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Allow me to say it: it's never easy to talk about Radiohead, especially when it comes to reviewing their work, whether it's a new release, a live album, or in this case, a best of compilation. But it's impossible to remain indifferent to this band; Radiohead are conveyors of every possible emotion: melancholy, joy, sadness, anger, depression, and there isn’t a single useless or "horrible" song of theirs. In this double album, we find their biggest commercial successes, starting from their timid debut with "Pablo Honey" to the less understood "Amnesiac" (note the incredible difference between both periods).
From the first, we find the marvelous "Creep," a simple yet intense piece, with a chorus that explodes into a fierce and half-whispered vocal, damnably effective. Pure chills at Yorke's desperate scream. From the next, "The Bends," in my opinion one of their best albums (which, however, will have to contend with the later ones), we have 7 singles, including the superb "Fake Plastic Trees" with its remarkable lyrics and spine-chilling interlude, the "Muse-ian" (forgive me the term) "My Iron Lung" and the relaxing and introspective "Street Spirit." But it's only after The Bends that the band produces three phenomenal albums, rich in rock, electronic, and classical music experiments, with nods to jazz, punk, and sometimes even progressive. Needless to say, "Paranoid Android" has left its mark on the history of '90s rock: a half "lunatic" suite, at times slow and calm until the final boom where the darkest and most bewildering psychedelia enters, the perfect single that heralded the 21st century. And what about the splendid "Karma Police" (with its orgasmic finale) and the sweetest "No Surprises" (with a genius video), or "Exit Music," with a Yorke never so intense.
And here we are... it's the year 2000, but Radiohead do not seem scared by this; on the contrary, they proceed on their path without mincing words. And if you didn't like "Kid A" (for any reason), you can't forget tracks like "Ideoteque," a disconcerting descent into the depths of the human mind, pounding and frenetic, with an icy vocal, or "Everything In Its Right Place": no drums, no guitars, no bass, just a delicate and haunting soundscape full of echoes and spatial sounds, creating true "mental journeys." And for those who underestimate "Amnesiac," just listening to the very strange "Pyramid Song" will make them think twice (which is already too much).
In short, Radiohead are a band that, whether you like it or not, have been important in their time: they've "destroyed rock to then rebuild it" as it's already been said, and if today there are bands like Muse, Keane, Coldplay, or The Killers, credit surely goes to them.
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