PABLO HONEY

After meeting in their high school years before they became the fab four of the 90s (Thom Yorke, Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Phil Selway) spent most of the 80s playing together under the moniker On A Friday and for a brief moment in 1990 as Shindig. They eventually changed their name to the much cooler RADIOHEAD when EMI signed them after hearing their demos. They released one EP called "Drill" and then quickly put out their first album PABLO HONEY. This album is one of those cases where you couldn't guess in a million years where the band would go from here. Yes, it's true there are subtle clues to their evolutionary path but this album mostly consists of grungy alternative pop songs that are often trying to be both but usually being neither.

Personally I really love the first two tracks "You" and the single "Creep" which was a flop upon first release but slowly "creeped" its way up the charts putting RADIOHEAD on the music map, however every indication from this debut album is that this was a one hit wonder destined to be forgotten as quickly as they had hit the scene. After all, this was the beginning of the alternative rock and grunge frenzy that shook up the status quo in the music industry and putting bands like Alice In Chains, Nirvana and Pearl Jam on the top of the musical mountain.

I find after the first two tracks that the songs are rather boring and I had to suffer my way through this to listen to the entire album just to review this. It's amazing how much they evolved from PABLO HONEY to "The Bends." The first two tracks are worth the price of admission as long as that price isn't too high but otherwise I can't find much else worth hearing here on a regularly basis. Luckily the band would evolve far beyond this mediocrity and offer the world a new kind of space rock. For this release, I say meh.