{"id":486938,"date":"2019-06-12T10:21:33","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T16:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=847277"},"modified":"2019-06-12T10:21:33","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T16:21:33","slug":"30-must-hear-minutes-from-radioheads-17-hour-ok-computer-era-minidiscs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/30-must-hear-minutes-from-radioheads-17-hour-ok-computer-era-minidiscs\/","title":{"rendered":"30 Must-Hear Minutes From Radiohead\u2019s 17-Hour \u2018OK Computer\u2019-Era Minidiscs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On Monday, Radiohead<\/a> officially (and begrudgingly) released<\/a> Minidiscs [Hacked]<\/em>, an 17-hour deep dive into the OK Computer<\/a><\/em> birthing process courtesy of Thom Yorke\u2019s own minidiscs. As the title suggests, the Bandcamp file dump<\/a> came nearly a week after the 18 disc-length mp3s leaked onto the internet.<\/p>\n

While the origin story of the leak is still unclear \u2013 the band themselves mention that the files were \u201creportedly\u201d ransomed<\/a> for $150,000 by a hacker \u2013 the edited-down minidiscs served as a foundation for the cassette included in the deluxe edition of the OKNOTOK 1997 2017<\/em> reissue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That 80-minute cassette \u2013 the contents of which feature throughout Minidiscs [Hacked]<\/em> \u2013 included sound collages, rough sketches, unheard songs, rehearsals and aural experimentation that offered an opaque window into the making of the landmark LP. With Minidiscs [Hacked]<\/em>, that window has been smashed open and now the house is being looted.<\/p>\n

As 17 hours of music is a lot for even Radiohead diehards to endure \u2013 \u201cI Promise,\u201d a thoroughly okay song, appears 14 times here \u2013 we wilted down Minidiscs [Hacked]<\/em> to the 30 must-hear minutes that even casual fans should endeavor to explore.<\/p>\n

Note: This summary matches timestamp-wise with the unofficial leaks and not the Radiohead release, which edited down the 18-disc dump and removed non-Radiohead material (like the 15 minutes of James Bond score that appeared on Minidisc 6) and exceedingly superfluous stuff (like the 12-minute field recording buried within Minidisc 13, which was edited down from 51 minutes to 18 minutes in its official release). Material that appeared on the<\/em> OKNOTOK cassette is also excluded.)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cLift\u201d (Minidisc 125<\/a> \u2013 start at 10:00)<\/strong><\/p>\n

For decades, the unreleased \u201cLift\u201d \u2013 showcased live in post-The Bends<\/em> concerts but never placed on a studio album or B-side \u2013 was Radiohead fans\u2019 great white whale, a perfect synthesis of The Bends<\/em>\u2018 Britpop brilliance and the looming OK Computer<\/em>\u2018s arthouse aspirations, weaponized with the band\u2019s best hook since \u201cCreep.\u201d When \u201cLift\u201d finally did arrive as a bonus track<\/a> on OK Computer<\/em>\u2018s 20th anniversary reissue, the version \u2013 restrained, decelerated and boasting an uncharacteristically blas\u00e9 Yorke vocal take \u2013 failed to capture the magnitude of those live renditions.<\/p>\n

Now, consider the magnitude captured: Three of-the-era \u201cLift\u201d studio recordings are the crown jewel of the minidiscs, the best of which appears 10 minutes into Minidisc 125, a striking rendition complete with the Casio intro, soaring guitars lockstep with strings-mimicking synths and Yorke\u2019s impassioned vocals. The \u201cLift\u201d featured here are well worth the $23 for-charity Bandcamp asking price, or the alleged $150,000 ransom.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Tomorrow Night in Paris)\u201d (unofficial title, Minidisc 127<\/a> \u2013 final songs on file)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Outside of the must-hear at-work versions of previously released Radiohead songs, the most exciting part of the leaks is the dozens of solo demoes Yorke recorded into his minidisc player, the majority of which have never resurfaced in either Radiohead or Yorke\u2019s own catalog.<\/p>\n

Radiohead have always been strict gatekeepers and curators of their own music, so it\u2019s fascinating, jarring and almost myth-shattering to hear Yorke this unguarded and, well, imperfect. In a way, the minidiscs\u2019 bedroom recordings carry the same raw voyeuristic experience as the Montage of Heck<\/em> soundtrack recordings, which similarly captured Kurt Cobain in a not-for-public-consumption mood.<\/p>\n

