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The Bends | 
| Artist: Radiohead
Label: Parlophone
Category: Music
List Price: £8.99
Buy New: £4.98
You Save: £4.01 (45%)
New (71) Used (25) from £1.73
Rating:  127 reviews
Sales Rank: 406
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 29626
UPC: 724382962625
EAN: 0724382962625
ASIN: B000002TQV
Release Date: March 1, 1995
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Planet Telex | | • | The Bends | | • | High and Dry | | • | Fake Plastic Trees | | • | Bones | | • | Nice Dream | | • | Just | | • | My Iron Lung | | • | Bullet Proof... I Wish I Was | | • | Black Star | | • | Sulk | | • | Street Spirit (Fade Out) |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
After the massive success of Pablo Honey--or, more specifically, the single "Creep"--had made them a household name, most had written Radiohead off as one-hit wonders. That they could return with an album as awesome and monumental as The Bends, therefore, must have been particularly unexpected. Not that Pablo Honey is a bad album, but rather, when compared to the epic grandeur of The Bends, it's obvious that the five Oxford-based boys had matured immensely since the release of their debut. "High And Dry", "Just", "Street Spirit", "Fake Plastic Trees": nary a pop song among them, yet it's testament to their greatness that they all were hit singles. And really, it's easy to see why: Thom Yorke's falsetto crying over a wall of acoustic and electric guitars, as lyrics and music blend to create a masterpiece of melancholy beauty. The Bends is one of the most essential albums of the 1990s, and a spectacular indicator of further greatness to come. --Robert Burrow
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| Customer Reviews: Read 122 more reviews...
No comparisons.......Please!! June 22, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Many Radiohead reviews are pre occupied with comparing the band's albums. Personally I think this is meaningless. It's like trying to compare a bowl of semolina with a garden ornament. This is a different pre occupation to declaring a favourite. My favourite Radiohead album is 'Kid A' however, comparing it to 'The Bends'...Well I just wouldn't know where to start. 'The bends' is Radiohead's radio friendly era, 12 songs, 12 singles if they'd have wanted, and as with all radio friendly music the listener doesn't have to work too hard to enjoy it, the fix is instant.
' The Bends' is also about 5 equally talented musicians working together to make what is fundimentally a guitar,drums and bass masterpiece and it definately isn't about the 'Thom and Jonny show' which followed with OKC and continued with Kid A and Amnesiac. 'The Bends' is a one off. No point in ever repeating it in my opinion and Radiohead won't repeat it, that's why I love all their music. Nothing wrong with making the same album time after time if that's what you prefer. Oasis have done it 6 times and their fans seem quite happy. Keane and Snow Patrol will probably follow suit. Radiohead have left us with a ' never to be repeated' unique masterpiece and thankfully the only time we will ever hear anything like it again is when it's re released in remastered, SACD format to celebtate its 20th anniversary..........Can't wait.
Simply Brilliant June 18, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I would like to dispute the term 'overrated'. When an album sells millions of copies does it become overrated? When an album sets the musical standards that define the decade it was made in, does it become overrated? When it is clear that every song on this album is as exceptional and brilliant as the last, does it become overrated? No.
I beleive that this CD is a masterpiece in music which should be embraced and appriciated by everyone for its contribution to the musical community, whether one likes it or not, but I don't beleive that someone should simply dismiss this album due to musical differences. Arguably I believe that 'The Bends' is the best Radiohead album, but that is open to interpretation of course.
It would appear that an album of this callibre is rather like a good bottle of wine; it appreciates over time. After digging this CD up after many years of not listening to any Radiohead at all, I discovered once again the true spirit and drive that I hadn't picked up on in more recent music; the intuative use of various sounds coupled with articulate rhythms make this a must have for any collector!
You haven't heard this? May 9, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
What an album.
I, after all these years, still come back to this so frequently.
In the same way as the Beatles wrote everlasting timeless tunes - this album will be with me to my deathbed.
I have trouble even imagining that anyone doesn't have this album.
Like Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, this album has some secret ingredient that allows it to stay current, and beautiful.
Buy this album. The cost of it should be ten times the price paid, if your looking at length of enjoyment.
Just buy it. No questions.
 Overated March 26, 2008
2 out of 11 found this review helpful
Fake Plastic Trees and Street Spirit are all time great songs. The rest...average. I rate all subsequent radiohead albums much higher than this mediocre and heavily overated affair.
Where do we go from here, the words are coming out all weird... March 20, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
The Bends is a landmark album release in British music history. The presentation is grand without pomposity, powerful without being a cliché and more relevant today over a decade from its original release.
It was clear from the outset that the band was intent on leaving behind the Alt rock\grunge tinged debut Pablo honey, and this album provides the transition from their debut to the much heralded follow up `OK Computer'. Tracks such as High and Dry (lets not mention the Jamie Cullum cover 'version' here), Dark Star and the title track point towards their previous sound where as tracks like Sulk, Bullet Proof (I wish I was) and Fake Plastic trees (surely the warm up to Karma Police) nod towards the future. There are some interesting stories surrounding the recording of this album too. Album opener Planet Telex was recorded after the band returned from a night out in a restaurant with a drunken Thom Yorke slumped on the floor with the microphone in front of him mumbling and slurring his lyrics. It is also reported that the vocal for `Fake plastic Trees' was recorded immediately after the band saw Jeff Buckley perform at a concert in London, and having completed the vocals, Thom Yorke broke down in tears, which is a staggering account of the influence of Jeff Buckley on him and the band. The song High and Dry was originally a song performed by Thom Yorke's pre Radiohead University band, but was resurrected when the drummer was testing his new bass drum during demo recordings and the record company intervened.
Swept up initially within the popularity of the `Brit Pop' movement as a familiar sight on record shops shelves (remember those?) nestled between Morning Glory, Different Class and Parklife, Radiohead's `The Bends' was assumed by many to be a part of this `movement' but in many ways was a perfect juxtapose to the sex pistols\Beatles influenced lads rock of Oasis and Ray Davies\Ian Dury inspired whit of Blur. Unlike other `Brit Pop' bands, Radiohead were not afraid to break their own mould with subsequent releases, in fact they set about this intentionally as Radiohead were reported as feeling little affinity to those bands that followed them that were 'influenced' by their style (i.e. Coldplay, Keane)
There are not many albums when one can say there is hardly a weak track on it, with only the track `Dark Star' sounding like something the Stone Roses lost down the back of the sofa. For many fans this remains their favourite Radiohead album and with some justification. Recorded before a strong self consciousness to be different crept in, the clean crisp production engineered by the legendary ex Abbey Road John Leckie ( who has worked with The Stone Roses, The Fall and Pink Floyd amongst others ) for the first time allowed Radiohead a degree of musical freedom in the studio. Many recent bands such as The kooks and The Killers could learn from this album. There can be attitude and volume on a record without false distortion of everything.
The Bends is without question one the most influential British albums of all time, and rarely has `The Bends' been subsequently equaled or bettered by anyone (even by the band themselves) so if that doesn't make this a modern classic, I don't know what does.
For fans of this genre, along with Jeff Buckley's `Grace', `The Bends' is an essential inclusion in your collection
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