Radiohead's OK Computer and "sophistication": a semi-technical listening guide

[PeteH]

Thanks again folks - I hope someone found it useful / interesting / whatever. I was thinking of doing Automatic For The People next, but it'll take me a while to get round to it

 

[rsand]

To take a hi-fi nerd stance, I propose that most hi-fi systems make OKC sound like unlistenable mush in places, and very few can follow all of the instruments/noises/rhythms properly.

IOW, it's a severe test for a system.

Have to agree with that, its always a tes album for me, specifically the angry bit on parranoid android which can sound messy and harsh, as things have improved system wise this can be played louder due to extra clarity and smoothness. The whailing bit imediately after sound awsome you actually feel like your in York minster or something. Another good test album is Placebos without you I'm nothing, which I originally thought an awful recording is now stunning.

 

[Mr.C]

To take a hi-fi nerd stance, I propose that most hi-fi systems make OKC sound like unlistenable mush in places, and very few can follow all of the instruments/noises/rhythms properly.

IOW, it's a severe test for a system.

I'll second that - I originally thought that there was unnecessary compression and other nasties on OKC, but with major system improvements over the last few years this album has really unfolded to reveal its hidden qualities.

 

[Dynamic Turtle]

however OKC isn't complex so much as simply compositionally and musically literate, fulfiling the often-neglected prerequisite of originality to be considered a musical work in its own right, and where ingenious compositional devices appear they are always used to achieve particular effects or moods. The end result is very subtle and powerful yet at the same time always remains very lucid and approachable, maintaining throughout simple diatonic harmony and clear textures.

You should work for a speaker cable manufacturer Pete!!

 

[batman]

Go for it; I loathed Kid A/Amnesiac, but Hail is good. I still don't "get" The Bends although I now own it and think it's "ok".

"Lucky" is their best ever track in my opinion - amazing.

if you don,t like kid A / amnesiac can,t see you liking hail mate
________
Lf

 

[bottleneck]

The Bends was the best album in my book. It has songs in it with a greater emotional attachment and power (IMO) than the other albums.

Its all just a matter of opinion of course.

 

[Uncle Ants]

Me too.... the overlapping guitars sound something like Gamelan music to me, and the synthesizer and guitar strumming at the end reminds me of my big brothers '70s prog rock. Not a bad thing in my book.

Another vote for Let Down. I just love way it kind of builds up and up until it nearly makes you want to explode. That and the fairy twinkly bells and the synethesized heavenly choir building up and up with the music in the background and the way it then just trails off again with the fairy bells.

Oh dear ... that all sounds a bit pretentious ... Pretentious? Moi?


PS. Maybe someone who frequents both places should invite the guys over on the "serious" music forum over to see this thread ... just so's they can have a laugh like

 

[domfjbrown]

if you don,t like kid A / amnesiac can,t see you liking hail mate

Well, I do! Admittedly I've not played "Hail" much, but at least it has music on it, unlike that godawful racket of "Kid A". "Amnesiac" is a bit better, but I didn't give it much of a chance as "Kid A" had put me off. I don't own "Kid A"/"Amnesiac" either - I heard them both at work, and you'd assume ANY destraction from work is good - not true!

I think it's partly down to the freeform jazz style (ie, tuneless din) that I can't get on with "Kid A" - I don't get on with anything other than trad jazz/ragtime style anyway, so that might explain a lot.

 

[Anex]

Kid A/Amnesiac take a bit of listening to but there is a point there and some good tracks. Very much have to be in the right mood though, pretty depressing stuff

 

[rsand]

Amnesiac better than kid a but still awkward enough to stop me buying HTTT did I buy the wrong one of the three?

Thom York does some vocals on PJ Harveys stories from the city album which came out around the same time as Kid a, that album wipes the floor with kid a.

 

[Anex]

that album wipes the floor with kid a.

