Two years ago when Radiohead released their seminal second album The Bends, they were hailed in the press as "the next U2". Now any band displaying similar properties of that intense, widescreen rock sound is greeted as "the new Radiohead".
In fact, The Bends was a slow burner on its release in March 1995. It had only sold 150,000 copies before the top five single Street Spirit and several Brit Awards nominations kicked in, taking it over the half-million mark eight months later.
The exponential scale of its success has inevitably resulted in an extraordinary level of anticipation for the band's new album, OK Computer, which is released in June.
"Obviously this will have a much faster take up than The Bends, but they've also made the most influential album of the year," declares Parlophone managing director Tony Wadsworth. "They haven't taken a safe option; they've gone for something very adventurous."
He is not exaggerating. OK Computer is an ambitious, intense and complex suite of songs. It may lack the immediacy of The Bends, but it shows how far the band have come in the past two years. It will almost certainly garner album of the year awards across the board.
OK Computer began life on the road with many of the songs being previewed, worked up and honed at live events such as T In The Park and US tours with REM and Alanis Morissette. The band then moved to a library in Bath to record themselves on a mobile they bought for the purpose.
"We hate the idea of traditional studios because they're so clinical and we decided the same thing about producers," says guitarist Jonny Greenwood. "We spent so long rehearsing and arranging the songs that there really wasn't much for a producer to do, we didn't want a father figure in there with us."
Instead, the band took with them engineer Nigel Godrick, who worked on The Bends, and that album's sleeve designer Stanley Donwood. He set up his Apple Mac by the tape deck and worked on artwork ideas or, aided by the band, updated their website.
This partly explains some of the album's themes of mechanisation, civilisation and dehumanisation, although the density of the sound demands absolute concentration to make sense of the songs.
Greenwood maintains that the finished product is a natural progression from its predecessor. "There's quite a lot of continuity, songs that could have been on it that are closer to Plastic Trees and Street Spirit. It's not like we had a massive change of direction or tried to rip off everything we've done before. If anything, there's a lot more space on it; we're more confident about things not happening for a few seconds."
This is best exemplified by the album's bold lead single, Paranoid Android, a six and-a-half minute epic which shifts through four "movements", accelerating and decelerating through acoustic segments and ripping guitar breaks. It is breathtaking and, potentially, commercially suicidal.
Not so, maintains Wadsworth. "Radio is more open now in the UK than it's ever been. Radio One has a very adventurous playlist and others are following suit. I see no reason why we shouldn't get support. Besides, their success has never depended on singles. They've never taken the conventional route and everything we've done that's worked has been against the rules, so our feeling was that we should continue to break rules."
In fact, Paranoid Android, which receives its exclusive first play on Radio One's Evening Session this Wednesday, works as a microcosm for the sound and feel of the entire album.
"It's the first track I play to anyone who wants to know what the album sounds like," says Greenwood.
Nevertheless, the single also signals the demands OK Computer places on the listener initially. Songs like the squalling Electioneering or the psychotic Climbing Up The Wall [sic] take time to seep in, even if they are evened up by beautiful, sublime lullabies such as Let Down and No Surprises. It is not your average rock album.
"People have suggested there's less guitar on it actually," says Greenwood. "But a lot of the sounds which have been ascribed to keyboards are in fact mutated guitars. And there's a lot of strings on various tracks, but they don't sound obvious. I got quite obsessed with how string parts hadn't changed much since Eleanor Rigby, so we tried to learn about film and classical music and effected these sort of quarter tone clusters which nearly works." The band maintain they were influenced more by Ennio Morricone and the Polish composer Penderecki than contemporary rock acts and OK Computer bears this out.
"People here are saying that it could well dictate what the next REM or U2 album will sound like," says Wadsworth. "I think they are so far ahead now in terms of what they're doing. They take chances and that's being recognized by their peers and their fans."
OK Computer includes the track Exit Music which is featured on the end credits of Romeo and Juliet. That film's success in the US has only served to elevate the band further in the country where they made their initial breakthrough with the MTV-championed Creep back in 1993.
Capitol Records president Gary Gersh says, "We found out after Creep that Radiohead hadn't built an audience, they'd just broken a single. But, through a whole lot of work by us and them, we created a whole new fanbase with The Bends, so there is tremendous anticipation for the new album here."
Gersh accepts that MTV and the success of Romeo And Juliet have both played a part in the band's continued rise. "The Romeo and Juliet soundtrack sold 5m units round the world, which means 5m people heard Radiohead. And MTV is a very big supporter of the band and regularly features their videos."
Despite the success of The Chemical Brothers and an apparently more open attitude to British acts, Gersh maintains the label isn't looking for an explosive US chart debut with OK Computer.
"We're expecting it to grow" says Gersh. "It's complicated, exhilerating and difficult at the same time. I think we're going to reach a lot of people. It's one of the most daring records I've heard from a band in a long time. If they'd just delivered a set of three minute songs, I think they might be the biggest band in the world. What they've chosen to do is challenge themselves and turned in an epic body of work, that's very exciting."
Back here, anticipation is running high with retailers looking to the album to boost an otherwise quiet early summer period.
"It's undoubtedly one of the key releases of the year," says Virgin/Our Price senior chart buyer Rod MacLennan. "It's obviously not commercial but, all things being well, sales volume will match the quality of the music. We'll certainly be making it a bit of an event."
OK Computer will be unveiled at two special gigs in Barcelona on May 22/24, but the year's live showpiece will be Radiohead's televised headline set at the Glastonbury Festival before a full September tour.
Wadsworth believes Radiohead could achieve band superleague status in the next 12 months. "This is only their third album; most band that get to that size have made five or six," he says. "But we expect to double our sales from the 2m albums we sold last time. Radiohead don't just sell in a couple of markets; they're a major act worldwide."


