OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tracks

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TheWarmth
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OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tracks

Post by TheWarmth »

https://oknotok17-us.wasteheadquarters.com/

Studio versions of Lift, Man of War and I Promise are finally being released. Fantastic.
davedecay
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by davedecay »

maybe people buying that will punt their old LP copies to bums like me.
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by One Asian Under A Groove »

I really, really love Radiohead and OK Computer is my favourite album of theirs, what with it being part of THAT summer of music when I was turning 17 and blissing out to OK and LAGWAFIS.

But... I feel this package is pretty disappointing. The £100 deluxe box set, I mean. I would have fallen over myself to shell out for whatever fancy deluxe reissue of OK was released, if it had more music. But it feels like paying for a lot of artwork and books that may look lovely but, realistically, is not as much use as, say, a live recording/DVD from that era. Ultimately, there are only the three new songs plus the mixtape (no idea what that will entail) that have not yet been heard. I just don't think that's enough for £100.

I'm still not ruling out buying it... but it's not the "instant preorder" that I thought it would be when the rumours of a reissue started.
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by Greeny »

I know exactly what you are saying, One Asian.

I adore Radiohead and love a box set as much as the next man, so I've stumped up for all the recent Radiohead ones. But for a one-er I'm going to pass and just get the CD version to hear the new tracks.

If they'd shown a bit more inclination to actually play a few accessible dates in the UK recently I might have been more tempted...
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by TheWarmth »

I think the price for the boxset is right considering all you get. If you're not interested in the additional artwork/photos/book, then it's probably worth a pass, although I'm super curious about the content of the cassette (and very glad they're including a download of the cassette's contents).
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by mojo filters »

Due in part to my post-teenage depression around 1997, I'm also a Radiohead fan - though very much orientated towards The Bends and OK Computer, after which I lost interest (though I love I Might Be Wrong).

I'd like to see a decent concert recording from the OK Computer era. I've never seen them live, and the big metal sheds they play these days are of no interest to me.

A good concert (either hi-res audio or full video) with well-mastered surround sound (preferably alongside a high resolution stereo option) would be really nice to have, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of such a seminal album.

OK Computer was one of the few records that genuinely transcended indie obscurity to break through to the mainstream, without devaluing any musical merit. I can't afford a fancy £100 boxset, but would be happy with an expanded 3 CD edition, including demos, additional early versions of fan favourites, and some tracks that didn't quite make the final cut - all for a fair price, for those not so interested in expanded artwork etc..

I think another familiar band did the latter thing quite well, if only I could remember their name...
I'm like Evel Knievel, I get paid for the attempt. I didn't promise this shit would be good!
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by MODLAB »

I like OK Computer and I decided to get the vinyl only(I have the original). I truly found Radiohead so boring in concert! I had seen then when Spiritualized opened up for them in San Francisco. I guess my expectations were so high for this amazing double bill but I was so let down and walked out after 4 or 5 songs and went to a bar. Sad I know...


M
Design.
angelsighs
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by angelsighs »

mojo filters wrote:I can't afford a fancy £100 boxset, but would be happy with an expanded 3 CD edition, including demos, additional early versions of fan favourites, and some tracks that didn't quite make the final cut - all for a fair price, for those not so interested in expanded artwork etc..
..
I'd agree with that. For me it largely comes down to actual musical content more than anything else. However playing devils advocate, some of the cool boxsets with all the ephemera are nice too. And from a record companies point of view, it's the way to go in the world of downloading/streaming. Any extra tracks will make their way out there eventually if you want to hear them. Whereas you can't download a poster or artbook!

It's unclear whether the cassette contains full tracks, or just snippets or whatever.

I like Radiohead but not enough to bite with any of this stuff. It's really more about the hardcore fans, as it should be. And there's plenty of them out there.
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by The Dr »

[quote="mojo filters"]
A good concert (either hi-res audio or full video) with well-mastered surround sound (preferably alongside a high resolution stereo option) would be really nice to have, to quote]


“You're not Dostoevsky,' said the citizeness

'Well, who knows, who knows,' he replied.

