MY IRON LUNG

An unexpected winner for a passer-by! This is quite a different Radiohead, and - believe it or not - some people, not regular fans of course (myself included) regard this CD as their best. The vocals are not so strained, in fact in a couple of tracks they are buried so low in the mix that it's hard deciphering the lyrics. And accordingly, the accompaniment is not so thick as on the regular albums. And it all works, not as the apocalyptic and histerical statement (Lewis (Mistreated) is the closest to that rubric, but its performance is so laid- back that it sounds a little bit self-ironic) but as a plain beautiful exercise in the atmospheric. The peak of the album is marked by the trilogy of the poignant Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong, the Arctic and remote Permanent Daylight with a surprisingly open structure, and the almost pastoral Lozenge of Love featuring a perfect blend of acoustic and electric guitars with Yorke's slightly operatic singing. You Never Wash Up After Yourself is a nice acoustic breath, followed by a disappointing Yorke's solo nylon-string version of Creep (the sound of the guitar is veeery flat), but as it's the last track on the album you can easily disregard that, and still - it's nothing bad, just a bit dull. Radiohead's non-fans, check this one!