Search - Radiohead :: Pablo Honey [COLLECTOR'S EDITION- 2 CDs]

Radiohead's humble beginnings

C. Sherman | NYC | 03/27/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First off- when it was announced that EMI was going to be repackaging more Radiohead, presumably only to profit off a former artist with a rich back catalog, I decided I would not be purchasing anything. Once the track listing came out and all b-sides and demos from the respective era would be included, I was sold.



That said, in my mind, "Pablo Honey" was always the weakest album by the band. I may have grown up with it, and taken on it's own is quite good, but pales in comparison to later Radiohead output notably "Ok Computer" or "Kid A". Listening to this colleciton has certainly changed my opinion. The album itself is on disc one. I have noticed some people saying these reissues aren't remastered, but they are. (Again, it doesn't say it anywhere on the packaging about remastering, but trust me- when played next to the 1993 issue of the CD, it is night and day). You will notice things that were never clear before (particularly, for me, at the end of "Blow Out" when the feedback guitar fades in and up over the band- it has never been more intense!) brought to the forefront. Of course, the negative to this is, having gotten used to the original mixes and sound, it isn't how it's "supposed" to sound, but alas, that is what happens with remasters.



Disc 2 is great because it collects everything else from the 1992-93 era of the band that had appeared on import CD's and demos, as well as a few BBC live cuts. Nothing here will blow you away, but it fills in Radiohead's history quite nicely (the demo version of "Thinking About You" is punk-ish, a far cry from what it would develop into). For a completist, just tracking down these songs would cost way more than what this 2CD set is going for, so kudos there. And it comes in a nice digipack case that is pretty faithful to the original art.



I have 2 problems with the set though- 1. on disc 1, it doesn't have the "hidden" track of "Creep (Radio Edit)" that appeared on the 1993 version. Small gripe, yes, I know considering the better version is already there, but, when you are used to it, why remove it? The song obviously fits on the CD time-wise. Makes no sense. And 2. The booklet is just a reprint of the original, but on flimsy paper- not the heavier cardstock like the original (they really skimped for the whole series in this regard). The information on the b-sides is kind of lacking and more pictures or a summary would have been nice, but that's getting too greedy.



Overall, this is a worthwhile purchase if you are a Radiohead freak like myself who didn't have all of these B-sides and wants them all in one place and you want to hear a sonically superior version of the proper record. If you are new to the band, this is a neat little collection, but not necessary- you can save ten bucks and get the original version. EMI, in general, did a good job repackaging the material, and helped me appreciate the early days of Radiohead a bit more than before."