So this happened.

Radiohead Release 18 Hours of ‘OK Computer’ Material After Leak

And it came across my Instagram directly from Radiohead.

I think that they handled this with real class. It happened, but no, we are not paying you anything, AND, instead of something rare we will release it and in essence devalue it for you.

Radiohead says FU. Lol.  Well played.

I have picked up “session” collections before, some good (Beatles, Smashing Pumpkins) and some bad (Stevie Ray Vaughn) but this one I have to say intrigued me. “OK Computer”, which Kris B. turned me on to has always held a special place in my catalog. I went through a SUPER heavy Radiohead phase and I am very curious to hear this stuff. From the reviews I have seen people are really jazzed to hear working versions of songs that ended up on the album and the way they evolved. Thom is not as enamored of them, but I suspect that he couldn’t have handled the whole situation any better.

It is priced cheaply for the hours and hours it contains, and, the proceeds are going to a good cause. It’s only going to be available for a random 18 days. So act fast.

I acted fast and purchased it.

Initial Thoughts: There is a LOT of good stuff here. I made it through the first 4 and I have to say that despite Thom’s comment that “it’s not v interesting” I think it is. There is live stuff, there is studio practicing, songs played on acoustic at someones kitchen table, digital instrumental noodlings and on MD112 there are ambient sounds of train stations and voices. On the MD114 the ambient and instrumental stuff get merged and you can hear the song taking shape. Very cool in my opinion.

There is some really odd stuff here too. Banging on MD113 that seems random and of course quite a few repeated songs as you would expect, but I didn’t find myself going “ugh, this one again”. There are lots of songs that go a minute or so into it and then are cut off, but at the sheer volume of material here a few song chunks are not an issue.

Overall though, what do you expect? This was audio notes and not meant for fan consumption, though as fans I think it will be eagerly consumed.

I think a slow exploration of these will yield some amazing moments.

There are j-card notes on the songs, brief landmarks through the journey of each mini-disc.

So, sorry that it had to come to this, I’m sure Thom would have preferred to keep these under his own control, but I’m glad they handled it as cool as they did. Worth every penny in my opinion, and it all goes to a good cause anyway.

So sorry and bravo Radiohead.