This Week In Pizza - Grab Bag Edition: La Pala 148, SOL, Anima Romana Bakery

  

 

We're doing something a little different this time around. Rather than diving deep into one particular pizza joint, instead we're going to take a quicker look at three pizzas I recently tried, with grades for all of them at the very end. 

Let the grab bag begin! 

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La Pala 148

 

  

It is unfortunate in this format that I can't get into the menu of La Pala 148 in more detail, as there is plenty of variety here to potentially discuss from the various slices, arancini and tantalizing desserts (and I'm not even a dessert fella) they offer. Indeed, I'd have loved to sample more than just a single slice from La Pala and surely they would have gotten their own stand-alone article if not for one critical thing... they're really damn expensive! 

Seriously, we're talking "this slice with tax+tip was 14 bucks" expensive. Even their regular Margherita would clock in around ten dollars with all that. They are big, thick slices at least and undoubtedly there's a Yorkville pricing element in effect here... but 14 bucks for a slice? There are still walk-in specials around town (few, but they exist) where that gets you an entire pizza pie of respectable quality. 

Now that my price rant is out of the way (for now)... La Pala 148 is a tiny little Yorkville spot on Cumberland Street (it's next door to Hemmingway's bar, an old haunt of mine in my 20s) specializing in counter serving with some stools by the window. There's a mini-bodega vibe to the place also, with a shelf full of Italian snacks, a newspaper rack and self-serve fridge for beverages like Italian sodas. 

 

 

Damn slice took a bite outta me!

La Pala 148 does a Roman style pizza, which you don't see much of in Toronto but seems to be growing in popularity. It is indeed thick and bready, but never at any point does it feel like there's too much of that... plus it has such a delightful freshly baked feel and texture that is always a welcome experience. 

This is their "Carnivoro" slice, essentially a meat lovers: cup pepperoni, house sausage and pancetta. The pancetta is your fancy bacon substitute and really steals the show here. Very fatty rectangular bits of tender pork goodness, a very nice compliment to the crispy pepperoni and rougher crumble of the sausage. Also, despite the considerable amount of pork meats on here, the amount of saltiness to this slice was far from oppressive. Always a good sign when considering the overall quality of the ingredients.

The cheese didn't leave much of an impression... perfectly fine but very ordinary mozzarella, not much taste or stretchiness to it. The tomato sauce however... very bright and vibrant, plenty of presence throughout the slice with a nice little hint of oregano in there too. Truly an excellent tomato sauce, one that elevates what would've otherwise been a good-ish pizza onto a higher level. 

Texture is also a big positive for this slice, as it has excellent crunch all throughout, especially on the crust. Just a very enjoyable slice to eat overall, with good ingredients and a high level of freshness. 

 

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SOL Pizza

 

             

Despite its proximity to the busyness of Yonge/Bloor, the Manulife Centre building or the downtown University of Toronto campus, SOL Pizza is a joint that appears to have flown under the radar of Toronto's pizza scene (it is somewhat hidden away on a side street just off Bay). 

The inside is a cramped space, barely enough room for both an ordering counter and a tiny little table. This kind of setup seems ideal for nearby UofT students to bring back into a dorm room (or eat outside on warmer days).   

Nevertheless, the place has clearly made a very positive impression with people (a 4.8 on Google Reviews tends to get my attention) and so this was a lesser-talked-about pizzeria I'd been curious to try for quite some time. Going back to this area is also always a neat little trip back in time for me: I lived and went to high school nearby and later on also went to UofT myself... and damn it what I would've done for some good nearby pizza during those long days I was compelled to actually study.

 

 

SOL have like at least two dozen specialty pizzas on their menu, looking over them was indeed fairly overwhelming. Eventually I kept it somewhat simple and went for their version of an "arrabbiata", which was sliced salami with a generous helping of pickled banana peppers.

 

 

There's quite a lot to like here, and also... everything is a lot. As you can see this thing is loaded with toppings, but there are even more slices of the thick salami underneath the cheese! This is, believe it or not, a weakness: all that thick salty pork gets so excessive at points that I found myself picking some of it off just so I could taste the rest of the pizza.