'Dostoevsky's dead,' said the citizeness, but somehow not very confidently.

'I protest!' Behemoth exclaimed hotly. 'Dostoevsky is immortal!”
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by davedecay »

^^^

WOW! Thanks so much for this link! I need to get a banging copy downloaded so I can watch and listen on the HDTV in the living room.
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by mojo filters »

Yeah thanks very much! I eventually found a 3.5mm jack to stereo phono lead, so was able to hook up my laptop. Sound was really great, though gave up trying to work out what that info at the start about the various origins of the audio and video really meant.

I had a great time at Glastonbury that year, but never ventured anywhere larger than the dance tent (which was just a single stage back then) where Primal Scream played, alongside more obvious great live dance music including Kitachi, Dreadzone, Eat Static, System 7 and so on. It was the first time we camped in the same field as the stone circle up at the top. I really wanted to go see Levellers, but would've had to go alone, which wasn't ideal as the mud that year made any journey last a lot longer than you expected. My memory is pretty fuzzy, but the mud stuck!

I loved the Radiohead setlist, perfect for my own taste. Probably the most unvarnished live performance of Radiohead I've seen or heard, which gave it a raw and dynamic quality. Helped a lot by plenty of dirty guitars up high in the mix, plus not too much of the electronics from their more recent output.

I need to find a good Youtube ripper that doesn't use shitty sound quality. I've got the Flash Firefox plugin to allow me to toggle between HTML5 and Flash, plus the pocket "save to" option, but I've no idea if or how I can use either and / or both to get a decent quality rip of this. To be honest I'm not even sure what they are for, but I like Firefox so thought it best to stock up with popular extensions and plugins!

Normally the only things I rip from Youtube are the audiobooks that are often kindly posted, and rarely last long for obvious reasons. For that I just use whatever online tool (that works!) I get from a quick Google, plus when you're ripping up to 10 or more hours of speech - low bitrates are no bad thing.
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by Greeny »

I use Video DownloadHelper, which I've found to be excellent. You have to pay a few bucks for a lifetime license to use the full un-watermarked version, but the images and sound it captures are top notch. If the source videos are in HD I regularly burn them to DVD and watch them on my telly, and they look like proper programmes!
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by TheWarmth »

I watched probably 8 songs from this Glasto performance and, while its great, I find myself yearning for the weirder post-OK Computer material. The setlists now are incredible because they have such a vast catalog to choose from. In 97 they only had three albums.
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by davedecay »

Going to try ClipGrab on my Mac
https://clipgrab.org/
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by rapideye »

I usually shell out on the ltd edition packages but I will be giving this one a miss. I think that at £100 it is just a bit steep. The 3 LP set is what I will go for. At £23 that seems reasonable. I have never paid £100 for any release, so I'm not sure what they would have to have included to make me buy it. Certainly one factor in not going for it (although, granted, not the main reason) was that the Moon Shaped ltd is still being sold through the Waste website, so not so ltd after all.
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by heisenberg »

rapideye wrote:I usually shell out on the ltd edition packages but I will be giving this one a miss. I think that at £100 it is just a bit steep. The 3 LP set is what I will go for. At £23 that seems reasonable. I have never paid £100 for any release, so I'm not sure what they would have to have included to make me buy it. Certainly one factor in not going for it (although, granted, not the main reason) was that the Moon Shaped ltd is still being sold through the Waste website, so not so ltd after all.
To be fair, I don't either oknotok or A Moon Shaped pool are advertised as limited edition. They're advertised as either boxed or special editions.
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by rapideye »

Yep, I guess so, not technically ltd. Still, when they start including actual recorded tape (however small) it kind of feels to me to be a ltd release. You can't say they aren't beautifully done though.It looks great. The only ltd/special release I'm not keen on is King Of The Limbs.
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by TheWarmth »

Here's a review of the material on the cassette (also download) from the super deluxe box, which has me very excited to receive it:

For the utterly besotted there’s the now-customary “Super Deluxe” version, complete with a lavishly illustrated book and a C90 cassette, the contents of which appear to have gone under the radar in the run up to this release. It’s been described, with typical understatement, as a “mix of session archives”, suggesting it’s strictly for the hardcore.

