Day 0838 - OK Computer

Radiohead "OK Computer" (1997) - got it

A couple of things I learned reading about 'OK Computer':

1. Most it was recorded with the band playing together, allowing for bleed through of the instruments into each other's feed and using minimal overdubs.  I find that kind of interesting, as I've always pictured the band meticulously layering overdubs and putting together the album piece by piece like that.
   
   
2. A couple of the songs were thrown together fairly quickly at outside requests.  Again, I find that surprising because I assumed the band were a group of perfectionists who would need/want to spend weeks or even months on any given track.

It was one of these quick turnaround songs "Lucky" that started off the writing for OK Computer.  Brian Eno had requested a composition from the band for a charity compilation and the song was recorded in five hours with Nigel Godrich, who had been an engineer on previous album "The Bends".   The band were happy with the experience and brought Godrich on to produce OK Computer, and eventually all subsequent Radiohead albums and Thom Yorke's solo material.

The album moves further away from the rock sound of "Pablo Honey" and "the Bends", with only "Electioneering" really feeling like a 'rock' song.  

The album starts off with an almost 'Bends-esque' track "Airbag", but then track two "Paranoid Android" comes crashing in taking you on a sonic odyssey and setting the scene for the album, from the simple acoustic guitar and vocal that swells to a dense arrangement mixing guitar noises and keyboards, with multiple vocals layered and playing against each other in a melancholic, almost unsettling atmosphere.  A similar approach is used on "Karma Police" and the brilliant "Exit Music (For a Film)" (written at request for the soundtrack to Baz Lurhmann's "Romeo and Juliet" film).

The lovely, delicate "No Suprises" offers a respite from the aural density.  

The album was a huge success, but Radiohead would not rest on their laurels, taking even bigger risks with their next release "Kid A" and flipping the script on their sound yet again.