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The Bends [CD]

Radiohead | Format: Audio CD
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (153 customer reviews)
Price: £5.16 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Music

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Biography

Radiohead created a rock grunge sound influenced by Nirvana and the Pixies in the nineties, with albums like Pablo Honey and The Bends. In the 2000s, they Merged electronica with abrasive guitar with Kid A and Amnesiac. They inspire the listener to be uplifted and reflective in equal measure. Their most critically acclaimed album, 1997's OK Computer, has been nominated as one of the ... Read more in Amazon's Radiohead Store

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Frequently Bought Together

The Bends + OK Computer + Pablo Honey
Price For All Three: £16.61

Buy the selected items together
  • OK Computer ~ Radiohead Audio CD £6.95
  • Pablo Honey ~ Radiohead Audio CD £4.50

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Product details

  • Audio CD (1 Mar 1995)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Format: CD
  • Label: EMI
  • ASIN: B000002TQV
  • Other Editions: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  Mini-Disc  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (153 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 692 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

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Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Samples
Song Title Time Price
Listen  1. Planet Telex 4:19£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  2. The Bends 4:06£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  3. High And Dry 4:17£0.59  Buy MP3 
Listen  4. Fake Plastic Trees 4:50£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  5. Bones 3:08£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  6. (Nice Dream) 3:52£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  7. Just 3:53£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  8. My Iron Lung 4:36£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  9. Bullet Proof ... I Wish I Was 3:28£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen10. Black Star 4:06£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen11. Sulk 3:43£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen12. Street Spirit (Fade Out) 4:12£0.89  Buy MP3 

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk

After the massive success of Pablo Honey--or, more specifically, the single "Creep"--had made them a household name, most had written Radiohead off as one-hit wonders. That they could return with an album as awesome and monumental as The Bends, therefore, must have been particularly unexpected. Not that Pablo Honey is a bad album, but rather, when compared to the epic grandeur of The Bends, it's obvious that the five Oxford-based boys had matured immensely since the release of their debut. "High And Dry", "Just", "Street Spirit", "Fake Plastic Trees": nary a pop song among them, yet it's testament to their greatness that they all were hit singles. And really, it's easy to see why: Thom Yorke's falsetto crying over a wall of acoustic and electric guitars, as lyrics and music blend to create a masterpiece of melancholy beauty. The Bends is one of the most essential albums of the 1990s, and a spectacular indicator of further greatness to come. --Robert Burrow

BBC Review

Thom Yorke and his band of merry men have taken the musical landscape and toyed, spliced and even at times mollycoddled it. Where most bands pick a path and stick to it, the Oxford five-piece have danced over and beyond various musical landscapes, carving out a unique hollow for others to marvel at. But before they achieved such a status, Radiohead had some establishing to do.

At a time when the main argument in the music industry was Blur vs. Oasis, Radiohead were following up their debut Pablo Honey with a more progressive move towards the largely unpopular art rock movement. The Bends sounded different. Why? It had subtle creativity at its core. Producer John Leckie, who also produced Pink Floyd, gave the band an unprecedented freedom of expression and the band had more than enough ability to take the ball and run...

The first track Planet Telex feels genuinely refreshing even thirteen years later. Further on, High and Dry and Fake Plastic Trees are simply acoustic treats - stirring and poignant. Bones swiftly picks up the mood before Just blows most of the previous tracks out of the water, with the gain whacked up to ten and '90s guitar solos aplenty. Street Spirit (Fade Out), although notoriously downbeat contains one of the most recognizable guitar riffs in musical history. Accompany that with haunting harmonies and a string section and it all amounts to a stunning finish to the album.

Popular opinion places OK Computer as Radiohead's finest release to date, yet the The Bends was where they really put themselves firmly into the public consciousness. On the title track, Yorke sings, ''where do we go from here?'' like he didn't have a plan!Luckily for us, he had a pretty good one. --David McGuire

