Radiohead
OK Computer

THE REVIEW

Masterpiece. Almost, let's not exaggerate. It is the album that marks the pinnacle of Radiohead's history, after the good "The Bends" and before the revolutionary "Kid A" and "Amnesiac". It is an album that shouldn't be listened to while with friends; it wouldn't make much sense. It would be better to choose it when you're stationary; otherwise, in movement, it might almost seem like sad music: instead, it's an album that captures you, never bores you, doesn't sadden you, and after daily stress, it actually relaxes you, like a little drum, except it sets your mind at ease instead of destroying your lungs.
The lyrics are wonderful, conveying with short and often enigmatic phrases ("Karma Police" certainly beats them all) emotions that the melodic guitar lines in the background exacerbate, the rhythm is always slow and calm, and Thom Yorke's overwhelming voice manages to evoke within the listener the same discomforts that his words express. The songs are all beautiful, the best being "Let Down", where you can sense the anxiety that the city provokes in the singer (anxiety well expressed also on the CD cover, which is also beautiful), the sweet "Subterranean Homesick Alien", in which Thom wishes that the aliens would take him home, away from a strange world and people he feels very far from his way of being,  and finally "Karma Police", whose meaning I will never fully understand, but it's really nice.

Radiohead make quite avant-garde music and I think it's worth it, for those who haven't already done so, to at least listen to this album once, then tastes are tastes, maybe you get along better with Blink 182 or Linkin Park: but if that's the case, perhaps it's time to take a step away from commercial music, Radiohead could be a good step forward in the right direction.