Radiohead OK Computer Collector's Edition

Radiohead OK Computer Collector's Edition

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Using the textured soundscapes of The Bends as a launching pad, Radiohead delivered another startlingly accomplished set of modern guitar rock with OK Computer. The anthemic guitar heroics present on Pablo Honey and even The Bends are nowhere to be heard here. Radiohead have stripped away many of the obvious elements of guitar rock, creating music that is subtle and textured yet still has the feeling of rock & roll. Even at its most adventurous -- such as the complex, multi-segmented "Paranoid Android" -- the band is tight, melodic, and muscular, and Thom Yorke's voice effortlessly shifts from a sweet falsetto to vicious snarls. It's a thoroughly astonishing demonstration of musical virtuosity and becomes even more impressive with repeated listens, which reveal subtleties like electronica rhythms, eerie keyboards, odd time signatures, and complex syncopations. Yet all of this would simply be showmanship if the songs weren't strong in themselves, and OK Computer is filled with moody masterpieces, from the shimmering "Subterranean Homesick Alien" and the sighing "Karma Police" to the gothic crawl of "Exit Music (For a Film)." OK Computer is the album that established Radiohead as one of the most inventive and rewarding guitar rock bands of the '90s.

Radiohead The Bends Collector's Edition

Radiohead The Bends Collector's Edition

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The Bends was Radiohead's peak as an adventurous guitar band and their creativity wasn't limited to the album proper -- it spilled over to that album's B-sides, resulting in their most consistent string of singles, which, in turn, makes the double-disc reissue of The Bends the best of all the 2009 deluxe Radiohead reissues. This collects all the B-sides from the singles for "My Iron Long," "High & Dry"/"Planet Telex," "Fake Plastic Trees," and "Street Spirit (Fade Out)," adding four BBC sessions to comprise a bonus disc totalling 21 tracks. Compared to the Pablo Honey and OK Computer reissues, this doesn't rely heavily on live tracks or remixes, so there is a pretty hefty amount of valuable non-LP songs here, including "Talk Show Host," "Bishop's Robes," "Banana Co.," and "Molasses," which all point the way toward the vibrant twitchy progressive rock of OK Computer. Even with these tunes hinting toward the future, the 21 tracks on the bonus disc are connected strongly to the muscular, imaginative present of Radiohead in 1995, building and expanding upon the sound of The Bends and, when presented in conjunction with the album, enhancing it, illustrating that this was when the band found its voice.