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O.K Computer |  | Artist: Radiohead
Label: Parlophone
Category: Music
List Price: £13.99
Buy Used: £0.93
as of 21/11/2009 19:59 GMT details
You Save: £13.06 (93%)
New (59) Used (85) Collectible (4) from £0.93
Seller: zoverstocks
Rating:  252 reviews
Sales Rank: 2000
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 55229
UPC: 724385522925
EAN: 0724385522925
ASIN: B000002UJQ
Release Date: May 1, 1997
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Airbag | | • | Paranoid Android | | • | Subterranean Homesick Alien | | • | Exit Music (For A Film) | | • | Let Down | | • | Karma Police | | • | Fitter Happier | | • | Electioneering | | • | Climbing Up The Walls | | • | No Surprises | | • | Lucky | | • | Tourist |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Whilst one suspects some kind of pre-millennial hysteria prompted iQ/i magazine's readers to vote iOK Computer/i The Greatest Album Ever Made scarcely five months after its release, it certainly doesn't look stupid up there in the pantheon. Following the hot red rock attack of 1995's iThe Bends/i, iOK Computer/i heads out into the cold deep space of prog-rock and comes back with stuff that makes mere pop earthlings like Stereophonics tremble. Whilst the eight-minute-long "Paranoid Android" comes across like "Bohemian Rhapsody" with a gun held to its head, and "Electioneering" is a little too like a kiddy-version of iBlood And Chocolate/i-era Elvis Costello to be truly revelatory, the rest of iOK Computer/i spans the sublime to the ridiculously sublime. Thom Yorke had been obsessed with Ennio Morricone during the recording of the album (in a haunted mansion, fact-fans), and it shows on the expansive space-dream of "Subterranean Homesick Alien" and the endlessly comforting closer "The Tourist". And if neither "No Surprises" (played on a toy guitar with Yorke and Ed O'Brien harmonising like a two-man Crowded House) nor "Lucky" (recorded in one day for the Bosnian aid album iWar Child/i--it reduced Yorke to tears the first time he heard it played back) make the hairs on your skin spit with electricity, then maybe you're with the iQ/i reader who voted for iAnita/i by Anita Dobson. i--Caitlin Moran/i
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 252
 Unique, moving, brilliant. July 25, 2001
N. Gower-Jones (Manchester, UK)
58 out of 65 found this review helpful
A friend of mine once said that Radiohead were the kind of band who it was easy to admire, and yet difficult to like. I always agreed, preferring the accessibility of bands like Oasis and The Stereophonics to the intensive coolie labour it could sometimes take to listen to Radiohead. Then, last summer, I went to see Radiohead play at Victoria Park in London. And I saw the light. pThis album can ask a lot of the listener, but if you can really give into the music and just let it carry you off, you can become so consumed by these songs that you find yourself suddenly opening your eyes at the end of a track, blinking in surprise at the fact that you are actually back in the real world. They tear your soul open, and force you to confront those feelings for which you probably don't even have a name. Despair perhaps, numbness perhaps, but above all, the way it can sometimes feel just to be a human in the 20th Century.pIt's hard to pick a stand out track (even the pretty much tune free Fitter, Happier makes for compelling listening), but Exit Music (for a film) is one of the most touching, fragile and beautiful songs you will ever hear. When you consider Thom Yorke wrote it as a soundtrack to the end of Romeo and Juliet, the lyrics become even more intense; Today, we escape, we escape. Don't lose your nerve. I can't do this - alone.pIf you have ever felt alone, disenfranchised, pointless or depressed, this record will connect with you in a way you may have never thought possible. And that contact will make you feel better. Less alone. It makes you feel like there are other people out there who feel like this. It's a record which takes you on a journey through the darker parts of the soul. A record about how it feels to be human.pOh, and it's very, very good (did I mention that?).
Why'd I leave it so long? April 12, 2008
Jayy Mannon (Glam, Wales)
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
After being a fan of music and in particular rock music for many years i finally decided to give radiohead a chance and bought ok computer, i'm not really sure why I waited so long but they never seemed to appeal to me, maybe it was a lack of instantly catchy tunes, who knows. So i insert the CD, first listen i was moderately impressed and went and bought 'the bends', having now listened to both albums uncountable times i have really been drawn in by the radiohead spell and find every listen reveals something new, either in the lyrics or music, a new understanding is achieved, it onlys leaves me wondering why the hell I left it so long before I conceded. For people who may face the same situation the two albums mentioned are definitely the places to start and give them at least 6 or 7 listens each, if you're not appreciating the music by then maybe try 10 or 20 listens, it will happen eventually. Overall a monumental record which quite rightly is widely regarded as one of the best of all time, personal favourites are 'Airbag' and 'Karma Police'. 10 out of 10.