Beyond that though, this is a pretty solid entry. These slices are a bit on the floppy side as the dough foundation is fairly thin and soft (insert joke here). Lots of stretchy cheese which is good, plus a hint of garlic somewhere in both smell and subtly in the taste, perhaps within the tomato sauce. Speaking of that sauce, it has a bit of a natural sweet hint to it... something you might find in a spaghetti and meatballs type of dish. Combined with the acidic sting of the peppers and saltiness of the pork, it helps balance things out somewhat. 

Finally, this is a pretty oily pizza, but it's a good kind of oily. If anything, this pizza reminds me of what I'd call an "arcade slice": extremely oily and cheesy, heavy with the scent of peppers and pepperoni. Considering this condo heavy neighbourhood, this was pretty much the exact opposite of what I was expecting. 

 

Amina Romana Bakery

 

      

Our last entry in this pizza grab bag takes a look at new-ish bakery (opening sometime in the past year or so) in the Upper Beaches just off of the intersection of Gerrard and Main Street (also home of the original Beach Hill Smokehouse BBQ joint). This is Amina Romana Bakery, which translates as "Roman Soul" or "Soul of Rome" into English. I'm pretty sure you all know what "Bakery" means... 

Unlike the other two spots in this article, pizza is more "another thing we offer" here rather than the main attraction. This is a bakery after all, offering a variety of baked sourdough breads, focaccia loaves, cakes, doughnuts, tarts, you name it. Their pizza counter is in the back, which is maybe ten steps from the front door. Another very narrow and cramped space! Yet charming nonetheless... whether it be the cartoony brick storefront or the colourful scribblings on the white wall inside.

 

 

Like La Pala 148... this isn't exactly a bargain either. Their slices are quite large indeed: they're actually rectangular and are cut in half to order, thus these four are actually just two slices I ordered that have been split into the quadrants you see. The pepperoni came in around seven bucks, which is totally reasonable. The white one on the left? Thirteen. Man, at this rate I'm gonna need a fourth job just to pay for all these pizzas I review...

 

 

Amina Romana uses a sourdough base for most of their baking, which certainly applies to their pizza as well. You get a good balance of that sourdough taste with some excellent chewiness, along with some crispness on the bottom and the "crust" edge of the slice (it's a bit hard to tell where that is but it's to the left in this photo). 

This is also terrific pepperoni. Fantastically crunchy along the edges, thinly sliced and plentiful. The tomato sauce has a juicy feel to it, quite bright and satisfying in its little pockets where it hasn't baked too much into the cheese. 

A pepperoni slice is a simple classic of course, and they nail it quite nicely. Enjoyable from start to finish, and it reheats extremely well in the toaster oven.

 

 

Now for the thirteen dollar option (their slice prices are not shown, or at least not easy to locate visually). This is, according to the fella behind the pizza counter, their "lasagna" slice... which considering you indeed encounter slices with noodles on them in New York City, I was semi-nervous there would be a layer of flat noodle taking up lots of real estate within this slice. 

There was nothing of the sort. Instead what you have here is an atypical pizza configuration (cheese on top with filling inbetween and bread on the bottom) with a pretty unique execution. Below the layer of mozzarella is a nice layer of creamy ricotta, while those brownish-red splotches on top are the sauce portion of this lasagna-meets-pizza. 

I have to say... this was incredibly delicious. That fresh ricotta cheese within is just such a perfect touch to this kind of slice, not to mention I detected a hint of black pepper and basil in that flavour as well. As for that sauce on top... it's quite like a meaty lasagna sauce, tiny bits of ground beef within a tomato sauce and the taste just explodes in your mouth. 

A great exercise in flavour contrast working well together, the creamy rich cheese meeting the zing of a hearty meaty housemade pasta sauce. Perhaps it's a ragu or bolognese, I'm not entirely certain nor knowledgeable enough about that type of recipe to say either way... but either way this was one of the more interesting and tasty pizza slices I've had in quite some time. 

 

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Final grades! Honestly, all three of these pizzas were quite enjoyable in their own ways, and all quite different from one another as well.

 

 

While I'll scoff at the price-for-the-amount-you're-getting at La Pala 148 (I'm no frequenter of Yorkville lunches) I also can't deny their pizza is excellent, at least from this singular experience. Fantastic texture, good toppings... I'll place them on the weaker side of a "B++" grade, which is probably good enough for a Top 50 slot on my neverending list. 

