Review Summary: 3..3.3.3.3.3.3.3.....5?
PERFECTION
The concept of perfection basically amounts to a universal, unflawed, something. Perfection is to find no fault in something. When
OK Computer was made, Radiohead never intended to make something perfect; and yet
OK Computer was possibly the closest we ever got to a musical form of perfection.
As production of their third album began, Radiohead fully embraced Nigel Godrich as producer. Unlike
The Bends,
OK Computer completely ditched the Grunge/Alt Rock influences of the past. They opted instead for more layers and more instruments. Where
The Bends lyrics were largely introspective,
OK Computer's were mostly abstract and cryptic. As production drew on, Radiohead began to be influenced by the cinematic intensity of Ennio Morricone. One of the biggest versions of this idea is in
Lucky, whose percussion sequences and slow, yet atmospheric, guitar captured the ambient feel of the modern film score, but also maintained its own identity as a Rock song.
Exit Music (For a Film) was originally designed as a music piece to accompany Baz Luhrmann's version of
Romeo + Juliet, and its multi-instrumental production lends itself heavily to a modern film atmosphere.
One of the main concepts expressed in this album is Krautrock, something Thom Yorke described as "abusing the recording process". Indeed, Krautrock was born from German Rock's need to distance itself from the commercial ideal of Rock at the time, and certainly
OK Computer was Radiohead's idea of shirking off their commercial success as a band in the same vain.
Subterranean Homesick Alien is by far the best Krautrock-like song on the album, which has a combination of synthesizers, guitar sequences that are heavily edited, and other electronic components to capture the otherwordly nature of Krautrock and Space-Rock pioneered in the early 70's.
Electioneering follows the same route, albeit with a more rough sound, whereas the guitar is distorted rather than stretched and the composition more minimalist in style with less instruments and more repetition.
By far the biggest achievement on the record goes to
Paranoid Android, a truly amazing, 6-minute epic track featuring maracas, synthesizers, a xylophone in a couple parts, and stretched guitars all boosted by Thom Yorke's trance-like yodeling.
OK Computer is ironic in that it made Anti-mainstream, mainstream. Yet it was quite possibly one of the greatest albums of the 20th Century, achieving a form of euphoria not just heard, but felt. This album attracted audiences from all genres, from the mainstream to the avant-garde. There wasn't really any other time that music fans were closer.
OK Computer may not be perfection, but it became the closest music ever came to it. With this album Radiohead transcended above whatever level modern music had reached at that point, and traveled to worlds and universe unexplored, discovering a new way to hear and experience music for the modern mind.
