THE BENDS

RADIOHEAD's second album is a nice effort because it contains unique gems like "Street Spirit" and "Fake Plastic Trees". In fact, these 2 are the only real catchy moments in here, and after discovering "Kid A", "Amnesiac" and "Hail to the Thief" i conclude that "The Bends" doesn't get my attention anymore as it did months ago! I am more fan of "OKC" and their experimental era, and the heavy guitar work shown on some songs like "Just" and the title one hurts my ears and annoys me to no end. The opening song has a "dirty" sound, though a very nice vocal performance by Thom. In fact, this is the album that shows his singing skills at their best ("Bones" is another good example), but unfortunately the vocals and some few songs are the only points that blow me away here.

I strongly recommend this album to anyone, though. I have some problems with it because of the heavy, headache inducing guitar parts and i miss the experimental stuff found on their later albums, but i am sure that a lot will appreciate this work by RADIOHEAD. It is not bad, but i really don't care for this kind of music anymore, and i want more "different" and unique sounds to please my ears.

2,5 stars.