The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 45

Music 1 19 Tha Quardtan Friday June 13 1997 Caroline Sullivan downs the aspirin and enjoys an intense but inspirational experience Aching Heads IlIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIB OK Computer (Parlophone) There should be a health warning printed on the sleeve: Do Not Play This If You Peel Fragile. Vy SbwbwbbwbbwbbwbbwbbV bbbbbbbbbW Pi FBbbVX Ibbbbbbbbbbbb -bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb! BBaj ISbbbbbbbbbbH IwaawKnav Yawnl 'BBbbbbbI BBBBBBBVBBBBBBBBBIBBBVV 1 BBBBBBBbI 3BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBb! Lbbbbbbt Jbbbbbbbbbbbbv- BwnwH 'bLbbbbbbbbbbbbbV JbbbbbbbbbbbbB M- hSb" SbbbbbbI naVHdf' BBBBBBBBIV VA 'BbIBBBbI 4BbwBBbbH BBBBBBBBBBBmJflra Bk "WPbHI bbbbbbbbbbbbbbVMb lh bbbbbbbbhbbbbbbbbbbbbbbSbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbi Fwiim Wv P-r Bjd, JBiwft Writ, Thorn and Cobw po enow oaotBna, photograph: tqmhn leisurely experimentation it is reminiscent of, oh-gawd-no. Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon. If that album had been made in the technologically advanced, pre-mil-lennial nineties it might have sounded a lot like OK Computer. And OK is probably destined to be similarly recognised as one of the definitive records of its time.

The sleigh bells'n'grimy guitar (courtesy of the versatile Jonny Greenwood) that open the first song, Airbag, can be taken as the post-mod equivalent of the Floyd's Mellotrons and Moogs, while the three movements of the semi-acoustic and very lovely single Paranoid Android recall Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody So does Paranoid's disturbing, disturbed lyrics but from there they are in uncharted territory Subterranean Home Sick Alien is one of several tunes whose prettiness chiming guitar, seagull cries belies the desolation below This is Yorke's paean to the space aliens he believes live among us (you argue with him), and it leads to one of the album's big moments, Exit Music (For A Film). It starts small and builds to a crescendo, advising a young couple to get out "before all hell breaks Stunning. The album continues inextricably through Fitter, Happier a synthesised voice recites a list of modern imperatives on better with your associate and its only rocker. Electioneering. Just as it seems to be on the verge of collapsing under its own dense-ness it winds down with another highlight, the tinkly, fairytale-esque No Surprises.

The Tourist closes the album with wistful strummery from second guitarist Ed O'Brien, and you're left overwhelmed and possibly needing an aspirin. Nothing else this year is likely to match OK Computer's ambitiousness, let alone its intensity Radiohead's attempt to capture the so-called "miserable human condition" in 12 songs is surprising and sometimes inspiring but its intensity makes for a demanding listen. Its nerve endings are wholly exposed like badly-wired plugs" in singer Thorn Yorke's words) even more so than on The Bends, the 1996 album that promoted them from indie one-hit- wonderville into the premier league of respected British rock bands. Yorke claims to be much more optimistic this time around, the neuroses that spawned Bends numbers like Street Spirit eggs, dead birdsScream as they fight for a thing of the past Or so he says, but it's hard to credit. Listen to his misanthropy on Fitter, Happier "Regular exercise at the gym three days a weekFitter, happier and more productive A pig in a cage on antibiotics." You wouldn't want to spend many midnights alone with OK Computer.

The title is one of the few light-hearted elements, inspired by the Japanese predilection for juxtaposing unrelated English words. That said, while recording the last LP, Yorke couldn't have been prodded out of his self-absorption long enough to notice said predilection. So OK Computer can be characterised as the outward-focused successor to the introverted Bends. The songs are arranged as a sort of cycle that insists on being heard as a whole. As such and in the feeling that the music was worked out over a long period of Dan Glaister trips over a disc that is seriously addictive Spaced cadets Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (Dedicated) cortaaoyTTho daoadiTPIMo.

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