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Ok Computer on radio 1

15 votes
? by sketchesofcoop

I have just listened to Ok Computer in full on Zane Lowe's evening session. Ive not listened to that album in full in years!
It brought back so many memories.
Desperation never sounded so beautiful!

sketchesofcoop | 31 Mar '08, 21:06 | Send note | Report this | Reply

mmm, like, whatever!

Still blows the ass of most albums released since! And then some.

sketchesofcoop | 31 Mar '08, 21:19 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Saying a

piece of music sounds 'dated', what does that even mean? Does it mean you don't like it, because it was made more than a decade ago?

FunKargo | 31 Mar '08, 21:24 | Send note | Report this | Reply

No

it means it hasnt aged well.

tohereknowswhen | 31 Mar '08, 21:33 | Send note | Report this | Reply

It's...

aged fine, because it never sounded of any particular time. Overfamiliar maybe, but if anything, Kid A sounds more dated as its IDM and Warp Records influences are tied to a very specific time

Mu_Tron | 31 Mar '08, 21:53 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Wow

sweeping.

tohereknowswhen | 31 Mar '08, 22:11 | Send note | Report this | Reply

What...

that Kid A has a definite IDM/Warptronica influence throughout the whole album, and that those influences don't tie it to a particular time.

IDM is very much a turn of the decade sound that was once in vogue and isn't anymore, so albums that are heavily influenced by that sound are going to sound of a particular time more than something that isn't.

Mu_Tron | 31 Mar '08, 22:21 | Send note | Report this | Reply

*

That those influences *do* tie it to a particular time.

Doh.

Mu_Tron | 31 Mar '08, 22:25 | Send note | Report this | Reply

^^^ this

OK Computer did not sound of its time in 97

Nor does it now

It still sounds luscious and rich and awesome.

No Surprises is a tad over familiar but other than that
it still sounds like a cold electric blanket that send shivers thru your bones on contact but warms you up nonetheless and after a while you can't get to sleep without it

or
mebbe that is just me

thebigmusic | 1 Apr '08, 09:41 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Oh man, YES YES YES

I've been ranting to chrisjabe about it all night. So fucking amazing. Was the first album I ever bought with my own cashmonies so I've probably heard it at least once a week for 10 years, but still got all excited tonight.

Remembering the first time you/I heard Paranoid Android and the sheer "wtf", the hammering of it during gcse revision, Karma Police bringing back the memories of my first year at college (made a video for it), and the heartbreakingly gorgeous The Tourist making me shed a tear on first play.

Just sheer fucking brilliance.

twentynine | 31 Mar '08, 21:21 | Send note | Report this | Reply

^

Could'nt have put it better myself!
Pure genius

sketchesofcoop | 31 Mar '08, 21:24 | Send note | Report this | Reply

^This,

but with less exclamation.

FunKargo | 31 Mar '08, 21:25 | Send note | Report this | Reply

YEAH!

twentynine | 31 Mar '08, 21:27 | Send note | Report this | Reply

^This!

FunKargo | 31 Mar '08, 21:28 | Send note | Report this | Reply

*^THIS!

FunKargo | 31 Mar '08, 21:29 | Send note | Report this | Reply

^ THIS

ChrisJabe | 31 Mar '08, 21:31 | Send note | Report this | Reply

^ DiS

allisfulloflove | 31 Mar '08, 21:36 | Send note | Report this | Reply

^KISS

FunKargo | 31 Mar '08, 21:37 | Send note | Report this | Reply

^this!!

jontosh2001 | 1 Apr '08, 09:51 | Send note | Report this | Reply

I don't get how it sounds dated.

If it came out today would you be saying "Ergh, Sounds a bit 1997" ?

supersonic | 31 Mar '08, 22:09 | Send note | Report this | Reply

There's...

nothing in it's sound that indicates it comes from the late 90s, though.

Mu_Tron | 31 Mar '08, 22:59 | Send note | Report this | Reply

You couldn't date it precisely

I'm just saying when people say it sounds 'dated' all they mean is it doesn't sound 'now'.

That doesn't mean a lot, though. In 1988 Oasis would have sounded 'dated' because they'd seem like a throwback to the 70s. I'm not saying they weren't retro, but when they came out that was the sound of those times.

OK Computer is not a simple sounding album and its lyrical concepts are straightforward boy-meets-girl type stuff: it has a paranoic, lonely feel that music at the moment doesn't really have but which was very much the feel of the late 90s when that album arrived.

TheoGB | 1 Apr '08, 08:16 | Send note | Report this | Reply

its my favourite album ever

ive yet to hear a piece of music as euphoric as let down.i really need to see that song played live before i die.its magical that album.truly magical

SHANDYHOLMES | 1 Apr '08, 08:22 | Send note | Report this | Reply

I don't think its dated

at all - listen to half the stuff that came out around the same time and it all sounds horridly dated: Cast, Shed Seven, even Supergrass. Even the production of OK sounds awesome still, and the song writing was so good on it that it hasn't tired. The US EP, Airbag (well, its just a B-sides record I guess) also sounds fecking great. Palo Alto FTW!

Moscow2 | 1 Apr '08, 09:28 | Send note | Report this | Reply

I'm a massive Radiohead fan

I would still put OKC as the greatest album, though Let Down is a weak point on it.

Palo Alto, Polyethylene Part II and Electioneering are some of the greatest songs ever written.

But I'd agree it feels like the time it was released. However Cast, Shed Seven and Supergrass are about two years earlier in terms of sound. You have to compare OK Computer to the albums that were released around then and what they felt. e.g. Blur, Mezzanine, This is Hardcore, that sort of layered and introspective stuff.

