Ottawa X-Press, 12.06.97
Radiohead rules OK
by Allan Wigney
There seems to be a nasty backlash brewing against so-called "Britpop". I do not consider myself a participant. Rather, I saw little or nothing of value in any of these pimply Blurasis types from day one. Since the glory days of The Smiths and the Jesus and Mary Chain, the UK has produced but two bands of merit: the late, lamented Stone Roses, and Radiohead.
Two years ago, at Barrymore's, the latter of those great Brit bands put on a live show which remains one of the best this city has seen. Earlier this month, in Toronto, Radiohead played a show for the faithful - plus several "invited guests" from MuchMusic, The Edge, and such who were there mostly to be seen and not to hear - which was very nearly as good.
On Tuesday next, the five piece will release what bassist Colin Greenwood calls its "delicate third album." It, too, is very good indeed. Very, very good, in fact.
What OK Computer shares with The Bends is a wealth of breathtaking songs - often positively operatic proportions, such as the current single, "Paranoid Android". Singer Thom Yorke's vocals effortlessly glide across a few octaves, while guitarists Jonny Greenwood (brother of Colin), and Ed O'Brien slash and burn their axes. This band goes from gentle to menacing faster than Charlie Sheen.
"It's not The Bends, the Sequel, or of The Prequel," Colin opines, "but there's a continuity. You don't get the feeling we've ripped up all the songs from The Bends and re-invented ourselves in a horribly pop-tastic way."
Radiohead has been compared to everyone from Mott The Hoople to U2 (Greenwood claims that even Bread has been name-dropped by some). Le Journal de Montreal even dubbed the band the "Roy Orbison of the 90s." In other words, it's a sound too diverse to adequately define in terms of influences.
For some, however, the band may still be tied to its first taste of success, a splendidly, self-pitying songs - with a tune not unlike "The Air That I Breathe" - called "Creep". That song haunted the band for some time (Greenwood concedes that "we've sold twice as many copies of Pablo Honey in America as The Bends; therefore, 'Creep' is the song that we're still known for"), but OK Computer (Parlophone/EMI) is a strong enough album to set the band apart from both that hit and the Britpop connection.
Radiohead has never been accorded "media darling" status in the UK. The accepted explanation is that the music press has not forgiven the band for slipping by unnoticed, before any of the mags could "discover" this "next big thing." By the time the press woke up to Radiohead's brilliance, it was too late.
When the Greenwood brothers, with drummer Phil Selway, discussed OK Computer with me before the recent Toronto show, the subject of the British press brought out minor criticisms from the musicians, mixed with a distinct "Rule, Brittania" pride. I reminded the band of the grand battles between the NME and Melody Maker during that last golden age of Britpop, over the like of Sigue Sigue Sputnik. In Britain, the press is either a friend or a bitter enemy - for life.
"Yeah," Colin agrees, "but you can't help that, can you? You can't help them liking you or hating you. I think we try to more detached from it - we're bemused by it."
"We're still proud of it though," brother Jonny is quick to add. "I mean, you get to America and Aerosmith's on the cover of Rolling Stone, or Bob Dylan's son. I'd rather be reading about the next Sigue Sigue Sputnik, even if they are going to fizzle out. I want bands that are the same age as me, not the age of my parents."
"America has a tradition of some of the finest writing about rock music in the world," Colin sighs, "together with the worst music press in the world. I'm surprised that regional, city-wide publications (like X-Press) aren't more influential than they are."
The momentum is growing for Radiohead, nonetheless. Selway agrees that "people are a bit more open to us this time than they were with The Bends." The songs display remarkable growth in the band; this time out, the members essentially produced the album themselves (with The Bends engineer Nigel Godrich). Colin Greenwood credits Bends producer John Leckie with providing the education the young band needed to take charge.
"I don't think we'd have actually attempted to produce this ourselves if we hadn't worked with John Leckie," Colin admits. "He taught us an awful lot about the process of recording and his attitude that he wasn't a great arranger but he was there to capture a snapshot of that particular time; so, he continually put the responsibility for actually building arrangements back onto us all the time. It seemed a very natural process to actually produce the next album ourselves."
