Radiodread

Who doesn't like Reggae? And who doesn't like Radiohead? Put those two together and you have Radiodread: an album of reggae covers of every song from Radioheads masterpiece, OK Computer.

OK Computer still remains one of my favourite albums. It's generally recognised as one of the great records (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/8219786/Radioheads-OK-Computer-named-best-album-of-the-past-25-years.html). I first came upon Radiohead via The Bends, a much more guitar oriented rock record. OK Computer was released in 1997 and seen as a significant departure from The Bends, with more keyboards, electronic sounding drums and lyrics reflecting feelings of alienation. I seen them in Ottawa on the OK Computer tour and they were a fantastic live band.

Radiodread, by the Easy Star All Stars, is a track by track take of OK Computer with all of songs recorded by reggae artists The reason this works so well is due to the fantastic songwriting of Radiohead. Thom Yorke and company don't often get credit for writing wonderful songs. Great songs can be adapted to many styles and its proven by them working here in a regggae context. Its actually different artists on each song. Not sure if its the same band with different singers on each track? I'm not a huge reggae guy so the only name I recognise from the list is Toots and Maytalls.

I've included a couple of my favourite tracks (Exit Music for a Film, Karma Police) but in reality they are all good. The only downside for me is the long rambling guitar solo at the end of Airbag: it's annoying and terrible.