Thom Yorke does not like this idea. Thom Yorke is vehemently opposed to this idea. Thom Yorke has complained vociferously about this idea. Thom Yorke does not want you to buy the recently released ‘greatest hits and memories’ release, rush-released by the band’s former major label home in the lead-up to their forthcoming American tour, with the Radiohead frontman unhappy that there’s been no band involvement in its release.
He probably has a point. The CD release of this is a redundant one – a jumbled collection of tracks that make no real logical sequential sense, and don’t give you any true idea of the journey that Radiohead have taken over the course of their career. But Thom Yorke has forgotten one crucial aspect – Radiohead have never made their film clips commercially available before, which makes the DVD edition of The Best of Radiohead absolutely essential.
Radiohead have long made some of the greatest film-clips seen – from the story-telling miracle of Just to Thom Yorke singing in a fishbowl of water in No Surprises to the surly band performance vid of Creep, the band have always used their videos to make art just as they have with their recorded music. They’ve very, very rarely gone for the standard performance video, but have instead worked with the likes of Robin cartoonist Magnus Carlsson ( Paranoid Android ) and noted directors such as Michel Gondry ( Knives Out ).
As such, the DVD version of The Best Of… is a completely different beast to the CD version; one is an essential purchase for fans of the group, one is not. It’s an interesting dichotomy – the same songs when jumbled together for purely monetary reasons (EMI milking their cash cow) can be vital in one format and entirely redundant in another.
The Best Of… is out now through EMI.
k-rad
said on the 2nd Jul, 2008