Customer Reviews

The Best Of [Explicit] [+digital booklet]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Music: 5 Stars... Compilation: 4 Stars

When Radiohead decided with the "In Rainbows" album not to re-up with EMI, it was only a matter of time before the label would squeeze a few more drops out of the money machine that Radiohead was for EMI. The label simply had to find a good time and excuse to do so, and that time has come (new tour!). The band has made clear that it has nothing to do with this "best of", all the while also acknowledging that EMI has the legal right to do this. Now the question is: is this compilation any good?

"The Best of Radiohead" (17 tracks; 76 min.) not surprisingly focuses on tracks from three albums: a whopping 6 tracks from 1995's commercial breakthrough album "The Bends", including the singles Just, My Iron Lung, High and Dry, Fake Plastic Trees, Street Spirit (Fade Out) and also the fabulous title tracks. 1997's "OK Computer" album, viewed by many as one of the most important albums of the 90s, gets 4 tracks, including the singles Paranoid Android, Karma Police, No surprises, and also Lucky. 2000's "Kid A" gets 3 tracks: Optimistic, Idioteque, and Everything In Its Right Place. With that, 75% of this "best of" compilation is filled. The remaining 3 studio albums get a mere 4 tracks: the monster hit Creep from 1993's "Pablo Honey"; Pyramid Song from 2001's "Amnesiac; and finally There There and 2+2=5 from 2004's "Hail to the Thief".

In all, it is difficult to argue with that selection. Only 2 singles did not make in on here (Knives Out from "Amnesiac" and Go to Sleep from "Hail to the Thief", but this is not "The Singles of Radiohead". I will say that I am not crazy with the sequencing of the album (notice that the 3 tracks from "Kid A" are buried in the second half). But all in all, EMI actually did make a pretty good job of it, imagine that! For anyone not all that familiar with Radiohead, this is a great place to start. If you are wondering whether to buy this, or instead the 2CD "Special Edition" (which comes with an additional 13 songs on a second CD), I'd recommend to buy this single CD compilation. If you like what you hear, the next step is to explore the individual studio albums of Radiohead.

Each of these songs is fantastic, so if you're the kind of person who would like to be able to say that you've "heard" Radiohead, this purchase will be ok. You will at least have 17 great songs that you didn't have before. On the other hand, if you listen to the samples and notice that you like what you hear, you might be interested in knowing that Radiohead now have seven whole albums of songs at least as good as what's presented here.

You should also know that each of their albums is a fairly cohesive work, and is best taken as a whole. So, even if you're not looking to buy seven disks straight up (which is still a great idea if you like what you hear), I think you'd do better to buy one of the complete albums rather than this collection.

Pablo Honey is their first and easily their weakest album, but is still fairly good (and yes, it has "Creep" on it). If you're looking to just satisfy your curiosity about this Radiohead that you keep hearing about (and I'm sorry about that; Radiohead fans can be a rabid bunch), then buy OK Computer. I guarantee you that having one complete album with 12 tracks is better than having this collection of 17. Once you have OK Computer and you want more, you can either go to Kid A and Amnesiac for more weird and electronic, or to The Bends for less weird.

Once you've done that, if you realize that you would still be interested in more (and I hope you are), you might as well just order Pablo Honey, Hail to the Thief, and In Rainbows in one shipment, giving yourself about a week to listen to each of the last two.

I hope that's helpful. Enjoy!

First off, let me say that I am somewhat obsessed with Radiohead - they're my favorite band other than the Beatles, and easily the best group currently making music. So when I first learned of a Radiohead compilation, I almost flew into a "Pacifist's rampage". That is, I almost threw assorted harmless objects such as cloth napkins and pillowcases within a five-inch radius in an otherwise empty room. But then I calmed myself down, and realized that this is a great intro to a fantastic band. See, the thing about Radiohead is that a compilation actually works for them. Their albums (particularly the Bends, OK Computer, Kid A and In Rainbows, though they have yet to disappoint me) are all very good, or at least have very good moments, and they've never made a bad one. But their best songs make perfect sense out of album context (other than "Treefingers", a brief instrumental that serves no purpose other than to link the first and second halves of the album). So they're not like Pink Floyd, whose albums you have to hear entirely in order to get where they're going. Nor are they the Beatles (the greatest band ever, by the way) who have too many hits, famous songs, and whatnot, to fit on four CD's.

So, basically, the casual Radiohead fan should just go for it. It contains all of Radiohead's most significant hits not found on In Rainbows, after all - "Creep", "High and Dry", "Fake Plastic Trees", "Just", "Paranoid Android", "Karma Police", "No Surprises", "Lucky", "Optimistic", "Pyramid Song", "There There" and so forth; and a few album tracks, too! I have to give them the thumbs-up for including "The Bends", which rocks like hell, and the apocalyptic techno "Idioteque", a fan favorite.

I don't know what else to say, really. If you're new to Radiohead, and just want all the hits on one disc, scoop it up. But be warned: this group can be addicting.

I have never been a fan of Radiohead. But I kept hearing how amazing the band was and how they are considered music royalty of the late 90s and 2000's.

So I picked this compilation up.

Radiohead are an interesting band.

I always thought of them as a boring, overly praised mediocre band.

I can tell now that they are legitimate.

Im still getting used to them...but im hoping the album will fully grow on me!

The tracks are pretty good and I especially enjoy the first 9 or so tracks.

I look forward to listening to some of their full albums as I heard, the songs fully flourish when in company with the context of the other tracks.

I keep hearing about EMIs 'corporate greed' by releasing this.

I say why not? It gives non-fans a platform to hear their music before fully investing in their back catalogue. Im so sick of these people whining about EMIs greed. Look, they distributed Radioheads music since 1993 to all you fans, so why dont they have the right to compile some of the best tracks so new fans can discover them? Without EMI there might not even be a succesful Radiohead.

So 3.5 stars from me. For now.

I'm well aware the band had no input on this collection, but guess what, half the collections on the market for any band are that way. Onto the songs. First off I think they needed this really. Six albums out, it was time. At 17 tracks I think it's a good amount of songs. My only complaint really is I wish it was in chronological order. However then it would have been easy to see we've got one hit from their debut and SIX tracks from The Bends. As good as that album is I think 4-5 would have been enough, making room for another couple songs. Maybe a b-side or live cut. Still, this is a hits album so it's hard to argue what's included. This is after all meant for the new fan, or the person who thinks they only need one Radiohead release, whoever that guy is. There is a 2-disc version of this also.

This is a very good sampler if you are new to radiohead and want to check them out. If you like it, it will send you deeper into there catalog for some of there other works. Not sure what a couple of the other reviewers are referring to for $70.00. This is a $14.00 CD. I think they wanted to review the LP's.

Let me just say i purchase this cd after watching the Fake plastic trees video. Boy was I stunned when i found not only that sone but quite a few more excellent songs off of this cd. I would highly encourage you to purchase and give Radiohead a listen. I sure you like them too if you do!

Thanks

I just discovered Radiohead. I really like this CD. I will be looking for other CD's by them. I want to hear some of their newer stuff.

The best part about Radiohead is how good the albums flow together. Mixing the songs up just kills the atmosphere. This is OK for new fans, but I still wouldn't get it. If you're new to the band, get OK Computer or The Bends.

I gave it 3 stars instead of 1 because it's Radiohead.

All of the songs on this CD are great! I have really enjoyed having many of Radiohead's hits all on one disc.