OK Computer: OKNOTOK 1997 2017

1997年にリリースされたレディオヘッドの代表作であり、90年代の音楽シーンを象徴する名盤中の名盤『OK COMPUTER』の20周年記念盤『OKNOTOK』がリリース!8曲のBサイド音源、そして20年の時を経て発掘された超貴重な初公式リリース音源「I Promise」「Lift」「Man Of War」の3曲を収録!

長らく音源化が待ち望まれた「I Promise」「Lift」「Man Of War」の3曲は、当時録音された20年前のオリジナル・レコーディングで、今作『OKNOTOK』で初めて公式リリースされる。またすべての収録曲は、当時のオリジナルのアナログ・テープよりリマスターされたものとなる。

バンドとナイジェル・ゴッドリッチによってプロデュースされた『OK COMPUTER』は、1997年5月にリリースされ、「Paranoid Android」「Karma Police」「Lucky」「No Surprises」といった代表的シングルを世に送り出した。またレディオヘッドが初めてUKチャート1位を獲得し、グラミー賞でも最優秀アルバム賞にノミネートされた記念すべきアルバムであると同時に、作品の文化的、歴史的、芸術的重要性が評価され、アメリカのNational Recording Registry(国家保存重要録音登録制度)にもその名が刻まれた音楽史に燦然と輝く傑作である。

Rolling Stone (p.64) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[P]anicked, paranoid and product-coded; tranquilized, arena-size and indelible." Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.65) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's." Rolling Stone (7/10-24/97, pp.117-118) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...OK COMPUTER - a stunning art-rock tour de force - will have you reeling back to their debut, PABLO HONEY, for insight into the group's dramatic evolution..." Spin (9/99, p.122) - Ranked #9 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s." Spin (1/98, p.86) - Ranked #2 on Spin's list of the "Top 20 Albums Of The Year." Spin (8/97, pp.112-113) - 8 (out of 10) - "...Unlike their majestic models U2, Radiohead take on techno without switching instruments or employing trendy producers....As with post-rockers Tortoise, Laika, and Seefeel, Radiohead have a fuzzbox or two and obviously know how to use 'em..." Entertainment Weekly (Spring 2000, p.166) - Ranked #4 in EW's "Top 10 albums of the '90s" Entertainment Weekly (7/11/97, pp.65-66) - "...Shrouded in wafting guitars, swoony rhythms, and moody-blue strings, it shrugs off mosh-pit conventions for a poignant delicacy and breadth, with Yorke's cracked-throat voice the album's melancholy center....For all of Radiohead's growing pains...their aim--to take British pop to a heavenly new level--is true..." - Rating: B+ Q (6/00, p.91) - Ranked #2 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums" Q (12/99, p.92) - Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums Of The 1990s." Q (10/01, p.112) - Ranked #1 in Q's "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime" Q (1/98, p.114) - Included in Q Magazine's "50 Best Albums of 1997." Melody Maker (12/20-27/97, pp.66-67) - Ranked #2 on Melody Maker's list of 1997's "Albums Of The Year." Melody Maker (6/14/97, p.49) - "...unlike anything I've ever heard....I definitley know it isn't good for me, and I'm certain it says more about my life than I'd like....in terms of composition and performance, it's very impressive. Radiohead have excelled themselves. They've seen the future." Village Voice (2/24/98) - Ranked #2 in the Village Voice's 1997 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll. Mojo (Publisher) (p.67) - Ranked #3 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "OK COMPUTER sought to disturb as much as delight. It's still succeeding." NME (Magazine) (12/20-27/97, pp.78-79) - Ranked #2 in NME's 1997 Critics' Poll. Pitchfork (Website) - "[R]eal songs and tunes, but ones that didn't shrink from the increasingly unlimited possibilities of modern music-making. In that sense, Radiohead were not only record-collectors but futurists..." Record Collector (magazine) (p.89) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "It's a brilliant album....[V]isual, visceral and complete..."

Using the textured soundscapes of The Bends as a launching pad, Radiohead delivered another startlingly accomplished set of modern guitar rock with OK Computer. The anthemic guitar heroics present on Pablo Honey and even The Bends are nowhere to be heard here. Radiohead have stripped away many of the obvious elements of guitar rock, creating music that is subtle and textured yet still has the feeling of rock & roll. Even at its most adventurous -- such as the complex, multi-segmented "Paranoid Android" -- the band is tight, melodic, and muscular, and Thom Yorke's voice effortlessly shifts from a sweet falsetto to vicious snarls. It's a thoroughly astonishing demonstration of musical virtuosity and becomes even more impressive with repeated listens, which reveal subtleties like electronica rhythms, eerie keyboards, odd time signatures, and complex syncopations. Yet all of this would simply be showmanship if the songs weren't strong in themselves, and OK Computer is filled with moody masterpieces, from the shimmering "Subterranean Homesick Alien" and the sighing "Karma Police" to the gothic crawl of "Exit Music (For a Film)." OK Computer is the album that established Radiohead as one of the most inventive and rewarding guitar rock bands of the '90s. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine