Album review; The Bends(Radiohead)

Three guitars, a driving rhythm section and keyboards, all fronted by a whiny English bloke on vocals. That's the Radiohead setup, and believe it or not, it works spectacularly well. Following up on its hit "Creep" from their previous ablum Pablo Honey in 1993 , Radiohead's sophomore effort The Bends was released in 1995, not barely a year after the grunge scene had imploded, delivering renewed vigor in the form of a happiersounding guitar assault. Shimmering piano notes and echoing drums immediately pull you into the lead-off track "Planet Telex," as the guitars unleash a wall of fuzzenhanced bliss. Vocalist Thom Yorke's delivery is less deadpan and more passionate than before, giving the tracks a sense of smoldering urgency. The title track is a brilliant piece of raging guitar-driven pop, while "Fake Plastic Trees" opts for a subdued acoustic entrance, beginning with subtle nods to John Denver before cascading into an intense swirl of guitar, keyboards and drums. The band specializes in creating safe, lilting melodies awash in warmness, before drowining them in a wall of blistercrunch guitar and chaotic rhythmic interplay right before your ears.
Althought it maybe be less distorted and guitar based as my last review, but The Bends gave us some some Radioheads greatest hits including "High and Dry", "Fake Plastic Trees" and "Street Spirit". This album is what made the rock world realize that the heavy dark tones of grunge were gone, and that it was now time to change the sound and melody of rock.
Some achievements of this ablum include being ranked #6 on Melody Maker's list of 1995's `Albums Of The Year', ranked #4 in NME's `Top 50 Albums Of The Year' for 1995, and included in Q Magazines 50 Best Albums of 1995.