The Bends

1	Planet Telex 4:18
2	The Bends 4:06
3	High and Dry 4:17
4	Fake Plastic Trees 4:50
5	Bones 3:08
6	Nice Dream 3:53
7	Just 3:54
8	My Iron Lung 4:36
9	Bullet Proof...I Wish I Was 3:28
10	Black Star 4:07
11	Sulk 3:42
12	Street Spirit (Fade Out) 4:14

Barnes & Noble

Two years before breaking into America in a big way with the weighty OK COMPUTER, this British quintet forged a quiet triumph with this melancholy medley of melodrama. Propelled by front man Thom Yorke's disconsolate delivery (not to mention his decidedly doomy lyrics), the album zigzags through the listener's consciousness, leaving a lingering unease -- and a desire for more. Yorke is at his best when pondering his own inadequacies, which he does with uncommon honesty on tracks like "Bullet Proof" and "My Iron Lung." His bandmates -- particularly guitarists Jonny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien -- wrap Yorke's tales in deceptively complex melodies that split the difference between prog-rock grandiosity and gloom-pop ennui. A low-key gem. David Sprague

All Music Guide

Pablo Honey in no way was adequate preparation for its epic, sprawling follow-up, The Bends. Building from the sweeping, three-guitar attack that punctuated the best moments of Pablo Honey, Radiohead create a grand and forceful sound that nevertheless resonates with anguish and despair -- it's cerebral anthemic rock. Occasionally, the album displays its influences, whether it's U2, Pink Floyd, R.E.M., or the Pixies, but Radiohead turn clichés inside out, making each song sound bracingly fresh. Thom Yorke's tortured lyrics give the album a melancholy undercurrent, as does the surging, textured music. But what makes The Bends so remarkable is that it marries such ambitious, and often challenging, instrumental soundscapes to songs that are at their cores hauntingly melodic and accessible. It makes the record compelling upon first listen, but it reveals new details with each listen, and soon it becomes apparent that with The Bends, Radiohead have reinvented anthemic rock. Stephen Thomas Erlewine