4 time signature sound complicated (which is even harder!)

XP to Brad, I feel that given how far the band try to stretch themselves with melody, texture, structure and arrangement, it's a bit of a shame that they have a tweedy, mid-tempo and slightly stiff sounding bassist and drummer.

I like his drumming and kinda don't want to hear them with a drummer's drummer (although I wouldn't mind if Clive Deamer got to play on some records, he's got chops but is super tasteful and used to emulating breakbeats, vis a vis those Portishead and Roni Size records).

xp oh, you're right!
https://www.quora.com/In-what-time-signature-is-Radioheads-Pyramid-Song

Feel like Colin and Phil are necessarily conservative considering how far out the other three can get. I agree with Brad though about some of his parts and fills functioning as hooks, I think “Morning Bell” is defined by that drum part.

yeah, totally agreed on morning bell. i wonder if he took lessons before the Kid A / Amnesiac sessions? Colin took lessons before the bends

With regards to Colin and his bass playing, I found this recent interview to be an interesting read... https://bassmagazine.com/artists/colin-greenwood-how-to-disappear-completely

wow that interview rules

I will forever be on Team “Pyramid Song is in 12/8”

I don't distinguish between 4/4 and 12/8 :)

Yeah, Colin seems like such a lovely guy and it's obvious that he absolutely loves being in the band, which is heart-warming. He's clearly got a lot of dedication to his bass playing as well. xxp

I dunno if the 'Phil Is Bad' crew have seen either of the From The Basement videos but he seems amazing in those.

want to be clear that i only think phil was bad bad from the time of his birth until the kid a / amnesiac sessions

today i listened to disc 7 - i enjoyed this one a lot, goes from thom singing the customer satisfaction blurb on a consumer product to a "beautiful jam" to karma police with the chorus "this is what you get when you fuck with me" to a jammed out "let down" (forget all the talk about the nonexistent "12 minute paranoid android", "7 minute let down" is my jam) to an interminable whiteboy funk jam that thom opines sounds like station to station... no thom, it's more like wild cherry, but we love you anyway

are there cuesplitter files for the official flacs like there were for the boot mp3s?

Phil is often my favourite element of Radiohead - couldn’t disagree more that he has no “feel”, he makes even a simple rhythm swing and pulse for me. cf Decks Dark on the last album. He has improved a great deal, it’s true, but I greatly prefer late period anyway.

xp Cues for the official bootleg are in progress at http://www.on-a-friday.com/MiniDiscs-Hacked/

oh same place as before, makes sense :)

had to go back on the Reddit to find that. Dude made a new directory on his super secret server.

Looking forward to making a compilation out of the best bits of all this plus the box set tape. All of this was fun but it's not like I'm ever going to listen all through again.

Also Reddit thinks the new Thom solo album is imminent

Also, are Phil's solo albums good?

Who were the great British drummers of the 1990s? I cant imagine many (if any) of them were in guitar bands. Reni maybe, but he fucked off.

I'm not sure I could name great pop/rock British drummers from the 80s or 00s or 10s, actually !

Isn't the guy from Muse highly regarded?

David Francolini of Levitation/Dark Star

Presumably samplers and drum machines have a role to play in that.

lee harris
stephen perkins
colm ó cíosóig
matt cameron
reni
chris sharrock
mike joyce
sheila e
neil conti
david palmer
steve jansen
fred maher
...

Matt Cameron and Sheila E are not British, wtf I will not stand for this slander. (neither is Stephen Perkins, but you can have him if you want)

(love that Colin Greenwood interview btw)

right, my bad, read too fast...

Oh good, I thought I was falling for a joke I didn't understand :)

hehe

yeah, totally agreed on morning bell. i wonder if he took lessons before the Kid A / Amnesiac sessions? Colin took lessons before the bends

― i will never make a typo ever again (Karl Malone), Wednesday, June 12, 2019 3:56 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

So did Phil, apparently!

http://www.coneysloft.com/magazine/2017/9/7/phil-selway-interview
I actually went back to college early on in Radiohead to advance my drumming skills. It was in the period between Pablo Honey and The Bends and I realised that there were aspects of my technique that were holding me back. As I was self-taught musically – in all aspects – it’s easy to pick up bad habits and I wanted to get rid of them. I did lessons for about 5-6 months and they gave me some fundamental principles that have helped me throughout my whole career.

lee harris
stephen perkins
colm ó cíosóig
matt cameron
reni
chris sharrock
mike joyce
sheila e
neil conti
david palmer
steve jansen
fred maher

Good list! I was thinking of Mike Joyce and Reni.

I do find that interesting, when particular band members upgrade btwn albums/periods, like the Manics' Sean Moore going from being replaced by a drum machine on Generation Terrorists to being a beast on Holy Bible not too much later

Colin seems like a nice lad

I actually went back to college early on in Radiohead to advance my drumming skills. It was in the period between Pablo Honey and The Bends and I realised that there were aspects of my technique that were holding me back. As I was self-taught musically – in all aspects – it’s easy to pick up bad habits and I wanted to get rid of them. I did lessons for about 5-6 months and they gave me some fundamental principles that have helped me throughout my whole career.

oh hey me too phil!!!!

Good list! I was thinking of Mike Joyce and Reni

Joyce is a really great team with Andy Rourke, and definitely "good" on the Julian Cope and late-90s Mighty Wah! tracks he plays on, but I dunno that there's anything remarkable about him, let alone great. And he doesn't work enough to be able to tell! His last three decades have apparently been: take a gig, be good enough to be asked to stay on, insist on more money than anyone can afford, do nothing for 3-7 years, repeat.

Rourke on the other hand was (is?) a sick bassist. I have no idea what he did after The Smiths.

Yeah I’m not sure M. Joyce could be considered a great drummer...

lol Am I crazy considering Colin one of my favorite bassists? Does he not write his parts? Because imo Radiohead's bass is consistently outstanding -- I've thought so ever since hearing "Airbag" and "Talk Show Host."

his soul/funk influences definitely creep in those basslines

Worth reading the interview upthread