Pablo Honey [Collectors Series] [PA] [Digipak]

Performer: Radiohead
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Radiohead: Thom E. Yorke (vocals, guitar); Ed O'Brien (guitar, background vocals); Jon Greenwood (guitar, piano, organ); Colin Greenwood (bass); Phil Selway (drums). Producers: Paul Q. Kolderie, Chris Hufford, Sean Slade. Engineers: Paul Q. Kolderie, Chris Hufford, Sean Slade. Recorded at Chipping Norton Studio and Courtyard Studio, Oxon, England. Pablo Honey's "Collectors Edition" features the original album on disc one, and demos, rarities, live performance recordings and a 1992 BBC Radio One session on disc two. Personnel: Ed O'Brien , Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar); Jonny Greenwood (guitar, piano, organ); Colin Greenwood (bass guitar); Phil Selway (drums). Audio Mixers: Tim Baldwin; Paul Q. Kolderie; Sean Slade. Audio Remixer: Chris Sheldon. Recording information: Chipping Norton Studio, Oxon; Courtyard Studio, Ocon. Photographer: Tom Sheehan. Before the breakthrough that was THE BENDS and the colossal OK COMPUTER, there was the quietly magnificent PABLO HONEY. "Creep" was the surprise hit single in the UK, but even that gave scant indication of how special this band would become. Benefiting from a raw production, the debut was undoubtedly less slick and accomplished than subsequent work, although Thom Yorke's vulnerable but impressive vocal styling was already in place on songs such as "Stop Whispering." Many of the compositions were somewhat simplistic, but in terms of musical maturity Radiohead were clearly years ahead of their time. An indispensable album, it should not be parted from its two big brothers. EMI's 2009 expansion of Pablo Honey comes with a second disc boasting a generous 22 tracks, many of them originally released as B-sides on multi-part singles in the '90s. This winds up collecting almost all the released non-LP tracks from 1992 and 1993, beginning with the four-track 1992 EP Drill, which includes demos of "Prove Yourself," "You," and "Thinking About You," plus the non-LP "Stupid Car"; eight B-sides from the "Creep" singles, including the non-LPs songs "Inside My Head" and "Million Dollar Question," live versions of "Inside My Head," "Vegetable," and "Killer Cars," and an acoustic version of "Creep" (a live take on "You" is missing but not missed), plus a remix of "Blow Out"; two flips from "Anyone Can Play Guitar" ("Faithless, the Wonderboy," "Coke Babies"); the non-LP single "Pop Is Dead" and two of its B-sides, "Banana Co." (acoustic) and a live "Ripchord" (a live version of "Creep" is left behind); and finally the U.S. version of "Stop Whispering" plus several BBC sessions that functioned as B-sides. It's a bunch of music and a fairly motley collection, revealing that Radiohead was an awkward fawn still learning how to use its spindly legs. So, this can often be instructional instead of entertaining, as in the case of "Pop Is Dead," not a great song but an interesting transition between Pablo Honey's awkward collegiate pop and the guitar-heavy The Bends. Much of the interest of this material is historical: "Faithless, the Wonderboy" slowly, steadily builds to its pop chorus and "Coke Babies" harnesses a considerable amount of dramatic momentum, pointing the way toward The Bends without quite being very good songs. But the true evidence of Radiohead's growing power are the live tracks, where the band sounds stronger and riskier than it did on the album proper -- and it's that sense of risk that makes the bonus disc worthwhile, perhaps even more than the original Pablo Honey itself. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Rolling Stone (p.64) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Amid blustery post-punk and a heavy-breathing acoustic 'Creep' were dystopian fever dreams and catchy Luddite paranoia.." Entertainment Weekly (5/28/93, p.56) - "...mates Smiths-type self-consciousness with dramatic U2-like vocals and guitar, with Cure-style heavy but crunchy pop..." - Rating: B Q (4/93, p.86) - 3 Stars - Good - "...British teenagerhood has never been grumpier....the best bits rival Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr. and even the mighty Sugar..." NME (Magazine) (12/25/93, p.67) - Ranked #35 in New Musical Express' list of `The Top 50 LPs Of 1993' - "...is a throwback to a homegrown tradition of great guitar-band albums...." Record Collector (magazine) (p.89) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t contains their 'biggest' single in 'Creep.' A 12-bar blues jam with added crunch..."

Radiohead burst onto the Britpop scene in the early 1990s with a clamorous, post-U2 take on guitar rock, buoyed by the hit "Creep." They subsequently developed their songwriting and production skills on THE BENDS and achieved iconic status with their breakthrough album OK COMPUTER, making art-rock cool again in the process. The mercurial band's long-awaited follow-up three years later was a sharp left turn full of ambient electronics and Can-like sonic deconstruction, and they've continued the trend with subsequent albums and solo projects. The connecting thread through all the band's phases has been Thom Yorke's intense vocal frenzy.

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