Fitter, Happier: Radiohead Revisit “OK Computer”

Radiohead are revisiting their third album OK Computer with a 20th anniversary box set this summer.

OKNOTOK 1997-2017 celebrates the Oxfordshire quintet’s first U.K. No. 1 album, cited by many as one of the greatest albums of its era, with an all-new remaster from the original analog tapes and a bonus disc compiling eight remastered B-sides and three previously unreleased tracks from the album sessions: “I Promise,” “Man of War” and “Lift.” The set will be available from XL Recordings, Radiohead’s recent label home (as of last year’s A Moon Shaped Pool), as a 2CD or 3LP set. A box set version takes the three LPs and adds a C90 cassette featuring demos and session takes compiled by the band, and three books: a hardcover 12″ x 12″ book with unseen artwork and lyrics, a 104-page notebook of frontman Thom Yorke’s notes from the album period, and a 48-page sketchbook of “preparatory work” by Donwood and Tchock (longtime band designer Stanley Donwood and his university friend Yorke, under a pseudonym). That box will ship a few weeks after the standard vinyl and CD packages, but digital downloads will be available on release date (with the cassette contents also included for download within the box).

Inspired by everything from Miles Davis to electronica to Noam Chomsky, the abstract and ambitious sound of OK Computer was a marked departure from the group’s introspective sophomore album, 1995’s The Bends. Working as their own producers alongside Nigel Godrich (a partnership which continues today), OK Computer had a density and unpredictability that reportedly shocked Parlophone executives into lowering their financial forecasts for the album. Nonetheless, critics and audiences were enthralled, giving the group their first native chart-topping album (and at No. 21, their highest U.S. chart position at the time) and making U.K. Top 10 singles out of “Paranoid Android,” “Karma Police” and “No Surprises.” It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year, a BRIT Award for Best British Album and was a finalist for the Mercury Prize, also reaching No. 2 on the year-end best-of lists by NME, Rolling Stone, SPIN, The Village Voice and others. It’s since been inducted in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.

OKNOTOK is available June 23. You can can pre-order directly from the band here and below at Amazon!

OKNOTOK 1997-2017 (XL Recordings, 2017)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Box Set: Links TBD

CD 1/LPs 1-2: OK Computer (released as Parlophone NODATA 02, 1997)

  1. Airbag
  2. Paranoid Android
  3. Subterranean Homesick Alien
  4. Exit Music (For a Film)
  5. Let Down
  6. Karma Police
  7. Fitter Happier
  8. Electioneering
  9. Climbing Up the Walls
  10. No Surprises
  11. Lucky
  12. The Tourist

CD2/LP 3: Bonus material

  1. I Promise
  2. Man of War
  3. Lift
  4. Lull
  5. Meeting in the Aisle
  6. Melatonin
  7. A Reminder
  8. Polyethylene (Parts 1 & 2)
  9. Pearly*
  10. Palo Alto
  11. How I Made My Millions

Tracks 1-3 previously unreleased
Tracks 4-5 from “Karma Police” CD single #1, Parlophone CDNODATAS 03, 1997
Tracks 6-7 from “Paranoid Android” CD single #2, Parlophone CDNODATA 01, 1997
Tracks 8-9 from “Paranoid Android” CD single #1, Parlophone CDNODATAS 01, 1997
Tracks 10-11 from “No Surprises” CD single #1, Parlophone CDNODATAS 04, 1998

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Mike Duquette
Mike Duquette

Mike Duquette (Founder) was fascinated with catalog music ever since he was a teenager. A 2009 graduate of Seton Hall University with a B.A. in journalism, Mike paired his profession with his passion through The Second Disc, one of the first sites to focus on all reissue labels great and small. His passion for reissues turned into a career, having written at and worked for all three major catalogue music labels and contributing to Allmusic, Billboard, Discogs, City Pages and Ultimate Classic Rock. He's penned liner notes for Verve, Chess, Mondo and Soul Music Records.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Mike lives in Astoria, Queens with his wife, a cat named Ravioli, twin daughters and a large yet tasteful collection of music.

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5 thoughts on “Fitter, Happier: Radiohead Revisit “OK Computer””

  1. Brian from Canada

    So, less bonus tracks than the 2 CD/1 DVD edition from the past… replaced with vinyl and some drawings?

    1. I was thinking the same thing when I read this. I bought the 2 disc deluxe version of OK Computer and The Bends that came out in 2009. The only way I buy this album again is with a 5.1 mix.

      1. Glad they’re including a download with the 3 LP’s, just download the 3 new tracks & add them to the old Deluxe Edition in ITunes library.

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