What the hell is the deal with "I Might Be Wrong" being so short? Doesn't it only have 8 tracks? What is that? Does anyone know why this is or if they will ever release a real live album?

Yeah, i think I agree with all of you... if I am Jonesin' for Radiohead, it's either Hail or OK...sometimes the Bends...no knowledge on why I might be wrong is so short...but i absolutely adore True Love Waits.

...and 'Everything In It's Right Place' live blows me away. It was a surprise release right after Amnesiac...it's better than nothing, and I'm sure a 2CD set of live footage will be released soon...I'd imagine. I highly recommend you look for the 2 disc set Lost Treasures(Austrailian) that compiles ep's, remixes, live, acoustic, and a cover of Pink Floyd's Wish You WEre Here, and hilarious 1 minute cover of Oasis's Wonderwall. Every odds'n'ends from 93-97.

Happy hunting!!

Just some more punch to those who still disregard Hail....

It ended up on many Top 10 lists, including mine, and will never be ranked with Kid A, or OK Computer, but yet, this album is damn great. Yorke's voice is a huge improvement and the band is more in a structured groove. Listen again to Wolf at the Door(best track), Myxomatosis, There There, Sail To The Moon, and tell me they are not great tunes. These guys are the best chameleons out there, never a tune quite the same.
Now listen to the rockier tunes...2+2, Sit Down. Stand Up., and the funky bass on Punchup at a Wedding gets your groove on....heck, i'll shut up now, I'm putting it on and listen to it myself.....

Radiohead is my favorite band. I'll have to go with popular opinion on this one and say that I love "OK Computer" and "Kid A". OK Computer is beautiful, cynical, esoteric, completely rocking with killer use of a delay pedal and rhodes keyboard- and 'Paranoid Android' is like the 'bohemian rhapsody' of that album! "Kid A" is the album I like to fall asleep and dream to. 'Optimistic' and 'How To Disappear Completely' are two gorgeous songs that are either on repeat or they constantly find their way onto mix tapes I make for friends. "Hail to the Thief" would be my third favorite: 'Sail to the Moon', 'Go To Sleep', '2+2=5', and 'Sit Down Stand Up' show that Radiohead NEVER lost what they captured on "OK Computer".

I believe that in another 10-20 years, OK Computer will be regarded by even the most mainstream press as one of the 10 greatest albums of all time; right up there with Revolver, Pet Sounds, Highway 61 Revisited, etc. I already rank it that high, and it seems like almost every serious music fan that I know from my generation singles it out as "that album" that changed the way they listen to music. Yes, The Bends and Kid A are masterpieces in their own right, but OK Computer is the great Radiohead album, and the great album of the 1990s.

I'm so right about this it hurts...

1. OK Computer
2. Kid A
3. The Bends
4. Amnesiac
5. Hail to the Thief
6. Pablo Honey

I loved those first 4. Hail to the Thief is the first album they've made that I've been bored by. I tried and I tried but it just seems like a lot of interesting ideas without decent songs to back them up.

I'd definitely agree that OK Computer is the best, with Kid A a very close second. The Bends, Amnesiac, and Hail to the Thief are all great, but it's really hard to rank them. I think everyone agrees that Pablo Honey (with the exception of Creep) sucks though.

I don't think I could rank them if I tried. There have been times when it's all I've had in my cd changer for months. I'm still stuck on The Bends though. I got hooked back in 1995, and have been very partial to it since. It's the only cd that I've owned for 10 years that hasn't gathered dust at some point.

Either Amnesiac or The Bends.

All the Radiohead albums are different and incredible in their own way. I'm not going to try and rank them...OK, I am:

OK Computer
Kid A
Amnesiac
The Bends
Hail to the Thief

There. I did it. I could scramble the last four in any order and I don't think I could argue with any permutation.

Now for the real reason I'm posting here. Has anyone else read John Darnielle's (of Mountain Goats fame) columns on Amnesiac? He writes an entire column on each song, and it is great stuff. I hadn't listened to Amnesiac much before I read his stuff on it, but I relistened to it and I credit his writing with making me appreciate the brilliance of that album. Here's a link to the Last Plane To Jakarta old archive. The Amnesiac stuff starts near the bottom of the page on 9/16 and there's a new one about every two weeks. If you're a Radiohead fan you've got to check this stuff out.

