Pablo Honey |  | Artist: Radiohead
Label: Parlophone
List Price: £13.99
Buy New: £4.47
as of 31/7/2010 15:56 BST details
You Save: £9.52 (68%)
New (69) Used (73) Collectible (3) from £0.86
Seller: Amazon.co.uk
Rating:  50 reviews
Sales Rank: 918
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.9 x 0.4
UPC: 077778140924
EAN: 0077778140924
ASIN: B000002UR7
Release Date: March 1, 1993
Shipping: Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
| |
| Tracks:
| • | You | | • | Creep | | • | How Do You? | | • | Stop Whispering | | • | Thinking About You | | • | Anyone Can Play Guitar | | • | Ripcord | | • | Vegetable | | • | Prove Yourself | | • | I Can't | | • | Lurgee | | • | Blow Out |
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
It's that old story: unknown British band gets an American hit single, gets huge off the back of that one song, and the success ends up destroying them. Fortunately, Oxford quintet Radiohead were the exception that proves the rule. Radiohead's albatross was "Creep"--a titanic anthem to paranoia, self-hatred and self-obsession, utterly huge in every way. Pablo Honey, though, is much more than filler. "Anyone Can Play Guitar" is certainly as good as "Creep"; swathed in walls of feedback, it races blindly into a apocalyptic chorus, frontman Thom Yorke singing "As the world turns and as London burns, I'll be standing on the beach with my guitar." Certainly, indie-rock seldom got better than this, and elsewhere "Vegetable" and "Prove Yourself" pulled similar pyrotechnical tricks. Pablo Honey was later superseded by first The Bends, and later OK Computer, but it's certainly much more than a curious debut. --Louis Pattison
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 50
An overlooked debut. June 5, 2010
David Roumaine (Hampshire)
For years I overlooked this album, with the exception of 'Creep', but over the last couple of years I've come to appreciate it more. I think it's overlooked because, understandably, the band are still trying to find their sound and voice. Thom Yorke's singing is different and generally the song writing isn't as strong. In 1992/93 grunge was still big and it's influence is apparent on this record. It's this mixture of grungy noise and jingle-jangle indie pop which makes 'Pablo Honey' intriguing rather than the song-writing. Of course, this album was just the start.
Unjustly abused April 30, 2010
Jame Souther (Canada)
Sure, the Radiohead faithful will tell you that Kid A is the best thing they've ever done and that Pablo Honey is worthless post-grunge tosh. But let's not be sheep... let's be objective: "You", "Creep", "Stop Whispering", "Thinking About You", "Anyone Can Play Guitar", "Ripcord" and "Lurgee" are great tracks. Sure, they're not as lyrically clever or layered with the same impressive instrumentation as the OK Computer tracks, but they're big, catchy guitar tunes. Of the rest, "Vegetable", "Prove Yourself" and "I Can't" feature affecting lyrics but slightly banal musicianship... they fall into the "decent" bracket. "Blow Out" starts off beautifully, with plucked acoustic guitar and sublime vocals, before descending into a distorted mess (was it deliberate, or were they still getting to grips with their guitar effects? Who knows), then finally regaining its footing with a great hook and outro. "How Do You" is the only bad track on the album; it features an embarrassing John Lydon-esque vocal from Yorke, appalling lyrics and just doesn't sit well with the rest of the album. Almost as cringeworthy as the CD cover.
Overall, a cracking debut, and miles better than the overhyped, pedestrian Definitely Maybe.
nascent genius April 27, 2010
S. FREEMAN (UK)
'The Bends' is brilliant, 'OK Computer' is the masterpiece, and this 'Pablo Honey' - Radiohead's first - is pretty good, and well worth having in the collection. A bit rough round the edges, a bit shoegazy in places (which is no bad thing), you can hear the roots of the greater things they went on to do. The later tracks ('I Can't'/'Lurgee'/'Blow Out') are my favourites. Shame about the album's crap cover design, and not keen on the title either, but hey, these are just details, and it's the music that counts. Play whilst having a bath or cooking your dinner.
 A seriously bad album with one great song April 2, 2010
BS on parade
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
It's very much of its time, as it's very post-Nirvana, post-Pixies generic alternative rock. If they had more than one actual song they might even have been a bland but competent mid-level band back then. As they only had the one song ("Creep", but what a song) their first album is a seriously weak mess built around a great single.
It sounds like early band rehearsals or demo tapes, not like a major label debut. The music is a quite heavy and mushy sounding, almost verging on the soft end of the metal spectrum. I don't know if it's badly mixed, or that's how they wanted the songs to sound, but the audio quality is murky to the extent that a lot of the noisier songs come across as tuneless dirges. Which they might actually be.
I've always been inclined to give Pablo Honey the benefit of the doubt and assume that it's not too bad, and that it's my fault for not giving it the attention and number of plays it requires to get good. I now realise that the album is a lot worse than I had ever suspected.
1. "You" - 3:29 (3 out of 5 stars)
Solid rock song of no distinction. Doesn't have a single memorable lyric.
2. "Creep" - 3:56 (5 stars)
A truly great song. Great guitar crunch sound etc.
3. "How Do You?" - 2:12 (1 star)
A lot of noise covering the complete absence of a song. Pretty dire.
4. "Stop Whispering" - 5:26 (1 star)
Meaningless U2 style lyrics aimed at an unspecified middle distance. Tries to reach high emotion, misses the target by a vast distance. Soulless and rather embarrassing. There's a decent enough semi-heavy rock sound but not much in the way of a melody to make it interesting. Also it goes on too long.
5. "Thinking About You" - 2:41 (2 stars)
Very short and has a bit of a tune to it. The lyrics are decent if unremarkable. Not a bad song but a big nothing overall. The best that can be said about it is that it's not awful.
6. "Anyone Can Play Guitar" - 3:38 (3 stars)
It has a tune and the guitars sound great. Also it has one of Yorke's best vocal performances on the album. Fades out at a seemingly random place so doesn't have a proper ending.
7. "Ripcord" - 3:10 (2 stars)
Forgettable generic alt-rock that has album track written all over it.
8. "Vegetable" - 3:13 (3 stars)
Not too bad. It isn't as sonically mushy and some sort of a tune can be heard. Far from being anything notable, but okay overall.
9. "Prove Yourself" - 2:25 (3 stars)
Alright song with the title being used as a good repeated phrase throughout.
10. "I Can't" - 4:13 (1 star)
More generic alt-rock. Insultingly bereft of any distinguishing features. A song so easy to forget it's laughable.
11. "Lurgee" - 3:08 (1 star)
Generic, of no interest.
12. "Blow Out" - 4:40 (1 star)
A boring dirge. I couldn't pick out anything of merit from the noise.
I like to make an EP playlist out of some albums for my iPod. Tracks 1, 2, 6 and 9 made the cut.
A very poor 42 minute album. After listening to it for this review, I put it in the bottom of a drawer instead of back on the shelf along with all the other Radiohead albums. I have no intention of listening to it again anytime this decade.
If you want "Creep" buy the Best Of instead.
 Fantastic February 23, 2010
R. B. Jones (England, UK)
Great album. Very loud screaming-guitar-based rock, which to me is more uplifting than the miserable electronica they degenerated to later on. The album takes about 5 listens to really get it, since first time round many of the tracks and riffs probably sound quite similar and merge into one. But it's definitely worth the effort.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 50
|
|
|
|
