Best radiohead album, in your opinion?

Personally, Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows are my favorites, With Pablo Honey/The Bends being the worst. I only like one song from those albums, Street Spirit. Whereas I can't fault anything on In Rainbows or Hail to the Thief. Opinions?

Pablo Honey 0
The Bends 5
OK Computer 15
Kid A 4
Amnesiac 2
Hail to the Thief 0
In Rainbows 6
The King of Limbs 0
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Comments ( 25 )
  • bananaface

    I LOVE this post!:D Love, love, love it!

    The winner is most definitely The Bends. I think it's fantastic. The majority of my top ten Radiohead Songs are from this album. My favourite Radiohead song is Bulletproof...I Wish I Was, which is on the Bends. And then you've got Street Spirit, Fake Plastic Trees, Just, Black Star, My Iron Lung, The Bends, High and Dry and Nice Dream. And yeah, I know I listed most of the songs on the album, but I genuinely love all of these songs to bits. I love the way it sounds, the lyrics, the way it makes me feel. All of it! Fantastic album, one of my favourite. I like the songs Planet Telex and Bones too, although I don't love them. Sulk can just sod off, I wish they'd never put it on the album. That album would have been so perfect without that song.

    OK Computer might be the runner up. The Tourist is just AHH! I love that song! Karma Police! Paranoid Android! Exit Music (For a Film)! Let Down! No Surprises! Subterranean Homesick Alien! Lucky! Argh, I know I'm listing most of the songs again, but I really love this album too.

    I feel like giving In Rainbows (*possibly* the best Radiohead album in my opinion, although perhaps not my very favourite) and the King of Limbs a mention too. I guess because rather than feeling like a collection of really good songs, they feel like an album, all working together to make one good thing, rather than lots of little good things put together. Sort of the same with Hail to the Thief and Kid A actually. As for Kid A! I love this one too. Ahhh, Motion Picture Soundtrack is so beautiful. Those harps kill me! Idioteque!! And I always felt like Hail to the Thief was one of the most underrated Radiohead albums. I really fell in love with this one, but I think sometimes people forget about it. Hope not.

    Every album has at least one song I love. My second favourite Radiohead song is probably Seperator, which is the King of Limbs. I LOOOOVE THAT SONG! It has a sound which you get in a lot of other songs from the album, and it's a sound which I just love. It's mellow, a bit fuzzy, sort of hazy and the imagery I get from it is even better:D!

    Ok, I've decided: 1. The Bends. 2. OK Computer. 3. In Rainbows.

    Number 2 and 3 will probably change. In fact, I'm already considering switching them around. Amnesiac doesn't get a mention because I don't like it, so I haven't fallen in love with it. Maybe one day I will. Pablo Honey was alright. I *love* Creep, but the rest is a bit mediocre.

    Holy fudge, I don't think I've said the word "love" so much in any one comment. Yikes, I got really excited there:P. I love Radiohead:D! BANANAS GOT THE BENDS!

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    • dappled

      Ha! Typical. You and I liking the same music by the same people again. You know what someone told me about Paranoid Android (and what I'd never have worked out for myself)? Radiohead wrote it as a mix of the Beatles, the Pixies, and Bohemian Rhapsody. Kind of inevitable we were going to like it, eh?

      Merry Christmas, bananabobs!

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      • bananaface

        Merry Christmas!!:D Huh, I would never have noticed that either. How strange. I guess that makes more sense of why I love the song so much then:P. Paranoid Android, along with High and Dry, Creep and Just, were the first songs that got me into Radiohead. I'd loved them for ages, and then decided I wanted to listen to more. Huh, Bohemian Rhapsody. That went right over my head! Aww, Radiohead are so festive, aren't they?:P

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  • NoraBaker

    I feel complete love for In Rainbows!! There's no better Radiohead than that, for me. Yes! It's perfect!!

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    • bananaface

      It's a fantastic album, isn't it?:D What do you think your favourite song from In Rainbows is? You don't have to answer obviously, just curious.:)

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      • NoraBaker

        Oh, no! I'd love to answer, I just don't think I can! But I'll say the ones I like the most. (Hmm... I just remembered having listened to the whole of The Cure body of work again earlier this year and never going back to a certain poll! Haha)

        Well, I didn't listen to it as a whole album at first, as I just threw it in my iPod and I keep it on shuffle, so it surprises me. Every time there was a song from In Rainbows I'd have to go look so I could rate it 5 stars, that's how I keep track of what I want to listen again. And what do you know, practically the whole album had been five-starred. :)

        Reckoner is one of my very favorites. Especially when he sings that very word, reckoneeeeer..... Haha. Jigsaw Falling Into Place is very pleasant also. I adore Weird Fishes. Who wouldn't like a fish that is weird, for starters? :D All I Need, Faust Arp, that whole midsection of the first disc is great to me. 15 step opens it beautifully, too. I like the percussion and acoustic guitar on it, gives it a "fake simple" feel to it when it begins, if that makes any sense.