OK Computer
Kid A
The Bends
Hail to the Theif
Amnesiac
Pablo Honey

And if "The Tourist" isn't a satisfying conclusion, then I don't know what is.

This thread, to put it simply, is really terrible. Discussions about relative merits of Radiohead albums tend to be, unfortunately.

To add my own $0.02, though (the irony/hypocrisy is not lost on me):

1. OK Computer/Kid A (I don't bother distinguishing relative quality between these)
3. Amnesiac (Took me a while. John Darnielle's analysis/exposition helped.)
4. HT^3 (The music is fantastic, but with the exception of "Myxomatosis" and "Wolf at the Door" most of it was essentially retreads.)
5. Bends (Emotive and very well written, but the sound has aged horrendously IMHO. It very much sounds like a great mid-90s album, and it's somewhat constrained by that. OK Computer and Kid A seem to me to have far more of a "timeless" quality.)
6. Pablo Honey (Terrible.)

Kid A > Ok Computer > Amnesiac > Hail To The Theif = The Bends >>>>>>>>>>> Pablo Honey

The following is strictly my opinion, so don't yell at me, OK? As one of my top 3 or 4 bands ever, I rank Radiohead's albums as follows (in a Pitchforky way with 10.0 as the highest):

1. The Bends (9.7)
Near perfect guitar-based album that has a little of everything I love about their music. It's hard to pick the weakest or best song here so I won't even try.

2. OK Computer (9.2)
Certainly the most important/influential album of the last 10+ years. Every song is exceptional, but the last four tracks are a bit slow and dreary. It could have used something to shake it up a bit there. Maybe move Electioneering to #10 (how dare I speak such heresy!) Let Down and Paranoid Android are the best of the best.

3. Kid A (9.0)
And I thought they were "experimental" before this. On first listen, I only cared for a few tracks. After 5+ years, the title track is still the weirdest thing I've ever heard, and the only case where the experimentation seems a bit much (not a fan of robots singing, talking I can handle). Every song feels like it comes from the same distant universe. Idioteque is my top pick with How to Disappear, Optimistic, and Everything... close behind.

4. Amnesiac (8.3)
Not as similar to Kid A as some would have you believe. Kid A felt cold and isolated. This feels more lively and varied. It's not quite as memorable or consistently satisfying, but worthy in its own right. Like Spinning Plates would have been amazing had it not been for their artiness going a bit far once again with the vocals tricks. Pyramid Song, I Might Be Wrong, and Knives Out are the standouts, though they could have included the b-sides Cuttooth, Fog, and/or Worrywort here which all surpass these album tracks IMHO.

5. Pablo Honey (7.6)
If you distance yourself from the fact that it's Radiohead (therefore experimental, right?), it's not a bad album. I played it today in my car and was surprised by how much I still enjoyed it. My favorites are Anyone Can Play Guitar, Stop Whispering, and Lurgee (am I alone?). Nothing groundbreaking, but more fun than...

6. Hail to the Thief (6.7)
A handful of tracks are gems: There, There, Go to Sleep (though it sounds similar to the "Ambition" section of Paranoid Android), and my favorite Whereiendandyoubegin. The rest range from decent to just uninspired imitations of their previous styles along with some unflattering new endeavors (ie. Myxamatosis). It seems as though they are catering to the critics, making seriously "important" music, and not allowing themselves to have fun anymore. Thom sounds tired.

Thanks for your time (apologies for a ridiculously long post)

Countdown to Ecstasy is probably their best album, imo.

quote:

Originally posted by SanchoPanza!!!:
Countdown to Ecstasy is probably their best album, imo.

Radiohead = Steely Dan???

Yeah, I'm confuzzled as well, Mark F.

Kid A is by far the best album. But i would have to say that OK Computer will be the "classic" one that everyone remembers. But Kid A is soo good... It's hard to fathom, sometimes.

Kid A is the ... best ...album ever. I'd have to say. I never thought i'd find a better album than some of Pink Floyd's albums, which are awesome, But this one tops those. Every song on it is incredible. Look! I can't even stop talking about it. It makes me sing praises in the form of verbal diarrhea. If i were to pick personal favourites, i'd go with Everything in its Right Place, The National Anthem, In Limbo (that's odd..), Kid A, Morning Bell, and Motion Picture Soundtrack. See, that's more than half the album... that's very strange. Radiohead are pop music fixtures that will live on into the future with this album, which is very modern-sounding, futuristic and crazy.