Reviewing Radiohead - The Bends (1995)

Pablo Honey gave Radiohead a hit in Creep, which had marked the band as possible one hit wonders. Luckily, they knew how to get out of Creep's shadow - writing better songs. Yet the band's decision to work with producer Nigel Godrich, and bringing in Stanley Donwood to work on their visual side, means The Bends is arguably the most important Radiohead album - without it, their legacy might be completely different.

The album cover shows this shift almost immediately - the rather eerie, uncanny valley CPR doll somewhat amuses me because it's a rather unusual concept, and which looks very much like the 1990s. I will deduct points for the massive red strip with "RADIOHEAD" plastered across it, as it just makes the cover look unnecessarily brash. It's a far nicer cover than what Pablo offered, yet it's also not as good as what Radiohead were to present in the future. 

Onto the music then, beginning with the stunning Planet Telex. Opening with effect-laden feedback, then diving into great drumming and guitar, the song builds a rough, hazy atmosphere, one which benefits from Thom Yorke's cryptic lyrics and emotional vocals. Jonny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien play different guitar lines, one with tremolo and the other distorted, and they complement each other so well. It's a stunning track, so far ahead of Pablo that it's easy to argue this album is better and you're only four minutes in. When I first heard Telex, I was floored by its quality, and it's one of my favourite Radiohead tracks.

The Bends opens with the crashing of an anthemic guitar line. The song shifts into a quieter chorus ("I'm just lying in a bar...") before returning to guitar-led paranoia; the second chorus, though, has some nice piano notes which I wish they used more often in the song. By the outro it's all rather chaotic, before the noise bleeds into Yorke's plaintive vocals. It's a good rock song, though not as great as Telex.

Then you have two ballads that most know - High and Dry is the template that Coldplay followed religiously for many years, and isn't all too remarkable. Lyrics like "you'd kill yourself for recognition" fit in well with the general grunge mood, and it's musically competent but doesn't grab me in any way. Fake Plastic Trees is more powerful, building up from an acoustic riff and gaining some noise through Jonny's guitarwork, before some cellos are added for good measure. It's better written, and perhaps it's obvious when you compare the two that High and Dry is merely a leftover from the Pablo Honey days.

Bones brings us back into nervy rocking, opening with a great rippling guitar effect. Colin Greenwood plays a wonderful bassline, and Yorke gives one of his best vocal performances on the album, as he sings about getting old whilst he was 27. It's a nice three minute song that has Jonny at his best. 

(Nice Dream) (yes, the title is bracketed) is a morose ballad with some distortion and strings sprinkled in. The backing vocals by O'Brien are a nice touch, especially before a soaring guitar solo brings in a great bridge - and it all dies down, with only Yorke and synth notes remaining. It's a plaintive song, and wonderful too. 

Just is pure chaos with the guitars - loads of chords, distortion, and anger is played here. It does sound more dated than most songs on this album - there's a clear grunge edge here - however I can't deny that I love the chorus and instrumentation, and it's a really fun song to listen to (and I imagine playing it is joyful too).

My Iron Lung was meant to be a response to Creep becoming very popular, and was in fact released on an EP a year before The Bends was. It starts off rather anxious and acoustic with a sirenic riff, before an explosive chorus which I don't particularly like, and the song then repeats. I think it's a step-down from the grunge side of the album so far - it's passable, but doesn't do much for me.

Bullet Proof...I Wish I Was is another ballad, one set to a backdrop of bleak electronic effects. It features a lovely guitar line in the chorus, as well as ominous vocals by Yorke, and it's overall a decent melancholic track, though its chorus is somewhat mimimalistic and the slow tempo does put it in an awkward position in the tracklist, not least as you have the more interesting Black Star coming up next. 

Starting with a feedback heavy fade in, the song immediately gives a great impression. I quite like Black Star since it merges the ballad and grunge styles displayed throughout The Bends quite effectively, creating a song that feels tired, as if in despair - simply "blame it on the satellites", as Yorke sings drably, to a wonderful guitar riff. It encapsulates the album quite well sonically.

Sulk feels rather similar, though with a more anthemic chorus that doesn't hit too well. There are lovely guitar effects on display, with a great bassline and slight organ too, yet the vocals are a bit melodramatic, and the song is slightly weaker than Black Star in this respect. However, I do appreciate the roaring guitar which adds shoegazey feedback at the end.

Street Spirit is the closer, and it's quite repetitive. The same guitar riff loops throughout, somewhat forebodingly, whilst there's a touch of strings as well. It's a rather bleak song, with mechanical drumming and haunting backing vocals which is rather beautiful. It nails the melancholy that Radiohead have aimed for throughout, and is perhaps the best song on the album for this reason. To top it all off, it became their highest charting single to that point - 5th - beating out Creep, as the band likely hoped for. A stunning end to a stunning album.

The Bends is a fantastic album, and today is its 30th birthday. Perhaps it's too ballad-heavy, and perhaps it was the beginning of Radiohead descending further into sad guitar music, but that doesn't deny the fact that the album is far stronger than Pablo Honey was. It's worth pointing out that some B sides from this time are fantastic too, notably Talk Show Host - Radiohead were producing great music that didn't even make it onto an already great record. And we've not even reached their seminal piece.