Customer Reviews

Pablo Honey

5 star:		(66)
4 star:		(47)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Extreme high quality and fast shipment. This is a brand new item and was factory sealed. Nothing negative to say. Highly recommended!!!

You might recognize Radiohead as being one of music's most acclaimed groups, and while that is very true, it all had to start somewhere. Pablo Honey is Radiohead's big debut, but believe it or not, It was a relatively polarizing album among critics simply because they couldn't decide on wether the album's AAA hit: Creep (an amazing song!) was the only song worth while. I personally am one to deffend Radiohead and say that the rest of this album is worth checking out too. This album feels very grunge influenced is some cases, like in: Anyone Can Play Guitar, Creep, and You, which are some of Radioheads more "tradition" rock pieces and are the albums biggest highlights. However the album takes a much sweeter turn for: Stop Whispering, Thinking About You, and Blow Out, which are also nice songs. Sure, It's not one of Radiohead's best Albums, but it can at least hold it's own amongst the rest!

You know your album is sub-par when your strongest single is on the disc twice. But despite the fact that this cd is only so-so, I still love listening to it. This album represents what I wish I could see more bands achieve. How many times have you listened to an album and thought to yourself, "I can hear so much potential." Even though the album isn't as great as you would like it to be, you're still applauding the effort. Occasionally, as in the case with Radiohead, a band will seize that potential and go beyond all expectations. Radiohead started out as a pretty weak band but soon became my all-time favorite musicians. This album is an important precursor to the greatness they would achieve later and should not be passed up.

As a side note, the song they became famous with, 'Creep', soon became the band's least favorite song. Through the 'Bends' and 'Ok Computer' years, Radiohead would often refuse to play 'Creep' while on tour. Last year while touring for 'Hail to the Thief', the band unexpectedly performed 'Creep' for the Atlanta crowd. Thom Yorke seemed to enjoy playing the song that he despised so much and acted playful on stage even adjusting some of the lyrics, like "I wanna perfect soul" with, "so I can look good next to you," while showing off his best feminine pose. It seemed that they were comfortable enough with their post-Creep accomplishments that they felt it was OK to play that 'wretched song'.

I admit that the OK computer album is unbelievable... but this CD is very good as well. A bit more rock than the other one!

...they sounded like every other guitar rock band on the planet, and if there's anything Radiohead usually aren't, it's generic.

Alas, Radiohead's debut has not aged well at all in any way. Momentary flashes of the group's later brilliance pop up occasionally (most notably in the horrendously-overplayed (yet still high quality) "Creep" and the wonderful "Anyone Can Play Guitar"), but for the most part, it's a group trying to find its voice and failing miserably, as most of this album will be forgotten as soon as you're done listening to it.

Some would say that this album was ahead of its time when it came out. No it wasn't. Radiohead sounded like every other post-grunge outfit on the radio at that time. It can't really be "ahead of its time" if its sound can be classified by the time period it was released in.

Some would also say that you shouldn't come down so harshly on this album for being such an early release by the band, and this may be true. However, just going by the differences between Pablo Honey and The Bends (their second album), the jump in quality between the two is staggering. Even the difference in quality between Pablo Honey and the My Iron Lung EP (released the year after Pablo Honey) is pretty noticeable.

Overall, what we're left with are the very sketchy beginnings of one of the greatest bands in rock and roll. Some of you Radiohead fans might be tempted to buy it just to make your collection complete. Don't. You'll probably only listen to this album once and put it away on a shelf somewhere. Your money would be much better spent elsewhere. Also, those of you thinking about buying Pablo Honey as an intro to the group should think again. The Bends makes a much better introduction to the group's sound.

Any of you true radiohead fans find this album unbearable, cliche of rock that you've been hearing for the past 5 years or so (which is why we love radiohead so much; they are so unique). However, you have to notice that Pablo Honey was released in 1993. Imagine a world of rock with Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana, and then Radiohead's Pablo Honey. Things are in perspective now, aren't they? Although Pablo Honey is, in comparison to every other radiohead album, a true bore, it is at least worth acknowleging that it was way ahead of its time.