A truly sonic musical experience for a surprised doubter February 25, 2004
Four Spades
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
One of the greatest surprises of my life came when I loved this album on first listen. As a devoted follower of conventional, mostly mainstream music I wasn't expecting to at all, nor am I in as settled a position to rate it amongst all musical greats, not being as deeply familiar with many of its apparent indie influences (Costello, The Cure etc) as many others will be. But it strikes even me that this is quite unlike most other albums ever heard, and it clearly represents a stylistic hybrid unmatched by most all of their peers. brLyrically, Thom Yorke draws up tainted, self-hating landscapes with more than a passing nod to Bowie, complete with some beautifully twisted and timeless touches. Musically, they're perfectly sound with Godrich's production weaving everything spectacularly - as a drummer I particularly picked up on the gifted rhythmwork of Phil Selway. (Airbag and SHA are great examples of abstract beat experimentation) brHighlights? Paranoid Android - undoubtedly one of the greatest tracks to come out of the 90's, with its Bohemian Rhapsody-esque amalgamation of three separate songs and its scathing, powerful taunts pervading throughout its lyrical structure. Exit Music (for a Film), arguably the album's most beautiful composition, is the last desperate scrape for dignity of a person who, crippled by the pain of love, has tumbled inescapably into self-destruction. To listen to the build-up into a high-pitched tormented wail with Yorke descending almost pathetically into "we hope that you choke" is a truly heartbreaking sound. No Surprises similarly is a festival of tiredness and hopelessness, with an almost ironic use of child-like xylophone and a more obvious political edge made clear right in the middle.brLows? Well, no bad tracks to speak of ultimately - Climbing Up The Walls, while similarly playing on a childhood nightmare-type theme, didn't do as much for me as the rest of the album, it has to be said. Does not detract from the fact that it's essentially as well-structured a song as any other here.brA wonderful foray into a richly textured musical world, if slightly bleak, yet paradoxically with mild optimism hidden in there somewhere; the album can't fail to disappoint anyone with an open mind and an ear for imaginative, often dreamlike melodies. Certainly an all-time great; perhaps not as wildly original as many might claim, but certainly a glowing demonstration of the boundaries which music can be stretched to. Essential!
OK Computer: or the antiseptic antipathy of modern-living... February 21, 2004
Jonathan James Romley (Dublin, Ireland)
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
I can still remember feeling utterly elated after first seeing the video to Paranoid Android, complete with it#8217;s Scandinavian animation, perverted scenarios and twisted changes of tempo. It helped signal out Radiohead as something else entirely; a bright spark of originality in the rapidly disintegrating blandness of the so-called Brit-pop movement. Here was something spellbinding, rich in imagery and musical perfection... it was a concept album for the jilted generation... a drone of reality after all the mockney pastiche and would-be trad#8217; rock roll songs. This was it... a new beginning. I#8217;d enjoyed the Bends, and it#8217;s blend of industrial grunge and vitriolic angst, but nothing there (with the exception of Street Spirit) would ably set up the notions and sense of identity that Radiohead would so brilliantly establish with this record.pOpening with the song Airbag, a devilish sonic-fusion of guitars, strings, drum, and bass... with Yorke screaming over the atmospheric bed the kind of lyrics that could have been pulled from any chapter of JG Ballard#8217;s controversial Crash... the record instantly sets a tone and makes a statement that will be continually backed-up through the songs that follow. The atmosphere is continually gloomy, drawing on the notions of pre-millennium tensions as a part of its central concept, and broadening those aspects to depict the general fears of modern-day living. The use of instrumentation, and Yorke#8217;s ever-changing voice (shifting from low-slung growl to blistering falsetto often within a single song) help to sustain the atmosphere right through to the closing number, The Tourist... which is a more Crash-like example of imagery than David Cronenberg#8217;s film ever was; what with the repeat apocalyptic line #8220;hey man, slow down...!