Radiohead - OK Computer (Collector's Edition - 2 CDs)

EMI has released Radiohead’s first three albums Pablo Honey, The Bends, and OK Computer in expanded editions. 1997’s OK Computer found the band breaking through to the masses, although that’s not to imply it’s mainstream album. It’s a focused work, a multi-layered sonic journey that progresses through “an atmosphere that's perhaps a bit shocking when you first hear it, but only as shocking as the atmosphere on The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds” as lead singer Thom Yorke told Spin.

While the songs range from good to great on their own, OK Computer works best as a whole to fully appreciate its ideas and themes. Guitarist Ed O’Brien told The Guardian, “We spent two weeks track-listing the album. The context of each song is really important… It's not a concept album but there is a continuity there.” The deeper the immersion, the more satisfying the experience as it engulfs the mind. Earphones are recommended for those who want to make the full commitment and immerse themselves within it.

“Airbag” opens with what sounds like a cellos and sleigh bells ringing. Instruments and layers of sonic textures are added to the mix. Within the maelstrom, Yorke as the narrator offers different snapshots in which he finds himself born again, something that happens with every moment in a person’s life although most are unaware that who they were a moment ago is not who they are in the now. Even more disconcerting is it could all end at any second, yet by some miracle it usually doesn’t. In this instance “an airbag saved [his] life.”

“Paranoid Android,” a nod to Douglas Adams’ creation Marvin, is a multi-section piece that while not necessary epic in length certainly feels that way in scope. The narrator reveals himself a delusional fellow who has “unborn chicken voices in his head” and makes threats about who “will be first against the wall” when he is king. The music has the lilting feel of wandering through the day, similar to every other day. A computerized voice, foreshadowing a later track, repeats something just out of comprehension the narrator tries to understand. The music parallels his an intense reaction to a woman who doesn’t remember who he is. The guitar rings out wildly as the section climaxes, then transitions into a bridge equating a slow descent, almost in free fall, and you can almost feel the “rain down on me from a great height” if you allow it, but don’t let the paranoia make you think it’s only falling you. He repeats a verse and double tracks another vocal, adding to the madness, punctuated by the crunchy, chaotic intensity from the middle section.

“Subterranean Homesick Alien” has an ethereal quality and Colin Greenwood told Channel V the use of electric keyboards in is an example of the band's attempts to emulate the atmosphere of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew. The narrator is a man unhappy with his station and the way of the world because it doesn’t see the meaning of life the way he does. He hopes for aliens will take him on board and give him the proof though he knows no one will buy it.

“Exit Music (For A Film)” was written specifically for the ending credits of the Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. Yorke with an echo effect is accompanied by a acoustic guitar in the opening before the organ kicks in creating a choir effect. At the midway point a dramatic drum riff brings in a fuzzed-out guitar and the whole song ascends before drifting away like life of the main characters.

After four very strong songs “Let Down” is appropriately titled because the music is rather simple and straightforward in contrast until the song’s conclusion. It opens with lyrics about “the emptiest of feeling” created by the disconnect coming from constant traveling and the music creates a melancholic mood.

Borrowing chord progression from The Beatles’ “Sexy Sadie,” “Karma Police” finds another narrator unhappy with his surroundings and trying to control them. This time by calling for the arrest of certain people who bother him. At the end, he realizes “for a minute there I lost myself” in the grand scheme.

At about the halfway point, “Fitter Happier” has a computerized voice from a Macintosh SimpleText application offer a litany of states of being. Other undecipherable voices are talking in the background and a piano and other effects are added.

“Electioneering” opens with jangly guitars that bring to mind Johnny Marr and the band drops the studio effects to offer some straightforward rock while a politician “say[s] the right things” while revealing the reality that he is “rely[ing] on your vote” to “go forwards” and help himself.

“Climbing Up Your Walls” has an eerie atmosphere well suited for a song by The Cure. The electronic drums and spooky sounds compliment the stalker/serial killer narrator portrayed by Yorke whose vocals are slightly distorted. He sounds like he just kidnapped a victim when he tells her to “not cry out or hit the alarm”. Lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood composed the bridge for 16 instruments and the cacophony is a great match for the narrator’s madness who hopefully is the one screaming in the end and not the person he threatened with “15 blows to the skull.”

“No Surprises” opens with warm notes plucked on a guitar. The narrator is another who seems unhappy with his position in life with “a job that slowly kills you” and a government that “don’t speak for us.” He says, “I’ll take the quiet life,” but also “some carbon monoxide,” which begs the question if his “final fit, my final bellyache” is because he’s taking his life and he hoping for “no surprises please” in death.

