release date: Jun. 16, 1997
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]
producer: Radiohead, Nigel Godrich
label: Parlophone - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Airbag" - 2. "Paranoid Android" - 6. "Karma Police" - 10. "No Surprises" (4 / 5) - 1. "Lucky"
3rd studio album by Radiohead introducing a long-time relationship with producer Nigel Godrich, who helped shaping the band's stylistic profile in the aftermath of britpop. It's still alt. rock but comparing this to The Bends (1995) the band takes on a more atmospheric and melancholic style, which could be described as art rock. At the time of the release the style was referred to as post-britpop, which basically signalled a move away from simpler guitar- and chorus-based songs to more complex compositions.
The album became the band's so far biggest success, and the appraisal of the album seemed endless. Years later it's a natural element on countless best of lists and quite often found among the top 3 most important albums of all time [!].
It's the second Radiohead album to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die", and it was the band's first #1 album in the UK.
Nowadays, I acknowledge its qualities, and the originality of both album and band but it just doesn't (and never did) appeal a great deal to me, and in many years I found it more than difficult to accept as more than another so-so soft rock album. One day I may even find it truly good, but for now I like it, although, I don't consider it the band's best nor an album I often listen to.
[ allmusic.com, Q Magazine, NME 5 / 5, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Spin 4 / 5 stars ]
