Radiohead Albums

nero1701

The recent news on Jonny Greenwood got me thinking about my love of Radiohead, I got into The Bends first, was an amazing album and really defined my musical taste at that point in life, stepped back into Pablo Honey, and while a solid alt rock album, it never quite grasped me the same, OK Computer was great. I enjoyed some of Kid A, but beyond that, I never really "got it".

In order of Preference

The Bends
OK Computer
Pablo Honey
Everything else.

Sporky

I'd go:

Pablo Honey
The Bends (darned nearly joint first)
Half of OK Computer
That one from In Rainbows that's OK

ryanverbena

In Rainbows is a perfect album.

munckee

The bends is in the top 5 albums by anyone for me I love every song. 

Then ok computer possibly just pips Pablo honey. 

Then everything else which I still rate highly. 

DesVegas

Erm, what recent news on Jonny G?

Hail to the Thief is my fave and have not nor never will listen to Moon Shaped Pool

darthed1981

nero1701 said:

The recent news on Jonny Greenwood got me thinking about my love of Radiohead,...

Ooooh - tough, tough!!

I'll play though.  This is very personal, not supposed to be a "critical objective" thing...

OK Computer - masterpiece in every way.
The Bends - masterpiece in almost every way.
Kid A - masterpiece
Amnesiac - almost masterpiece
In Rainbows - why is this below Amnesiac?  Don't know, probably shouldn't be.
Moon Shaped Pool - slow burning but wonderful record.
HTTF - yeah its great, course it is, just not AS great.
TKOL - It's not quite there is it?
Pablo Honey - its just not Radiohead... really?  Like just three-guitar indie rock done very well...

darthed1981

Thom Yorke's solo stuff is also pretty damn good.  I bought a vinyl copy of Phil Selway's last album and that's a corker, collect Thom's solo stuff on Cd...

God... I'm boring, but fuck it

darthed1981

munckee said:

The bends is in the top 5 albums by anyone for me I love every song. 

Fake Plastic Trees would be a good jam setlist number eh @munckee ??

First song I ever learnt on the guitar back in 1998 or so

DoctorX

Love a bit of Radiohead. My order of preference:
1. The Bends
2. OK Computer 
3. In Rainbows 
4. Kid A
5. A Moon Shaped Pool
6. Amnesiac
7. Hail to the Thief
8. Pablo Honey
9. King of Limbs

monquixote

I would go

In Rainbows

The Bends

Ok Computer

Kid A

Hail To The Thief

Amnesiac

A Moon Shaped Pool

Don't like

King Of Limbs

Pablo Honey

drofluf

DesVegas said:

Erm, what recent news on Jonny G?

Hail to the Thief is my fave and have not nor never will listen to Moon Shaped Pool

He was in hospital https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1dmp5x758xo

Why won’t you listen to Moon Shaped Pool at least once to have a valid opinion on it? My favourite Radiohead album changes but it would be in the list. But my top 3 today are probably OK Computer, The Bends and In Rainbows (or possibly Amnesiac). 

oh_pollo

I like all of their albums well enough but 'Kid A' is a perfect album.

strumjoughlamps

I knew Radiohead from ‘Drill’ which I got after seeing them supporting Ride (I think it was Ride) … anyways Pablo Honey was perfect for its time and I sti listen to it..

I didn’t really like The Bends and gave up after OK Computer..

ffwd a few years after I re visited The Bends and OK Computer and started to appreciate them but cannot beat Pablo Honey although I would say ‘Let Down’ is probably my fave song out of the 3 albums.

Grangousier

I love all the albums about equally, except Pablo Honey, which I've listened to a couple of times but it never made an impact. My favourite might be A Moon-Shaped Pool - what Greenwood does with the string arrangements there is extraordinary - or at least it's the one I'm most likely to listen to when I get an urge to listen to a Radiohead album. I'm hugely impressed by his work with orchestras, particularly his Paul Thomas Anderson scores, partly because Anderson gets him to do things he wouldn't normally do (for example, the unabashed sentimentality of the music for Phantom Thread). The The Smile albums are also pretty good. 

viz

I liked On A Friday and Headless Chickens; not so keen on Radiohead when they went commercial. 

munckee

darthed1981 said:

munckee said:

The bends is in the top 5 albums by anyone for me I love every song. 

Fake Plastic Trees would be a good jam setlist number eh @munckee ??

First song I ever learnt on the guitar back in 1998 or so

It would. I used to know paranoid android which would be a doozy.  

Bagsy not singing though!

Offset

nero1701 said:

The recent news on Jonny Greenwood got me thinking about my love of Radiohead, I got into The Bends first, was an amazing album and really defined my musical taste at that point in life, stepped back into Pablo Honey, and while a solid alt rock album, it never quite grasped me the same, OK Computer was great. I enjoyed some of Kid A, but beyond that, I never really "got it".

In order of Preference

The Bends
OK Computer
Pablo Honey
Everything else.

I'd concur wholeheartedly.  The Bends is a great album and for me, everything else trails in its' wake.

Teyeplayer

I always find this an interesting one because folks get so polarised on it. I love Pablo Honey, it was brilliant and of its time -I can still listen to it with a smile, a nostalgic one, but a smile nonetheless. Were The Bends and Ok Computer better? By a long way, (I’d go so far as to say Let Down and No Surprises are probably two of the greatest songs ever written) but PH wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t as developed. Equally, where they’ve gone since is incredible. Hail to The Thief and In Rainbows are absolute masterpieces, yet I can still return to King of Limbs and have wow moments too. There isn’t a bad Radiohead album, just some that are immediate grabbers and some that are more slow burn. Either way, simply awesome band and Jonny is god, not Eric.

RocknRollDave

I enjoyed The Bends at the time and OK Computer has some good stuff on it but overall they are a band I just can’t listen to. There’s something that feels oppressive* about the mood their music creates that I don’t enjoy. 

The Pyramid Song was the one that really put me off them. Just felt like a band deliberately being obtuse.

*oppressive like when a dark cloud descends over the house, not oppressive like when you don’t employ women or recognise LGBT rights

darthed1981

As the last survivors crawled up the hill to the parley, walking around the piles of the fallen, in this greatest of battles, they wondered at the cost... was this war worth it?  Could the cost ever be worth it?

The great peacemaker stood in the midst of the crowd, and simply spoke "you know what, I enjoy both the Bends AND OK Computer"...

Revolutions

Kid A sent me on a 20 year journey of trying to discern what Radiohead have done with choruses.

I’m still 50/50 about the whole of OK Computer though, so probably not the best judge of their later work.