Part of the album was recorded at the band's own recently built studio, Canned Applause. After three completed songs there, the band moved to more familiar surroundings, including EMI's Abbey Road studio. ("We're very nomadic rockers," Colin says of the move, "and there were no toilets.")
The results are truly inspiring. Songs such as the first single "Airbag" or the feedback-drenched rave-up "Electioneering" rank among the band's best. Of course, there are moments of sheer melodic delight; Yorke flexes his vocal muscle on "No Surprises" and "Exit Music [for a film]." Then there is the bizarre spoken-word pastiche "Fitter, Happier" which recalls such past British oddities as might be found on the Small Faces' Ogden's Nut Gone Flask or The Who Sell Out.
"People might skip 'Fitter, Happier'," Colin admits, "but it's a good piece of music; it's a really good thing."
"I actually skip *to* 'Fitter, Happier'," quips brother Jonny.
Above all, OK Computer is an album for people who want more than a mere collection of potential singles. Some have dropped names such as Ziggy Stardust on the latest Radiohead epic. Certainly, there is some of that grandeur and Bowie has long been revered by British bands.
"I think he's increasingly *less* revered," Colin points out, "as he gets older and floats himself on the stock exchange. Still," he deadpans, "I think it's good that rock stars can grow old and live comfortably."
Radiohead will likely have that option (Colin dismisses that idea of outside projects: "Hindu Love Gods," he sniffs. "That's all we need say.") Canadians can take pride in the fact that we have so far embraced Radiohead in a way that Americans haven't. The feeling, it seems, is mutual. Last year, for instance, the band opted to open for our own Alanis Morissette on an American tour.
"Well," says Colin, "we're big fans of Canadian music and we thought it was really cool to support a Canadian artist in America...
"Not that she needed the help," Selway interjects.
"As it turned out," Jonny adds, "we were a hindrance - frightening away some of the audience before she came on."
by Allan Wigney
There seems to be a nasty backlash brewing against so-called "Britpop". I do not consider myself a participant. Rather, I saw little or nothing of value in any of these pimply Blurasis types from day one. Since the glory days of The Smiths and the Jesus and Mary Chain, the UK has produced but two bands of merit: the late, lamented Stone Roses, and Radiohead.
Two years ago, at Barrymore's, the latter of those great Brit bands put on a live show which remains one of the best this city has seen. Earlier this month, in Toronto, Radiohead played a show for the faithful - plus several "invited guests" from MuchMusic, The Edge, and such who were there mostly to be seen and not to hear - which was very nearly as good.
On Tuesday next, the five piece will release what bassist Colin Greenwood calls its "delicate third album." It, too, is very good indeed. Very, very good, in fact.
What OK Computer shares with The Bends is a wealth of breathtaking songs - often positively operatic proportions, such as the current single, "Paranoid Android". Singer Thom Yorke's vocals effortlessly glide across a few octaves, while guitarists Jonny Greenwood (brother of Colin), and Ed O'Brien slash and burn their axes. This band goes from gentle to menacing faster than Charlie Sheen.
"It's not The Bends, the Sequel, or of The Prequel," Colin opines, "but there's a continuity. You don't get the feeling we've ripped up all the songs from The Bends and re-invented ourselves in a horribly pop-tastic way."
Radiohead has been compared to everyone from Mott The Hoople to U2 (Greenwood claims that even Bread has been name-dropped by some). Le Journal de Montreal even dubbed the band the "Roy Orbison of the 90s." In other words, it's a sound too diverse to adequately define in terms of influences.
For some, however, the band may still be tied to its first taste of success, a splendidly, self-pitying songs - with a tune not unlike "The Air That I Breathe" - called "Creep". That song haunted the band for some time (Greenwood concedes that "we've sold twice as many copies of Pablo Honey in America as The Bends; therefore, 'Creep' is the song that we're still known for"), but OK Computer (Parlophone/EMI) is a strong enough album to set the band apart from both that hit and the Britpop connection.
