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Cover Art Radiohead
OK Computer
[Capitol]
Rating: 10.0

Thru space at 1.2 light years per hour, Radiohead's third piece of incredible work, OK Computer, is not only their best yet, but one the year's greatest releases.

The record is brimming with genuine emotion, beautiful and complex imagery and music, and lyrics that are at once passive and fire-breathing. OK Computer is like tossing David Bowie, old U2, Spacehog and lots of Pink Floyd into a blender and pushing the 'kill' button.

Thom Yorke's fragile vocals backed by the intricate guitar duels of Jonny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien, Phil Selway's intense, rhythmic pounding and the subtle but effective bass guitar of Colin Greenwood sends an energetic flare clean through your speakers, hurtling into the room around you and charging the air with static electricity. When Yorke sings, "In an interstellar burst / I am back to save the universe," you believe him.

OK Computer is the first album to intellegently express vehement hatred toward the corporate world's replacement of human emotion and personality with robotic behavior in their attempt to be "more professional." Yorke's disgust with self- help programs and "successful" businessmen is the focus, and if you're a person with any integrity whatsoever that's set foot in a Class A office building, you can probably relate.

Radiohead only seem to get better as time progresses, but Thom Yorke's expressed some doubt as to whether or not they can ever top this record. If they can, they'll have established themselves as one of the most outstanding rock bands the '90s had to offer. If not, they still came out of the deal with one album of unadulterated genius. Time will tell.

-Ryan Schreiber

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RATING KEY
10.0: Indispensable, classic
9.5-9.9: Spectacular
9.0-9.4: Amazing
8.5-8.9: Exceptional; will likely rank among writer's top ten albums of the year
8.0-8.4: Very good
7.5-7.9: Above average; enjoyable
7.0-7.4: Not brilliant, but nice enough
6.0-6.9: Has its moments, but isn't strong
5.0-5.9: Mediocre; not good, but not awful
4.0-4.9: Just below average; bad outweighs good by just a little bit
3.0-3.9: Definitely below average, but a few redeeming qualities
2.0-2.9: Heard worse, but still pretty bad
1.0-1.9: Awful; not a single pleasant track
0.0-0.9: Breaks new ground for terrible
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