Product Description

Before the breakthrough that was THE BENDS and the colossalOK 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.

Track Listing

1. You
2. Creep
3. How Do You?
4. Stop Whispering
5. Thinking About You
6. Anyone Can Play Guitar
7. Ripcord
8. Vegetable
9. Prove Yourself
10. I Can't
11. Lurgee
12. Blow Out

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2376 in Music
• Released on: 1993-02-22
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's that old story: unknown British band gets an American hit single, gets huge off the back of that one song, and the success ends up destroying them. Fortunately, Oxford quintet Radiohead were the exception that proves the rule. Radiohead's albatross was "Creep"--a titanic anthem to paranoia, self-hatred and self-obsession, utterly huge in every way. Pablo Honey, though, is much more than filler. "Anyone Can Play Guitar" is certainly as good as "Creep"; swathed in walls of feedback, it races blindly into a apocalyptic chorus, frontman Thom Yorke singing "As the world turns and as London burns, I'll be standing on the beach with my guitar." Certainly, indie-rock seldom got better than this, and elsewhere "Vegetable" and "Prove Yourself" pulled similar pyrotechnical tricks. Pablo Honey was later superseded by first The Bends, and later OK Computer, but it's certainly much more than a curious debut. --Louis Pattison

Customer Reviews

Underrated
Ok, this is not Radiohead's finest moment by any stretch. But if for one minute we forget OK Computer and The Bends and all their other albums and concentrate souly on Pablo Honey, it's a masterpiece. There's not a single song on the album that is out of place or lacking in energy and spirit. Yes, Creep is overplayed and overrated, but that doesn't stop it being a fantastic pop tune - something that even Radiohead cannot claim to have properly done since. If you put this album on expecting OK Computer, yes it's going to fail and probably go in your bin, but if you put this on expecting a decent guitar pop album, you won't be disappointed. Lastly - if this had been released by any other band, wouldn't it be considered a decent album, it's just with the hindsight of what they have done since that makes people think it's rubbish.

Best Guitar album of the 90's
For all those slating this album are you MAD? This is one of the greatest english guitar albums of the 90's for sure (along with 'Definately Maybe'). Most of you have probably started off with the OK Computer & The Bends albums then listened to this and after those 2 brilliant albums I can see how you 'feel letdown'. I grew up first with this one before Radiohead moved on to those 'greater' albums and I can absorb this one for what it is - pure loud guitar rock at it's finest. Everyone knows about 'Creep', but check out Tracks 6 - 12 those 7 songs from 'Anyone can play guitar' 'Ripcord' 'Vegetable' 'Prove yourself' 'I can't' 'Lurgee' to 'Blow Out' are mini masterpieces, the guitar riffs are simple yet bring out the songs completely. Choruses are lush and you can already see Radiohead's songwriting ability at this early stage. Brilliant English 'Grunge' rock at it's finest. Still one of my favourite albums and I compare it to Pearl Jam's 'Ten' as one of the finest rock debuts ever. The other subsequent Radiohead albums are brilliant in their own way, but for sheer noise and guitar rock they haven't ever achieved this level again. Still get loads of play time in my living room.

An OK debut album
As debut albums go, this is not bad. But it doesn't come close to matching the majestic The Bends or classic OK Computer. The main problem with the album is the running order - the tracks towards the end all seem to sound the samey and it gives the album an inbalance. The most successful songs on the album are Vegetable (cracking Guitar work, Jonny), Thinking About You and, of course, Creep. Not bad, but not great either.