Pablo Honey

by

Radiohead

Edit

I was really, really sad with some reviews here. So I decided to "stop whispering" and to start shouting... This is an album that takes a long time to grow on you, but when it does...Let me explain: In the beginning of 1994, I found this album in a local store. Since then, I was very curious to hear new bands (I didn't even knew who Radiohead was). At the moment I heard it, I decided to buy it. I wasn't wrong at all. It quickly became my favorite album, I used to hear it all the time in my school days...Some time later, "Creep" became famous and I thought "Oh, now the world will discover this fantastic band!" But I was wrong... All the songs here are extraordinary, though my favorite ones are "Lurgee", "Vegetable", "Ripcord", "I can't" and, of course, "Thinking about you". I started to play them all the time with my own band and "Anyone can play guitar" remains as the ideal song to remind us of that distant age of innocence. Today we're all lawyers, doctors and this kind of stuff, but "The Pablo Honey Appreciation Society" (that was the name of the band!) still takes us on a trip to the past. The melancholic lyrics, the angst in Thom's voice, the rage full of emotion that only Jon can take from his guitar, it's all here. Then came "The bends" and "OK Computer" (their masterpiece). For my disappointment, when "The bends" was released nobody gave it the attention it deserved (this mistake only was corrected after Ok Computer's huge success). I agree that OK Computer is an historic album, and I understand that people who became Radiohead's fans after it aren't very fond of "Pablo Honey", but it's not fault of the album itself. After so many years, whenever I listen to it (and it happens at least twice a week) I became more sure of its perfection...Although I love every single song of the greatest band in the world, this album is still my favorite...I have a sugestion: Buy this album as if it was made by another artist. I hope that it causes you the same emotions it causes me whenever I hear it! This is definetely the album of my life!

P.S. "Creep" is not the best song here!

The alternating bars of 12/8 and 11/8 that drive "Pablo Honey's" opening track, "You," should have given some indication to the masses that Radiohead would not be forever content to dwell in indie rock's lo-fi world. Though a solid debut effort, "Pablo Honey" gives little indication that Radiohead would go on to influence an entire generation of bands (Coldplay, Travis, Doves, Keane, et al).

"Pablo Honey" is most famous for the hit single "Creep," a simple post-grunge pop song completely atypical of the Oxford quintet's style. In fact, the song was never originally intended for the album. As the story goes, Thom Yorke had written it years before and was strumming it in the studio, when a passing record exec heard it and insisted on including it on the record. The rest is history, as they say. Though "Creep" ranks among Radiohead's least distinctive songs, it did put them on the music world's map, for which we should be eternally thankful.

Beyond "Creep," only a few songs stand out: "You" with its driving odd meters; the heartfelt ballad "Thinking About You;" the energetic "Ripcord;" and the dynamic "Stop Whispering," which starts as a catchy pop tune but builds to a ferocious crescendo that foreshadows Radiohead's evolution towards more complex arrangements. "Pablo Honey's" performances and production values are solid but lackluster, and may disappoint those expecting the studio wizardry and technical virtuosity Radiohead would go on to achieve on "The Bends," "OK Computer," and "Kid A."

All in all, "Pablo Honey" is a decent record, far overrated by the indie mavens who disowned Radiohead after they went "art rock," and unlikely to satisfy those more familiar with their later, more progressive work. It's a worthwhile debut, but remains a curio in Radiohead's increasingly impressive and accomplished oeuvre.