#8221; and the general foreboding ambience of the music itself.pAs a whole the references on the album are far and wide, with obvious nods to Berlin-era Bowie, Brian Eno (these inspirations would be pushed even further on the two records to follow), Achtung Baby/Zooropa period U2, the ghost of the Pixies, Pink Floyd and even Elvis Costello... with the band using these musical reference points to underline, as opposed to dictate, the emotional outcome of their work. Take for example something like Paranoid Android, which wears it#8217;s Tokyo Storm Warning aspirations proudly on it#8217;s sleeve whilst also featuring (somewhat more glibly) as a 90#8217;s Bohemian Rhapsody/This is What#8217;s She#8217;s Like... what with it#8217;s epic length, varying movements and almost operatic lyrical stance, etc. Also... the subtle prelude of the computerised voice from Fitter Happier ranting under the actual lyrics gives us the suggestion of a futuristic Fall, whilst the instrumentation (especially the three pronged guitar attack) is jaw-dropping in its arrogant beauty.pSubterranean Homesick Alien (Dylan reference!) lightens the mood somewhat, with its gentle depictions of dark country lanes and alien encounters, before leading us into two of the more-darker numbers of the record. Exit Music (for a film) was written for the 1996 update of Romeo Juliet, so unsurprisingly deals with the concerns of hopeless love and desperate longings; culminating with Yorke screaming #8220;we hope you choke#8221; over the lush, orchestral arrangements... whilst Let Down is every bit the melancholic student anthem it should have been, mixing surreal metaphorical lyrics with a melody that was fresher than anything else around the time of it#8217;s release. Next up is one of the record#8217;s defining moments, introduced by a shimmering piano introduction, which has shades of Pink Floyd#8217;s the Final Cut, before the rest of the band join in slowly, building to a crescendo of feedback and keyboard-effects, which does perfectly demonstrate the sense of terror and paranoia of the twisted lyrics... #8220;Phew! For a minute there I lost myself#8221;.pThe aforementioned Fitter Happier, with it#8217;s bizarre slogans, buzz words and miss information delivered in a Stephen Hawking-like computerised buzz (#8220;like a cat tied to a stick/driven into frozen winter sh-t#8221;) leading us into the dark and oh-so disturbing Climbing Up the Walls... the sound has echoes of Public Image Ltd#8217;s Theme as well as elements of early-80#8217;s Cure, with lyrics that we#8217;re inspired by Thom Yorke#8217;s experiences as a porter at a mental home (very Iain Banks). Third single No Surprises is a beautiful ballad played on a combination of Fisher-Price toy piano and glockenspiel, with the band painting a portrait of death and re-birth through the gentle tranquillity of the music (a definite precursor to Kid A/mnesiac) and the beauty of the words. This leads us back to the previously noted Tourist, which completes the cycle and clarifies the concept of the record perfectly...pOK Computer is one of the all-time defining records of alternative music... up there with the likes of Unknown Pleasures, Surfer Rosa, the Queen is Dead, Metal Box and Siamese Dream. It would point the way forward to later Radiohead classics Kid A, Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief, as well as signalling a growth in popularity of such ground-breaking artists like Bjork, Aphex Twin and Sigur Ros. This is an essential addition to any music collection.
Excellent, Worth it's nominations August 20, 2006
PyroSikTh (UK)
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
This is a great album; musically, emotionally, hauntingly, enjoyably etc etc. This is probably my favourite Radiohead album, which is a very bold statement seeing as I absolutly adore Kid A and Amnesiac. This is part of radioheads progression from Pablo Honey to Amnesiac. Pablo Honey and The Bends were very pop/rock and sheering guitars and a very distinctive distortion effect, excellent, although I felt was weak. Kid A and Amnesiac almost completely lost the guitars and reverted to Electronica and Experimental, but is sometimes hard to listen to. OK Computer is the go-between; still sheering guitars and pop/rock sound, but with a more experimental side and more Electronic...My personnal favourite cocktail of sound. It's also typical Radiohead dark as of Kid A and Amnesiac.
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br /I advise to get the Radiohead albums in order. I.E. don't opt to get Kid A first (like I did), but start with Pablo Honey or The Bends, then buy this, then the following ones. That way you'll appreciate this album even more.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 252
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