I admit it – this is just a gratuitous post because I happen to have listened to some old CDs in the car over the last couple of weeks. Anyway, there is no doubt that Radiohead’s OK Computer has stood the test of time and must rank very high in any list of the greatest albums of the nineties.
It’s a triumph of music and mood over meaning. I haven’t got a clue what he is singing about most of the time. But what a mood they create, somehow in that strange space between exhilaration and despair.
Take “Let Down” as an example. Utterly depressing if you just listen to the lyrics, but somehow the music takes you beyond, as if the line about growing wings is not just a sign of desperation and frustration but some half-acknowledged sign of hope – quickly denied.
I need to go back to the album that came before – The Bends. At the time I preferred it over OK Computer because it was still on the edge of a classic rock album. I’m not sure what I’ll think now.
Jason Hirschhorn at Listverse agrees with me!
Bridges and Tangents 
The Bends remains brilliant – and rock heresy though this is – I still prefer it to OK Computer
Cant decide on the order but……….either way it has to include
Tracy Chapman—Fast Car
Manic Street Preachers—This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
Four Non Blondes—-Bigger Better Faster More
The Cranberries—No Need To Argue +
The Cranberries—Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Cant We
For some reason I liked Desiree at the time
Portishead—Dummy, is so special
And at a very tight squeeze date wise a favourite was also
10,000 Maniacs—Blind Man Zoo (1989 actually)
I am sure there are many others…but these are the ones I still play.
Radiohead :O)
Oh I forgot Clannad— all of them great to listen to whilst reading.
Oh and then there is the unbeatable Kate Bush—Hounds of Love
There was one genesis one too and Eric Clapton
Ziggy Marley too
and then there was the dirty dancing album :O/
Oh Dear What have you done, Tapes and Vinyl revisit
:O) :O) :O) :O) :O) :O) :O) :O) :O) :O) :O) :O) :O) :O)
The poor Children
It’s a toss-up between Tori Amos, Little Earthquakes or Pulp, Different Class.
Mags, I used to like Desiree too – wasn’t she the one who sang ‘You gotta be…’, that was a great song!
Hello madame evangelista, I am not sure about ‘you gotta be’ my desiree album was Mind Adventures. I liked pulp too in fact the whole of that time Oasis-Blur-Pulp although for some reason I managed to get through it without buying an album. post by bjork was a fav too…..the list goes on….. p.s I Love your Gravatar thumbnail.