THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE

Radiohead's OK Computer is reckoned by music journos to be one of the best albums of all time but I never thought so, mainly because it took me so long to get used to Thom Yorke's whining vocal style. After more (intermittent) plays, I've come to see it as a really wonderful evocation in music of a slightly futuristc dystopia (see Crabdale and previous blogs) where many people, despite having their material needs satisfied, are stretched to breaking point and feel utterly powerless.

I know this is a candidate for Pseud's Corner now, but I do think the album is a work of twisted genius. The title itself is about the nod of weary assent we unthinkingly give hundreds of times a day interfacing with the insanely complicated systems (computerised and otherwise) that regulate our lives. The songs are relentlessy nasty.

Karma Police, after an initial run-through of a comfortingly familiar-sounding chord sequence, lurches immediately into its sinister lyric about two misfits. Who they are and what side they are on is ambiguous but the malice of the assault against them ("arrest this man...he buzzes like a fridge; he's like a detuned radio") is clear. TY, in character as a weasly and paranoid collaborator/informer, asks the karma police to remove them from the scene. In the refrain, the sweet nursery piano scales contrast with the starkness of the words (of the Authorities?) and the dry rasp with which they tail off: “this is what you’ll get if you mess with us.” Best of all is the exuberant outro as the singer returns to his own path, now clear of undesirable elements; his hollow joy is emphasised by a fanfare of strangely cold voice-like sounds in the background, which evoke the soothing backing vocals you might expect at this point in songs from an earlier era. (These sounds are a good example of what one reviewer described as musical “hieroglyphs” which decorate every track.) The song ends jarringly.

Building towards the climax of the album (Lucky), No Surprises brings the theme to its logical conclusion: conform completely or get out. There is suicide by asphyxiation side by side with the pretty house and garden. What both solutions have in common is the quietly terrified plea for comfort: "no alarms and no surprises please."

It's amazing what a bunch of musical amateurs can do with a little technology and imagination. Go back and listen to it again.