Hold Me to This - Christopher O'Riley Plays Radiohead

1	There There 4:05
2	Nice Dream 3:40
3	No Surprises 3:26
4	Polyethylene, Pt. 2 3:03
5	How I Made My Millions 3:22
6	Like Spinning Plates 3:31
7	Sail to the Moon 3:54
8	The Tourist 4:10
9	Cuttooth 5:11
10	2+2=5 3:16
11	Talk Show Host 7:09
12	Gagging Order 3:19
13	Paranoid Android 5:37
14	Street Spirit (Fade Out) 5:02

Barnes & Noble

If Christopher O'Riley's idea of transcribing Radiohead songs for the piano aroused some suspicion at first, his first album of arrangements, True Love Waits, proved that it was a serious and worthy endeavor. O'Riley has a knack for getting inside the band's songs and creatively remaking them, and Radiohead's discography gives him extraordinary material to work with. For the impressive set-list of this follow-up album, O'Riley has worked up three transcriptions from the band's most recent album, Hail to the Thief, and also returns to three of their earlier discs. He even includes five tracks for the truly dedicated Radiohead fan: lesser-known B-sides from singles dating back to 1995. Listeners may well be tempted to track down the rare originals of the densely layered "Cuttooth" and the languid "Talk Show Host," among others. O'Riley focuses on the mellower side of the Radiohead songbook, often using rippling and repetitive piano textures reminiscent of John Adams's piano music. Taking different angles, "No Surprises" wraps its melody in music-box filigree, and "Sail to the Moon" -- an obvious (but excellent) choice for transcription -- borrows the tolling keyboard chords of the original recording. More ambitiously, O'Riley attempts to translate the hovering electronics of "Like Spinning Plates" and the grandiose ebb and flow of "The Tourist," and he's also willing to exploit the piano's percussive side in the more aggressively rocking parts of "2+2=5" and "Paranoid Android." Veering between achingly arched melody and crashing chords, the latter is the most completely successful track here, worthy of one of Radiohead's own best songs. Even at their best, these versions aren't a substitute for the originals -- O'Riley himself would never claim that they were -- but their success reflects well on the brilliance of both the band and the pianist. Scott Paulin

Buffalo News

Not since the Kronos Quartet hurled a thoroughly convincing "Purple Haze" at us has a classical musician had so much conviction and so little condescension reaching this far across the musical aisle. It's a thoroughly enjoyable nose-thumbing at musical category. Jeff Simon

Sarasota Herald Tribune

This is fascinating music, meaningful on its own terms. Richard Storm