Airbag
Album opener, featuring cello and a serene Thom Yorke vocal.
"We tried to do a DJ Shadow, cutting up drum parts but, in the end we put everything through my guitar pedals."

Paranoid Android
First single, a sprawling epic that contains everything bar the kitchen sink. "When I am king, you will be first against the wall" sneers Yorke over the songs schizoid mood changes.

Uptight
U2 join Pink Floyd for a cover of Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.
"We were going for a 70s jazz thing with electric piano, but we're not musical enough to pull that sort of thing off so it's a pop song."

Exit Music
Written after the band saw a 10 min. edit of R&J. The cracked Yorke vocal very directly pertains to the story's tragic denouement.

Let Down
Sublime and ethereal, full of chiming guitars.
"The theme of transport and movement and anonymity works with the music."

Karma Police
"It's a favourite saying of ours. Whenever we hear about someone behaving offensively it's like 'The Karma Police will catch up with them eventually'." A potential single.

Fitter Healthier
A mournful computer recites an ironic guide to modern living over sparse piano and strings.
"Thom put the words on his computer which has one of those vocal programs. We found it very beautiful when it spoke the words. It went from being gimmicky to something rather emotional."

Electioneering
Noisy, fast - Radiohead on steroids.
"More about personal politics, selling yourself in a band."

Climbing Up The Walls
A deranged insight into a very warped personality.
"Very string based. The white noise is 16 violins. Frightening music. We didn't mean it to be like that; it just happened."

No Surprises
"Heart that's full up like a landfill" sings Yorke over a truly beautiful lullaby that "could be number one," according to Parlophone managing director Tony Wadsworth.

Lucky
Released from the Help album, it only managed number 53 as a single.
"We agonised over whether to leave it off, but we thought it was one of the best songs we've done. It just fits."

The Tourist
Written by Greenwood.
"Thom didn't play a thing, he just listened. It's quite nervy, with a lot of space. It sounds like the last song on an album."