Another song that didn’t debut on OK Computer, “Lucky” first appeared on the War Child charity's The Help Album, and shares a number of themes with the album. It finds another character surviving a crash like in “Airbag,” but this time it’s from a plane into a lake; it references distaste for government officials as the narrator blows off the head of state who wants to meet him, and unlike the previous narrator, there’s no doubt this one wants to live. The music on this one, particularly the soaring guitar by Jonny, brings to mind ‘70s Pink Floyd.

“The Tourist” closes out the album with a slow-measured pace. It’s a contrast to the pace and intensity of the rest of the album, a reflection on the hustle and bustle of life. The final lyrics “hey man slowdown/ idiot slow down” are well heeded by everyone.

CD Two features the B-sides from the different single releases: “Paranoid Android,” “Karma Police,” and “No Surprises.” For Radiohead collector’s, everything from the “Airbag/How Am I Driving” EP is here, but for some reason “Bishop's Robes” from the Japanese EP “No Surprises/Running From Demons” is not.

Would have been interesting to get some thoughts about these tracks and why they weren’t included. “Polyethylene Pts 1-2” opens with just Yorke and an acoustic guitar for 40 seconds, then abruptly stops, After a count-off, the whole band kicks in. Along with the lust of “Pearly*” and the message to the narrator’s future self in “A Reminder,” the lyrics of these songs deal with relationships in contrast to the individual, which may explain why they didn’t make the cut. “Melatonin” is a brief lullaby to a young boy.

“Meeting in the Aisle” is the band’s first instrumental and finds them joined by members of the group Zero 7 who provide programming. It’s a great piece of head music. “Lull” finds the narrator in one. The lyrics are more direct and obvious than the album cuts.

There are two remixes of “Climbing Up The Walls”: (Zero 7 Mix) and (Fila Brazillia Mix). The former is the better of the two as the latter meanders too much at a minute longer, but both oddly remove all the menace from the song, which makes no sense.

On “Palo Alto,” Yorke sings about “a city of the future” but what transpires is no different than today. It alternates between sounds of studio wizardry and blasts of guitar-driven rock. “How I Made My Millions” is a plaintive vocal and lone piano. Sounds like someone other than Yorke singing.

The disc concludes with live material. “Airbag” was played live in Berlin on November 3, 1997 and its companion “Lucky” was played live in Florence a few days earlier on October 30, 1997. They are very faithful to the studio versions. Three live performances were taken from the BBC Radio 1’s Evening Session which aired on May 28, 1997 about three weeks before the album’s release. “Climbing Up The Walls,” “Exit Music (For A Film),” and “No Surprises” are noticeably different though from the album cuts though not drastically so. No doubt because the band was learning how to recreate them in a live setting.

Radiohead’s OK Computer is a classic album from the ‘90s. It and all the extras that now come with it are so well layered in sounds that it’s hard to imagine not finding something new with each listen.

The Cure: Trilogy (Blu-ray)

Recorded live on November 11th and 12th in 2002 at the Tempodrom Berlin, The Cure played a concert that had Cure fans, usually associated with the color black, turn green with envy with the announcement the band would perform in their entirety the albums Pornography, Disintegration, and Bloodflowers, which as Robert Smith says “are inextricably linked in so many ways.”

Intentionally or not, the performance commemorates Pornography’s 20th anniversary and the Blu-ray release commemorates Disintegration’s. It was previously available as a DVD in 2003.

The band’s line-up for this concert is a quintet whose members have different levels of familiarity with this music. Alongside Smith, as of this writing, are current band members bassist Simon Gallup, the second longest-serving member of The Cure, who played on all three studio albums, and drummer Jason Cooper, who only played on Bloodflowers.

The remainder, but no less important, are now-former members keyboardist Roger O’Donnell, during his second stint with the band, who played on Disintegration and Bloodflowers, and multi-instrumentalist Perry Bamonte, who like Cooper only played on Bloodflowers.

In the bonus material, Smith called them the most dynamic line-up of The Cure.

The Blu-ray does a great job recreating the concert experience right from the start as the only audio running during the menu are the sounds of audience anticipation. Thankfully not included are the idiots who obstruct your view with their phones so they can record the concert -- only to watch a tiny blurry video with distorted audio later, rather than experiencing the fullness of the moment -- and the posers who chat amongst themselves until the hits are played.

Pornography is an exquisitely dark, intense album and “One Hundred Years” is a perfect entry point. The synthesizer, drums, and bass lay down an eerie drone for the guitars to glide along with. The mood perfectly set for Smith to sing out the opening lyrics, “It doesn't matter if we all die.”