And initially it feels that way; dizzying bleeps, studio found sounds, pretty but inconsequential doodling about – the sort of thing that completists listen to once and then file away. But about seven minutes in a version of Let Down emerges from the bluster, all campfire-like acoustic guitars and double-tracked, resigned and vulnerable vocals from Yorke. It suggests that the song was brought to the sessions fully-formed and is so strong that lesser bands may have left it that way, that they didn’t only emphasises the invention and wit poured into the arrangement of the final version.

Next comes a genuine surprise and a song that doesn’t appear to have previously surfaced online, despite the forensic approach that Radiohead enthusiasts take to the shadowy corners of their career. It begins in a chirpy fashion, with bah-bahs not a million miles from Bacharach’s I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You or The Beach Boys’ I’d Love Just Once To See You, before Yorke coos sweetly about “the joy of the uprising” and a “brief release of some hope”. On this showing it’s not quite an unreleased classic but fans will need to hear it

The collage-like nature of the tape continues: sound effects that do a decent job of mimicking a slow-motion explosion; chilling strings that sound like precursors to Jonny Greenwood’s work on There Will Be Blood; Yorke attempting to outscream Frank Black through a fuzz pedal. And then a moment that totally stops you in your tracks – a minimal, piano and voice take on Motion Picture Soundtrack, later reworked as the closing track on Kid A. Yorke sounds mere millimetres from the mic, investing the performance with goosebump-inducing intimacy. To these ears it’s one of the performances of his career, he begins sounding utterly wounded until – as if revelling in the places his voice is capable of taking the song – it ends up becoming something quite defiant.

The remainder of the first half is taken up with what sounds like a young girl reading an expanded version of the nightmarish Climbing Up The Walls lyric that is creepy beyond belief; revealing insights into the creation of the Karma Police refrain; a Herzog-like short story on the wonders and potential terror of nature read in the Fitter Happier voice; an acoustic No Surprises with alternate lyrics and a stripped-back Talk Show Host with totally different lyrics that feels like the disconsolate sibling of the more adventurous version that saw the light of day.

The revelations keep on coming on the second side of the cassette. We’re treated to an early version of Climbing Up The Walls with a brilliantly detached vocal from Yorke over an arrangement that leans much more prominently towards the skeletal beats’n’bass of the trip-hop acts who were making a stir a little further West. There are a series of rough demos and what sounds like soundboard recordings of various sections of Paranoid Android in the first flushes of development (magnificently wigged-out, whirling dervish-style organ solo, come on down!) and a bare-bones take on Airbag, again featuring embryonic lyrics.

There’s another heart-stopping moment for the faithful with a studio demo of Big Ideas, later released on In Rainbows as Nude, a title that may have puzzled listeners – not anymore, as it’s revealed the original chorus was “What do you look like, when you’re nude?” It veers off in unexpected directions as the band look to explore the song – again, the organ takes a pummelling with what’s presumably Jonny Greenwood adding a prog-goes-to-the-fairground feel to one of the instrumental breaks. Though Yorke doesn’t seem to have settled on the final lyrics, he absolutely sings the hell out of what he’s got.

