The Bends

Radiohead

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 4, 1995)
• Original Release Date: April 4, 1995
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B000002TQV
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (603 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,436 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #5 in	Music > Pop > Britpop
  #6 in	Music > Alternative Rock > British Alternative

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

While Radiohead saw its stock rising in 1994, it wasn't until 1995's The Bends that it really became a blue chip band. And for good reason. The quintet honed its talent for bombastic Brit Rock, yet still preserved an edge of unpredictability. Even singles like the title track didn't give in to the kind of swooning guitar clichés usually embraced by commercial radio. If the CD proved anything, it was that Radiohead could find solid ground between pop experimentation and the tradition of born-in-the-bone, balls-out rock. --Nick Heil

Product Description

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

196 of 216 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There's a reason the average review is 5 stars on amazon, November 29, 2004

By	Levi Stofer "_leon_" (Lawrenceville, GA USA) - See all my reviews

The Bends. Radiohead's most accessible album. Radiohead's most underappreciated album at the time of its release. Dare I say Radiohead's BEST album?

I dare.

Yes, OK Computer purists may find my statement inaccurate, but let me just ask you this, Radiohead fanatics... If you were to loan any Radiohead cd to someone who never heard their music before, which would it be?

Personally, The Bends was my introduction to the band in 1999... and I'm glad it was. Maybe 4 years too late, but hey - it's never too late right?

Anyway, this album is classic. Yorke is at his most comprehensible and his lyrics are more human than on future releases. This is the singer/songwriter at his most passionate. Deep, elegant songs like Fake Plastic Trees and High & Dry soar like the best U2 songs (One, With or Without You, etc).

Jonny Greenwood's uses of spacy guitar and keyboard effects adds mood to the pieces while the rest of the band gels together so well, you don't even notice it.

If you're looking for a rock album that you can really fall in love with, rock out with, sing a long with... you get the idea. You can't go wrong with the Bends.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honey-coated Sugar Bombs, March 16, 2005

By	travu2 - See all my reviews

You're sipping lemonade on a warm spring day, watching various modes of transportation sparkle productively in the distance; you've just discovered a new law of physics, and you're inhaling the scent of your neighbor's freshly mown grass mixed with orange tree blossoms. Normally, you would be in your low lit bedroom writing nihilistic poetry, but you've just heard a new album, The Bends, and it has inspired you to brave the sunshine and give in a little to your fundamental human need for social interaction. Unfortunately, as you brush away an excited butterfly, you realize that you don't really know that many people, and become more depressed as you face the fact that it will take more than just stepping outside your door to find like-minded individuals to have silly fun with. This album makes you want to make that effort. Just as an indulgent energy-rich breakfast can be a catalyst for a glorious day of intellectual stimulation, so The Bends has become a honeycomb of new possibilities in the seemingly pointless lives of countless individuals.

There is rock music on this album that will make you move your body, but there is also a cohesive latticework of lurid spontaneity that causes the listener to hear each song as a charming facet of a youthful personality. The lead singer's voice is actually fun to listen to because it relates so well to the music. Sometimes Thom Yorke sounds like a sneering, cynical English fellow (Just, My Iron Lung), and sometimes he sounds like an orphaned angel (Nice Dream, Bullet Proof..I Wish I Was). The last song, Street Spirit (Fade Out), stares a brooding swarm of nothingness in the eye and finds unparalleled beauty. While the music on this album has a more traditional radio-friendly rock sound than their later work, it is certainly no less moving.

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful And Haunting, June 3, 2000

By	"noashtray" (Ohio) - See all my reviews

I've never understood all the hype over OK COMPUTER and the lack of recognition THE BENDS received. Both albums are excellent, but THE BENDS is more melodic and showcases the beauty in Thom Yorke's vocals better than Radiohead's two other major releases. Nothing here is as plodding as "Creep" from PABLO HONEY and there's as much depth overall musically and lyrically as on OK COMPUTER's best moments. Perhaps the best song Radiohead has recorded yet is "High And Dry," which has to be one of the most underappreciated rock ballads of the 90's. Nearly every song on THE BENDS is notable, but my other favorites are the odd "The Bends," the hard rocking "Bones," the sad love song "Black Star," and the touching "Street Spirit (Fade Out)," which has both a beautiful and dark tone similar to "High And Dry." Some may find the concept and experimental nature of OK COMPUTER more appealing, but I prefer simply the good songs found here.