        I love how mystery-movieesque Down is the New Up sounds! Then Up On the Ladder builds up in a way that sometimes gives me mild chills.

        So you see, I like most of them, I just think it's a very cohesive album and it's where Radiohead finally seems to have perfected the "Radiohead sound", where everything that is good about them comes together and translates perfectly into their music and songs.

        On a side note, I think The Eraser, Thom Yorke's solo album, is probably my next favorite "Radiohead album", if it counts... hahaha. Then his duet with PJ Harvey on the track This Mess We're In, in her album Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea.

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        • bananaface

          Reckoner! I think that was the first song on In Rainbows that I fell in love with. It's one of those songs which I go through little phases with. As in, I'll listen to it loads at one point, and then not listen to it again for months, and then I'll get back into it, etc. Anyway, I so get what you mean with the way he sings the word "reckoner". I love the way he sings that "hmmmm" bit about two thirds into the song, haha. You know the bit I'm on about? And then he goes all "reckoneeeeer" again.:D I love the way it ends as well. Damn, now I want to switch number 2 and 3 on my list. Argh, I knew I would!

          God, I could just marry his voice! He does it in Sail to the Moon as well. And Scatterbrain (which reminds me of Sail to the Moon quite a bit). Both Hail to the Thief songs, so I guess that makes sense. Just anything with his voice, actually. Damn it, now I'm thinking about all the songs I should have given a mention. My comment could have easily been three times as long, even though it's pretty big already.

          Oh, and Fog and Go Slowly are both fantastic too. True Love Waits is pretty cute too. I don't think those three are on any albums mentioned in the poll (not that I'm aware of). I know I keep saying so many of these songs are my favourite from Radiohead and that I love them, but I genuinely do! Argh, music is just brilliant! I *love* posts like this, they really are just my favourite on IIN!:P

          Oh, and they do really good covers of Unravel by Bjork and The Rip by Portishead, by the way (although the latter is only Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood). In both cases I much prefer the original, but the covers are still really lovely, in my opinion. I haven't heard that one with PJ Harvey, so I'll give it a listen:D. I've only heard a few songs from Eraser so I'll give that a listen too. Thanks!:D And don't worry about the Cure:P.

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          • NoraBaker

            Is that "hmmmm" more like a "ommomm"?? If that's it, I think I know! Hahaha. And you kinda wish it were a little longer, please, Thom? At about 3:20 in the song?

            I have not yet heard the covers you mentioned and I will as soon as I'm done commenting! Speaking of which, there's an awesome live cover of Creep by Prince, have you heard that? The PJ Harvey album I mentioned I highly recommend, the whole album - it's one of my top 10 of all time. Not that my taste in music is any standard upon which anyone else should base themselves on. Haha.

            PS: Oh, The Cure, without all the fuss: I was down to Lullaby, Lovesong, Caterpillar, and Lovecats. ^.~

            PPS: "bananas got the bends" made me laugh so soooo much!!! :D

            Edit: I love this post, too!

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            • bananaface

              Yeah, that's the one! I love it when songs have little moments like that. I guess "hmmm" wasn't the right word for it, I never know how to type sounds which aren't really words. I'm so adding ommomm to my vocabulary!:D

              No, I haven't heard Prince sing Creep. Haha, I wouldn't have pictured him singing that, I'll go check it out and listen to it as I type this:D. I listened to This Mess We're In last night, *so* good! I'll definitely give her album a listen at some point, her voice is lovely. From what I've gathered, I love your taste in music anyway, so I'll probably like it.:P

              This Creep cover seems pretty good so far, actually. I'm really picky about covers as well, I hate those ones which just sound like replicas, rather than doing something original and different with it. A good example would be Weezer's cover of Paranoid Android. I quite like Weezer, but hearing their cover was the worst thing in the world, not only because I love the original, but just ack!.D: I like what Prince has done with it, though.

              Oh, and I love your the Cure choices. I wouldn't have guessed Caterpillar. Oh, speaking of the Cure, my two year old nephew loves them. Although he thinks Robert Smith is Edward Scissorhands, ha.:P Every time he sees him, he starts shouting "edward hands!". It's too cute, so I thought I should share it, haha.:)

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          • NoraBaker

            Well, the covers are just lovely indeed, both of them. I'm glad you directed me to them, I was so happy to find a remixed version of Unravel to throw in my mix tapes - CDs, whatever, I just like to call 'em tapes! Actually, I'm a great fan of covers, of that cross between artists, songs and styles. [Possibly the reason why I knew of Prince doing Creep - and that one I always found so fitting, he's such a creep! Say whatever you want about him, but I agree with the line of thought that says he's sort of a fucking musical genius.]