Regardless of the angst and anguish expressed in the songs, there’s a comfort to be had in knowing many share these experiences, and Smith documents them better than most. The music assists in the dynamic, such as the keyboards on “Cold,” which envelop Smith’s lyrics and the listener within a warm caress. The band takes a break at the end of the title track, and Smith tells the crowd, “See you in seven years”

“One Hundred Years”


Disintegration, the best album ever according to Kyle from South Park, is the album that broke The Cure into the mainstream, or, it may be more accurate to say, is when the mainstream caught up with The Cure. Four singles were released in the U.S. with “Lovesong” going to #2. The music is much more melodic than on Pornography, psychedelia blending with the gothic. The lyrics cover a wider range of love and emotion from the narrator in love on “Lovesong,” who lost love in “Pictures of You,” and the one who “never said I would stay to the end” in the title track.

After the set, Robert briefly addresses the crowd, “Another 11 years” as the band walks offstage.

“Lovesong”


In 2000, Bloodflowers completed the trilogy and while it may not have the same high level of consistent quality throughout, I would put rate “Watching Me Fall” and “39” as good as anything they have ever done. Where the performance on Pornography sounds very precise, the re-creation of Bloodflowers has the most variation from the studio album, likely due to the band’s familiarity with the music they created. A highlight from this set is Bamonte’s stellar guitar work, which soars on “Watching Me Fall.”

“39”


In an odd bit of editing, the main feature ends with the band returning to the stage and then cuts to the menu. Then you have to access the bonus material to see a 13-minute encore of “If Only Tonight We Could Sleep” and “The Kiss” from the album Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (1987), two very good choices that match the theme of the evening’s music. Gallup is again the only member with Smith, who appeared on the studio album, although O’Donnell had been a member of the touring band that supported it.

Nick Wickham does a masterful job directing the visuals. He allows the viewer to see the band play and along with his editor, Mark 'Reg' Wrench, allows the rhythm of the music to help dictate the pacing of the edits. “The Kiss” is utterly frantic and matches perfectly.

The show is constantly awash in an ever-changing kaleidoscope of colors and the Blu-ray brilliantly recreates them in 1080i and a ratio of 1.78:1. There is as much as detail as the director wants to give the viewer as he switches sources from high-def cameras to purposefully distorted images through an old TV set. Some cameras are in sharp focus and you can see the many strands of Robert’s hair-sprayed locks, or the texture on his guitar straps on close-up.

Naturally, cameras farther away and those altering focus don’t have the same clarity but the changing perspectives are fine. Not content to just show the band playing under flashing colored lights, the image gets manipulated at times, like during “A Short Term Effect,” creating a disorientation. The only flaw is the occasional, but unavoidable lens flare.

The insert states, “This is a live concert film – it was played loud…so turn it up!!!” I couldn’t agree more. The audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and LPCM. The DTS is great. Surrounding the listener with music and audience ambiance. The instruments are well balanced in the mix, and Gallup’s bass can be heard nicely reverberating through the subwoofer. Smith’s vocals are clear even on the songs I am not completely familiar with. The LPCM is an adequate choice, although the music mainly comes out the front speaker. I can’t recommend the Dolby Digital 5.1. As I alternated audio options during songs, the sound level dropped and I had to raise it up by 10 to get close of what the other two were coming through as.

Bonus material includes a 40-minunte interview of the band talking aboout the project. Previous easter eggs from the DVD release are now easily accessible. Two alternate angles offer a close-up fisheye lens set on Robert’s mic during “Same Deep Water As You” and a splitscreen of the two nights during “Plainsong, the audio terrible on the latter. There are also 90 seconds of outakes from the interview.

Coming in at over three hours, Trilogy is a wonderfully draining experience, musically and emotionally. The only disappointment is learning The Cure played second encores each night and they are not included. Just one of these sets would be worth owning, but combined they are a must-have, especially if you are a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Aside from the great number of songs they created, no band not inducted has had more of an impact on music and musicians.

Smashing Pumpkins - Gibson Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, CA - 12/02/08

On the first night of their two-night stand in Los Angeles, dubbed “Black Sunshine,” the show began with Jimmy Chamberlain taking to his drums and offering up a powerful solo turn known as “Roctopus.” My seat was in the section behind the pit and as I stood I could feel the sonic waves from his bass drums crashing into me.

