OK Computer

Radiohead | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B000002UJQ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2,140 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,148 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #6 in Music > Alternative Rock > British Alternative > General
  • #9 in Music > Alternative Rock > British Alternative > Britpop
  • #9 in Music > Indie Music > Dance & DJ > Electronica

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Radiohead's third album got compared to Pink Floyd a lot when it came out, and its slow drama and conceptual sweep certainly put it in that category. OK Computer, though, is a complicated and difficult record: an album about the way machines dehumanize people that's almost entirely un-electronic; an album by a British "new wave of new wave" band that rejects speed and hooks in favor of languorous texture and morose details; a sad and humanist record whose central moment is Thom Yorke crooning "We hope that you choke." Sluggish, understated, and hard to get a grip on, OK Computer takes a few listens to appreciate, but its entirety means more than any one song. --Douglas Wolk

Product Description

Radiohead's third album got compared to Pink Floyd a lot when it came out, and its slow drama and conceptual sweep certainly put it in that category. OK Computer, though, is a complicated and difficult record: an album about the way machines dehumanize people that's almost entirely un-electronic; an album by a British "new wave of new wave" band that rejects speed and hooks in favor of languorous texture and morose details; a sad and humanist record whose central moment is Thom Yorke crooning "We hope that you choke." Sluggish, understated, and hard to get a grip on, OK Computer takes a few listens to appreciate, but its entirety means more than any one song.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

614 of 694 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Music that moves me October 12, 2003

By Andrew J. Staudt

Format:Audio CD

Previously, while browsing through the reviews, I noticed a common theme in the suprising amount of negative responses this album has gotten. The reviewers who wrote them seemed for some reason angry at the fact that so many people enjoy this album. I was appalled by the number of people who seemed to have no respect for other people's opinions. The thought that all the people are "just faking" liking the album to seem cool and hip is just absurd. They seem to be infuriated that many people seem to genuinly like something that they do not, and failing to realize that opinions are subjective, are drawn to the rash conclusion that everyone else is wrong, stupid, or "faking it". These people need to realize that it is ok not to like an album that many other people like. Please don't critisize others for their opinions, even if they differ from your own, for it is the exact nature of our free will that allows us to have differing thoughts and feelings when interpreting art, or anything for that matter. Without this gift, we would be nothing but mindless robots, without the freedom of choice or individual thought.

That being said, OK Computer is one of my favorite albums. Each track on the album has the ability of conjering up different emotions, and by the end, the emotional wirlwind leaves me dizzy. The album's central theme of encountering genuin beauty in our world of technology, yet being unable to shake a certain feeling of unease, comes across perfectly. It's funny that the people who are angered by this album may be the people it was really geared towards. It attempts to send the message that you don't have to be compliant all the time: treasure your individuality, don't let anyone take it away from you. At least that's what I got from this album, which brings the point across beautifully with it's layered sounds and melodic, peircing, and haunting vocals. I'm genuinly moved by this album everytime I listen to it. For those that think I'm saying this just to be hip, and cannnot and do not want anyone to have opinions different than their own, I'm with Tom Yorke in saying "We hope that you Choke."

52 of 56 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Buy this for the extras but not for a new "remaster" or "remix" of OK Computer September 24, 2009

By TheL1brarian

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I just received my 2 CD/DVD package and can definitively say that there is no remixing or remastering of Radiohead's OK Computer album. This is not like Pearl Jam's reissue of Ten where there was both a remastering of the original audio, and remixing for an alternate listening experience. This is not like the recently released (and fantastic) Beatles stereo and mono remasters.

The music files for OK Computer are exactly the same as the existing OK Computer CD. Anyone saying "they hear a difference" is incorrect, or at least the effect is psycho-acoustic and not grounded in reality.

I have ripped the files directly onto my Mac (aiff, not compressed MP3 or AAC) and the file sizes are identical from the old CD to this one, down to the bit. I've also used the newest version of Soundtrack Pro on the Mac (part of the Logic Studio suite) to compare the waveform and frequency charts/graphs of the songs on both CDs. They are identical, same exact peaks and valleys, same volume, same frequency response. There is not even a volume difference as happens so often with "re-releases", where they just increase the volume on the newer CD. These files are identical in every way to the original CD. So if you're hoping to hear a new/improved/cleaner/different/etc. version of OK Computer, this is not what you'll get. You will get the exact same OK Computer songs you already own. To EMI/Parlophone's credit, they aren't even trying to pretend like it's a new mix/master, as the original 1997 copyright dates are on the OK Computer CD. No indication whatsoever of a newer mix or master made in 2008/9 at least on the OK Computer CD.

Having said that, if you (like me) did not have any of the songs on Disc 2, and you're interested in the video content on the DVD, then absolutely buy this set. The additional songs range, IMO, from good to great. For those who have never bought OK Computer, this set would be a great way to start. But for those who already have the original CD, and have collected the other songs on Disc 2, and are hoping for a better/cleaner/different recording on OK Computer, this is not what you'll get.

205 of 241 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars God loves his children, yeah... February 4, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Audio CD

If it is possible for (less than) an hour's worth of music to encapsulate all that is misguided, shallow and spiritually vacant about the foundations that modern Western society is built on, it is Radiohead's masterpiece, OK Computer. Intense, uncomfortable, dark and moving, OK Computer is the culmination of an incredible progression from the relative mediocrity of Pablo Honey, through the flawed brilliance of The Bends to an astounding third album which they may not be able to surpass. Apparently Thom Yorke almost went mad trying to decide the track order, but from the opening bars of Airbag, with it's uncomfortable, frankly bizarre, guitar line, to the microwave oven's ring that marks the end of The Tourist, the whole is incontestably a journey of the brain, the heart and the senses that seems to make perfect sense. The manic, Bohemian Rhapsodiesque apocalyptic soundtrack that is Paranoid Android still renders me speechless today. The pure beauty of the final chorus of Let Down, the frazzled mute trumpet solo on Climbing up the Walls, the fact that Johnny Greenwood seems to have reinvented the guitar and above all Thom Yorke's unutterably beautiful voice throughout, leaves you questioning quite where five middle class blokes from Oxford discovered the ability to move you so much. Before OK Computer, yuppies networking were an irritating banality. After OK Computer they are pure evil. My eyes have been opened...