That depends on what your looking for. I don't think you bought the wrong one but then I like all three and stories from the city

 

[Mondie]

What an amazing techincal summary of one of my top 5 faves of all time. l have listened to it 100's of times and really still cant relate to half of what you descrbe Rather like listening to an Electronics Engineer describe the workings of a complex electrical circuit.

Would love to hear your technical assesment of the Strokes "Is this it", what makes so many of the songs on that album so damn addictive?

 

[Dynamic Turtle]

Indeed! Also waiting for your analysis of The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free

DT

 

[PeteH]

Would love to hear your technical assesment of the Strokes "Is this it", what makes so many of the songs on that album so damn addictive?

Not sure if that's a serious question or not . I'm afraid I don't have that album and I haven't heard a lot of the The Strokes. I will say though that while there are other bands who produce music of considerable technical merit I for one can't think of any who come close to Radiohead in terms of subtlety and attention to detail (I'm thinking here of, for example, the neat change in position of the last chord in the sequence which opens and closes Subterranean Homesick Alien, or the change in harmony for the last chorus of The Tourist, or the rhythmic things again in The Tourist or Lucky - let alone their really seriously tricky stuff like Pyramid Song or Sail To The Moon). And yes, many people have recommended albums to me which I was told fulfilled that criterion, but I've yet to agree . When I wrote that post pointing out the interesting technical things in OKC it took enough words that I had to split the post in two - with an awful lot of pop albums you'd struggle to fill a paragraph.

Which brings us neatly to the subject of The Streets . I tend to find I usually get bored very, very quickly of anything which doesn't have plenty of actual "technical" musical content; hence the likes of, for example, Dylan, Marley and Hendrix have always left me cold, and likewise pretty much anything with rapping . It's not that I decided I only wanted to listen to "complex" music, it's just that I've found that in general that's the sort I like; this is not a judgement, or a claim of great powers of insight or discernment, simply a statement of fact. I think this is probably an inevitable consequence of long-term exposure to classical music.

 

[lAmBoY]

Sometimes simplicity works wonders - take Prince for example.

'When Doves Cry' has to be one of the most simple tunes ever!

 

[mosfet]

A remarkable opening post Pete. Very accomplished.

To the casual observer this may appear an over-intellectualised manner of listening to music. However, as you say, this is simply the way that you listen. For me I struggled to keep up with theoretical analysis (as a guitar player I'm familiar with the basics of major, minor and modal voicing, chord structures and so forth) despite this an excellent read.

As for OKC it's just one of those albums ââ'¬â€œ nothing else quite like it that I can think of.

Muse have been compared (and I can see the comparisons) but to me more bombastic and less visceral ââ'¬â€œ keen on the root 5th!

 

[The Devil]

Dylan, Marley and Hendrix have always left me cold.. I think this is probably an inevitable consequence of long-term exposure to classical music.

Hendrix reminds me of Bach, for some reason.

 

[alanbeeb]

I think I know what you mean - there are Bach violin pieces that could be the great-granddaddy of all rock guitar solos. The third movement of the A minor vioin concerto BWV1041 for example.

I listened again to HTTT and Amnesiac last night.... Amnesiac is still hard going, HTTT is a bit easier to understand but still difficult compared to OK Computer.

The last two songs on HTTT - Scatterbrain and A Wolf at the Door, and Knives Out from Amnesiac seem to me to be based around tunes that could almost be preludes from Bach's 48.

 

[Joe]

Hendrix reminds me of Bach, for some reason.

Bach reminds me of Hendrix.

 

[leonard smalls]

I thought Radiohead were at their most musically inventive during Okay Computer... It seemed like they'd discovered some new ways of playing. The problem with this was that they attempted to run before they could walk - leading to Kid A..
I felt it was ill-advised at best, like an indie band playing at jazz without quite getting it.. If you want to hear the sort of weird grooves they were trying to do done properly, listen to Henry Threadgill, or perhaps Praxis/Zillatron..