As such, most of the solo recordings here are inessential \u2013 there\u2019s probably a reason the majority of these tracks weren\u2019t revisited \u2013 with Yorke often laying down ideas or riffs with placeholder lyrics, songs in their most embryonic form. However, there are a handful of readymade demoes that could slide easily into a Radiohead playlist, chief among them Minidisc 127\u2019s fan-titled closer \u201cTomorrow Night in Paris,\u201d a polished, piano ballad in the vein of Radiohead\u2019s \u201cThe Daily Mail\u201d and \u201cLast Flowers,\u201d the latter of which also appears here.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast Flowers\u201d (Minidisc 117<\/a> \u2013 2:30, Minidisc 119<\/a> \u2013 17:00 & Minidisc 120<\/a> \u2013 0:00)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of all the radical reworkings hidden among the 18 minidiscs \u2013 An acoustic \u201cPalo Alto\u201d! A near-perfect instrumental version of the perpetually-worked-on \u201cTrue Love Waits\u201d! An entire history of \u201cExit Music\u201d! \u2013 among the best transformations is the multiple appearances of \u201cLast Flowers,\u201d the OK Computer<\/em>-era track that wouldn\u2019t be released in finished form until it made the bonus disc of the In Rainbows<\/em> deluxe edition.<\/p>\n

That In Rainbows<\/em> rendition<\/a> boiled the song down to just Yorke and a piano. The minidiscs reveal the track\u2019s Technicolor potential as the band underlays the rendition with a funky bassline, lots of fuzz, Yorke busting out the original song title mid-guitar solo (\u201cLast flowers until hospital\u201d) and a guitar melody that, perhaps too closely, resembles the Bond theme \u201cYou Only Live Twice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The aforementioned \u201cTrue Love Waits\u201d \u2013 another standout of the minidiscs, as they capture with soundboard clarity the song\u2019s original live form \u2013 was initially released officially as an acoustic ballad on the I Might Be Wrong<\/em> EP before the band morphed it into A Moon Shaped Pool<\/em>\u2018s haunting closer. Hopefully, a similar fate that realizes its full potency is destined for \u201cLast Flowers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAttention\u201d (Minidisc 111<\/a> \u2013 4:30)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The song initially appeared, for the first time ever, as a Yorke 4-track recording on the OKNOTOK<\/em> cassette. Minidiscs [Hacked]<\/em> reveals just how much attention<\/em> the band was actually giving to the track: While no final studio takes leaked, the song appears 10 times on the minidiscs, from acoustic snippets to band rehearsals. The best of the bunch is the \u201cAttention\u201d that appears on the first minidisc, a full band run-through recorded during a Portland soundcheck that teases the potential of the ultimately never-revisited song.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet Down\u201d (Minidisc 119<\/a> \u2013 24:00)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Minidiscs [Hacked]<\/em> often takes on the guise of one of those massive completist reissues \u2013 think Bob Dylan\u2019s The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965\u20131966<\/em> or the Beach Boys\u2019 The Smile Sessions<\/em> \u2013 that, almost extraneously, catalog every take of a song and tracks its migration from conception to completion. Here, instead of repetitive studio takes, Radiohead workshop the perspective OK Computer<\/em> songs in a series of minidisc-filling rehearsals.<\/p>\n

Minidisc 119\u2019s \u201cLet Down\u201d is the most interesting of all rehearsals. Clocking in at 11 minutes \u2013 the leak\u2019s longest non-field recording track \u2013 the rehearsal is like listening to Radiohead giving birth to what eventually would become a fan favorite. The foundation firmly of the song in place, the band operates like a jazz quintet, with each member pushing \u201cLet Down\u201d toward its final destination. Some of the experimentation makes the final cut, some of it (rightly) was abandoned, but the \u201cLet Down\u201d rehearsal is an intimate and rare look at Radiohead at work and creating together.<\/p>\n

\u201cAirbag\u201d (Minidisc 124<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

One-third of the minidiscs are soundboard-quality concert and soundcheck recordings from 1996 that Yorke taped while Radiohead roadtested the eventual OK Computer<\/em> material. Taped throughout a tour of the Eastern U.S., Minidisc 124 boasts five stripped-down soundcheck versions of \u201cAirbag,\u201d each completely shorn to give them an almost Bends<\/em>-like quality before producer Nigel Godrich added his sheen to the final OK Computer<\/em> version.<\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Monday, Radiohead officially (and begrudgingly) released Minidiscs [Hacked], an 17-hour deep dive into the OK Computer birthing process courtesy of Thom Yorke\u2019s own minidiscs. As the title suggests, the Bandcamp file dump came nearly a week after the 18 disc-length mp3s leaked onto the internet. While the origin story of the leak is still […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-486938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 00:37:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KQZR - The Reel","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486938\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}