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars a fantastic album 6 Sep 2000
By A Customer
Format:Audio CD
After one listen to this cd, I could not stop playing it. The songs have the power of "Pablo Honey" only more mature (e.g The Bends, bones, Black Star and Sulk), and the emotional and strange content that is on "OK Computer" (e.g High and Dry, Fake Plastic Trees, Bullet Proof and Street Spirit). The Album is littered with the marvelous effects created by guitarists Ed O'Brian and Johnny Greenwood, and the powerful if whiney vocals of Thom Yorke. It is a phenomenal album and in my opinion still very underated. Travis, Coldplay and the rest are all good, but they arn't a patch on this album.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Its the best thing that you ever had 5 April 2006
By A Customer
Format:Audio CD
This is the greatest radiohead album and the greatest album of the 90's. If you don't own this album you are missing out. The only other album which comes close is 'Ok Computer', however I think 'the bends' is better, only because it has a warmer feel to the cold mechanical,(but also brilliant) 'ok computer'. There isn't a weak song on the entire album. Thom Yorke's voice is at his best. At times the later albums, he can sound winey but it is stretched to perfection here. To thoughs who write off radiohead as 'depressing'. Are you emotionally dead? At times the songs can be sad, but they are always a joy to listen to. Songs are both about personal relationships and relationships between someone and the world. It expresses the the confusion of life in all its forms, that everyone must feel to some degree. However this album lifts you out of the choas and sweeps you across harmonies and melodies. The balance of songs on the album work really well, just as the album begins to flag, after the slow 'high and dry' and 'fake plasic trees', 'just' is thrashed out.'Just' is a stright out excellent rock song, nothing more nothing less. The best is saved to last, with 'street spirit (fade out)', about life, death and love. Thank god a band like this are still around.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars If I could be who you wanted ......all the time. 22 Jun 2005
By Jems
Format:Audio CD
Everybody talks about the brilliance of Radiohead's OK Computer album but for me The Bends is the greatest album not only by Radiohead but by any band in the whole world. This is the album I would take with me to a desert island if I was given a CD player and the choice of one CD! This is the album I put on to wash the dishes and tidy my house! This is the album I put on when I feel so crap I want to hide in my bed for ever more! It is simply the greatest album EVER and it is also an instantly lovable album!! In addition when it was released there was nothing on the market which came close and this made The Bends even more of a stand alone masterpiece.

Choosing a favourite track from this album is near impossible because it features such ranging musical styles. On the melodic, spine tingling side we have High and Dry, Fake Plastic Trees and Street Spirit, possibly three of my favourite slow songs of all time. All three make me go weak at the knees as I listen to Thom's vocals but for me Street Spirit is the real stand out track with the most haunting chorus ever written or sang by anyone in the entire world. For the more upbeat tracks my favourites have to be The Bends, Bones and Just which all rock. Every time I hear the title track The Bends I can remember seeing Radiohead live at T In The Park in 1996 - as this song began the guitar and drum intro was accompanied by lighting which washed over the crowd from the stage across the sea of fans up to the sky and as it did so I can still remember the hair on the back of my neck standing on end and a rush of adrenaline sending me into a musical euphoria.

If you have never heard this album than shame on you, get it ordered today because you are missing a piece of musical history. This is an album I will never grow tired of and never stop listening too. A real masterpiece in every way.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Tom et al do not disappoint - again
Yet another fabulous offering from the band and my personal favourite, though 'Ok Computer' comes pretty damned close. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Ripsmum
5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece
Believe the hype, this is one of the - if not the - best collection of alternative rock songs ever recorded. Read more
Published 2 months ago by B.O.B
5.0 out of 5 stars Oh no - not another review of The Bends!
I know that is what you were thinking - right? Well - yes - because yesterday I found myself in dialogue with my son and trying to compare Everything Everything's new album Arc... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Martin Fielding
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Radiohead
Radiohead are THE standout musical group of the last twenty years. This, however, is far from their best record. Read more
Published 3 months ago by C. N. Daly
5.0 out of 5 stars Finest Album of the Nineties?
Quite probably. So often bands reach their creative peak with their second album, and Radiohead are the finest example of this. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Richard Allen
5.0 out of 5 stars On usefulness of negative reviews
I am relatively new to Radiohead, listened to OK Computer but somehow didn't quite get it. Someone recommended The Bends, I saw hundreds of 5* reviews but decided to check what... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Killer Shrimp
3.0 out of 5 stars Great Album
Really nice album by Radiohead, but after listening to OK Computer first, found it hard to get into in quite the same way!
Published 6 months ago by Alice
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing album
This album is fantastic.
I especially enjoy track 5, "Bones", and track 9 "Bulletproof...I Wish I Was" for many different reasons.
Radiohead songs are so deep...
5/5
Published 6 months ago by Giuseppe
5.0 out of 5 stars Radiohead's MTV styled masterpiece., December 27, 2001
I have something to admit: I've been living under a rock. It's been a nice cozy little rock, with lots of shade and that sort of thing, but I thought I'd go out and see what was... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mike London
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the greatest of all time
This is in my opinion, radioheads best work along with OK Computer. It has a strong alternative rock sound, but they put there own spin on it to set themselves out from the crowd. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Sam
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