As far as insights into the Radiohead creative process come, the most telling thing here might be the least successful. While in its Kid A form, The National Anthem is a pulsing, bass-driven thing that builds to a hysterical, thrilling free-jazz blowout, an early version here reveals that it could very easily have resembled the sort of latterday U2 track chosen to soundtrack Goal Of The Month reels. The lead guitar lines are unsettlingly reminiscent of the sort of thing that snugly denim-clad men who really should know better might “crank out” when trying out a new guitar in an attempt to impress an unfeasibly bored music shop attendant. It’s very un-Radiohead. But halfway through, that lead line eases off, a more unsettling part becomes more prominent, as does the bass, and we see the potential of the song. That Radiohead had the self-awareness to sit on it, rather than go for the drive-time jugular says so much about their intuitive good taste, and the prolonged success it would bring them.
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by mc »

Did anybody else get this in the end?

I must confess, I bought the standard reissue w/ the the 3 unreleased tracks and the B-sides, but I couldn't afford/justify splurging £100 for the full ultra-deluxe box-set. That said, I was still dying to hear the demo cassette, so I was a bad human being, googled naughty things and found it quickly enough. If they ever see fit to release it commercially as a stand-alone I'll shell out, but right now, given the hundreds of quids I've spent on Radiohead in my life thus far, and my general antipathy to filling my house with excess cardboard and plastic, I don't feel too guilty. Anyway... (tracklisting filched from Wikipedia)

Cassette Side A (38:50)
1. "ZX Spectrum Symphony" (1:18)
2. "AMS Hello" (0:19)
3. "True Love Waits Tape Loop" (4:59)
4. "Let Down (Thom 4-track)" (2:59)
5. "I May be Paranoid but Not an Android" (0:16)
6. "Attention (Thom 4-track)" (2:42)
7. "Noise Sketch by Nigel Godrich" (1:15)
8. "Climbing Up the Walls (Abbey Road Strings)" (1:15)
9. "Someone Help This Guy" (0:30)
10. "Motion Picture Soundtrack (Solo Piano)" (5:13)
11. "Was That Recording?" (0:15)
12. "The Jumbled Words of Climbing Up the Walls Read by Little Dan Clements" (1:21)
13. "Lull (Ed's Guitar Infinite Reverb)" (1:31)
14. "Airbag Drums Through Moog" (1:07)
15. "Karma Police Space Echo" (1:56)
16. "Karma Police Voice Through Telephone" (0:27)
17. "(Talking)" (0:07)
18. "Piano sketch by Jonny" (0:40)
19. "Big Bird Story by Stanley Donwood" (2:04)
20. "No Surprises (Soundcheck Demo)" (2:58)
21. "Radio Chaser Noise" (0:24)
22. "Fridge Buzz" (0:11)
23. "True Love Waits Space Loop" (1:00)
24. "(Talking)" (0:29)
25. "Are You Someone?" (3:35)"

Cassette Side B (40:52)
1. "Nigel Godrich AMS Delay" (0:54)
2. "Jonny's Radio from Climbing Up the Walls" (1:15)
3. "Climbing Up the walls (Thom 4-track)" (3:58)
4. "A Piano Lies Down in the Middle of the Road" (2:36)
5. "Transposing Noise Sketch by Nigel Godrich" (2:07)
6. "Paranoid Android (Johnny & Thom Demo)" (1:22)
7. "Alternate Paranoid Android Outro (Live in Pittsburgh)" (2:21)
8. "An Airbag Saved My Life (Demo)" (4:15)
9. "(Talking)" (0:23)
10. "Paranoid Android Loud Room at St Catherine's" (0:56)
11. "Nigel Godrich AMS Paranoid Android Guitar Sample" (1:44)
12. "Nude (Demo)" (5:31)
13. "The National Anthem (Thom 4-track)" (3:19)
14. "Ambient Loops" (0:45)
15. "Man of War (Live in Montpellier)" (4:28)
16. "Nigel Godrich AMS Delay" (0:37)
17. "Thom's Acoustic as Microphone in Climbing Up the Walls" (2:23)
18. "OK Computer Program" (1:57)

As the tracklisting suggests, this tape is an utter delight and treasure trove for Radiohead fans. Straight away, it confirmed my long-held suspicion that a ZX Spectrum (my first computer) was the source of those wonderful arpeggiated bleeps and bloops in "Let Down", and they even provided the source code for the truly geeky detectives at the tape's end :D Moving on, Radiohead once claimed that the dense and abstract "Push/Pulk Revolving Doors" off "Amnesiac" was partially constructed from an unreleased studio version of "True Love Waits", and the third track finally proves it. The "Let Down" demo is beautiful (although nothing will ever surpass the final studio recording, Radiohead's finest moment IMHO) and hearing the isolated string section from "Climbing Up The Walls" is a revelation.

