Rejoice, rejoice...

Radiohead
Paranoid Android
(Parlophone)

Rating: 10/10 - Single of the Week

It had to be. A new Radiohead single is like Christmas coming early, and this magnum opus from the band is like having your birthday arrive as well. "Bohemian Rhapsody" has been mentioned, and the band themselves have cited it as a reference point, giving you some idea of what to expect here: whisper it - prog rock.

Starting with a plaintive shuffling tune punctuated by ringing guitars, Yorke's beautiful never-quite-strained vocals and some mumbled speech in the background, after three minutes the song's main riff is picked up by a big bad geetar shoved backwards through a distortion pedal and all hell breaks loose. Then - an almost religious tune takes over and the song becomes a hymn to melancholia and angsty regret. "God loves his children, yeah" Thom sighs, then the devil takes over on guitar.
Radio-friendly it is not, but "Paranoid Android" is astounding.

Both CDs b's..."Polyethylene (Parts 1 and 2)" gently lifts you up to giddy heights before buffetting you with layers of spectacular noise and a tumbling waterfall refrain. Hints of prog again, but a gigantic stab at greatness that swells inside your speakers til they burst. "Pearly" is more of a traditional song, still wrapped up snugly in layer upon layer of guitar. Frighteningly good vocals too. "A Reminder" is next, starting unsettlingly with female laughter (or sobbing?) and some French speech. The track then builds in waves as gentle sounds lap away like the tide coming in until you realise its trying to drown you. The most melancholic of the songs on offer here, it is also one of the best. Last up is "Melatonin" (a natural drug that supposedly alleviates insomnia, but can provoke vivid dreams - or nightmares), a strange song which consists of Yorke singing over some almost random orchestral synth noises and some ambient rhythms. As close a soundtrack to your dreams as you could possibly get.

Radiohead with this release have proved themselves not only to be talented beyond all measure, but also refreshingly unwilling to bow to commercial and record company pressure. Following up a relatively accessible - almost AOR - LP like "The Bends" with material such as this shows a maverick kind of genius at work. It is not brave (Radiohead could record themselves breaking wind in a barrel and people would still buy it), but it is the most creative, exquisite and downright interesting music I have heard in a long time.

HeadCleaner
26.05.97