The title track is a good example of one of those noisier songs. With the loud, banging drums and guitar crashing all over the place, lead singer Thom Yorke belts out the lyrics in his distinctively captivating way: "And who are my real friends? Have they all got the bends? Am I really sinking this low?" The song concludes with a frantic jam session that mirrors well the turmoil and confusion Yorke is singing about, and indeed adds to it.
In contrast is the following track ‘High and Dry’. Unlike most of the other songs, this has a really catchy hook to it. With its slower tempo and softer sound it is tempting to think of it as a typical Top 40 radio ballad. Radiohead, though, don’t even know what that means. Typically the sense of anguish that permeates the album is present.
In fact there is no better way to describe The Bends than in the presentation, and contrast, of these two songs. Essentially- though obviously there are differences- the album is a mixture of these types of tracks. Loud or soft, fast or slow, it doesn’t matter. Two things are consistent to this album- a wonderful feel for melody and a depressing atmosphere that is immediately obvious and always inescapable.
Because of all this, this is even better than the much-hyped (and very good) OK Computer. Lacking in many of the strange noises that populated the follow-up, it can therefore be said that this is a more typical rock album from Radiohead, if indeed ‘typical’ and ‘Radiohead’ can be used in the same sentence. In any case this is really, really good.
RATING: 9/10
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