Then, oh and then...

"Motion Picture Soundtrack" arrives. Jesus Christ, this is harrowing. Unlike the layered studio version on "Kid A", this features nothing but a distorted, tinny piano melody and Thom's voice recorded in contrasting perfect, stark clarity. I'm not exaggerating when I say this is hands down TY's greatest recorded vocal performance. The pain and helplessness he conveys is frankly too hard to describe, but the crack and tremble in his voice as he sings "I will see you in the next life" is utterly heartbreaking. I'll always love the ethereal, somewhat numbed "Kid A" version of this song, but this quietly melodramatic and oh-so harrowing interpretation is too beautiful for words.

Where next, after that? We get a wonderfully creepy rendition of a child reading the "Climbing Up The Walls", sketches and song fragments, and a very early version of "No Surprises" with wildly different lyrics. The two previously unheard songs ("Attention" and "Are You Someone?") are intriguing enough, but slight enough not to spend too much time on. And that's just the first side! I've blethered too much already, so I'll refrain from writing about Side B, but rest assured it's similarly laden with gold.

So yeah, listen if you can (and care), and enjoy :)
TheWarmth
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by TheWarmth »

mc - I totally agree about that mixtape. It's tremendous. I wish the download broke the tracks down individually. I just don't have time to do it myself.
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by heisenberg »

TheWarmth wrote:mc - I totally agree about that mixtape. It's tremendous. I wish the download broke the tracks down individually. I just don't have time to do it myself.
If you can be bothered, someone on Reddit has created Audacity labels for the two tracks to split it up into the individual songs.

And I agree, the tape is fantastic.
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by davedecay »

OK, I sought out the cassette rip. I read that the provided download version sounds brickwalled and bad.

If someone wants the better Nakamichi Dragon capture, let me know and I'll sort you out. :mrgreen:
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tra

Post by mc »

Another contextual snippet I found elsewhere: the short cassette track "Someone Help This Guy", which features nothing but a redlined recording of TY screaming and groaning, is actually in the final studio version of Paranoid Android! After the final "God loves his children" and the loud guitars kick in again, listen very closely around the 5:45 mark and there you are: a seemingly distorted white noise that's actually Thom Yorke throwing a major wobbler :)
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tracks

Post by mc »

17 hours of material from the OK Computer recording sessions have made it onto the internet:

https://www.stereogum.com/2046548/radio ... Yqdgh0Sdo4

DL links keep dying and being reposted, but perseverance and a willingness to peruse either a) Radiohead messageboards or 2) 4chan (shudder) should produce you the goods eventually. I'm 20 minutes into the first of 18 discs and currently listening to a wonderfully strange organ-led full band recording of True Love Waits. This is the real deal, folks...
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tracks

Post by heisenberg »

I'm curious as to how this has managed to leak given that it was supposedly compiled by Thom Yorke on minidisc back in the day, presumably to assess the development of the album. I always imagine Radiohead as being quite guarded and can't imagine them sharing this stuff with people outwith the band and the few working on OK Computer. I can only guess that someone from their old record label had a copy?
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Re: OK Computer - 20th Anniverary Edition w/3 unreleased tracks

Post by Zenchan »

Whether it's true or not I don't know, but one poster on reddit stated that they were part of an old collection of stuff that was digitised en masse when compiling material for the 20th anniversary collection a couple years ago. So probably a record company intern snooping!
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