TheoGB | 1 Apr '08, 09:35 | Send note | Report this | Reply

a weak point?

even the bit where it goes all spangly and thom goes "one day i am gunnaaa growww winggsssss" that is just beautiful music

SHANDYHOLMES | 1 Apr '08, 09:47 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Let Down is a weak point

Let's just have a look at that statement

Hmmmmm

Nope I think, on balance, that you are somewhat mistaken there.

See
Let Down channels the spirit of that album, and indeed that band, not just then but now, still, so perfectly that it is the dictionary definition of breathtaking.

It's deceptive simplicity, elegance, lushness, depth, punch, sweep and scope are virtually infiinite in their genius.

It might just be the greatest piece of recorded music ever by anyone.

Theo, I think, you have no soul. Or at least no access to it.

I don't wish to alarm you and, be assured, I am not recommending suicide but you might want to take some time out and rethink your whole life if you are not moved by it.

In ten years Cast and Shed7 will be lumped in with Enemy and Wombats.

OKC, and indeed those other albums yu mentioned (except gay blur) will be likened to high art, great literature, and breakthroughs in quantum phyics

and OKC will STILL not sound dated.

Y'getme?

thebigmusic | 1 Apr '08, 09:53 | Send note | Report this | Reply

^this

about the let down being the best piece of music ever.probably isnt (what is?!) but it is fucking brilliant

SHANDYHOLMES | 1 Apr '08, 10:03 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Hah hah. Basically you like shit music

and happen to like Radiohead too. That's what your unthinking love of Let Down tells us. :D
But seriously, Electioneering is the best track on OK Computer without a doubt. Let Down is nice and all but it's the weak point on the album: overlong and 'mushy'.

I like music that acutally has some fucking ENERGY. Some LIFE to it. Hence I don't really like Let Down that much. OK Computer's my number 1 album; number 2 is Nirvana's In Utero. Number 3 might be Entroducing... or Mclusky Do Dallas. Not sure.

I don't really think Cast or Shed Seven have anything to do with this, they were just brought up by Moscow2 for some bizarre reason.

The fact that you don't recognise Blur's self-titled album as one of the most amazing ever made means YOU are the one who is dead inside, sir! Using the term 'gay' to refer to them in a derogatory fashion also means you're a COLOSSAL MORON. :D

TheoGB | 1 Apr '08, 10:15 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Hmm. I typo'd way up there.

Meant to say it's lyrical concepts *aren't* simple, etc.

Ah well...

TheoGB | 1 Apr '08, 10:37 | Send note | Report this | Reply

tut

yes, lets all bow down to TheoGB. ;)

Anyway, I think Let Down has a lot of energy - just cos its not all dischord and yelping ala In Utero/Jesus Lizard yadda yadda yadda. Sometimes its just good to have GOOD SONGs.

rah rah rah.

Moscow2 | 1 Apr '08, 11:20 | Send note | Report this | Reply

tut, let's all fail to read, shall we?

I didn't say anyone had to agree with me over Let Down but 'thebigmusic' decided to get all hyperbolic over it so I responded in turn, so don't get your knickers twisted up over it.

I also didn't say you had to agree that OK Computer was dated, I was simply pointing out what factors to my mind could make it 'date' and why it has a particular sound from a particular time to me.

Good songs are good, yes. If you'd bothered to check the bands I like and have rated you'd realise that it doesn't have to all be Dischord yelping and shit.

Beetlebum is one of the greatest songs ever made in my view; I'm a big fan of David Devant too. I just happen to think Let Down is mushy and overlong and hasn't any focus to it. It's a fairly simple concept to understand, I'd have thought.

TheoGB | 1 Apr '08, 11:28 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Good fun to hear it again

Brought back memories of summer 2007. I was obsessed with this record at the time. I would listen to Paranoid Andrioid over and over.

Blur's "Blur" was a lot poppier (and fabulous in its own way - Beetlebum, Song 2) - but their next album 13 is a lot more comparable to OK Computer.

Every track on OK Computer has something going for it - even Climbing Up The Walls, while not being much of a tune, is impressive because it's so claustrophobic.

I fell out with Radiohead because I didn't like Amnesiac/HTTT, but I think I have made up with them again now as some stuff on the new album is great.

Kid A is still my absolute favourite album of theirs though - Everything in its right place, idioteque, how to disappear completely, morning bell, just amazing.

John_D1 | 1 Apr '08, 11:07 | Send note | Report this | Reply

I mean 1997! Wow.

I feel old!

John_D1 | 1 Apr '08, 11:08 | Send note | Report this | Reply

hmmmmm

unthinking?

sometimes, homes, you don't have to think about beautiful things

s'just obvious, y'know
cuts past the brain
straight to the heart

electioneering is in fact the worst track on there

although you might be right about it being the most energetic

I guess Radiohead gigs are all about waiting for the fast one for ya

Moshy Moshy Mosh

blur: are gay,
tho
if you think that is derogatory, then that is your interpretation, o dark hearted one
I would say some of my best friends are....
...blur fans,
but it aint true.

Only suckers like blur and that is a fact.

thebigmusic | 1 Apr '08, 11:33 | Send note | Report this | Reply

COULD

i think you mean COULD

thebigmusic | 1 Apr '08, 09:42 | Send note | Report this | Reply

david devant?......Riiiiight

Beetlebum is the only good blur song, so you have half a point.

well, mebbe, not half

a quarter of a point

yes, that seems fair

thebigmusic | 1 Apr '08, 11:36 | Send note | Report this | Reply