The Bends - Click Title To PlayWell, like I think I said in an earlier post, I was a little late to the game in terms of my appreciation for Radiohead. This song from their second album has long been one of my favorites though. As opposed to say, Karma Police, this (to me, at least) is a more typical Radiohead song thematically. This one is all about alienation and isolation, which can be a nice change of pace sometimes. Can't always be listening to music about sunshine daydreams, can we?
The production on this record seemed to have stepped it up a bit from the debut (Pablo Honey) and was a step closer to the tripped out sounds on OK Computer- The guitars seemed heavier and the keyboards more involved. I've always thought one of the most differentiating things about the band was the massive amount of time Thom Yorke sings in falsetto. At the time these records were coming out, he's about the only guy I can think of that was doing this. I read recently that the band consciously decided to move away from the sound of some of these 90's albums due to the fact that crap bands like Coldplay sort of adopted the sound. When you're as good as these guys are, I guess you can just be confident that you'll find yourself another awesome sound. Kind of like U2 has been doing for 25 years or so.
Doesn't it always seem to happen like that, though? A great, original band comes out with a groundbreaking sound and within 6 months there are a bunch of shitty bands commandeering that 'sound'. It happened with Nirvana, and with Zeppelin in the 70s before them. I'm sure it happened to someone in the 1980s too. That's just how the record industry looks at things - like it's a formula that can be repeated over and over.
Anyway, this was fun to record as a goof, but I think I'll go back to some more straight ahead acoustic songs.
Posts
One of the best albums of the '90s. really shows the progression from 'Pablo Honey' to 'Ok Computer'. Great, big guitar riffs. Check out their b-sides from this and 'OK" - as good if not some better songs than the albums.
ReplyDeleteIn an unrelated note, I saw the vid for "Waiting on A Friend" the other morning while up with my 6 month daughter at about 6AM. 2 cool vid facts - 1) the building where they meet is the same from the cover of Zep's 'Physical Graffiti' 2) Peter Tosh is one of the dudes on the steps.
All the more reason to try a stripped down version. see my note from before o the arrangement - it would be killer. I am the new Mutt Lange.
Matt Ryan
You aren't giving up on that Waiting on a Friend idea, are you? It's been like 10 years since I've heard that song, let me have a quick listen.
ReplyDeleteHow in the world did you know that that was the building from the Zeppelin album? Freak.
I read it somewhere - forget where.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting tidbit about "WOAF" - was originally written and recorded for 1974's 'It's Only Rock and Roll' but shelved for 7 years until 'Tattoo You'. Mick Taylor plays guitar on it - most of the track is from the '74 sessions but the Stones added a bit of stuff in '81. I read that in a very cool book (years ago - high school maybe) which chronicles all the Stones sessions up to 'Steel Wheels'.
Matt Ryan
you my friend, are truly a wealth of (worthless?) knowledge. steel wheels blew by the way . . .
ReplyDeleteLet's be real - "Tattoo You" was the last album really worth mentioning. 'Rock In a Hard Place" off of Steel Wheels may be one of the worst songs of the past 50 years. Still, they are worth seeing live - saw them twice about 10 years ago - they play a lot of deep cuts like 'Monkey Man" and "Loving Cup".
ReplyDeleteMatt Ryan