            On Weezer's Paranoid Android, let's just say I found it rather interesting, buuut... I did catch myself turning the volume down and I'm pretty sure I'm going to listen again willingly... I kinda thought "Oh my! Say it ain't so, Weezer!" hahaha

            Still on covers, sometimes, I'll compile all the covers of a certain song... like, years ago one of the first, Happiness Is a Warm Gun, and more recently, A Satisfied Mind.

            Now on your marriage to his voice, I am all for it! A pretty face to a heavenly voice and a lazy eye! What? You knew you'd have to marry it, too, right? Hahaha.

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            • bananaface

              Ha, I sort of want to know who the OP is as well:P. I like their taste!

              And I'm glad you liked the covers, they are pretty great. Ahaha, poor Prince, getting called a creep! Aside from Kiss, and now Creep, I haven't heard anything from him, so I wouldn't know if he's a genius, unfortunately.

              Hahaha, say it ain't so indeed! It wasn't bad in the way it sounded, just that it was not a good cover. They didn't really do anything different with it. I hate that, it's like they thought, "that's a good song, but I think we can do it better!" Grr, I think not!

              I love covers too. It's great seeing how far one song can be stretched. Like how two versions of the same song can sound completely different, and both still sound fantastic. I've only heard one cover of A Satisfied Mind, by Jeff Buckley. I do like his covers, especially Hallelujah.:) Never hear any covers of Happiness is a Warm Gun, although I love the original.

              I'm all for the marriage too! I'd happily take the eye too (as long as it's attached to the rest of the body, of course:P). Heh, the only issue now is getting his consent! Hmm, maybe I should track him down and then serenade him with his own music! ♪♫"I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo, what the hell am I doing here?"♪♫ I'm sure he will be thinking similar things about my being there as well. How could he say no, eh?!:P

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  • Justsomejerk

    OK Computer.

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  • CheyChey

    Hahaha are you guys serious? Radiohead fucking sucks.

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    • dodongos

      I'm happy to see nobody has fed you yet.

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      • CheyChey

        They haven't? really? Omg!

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  • dodongos

    Yes! This is what I love to see.

    My most favoritest album of all time is In Rainbows, 100%.
    In fact, I just bought it on vinyl today! :D

    My second favorite, and call me crazy, is The King of Limbs. OH GOD I love it. The percussion, the craziness, the artwork. Genius.

    Those two albums, in my personal opinion, have a certain sound to them that just sounds so... perfect. In their own ways.

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  • Medusa'sPath

    Mine changes all the time, is have to say Kid A. OK Computer is their most solid album though, and I think In Rainbows is slightly overrated and Amnesiac is slightly underrated.

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  • dappled

    I didn't really like Pablo Honey, either. I bought it within a month of it coming out (I loved Creep) and I was pretty sure Radiohead were one-hit wonders when I heard the rest of the album. I don't even really class Pablo Honey as a Radiohead album because it's quite a long way from what they were going to be. It wasn't long after grunge and when I listen to the album now, I hear a lot of grunge influences they later left behind.

    The Bends was the first true Radiohead album. I heard My Iron Lung and like with Pablo Honey, bought the album straight away. Unlike Pablo Honey, though, I loved the album and still do. It was a pleasant surprise to find things like Just, one of my favourite songs by any band, not just Radiohead.

    In terms of favourites, though, I really fell for OK Computer. It was clever and experimental and I knew what they were doing. I feel some personal ownership of Radiohead because I've been with them all the way (a lot of the other music I like happened before I was born) and supported them even when they did look like one hit wonders. OK Computer was like a thank you, an album for fans. To me, Paranoid Android is one of the most Radioheady of all Radiohead. It reminds me of My Iron Lung but with something extra. What that extra is exactly is going to be in a reply to bananaface because she'll appreciate it as well. :)

    Merry Christmas!

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  • Avant-Garde

    I have two Radiohead albums, the greatest hits and Kid A. I haven't listened to Kid A very much and I'm not very fond of it.... I like the Greatest Hits, but does that even count since it's a compilation album?

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  • disthing

    I tend to like one or two songs from each album, so it makes it very difficult to pick a favourite.

    My favourite Radiohead songs of all time are:
    Fake Plastic Trees
    Creep
    No Surprises
    Climbing Up The Walls
    Just
    Karma Police
    Fog
    Street Spirit (Fade Out)

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    • Avant-Garde

      Those are great songs!

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