If Pablo Honey were by any artist other than Radiohead, I don’t think I would own it. The only notable song is the outstanding Creep. Otherwise, there are a few hit single-ish tunes that remind me of the Gin Blossoms, while the rest are shapeless muddles.

Two particular songs seem to inform the band’s later work: You and Creep. Both contain some interesting lead guitar work with splashes of atonality, and Thom’s expressive vocals, ranging between neurotic warbling and a full out holler. Both exist in embryonic form on Pablo Honey and are expanded upon to much better effect on The Bends and subsequent albums.

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Near impossible to follow up OK Computer with another masterpiece, Radiohead took a bold leap into the unknown. Kid A’s roots are in OK Computer, namely the computerized vocals, spacey feel, and down-tempo minor chord centered songs, but an experimental, electronic vibe wins out.

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Amnesiac arrived eight months after Kid A and sprang from the same sessions. It’s hard not to consider these songs as “Kid B”. In addition, these songs are pretty much studio based, and possibly a deliberate attempt to be strange and vague in order to free Radiohead from the expectations regarding their more commercial work.

This album has a few songs I really love (namely the first two), but it’s dragged down by material that I feel is weaker than that Kid A or Hail To The Thief. I can appreciate the artistic effort, but that doesn’t always translate into entertaining listening.

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Radiohead’s sixth and most recent album (dating from 2003, which shows how much time has passed since anything new) returns to guitar based roots after the electronic experimentation of Kid A and Amnesiac, but doesn’t go back far enough to recall The Bends. While it combines aspects across their previous work, in my opinion, those choices aren’t necessarily the best, and as such Hail To The Thief is disappointingly hit and miss.

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The Bends is Radiohead’s second album, and sounds it — an evolutionary step squarely between the melodic rock of Pablo Honey and the moody, otherworldly masterpiece OK Computer. There’s conflict between standard rock and more experimental, nearly atonal sonic textures. Some songs are frustratingly safe, others gloriously so, and a few flirt with the cutting edge. In retrospect, Radiohead was on the edge of a creative leap, peeking into a canyon but not quite over the rift.

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