I'm probably one of the most unorthodox Radiohead fans. Instead of starting with "OK Computer" as my first Radiohead album, I started with "Kid A". At first I didn't like it too much, but after listening to it over and over, it began to grow on me and I eventually loved Radiohead. So I proceeded to buy OKC and "The Bends", which I really enjoyed. Then "Amnesiac" came out, so I bought that and I thought it was okay, but not up to par with "Kid A". Then, I bought the live EP, which held me over until the next album "Hail To The Thief", which is also a good album (not great, though). So that brings me to this album. This was the last Radiohead album I bought, and I have to say, it's not that bad considering all of the bad reviews I've read of it. So anyway...on to the album.

First off, you can definitely tell it was made during the late grunge era, since most of the songs are loud and self indulgent. However, the way that Radiohead performs these songs makes them a whole lot better. After this album and before The Bends, Radiohead was known as the Creep Band, but Creep isn't the only good song on here. In fact, all of the songs on here are pretty darn good if you don't start into comparisons with their other albums. My personal favorites are "Stop Whispering" and "Thinking About You" because they're the most emotional songs. But the rest of them are also really good, especially "You", "Anyone Can Play Guitar", "Vegetable", and "Blow Out". The only song I don't really like is "Ripcord" but it's still okay. Also, I'm not surprised that "Prove Yourself" is no longer played by the band, because you can imagine how many teens would be singing the lines "I'm better off dead" at their concerts, turning it into a cheesy suicide song when it's a serious song.

Overall, if you're a new Radiohead fan, you should probably start here, or with The Bends, or with OK Computer, in order to be introduced to their style. Then, you should purchase "Kid A", "Amnesiac", and "Hail To The Thief", since they're much less guitar driven and more experimental and progressive.

Radiohead started off as most bands... A confused, experimental group of guys who just wanted to sound good. And Pablo Honey does sound good---compared to all the other music out there. No, it's not legendary, and probably is Radiohead's worst effort, but it's good. It definitely does not have the complexity, musicality, and the "Radiohead" feel that the other CD's do but it will stand up to a lot of other mainstream CD's. And that's the one thing that isn't so "Radiohead" about this CD. It's totally 100 percent mainstream. But it's a start. For a first CD, Pablo Honey is not bad. Is it worth the money? I think so.

Obviously a lot more straight-ahead than Kid A or Amnesiac. Some standouts are "You", "Creep" and .... oh, I guess that's it.... Thom's songwriting talents had yet to improve greatly when this album was made.

Sometimes its hard to extract an album from a whole catalogue of work, difficult to contextualize something that led to so much more. But let's try.

Way back when, a group called 'On a Friday' became a regular fixture on the local Oxfordshire band-scene before changing name and releasing Drill EP in 1992. We (some friends and I) met them at the Cambridge Junction that year and did a fanzine interview. Small venue, small audience, but there was a growing rumour in certain scenes that this one song, Creep, had serious potential. People also talked in excited tones about Lurgee, apparently the band's favourite track, and Stop Whispering, which later propelled them into the Japanese market.

The truth is that this is a record firmly rooted in the indie scene of the late 80's/early 90's, when the kids were still dorks and wore band t-shirts and converse all-stars before they were cool. we all had stupid hair and jumped up and down, stinging our eyes with our sweaty curtain-like hairdos (see the music video for the Charlatans The Only One I Know), and all because our new hero was Kurt Cobain, rest his soul. The punky energy that Radiohead had was a great live experience, but it wasn't until a year or more later, when they returned with the My Iron Lung EP that we started to notice that there was more to it, a mellow side to the rabid intensity of songs like Pop is Dead. Seeing the band once more a few months later at the end of the tour for The Bends it was like seeing the butterfly emerge from the chrysalis. The audience was twice the size and the jumping up and down had morphed almost into a group sway. Nothing of the genius of a Fake Plastic Trees, will be found in Pablo Honey.

And that sums up Pablo Honey, it is a great record for jumping up and down to and for thinking fondly on the days before Radiohead were everyone's favourite band, but it is no masterpiece, that was probably OK Computer, or maybe Hail to the Thief, which is a somewhat more intricate construction. You might see if you can find a record by a band called Adorable (especially a song called Sunshine Smile) and check out what the contemporaries were doing at the same time.

And as for suggesting this is simple 'Brit-rock' fair is a little misleading - Radiohead were too early for that and never got caught up in the Oasis-era revival of guitar-driven music. It is probably to Radiohead's eternal credit that they have always sat outside definition or easily marked boundaries and this record set the trend.