[edit] Radiohead: The Bends

Release: April 4, 1995 Label: Capitol

[edit] Summary

After their well received debut, Pablo Honey, Radiohead's follow up album, The Bends, was released to the public on April 4, 1995. Awaiting fans were not disappointed. The very "alternative" sound that emerged onto the rock scene in the early 1990s found itself in Pablo Honey. But the two years between releases created a more mature Radiohead, which culminated into more intelligent music on The Bends. The album catapulted Radiohead from musical followers to musical leaders. But what is it that makes The Bends so important? How is it that Radiohead has become influential juggernauts to so many musicians throughout the mid-1990s to the present?

For starters, The Bends shows itself as an advancement for the band. The general tone of the album is very cathartic, brooding and melancholic. The tone is delivered in a very driving and aggressive, yet seemingly wistful and easy manner leaving the idle listener from the first note of "Planet Telex" to the final ring of "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" in a very cerebral state. It's angry, it's sad, it's anthemic, impaled into each riff, each word. Pure human emotion is sent via music into the ears where it is received as perfectly as it was delivered. The album has a well engineered and full sound and the tracks are perfectly ordered.

The Bends's uniqueness was realized upon inception into the musical scene in 1995. There was nothing really like it and it turned a lot of heads in the music industry. It became an example not so much for the sound, but for the style and grace in which each tune is delivered to its audience. Radiohead had set almost a new standard for how rock music could be done. And to this day it still continues to influence young artists worldwide.

In a journey from first Radiohead album to the current release, any traveler will soon realize just how important this album is, especially when compared to Radiohead's third album, OK Computer. OKC proves for many that Radiohead is completely ahead of their time and dish up the album as quite possibly one of the best albums ever written and produced. However, the sound of Radiohead is a progressive one, to say the least, and requires much retrospective analysis to see exactly where the sound comes from. The Bends is the album that lead to great things for Radiohead, mainly because it was great, itself. This album is a must-have for any Radiohead fan and a must-listen-to for anyone trying to figure out just why rock music is where it's at today. Radiohead's The Bends serves as an example for all musicians as to how pure emotion can be written into something that evokes feelings so real that the listener receives all of which that has been spent for the creation of music and experiences it on a cerebral plane.

[edit] Tracks

01. Planet Telex (Radiohead) - 4:18 02. The Bends (Radiohead) - 4:06 03. High and Dry (Radiohead) - 4:17 04. Fake Plastic Trees (Radiohead) - 4:50 05. Bones (Radiohead) - 3:08 06. Nice Dream (Radiohead) - 3:53 07. Just (Radiohead) - 3:54 08. My Iron Lung (Radiohead) - 4:36 09. Bullet Proof...I Wish I Was (Radiohead) - 3:28 10. Black Star (Radiohead) - 4:07 11. Sulk (Radiohead) - 3:42 12. Street Spirit (Radiohead) - 4:14

[edit] People

Radiohead - Producer, Mixing Chris Blair - Digital Editing, Mastering Paul Q. Kolderie - Mixing Caroline LaVelle - Cello John Leckie - Producer, Engineer, Mixing Sean Slade - Mixing Jim Warren - Producer, Engineer Nigel Godrich - Producer, Engineer Colin Greenwood - Bass Jonny Greenwood - Organ, Synthesizer, Guitar, Piano, Recorder, String Arrangements John Matthias - Violin, Viola Ed O'Brien - Guitar, Vocals Phil Selway - Drums Thom Yorke - Guitar, Piano, Vocals, String Arrangements Guy Massey - Assistant Engineer Stanley Donwood - Illustrations Chris Brown - Engineer

Contents

[edit] Radiohead: The Bends

[edit] Summary

[edit] Tracks

[edit] People

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