The rest of the band came out; the touring band from If All Goes Wrong (guitarist Jeff Schroeder, bassist Ginger Reyes-Pooley, and keyboardist Lisa Harriton) has increased to include two horn players (trumpeter Stephen Bradley and trombonist Gabrial McNair), a violinist (Gingger Shankar), and a multi-instrument (Kris Pooley). Billy Corgan appeared in a white dress and sun-shaped headdress, looking a bit like Perry Farrell and singing The Searchers’ “Everybody Clap Your Hands,” a peppy and upbeat number. For a moment, the proceedings created an aura of a Las Vegas show, but that dissipated quickly as the band got serious about rocking the house. The pummeling force of Chamberlain’s drums anchored “Tarantula.” “G.L.O.W.” was a bass-heavy number. The first big reaction from the fans of the old stuff came when the band went back into the catalog for “Siva.” “Eye” from The Lost Highway lost its electronic sound and was given the guitar-rock treatment.

“Tonight, Tonight” showed off the entire band’s talents as they created a perfect rendition of this majestic orchestral number. Things finally slowed down on “Speed Kills,” showing a softer side, but not for long as they erupted into the powerful combo of “Superchrist”/“United States.” The bass and drum started off as a killer twosome before the entire band joined in. The light show matched the intensity of the music, almost creating too much stimulation, causing the need at moments to look away and squint. Members of the band trickled off, until it was just Chamberlain and Corgan dueling, like they have for 20 years, with them finishing off the song by revealing their inner Hendrix with a rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

As the band returned, they gathered close together in a small circle. Before getting going, Corgan started to talk about his knowledge of the local freeways, giving the audience a kick. He segued into joking around about Sammy Hagar. Schroeder intended to play under his conversation, but Corgan quickly called him out for playing Roth-era Van Halen. Audience members understanding an acoustic portion was coming began to sit down, causing Corgan to playfully chastise them about it because they were so old. He understood it wasn’t the ‘90s anymore. Just give up, he tells everyone. It’s so easy to do. He announced they were going to play something off Adore, and points out that this was when the fans gave up on them, giving Chamberlain a laugh and drawing a couple of hisses from the crowd. He then pointed out that the band gave up on the fans in 2000. Harriton’s keyboards took the lead on “Once Upon a Time.”

After a couple of more songs in that setting, they returned to the loud rock. As they began “Today,” Corgan had the audience sing the opening chorus. They then followed with another huge hit, “Bullet with Butterfly Wings.” Many people loved this one-two punch of classic Pumpkins — except Corgan. His singing of the question, “But can you fake it / For just one more show?” struck a chord because his vocals on both songs sounded forced and sloppy, as if he was pissed to play such big hits. I know there has been an artistic struggle of walking the line between doing what he wants and giving the audience what it wants , but are people expected to apologize because they love these songs (which he created) so much?

The expectations on a band are a tango between performer and audience. No one forced Corgan to reform Smashing Pumpkins. I know he said he wanted his songs back, but Roger Waters and David Gilmour each tour under their respective names and are able to pack the setlists with Pink Floyd tunes. Calling it an “Anniversary Tour” creates connotations of a celebration of the past. Besides, Corgan chose to wear his iconic Zero shirt, and while it may well have been completely subconscious on his part, when the touring band plays as a foursome, they look like the previous version of the band, with a woman on bass and an Asian-American fellow on guitar. Both are very talented musicians and are absolutely deserving of their place on stage, but surely I can’t be the only one who noticed the similarity. The bottom line is if you don’t want to play certain songs, don’t, but be prepared to deal with the effects on audience turnout.

Chamberlain’s thunderous drums returned on “The Beginning is the End is the Beginning.” Corgan incorporated rock influences into “Heavy Metal Machine” as he sang the ELP line “Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends,” then offering up his own Van Halen take by playing a part of the instrumental “Eruption.” “Glass” was played at a punk-rock pace.

The set ended with a brilliant cover of Pink Floyd’s “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun.” After all the lyrics were done, they ventured through a glorious musical universe of their mutual creation. Corgan moved onto kettledrums; Reyes-Pooley played her bass with a bow; Schroeder manipulated a theremin; McNair’s trumpet had a mute giving him a Bitches Brew sound. Then at one point, everyone in front of a microphone grabbed some device that made bird noises, bringing to mind another Floyd song, “Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict.” They returned to playing their instruments and Corgan began scraping his guitar against the edges of the kettledrum. The band began to trail off, finally leaving Corgan alone. He set the guitar to feed back onto itself and walked off. It was a spectacular performance and the highlight of the night. I hope it was captured in some manner because I would love to experience it again.

For an encore, the band came out to the front of the stage and sang “We Only Come Out At Night” backed by keyboards and an accordion. They closed with an instrumental of “Close to You” on kazoos, and Corgan thanked everyone for attending.

Considering their body of work, Smashing Pumpkins did a great job covering their catalog while clearly demonstrating the new material stands right alongside of it. This was a marvelous concert on its own, even though the two-night stands are connected. I can’t imagine night two in L.A. matching this one because of how high they set the bar, but I wouldn’t bet against the band’s talents after seeing this performance and would have loved a chance to find out.

Setlist:
Roctopus
Everybody Clap Your Hands
Tarantula
G.L.O.W.
Siva
Eye
Mayonaise
Tonight, Tonight
Speed Kills
Stand Inside Your Love
Superchrist
United States
Once Upon a Time
The Crux
The Rose March
Today
Bullet with Butterfly Wings
The Beginning is the End is the Beginning
Heavy Metal Machine
Glass
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
Encore:
We Only Come Out at Night
Close to You

The Eels: Meet the Eels - Essential Eels 1996-2006, Vol. 1

The Eels, led by Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E, celebrate a decade’s worth of music by releasing Meet the Eels, a best-of collection to introduce themselves to new listeners, and the incorrectly titled Useless Trinkets, a collection of 50 rare tracks and a DVD of their 2006 Lollapalooza performance.

The great thing about The Eels is the wonderful adventures they take the listener on. There’s no telling what sounds and stories are going to take place one track to the next or even within a song. There are beautiful piano ballads and dirty electric rockers, lyrics about dealing with the loss of a loved one and the plight of field mice. One moment E will show you life is funny, but just as quickly it turns out it’s “not ha ha funny” as he makes clear on “3 Speed.” Sometimes the music perfectly fits the mood like the raucous vibe on “Souljacker part 1” reflecting Johnny’s anger, yet E is more than willing to juxtapose beautiful arrangements with unhappy lyrics of frustrated and failed relationships during “Your Lucky Day in Hell” and “It’s a Motherfucker,” the latter of which E used the same piano Neil Young played on After the Gold Rush. The only limitations are E’s imagination.

The first track is “Novocaine for the Soul,” probably the best-known Eels’ song, from the debut Beautiful Freak. It begins with the gloriously familiar sound of the static created by a needle dropping onto a record. The remaining 23 tracks offer a fair sampling of the band’s six albums and an insight into what was taking place in E’s life over the years. As an artist, he opens himself up and reveals his growing pains, particularly in relationships. He shares moments we can identify, from heartbreak of “Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)” when you “cry your guts out 'til you got no more/…'bout someone that you're never gonna get to touch” to the awareness of “I'm Going To Stop Pretending That I Didn't Break Your Heart.”

People who think they are new to the band might be more aware of them then they realize because Hollywood loves The Eels, using many of their songs in films and television. “My Beloved Monster” and “I Need Some Sleep” were in the first two Shreks respectively; “Fresh Feeling” was in the television show Scrubs; and “Souljacker” was used in Hot Fuzz and The Condemned. The most frequent song used is “Mr. E's Beautiful Blues,” appearing in Road Trip, Charlie Bartlett, and A Guy Thing. The song has an interesting history because it almost didn’t appear on Daises of the Galaxy. The label wanted it, but E didn’t think it fit the album. A compromise was reached and it was included as a bonus track. At the time E stated, “You can think of it as buying the album and getting a bonus track, or buying the single and getting a bonus album.”

The album also contains two previously unreleased tracks, “Climbing to the Moon” (Jon Brion Remix) and a cover of Missy Elliot’s “Get Ur Freak On,” which used to be played a lot during the Shootenanny! tour, and a live version of “Dirty Girl” from With Strings: Live At Town Hall.

The personality of E shines throughout this package. He offers insight and reflections in the liner notes. On the DVD, which contains 12 videos by the band, E and his dog Bobby Jr. provide the commentary track. It’s hysterical as he stops the monologue at one point and focuses on the delivery of Chinese food for his lunch. E is honest to a fault, claiming he hates the video for “Susan’s House” and thinks it’s a “real piece of shit” because it spells out everything happening in the lyrics. He barely has any memory of the behind-the-scenes on “Your Lucky Day in Hell” and eats his fortune crackers. “Rags to Rags” and “Cancer for the Cure” only appear in this collection as videos.

On first listen, you might wonder what oddness is flowing out the speakers, but it’s music to be savored and it deserves your full attention to be completely appreciated. The Eels are a welcome relief from formulas and predictability because E is an artist with many sides and interests, and he has a will to explore and share them.