Radiohead has never been accorded "media darling" status in the UK. The accepted explanation is that the music press has not forgiven the band for slipping by unnoticed, before any of the mags could "discover" this "next big thing." By the time the press woke up to Radiohead's brilliance, it was too late.
When the Greenwood brothers, with drummer Phil Selway, discussed OK Computer with me before the recent Toronto show, the subject of the British press brought out minor criticisms from the musicians, mixed with a distinct "Rule, Brittania" pride. I reminded the band of the grand battles between the NME and Melody Maker during that last golden age of Britpop, over the like of Sigue Sigue Sputnik. In Britain, the press is either a friend or a bitter enemy - for life.
"Yeah," Colin agrees, "but you can't help that, can you? You can't help them liking you or hating you. I think we try to more detached from it - we're bemused by it."
"We're still proud of it though," brother Jonny is quick to add. "I mean, you get to America and Aerosmith's on the cover of Rolling Stone, or Bob Dylan's son. I'd rather be reading about the next Sigue Sigue Sputnik, even if they are going to fizzle out. I want bands that are the same age as me, not the age of my parents."
"America has a tradition of some of the finest writing about rock music in the world," Colin sighs, "together with the worst music press in the world. I'm surprised that regional, city-wide publications (like X-Press) aren't more influential than they are."
The momentum is growing for Radiohead, nonetheless. Selway agrees that "people are a bit more open to us this time than they were with The Bends." The songs display remarkable growth in the band; this time out, the members essentially produced the album themselves (with The Bends engineer Nigel Godrich). Colin Greenwood credits Bends producer John Leckie with providing the education the young band needed to take charge.
"I don't think we'd have actually attempted to produce this ourselves if we hadn't worked with John Leckie," Colin admits. "He taught us an awful lot about the process of recording and his attitude that he wasn't a great arranger but he was there to capture a snapshot of that particular time; so, he continually put the responsibility for actually building arrangements back onto us all the time. It seemed a very natural process to actually produce the next album ourselves."
Part of the album was recorded at the band's own recently built studio, Canned Applause. After three completed songs there, the band moved to more familiar surroundings, including EMI's Abbey Road studio. ("We're very nomadic rockers," Colin says of the move, "and there were no toilets.")
The results are truly inspiring. Songs such as the first single "Airbag" or the feedback-drenched rave-up "Electioneering" rank among the band's best. Of course, there are moments of sheer melodic delight; Yorke flexes his vocal muscle on "No Surprises" and "Exit Music [for a film]." Then there is the bizarre spoken-word pastiche "Fitter, Happier" which recalls such past British oddities as might be found on the Small Faces' Ogden's Nut Gone Flask or The Who Sell Out.
"People might skip 'Fitter, Happier'," Colin admits, "but it's a good piece of music; it's a really good thing."
"I actually skip *to* 'Fitter, Happier'," quips brother Jonny.
Above all, OK Computer is an album for people who want more than a mere collection of potential singles. Some have dropped names such as Ziggy Stardust on the latest Radiohead epic. Certainly, there is some of that grandeur and Bowie has long been revered by British bands.
"I think he's increasingly *less* revered," Colin points out, "as he gets older and floats himself on the stock exchange. Still," he deadpans, "I think it's good that rock stars can grow old and live comfortably."
Radiohead will likely have that option (Colin dismisses that idea of outside projects: "Hindu Love Gods," he sniffs. "That's all we need say.") Canadians can take pride in the fact that we have so far embraced Radiohead in a way that Americans haven't. The feeling, it seems, is mutual. Last year, for instance, the band opted to open for our own Alanis Morissette on an American tour.
"Well," says Colin, "we're big fans of Canadian music and we thought it was really cool to support a Canadian artist in America...
"Not that she needed the help," Selway interjects.
"As it turned out," Jonny adds, "we were a hindrance - frightening away some of the audience before she came on."
Labels: Alanis Morissette, Colin Greenwood, interviews, Jonny Greenwood, OK Computer, Ottawa X-Press, Phil Selway
Radiohead’s bass player has been interviewed endlessly. One added weekly.
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