I also have to mention a funny story while I was eating this slice: a fellow in a TTC uniform came in and was just entirely smitten with all of the slices they were offering on the counter. He must've asked "will you have a special tomorrow? Tomorrow you'll have the special?" about a dozen times before finally leaving. Hey I love pizza as much as anyone, but even I'm not sure I've ever gushed so publicly about it... I wasn't sure to find this display endearing or concerning. Don't get addicted to pizza, kids! *puffs cigarette*. It'll lead ya down a bad road of falling dominoes, greasy huts and repeating "pizza" twice for no reason!                

SOL is the kind of pizza I probably would've adored and recommended to everyone I know about ten-to-fifteen years ago. It's got that oily charm, it's loaded with toppings, and the cornmeal base is another nice touch. 

It's still pretty good, and while it's a bit below a "you gotta go try this" tier, they get a respectable "B-" grade. The smell is incredible, exactly the kind of scent this kind of pizza should have... plus there's a good amount of sauce despite the heavy dominance of the cheese and toppings. It reheats decently as well (the pan on low heat actually gives it some needed crispiness on the bottom). Overall, a quality showing from a spot not talked about all that much. 

 

 

Now we come to the local ringer. They seem to have a strong following, what with appearing on BlogTo's most recent 50 Essential Pizzas gallery (I've tried 45 of those, for the record) and also being fairly busy when I arrived at 11am on a Saturday. 

If the pepperoni slice was just it, I'd be impressed enough to recommend them on that alone. Fantastic and simple, that fresh sourdough really shines through with terrific sauce and pepperoni. That would be a solid B+. 

That lasagna slice though... again, truly one of the most delicious and interesting pizza slices I've had in a very long time. It's got the uniqueness, the creativity, the sheer simplicity and most importantly... the incredible taste and texture. A place that can pull off something like that deserves considerable appreciation, even from the coldest hearted critics. 

The fellow behind the pizza counter insisted it was very very good and he certainly was not wrong. On the strength of that, Amina Romana gets an "A--". That lasagna pizza is simply an absolute must try. 

 

 

And there we go! Three different pizzas, in the (grab) bag as it were. Hope you enjoyed this slightly different format and we'll be back sometime soon. I'll finish up my updated rankings eventually, I swear... maybe some point early this summer. Stay tuned, and until next time...

          

The Tuesday Taste - Bagels On Fire

 

 

You're too old to lose it

Too young to choose it

And the clock waits

so patiently on your song

You walk past the cafe

but you don't eat when

you've lived too long

 

Another Tuesday... another Taste. Huh. 

[SCENE MISSING]

 

This week we're still looking at more breakfasty type foods by checking out a very well regarded bagel mini-empire here in Toronto. Get ready to fan the flames, it's time to leave the frying pan and check out Bagels on Fire. (Not to be confused with Scarborough's own Pizza On Fire...or the famous Alicia Keys song...)

While they currently now have three locations in the city (one inside the shiny food court of The Well and the other on Queen Street West) the origin of Bagels On Fire actually begins down here in my little stretch of town, The Beaches. Founded in 2013 (a year before I moved down here), husband and wife owners Julio and Hazel Penullar first worked together in The Bagel House... gradually saving up money over years until the right opportunity came to open up a bagel shop of their very own. 

With that aforementioned expansion, it's safe to say the Penullar's little bagel outpost has been a firey success (sorry). One crucial element that makes Bagels On Fire significantly different than your typical supermarket fare is how they specialize in the Montreal style bagel. What exactly is or makes a Montreal style bagel, you may be asking? I'm glad you maybe asked! Having just researched this myself, the key to a Montreal bagel is in the preparation: fresh dough that is hand rolled then boiled in honey water before baked in a wood burning oven. This article gives slightly more information.

I recall going to the famous original location of St. Vitaeur in the Mile End area of Montreal (along with similarly renowned Fairmount Bagel just a few doors down, this is definitely the famous block for such bagels) many years ago and just seeing dozens upon dozens of bagels strung up everywhere in that tiny space... the smell of fire and sweet dough thick within the air. Quite a sensory delight.

 

 

I'll discuss those distinct flavour and texture attributes later as we dive into the food itself. For now, it was a very sunny morning, the streets were still infested with excessive amounts of snow and I could not get back to sleep. Why not go walk for eighty seconds and get some breakfast? Yes indeed... I've written well over a hundred food reviews at this point, with maybe another hundred in my future (who knows)... and I guarantee no other review I may ever write in my entire life will require less travel to get to. The stop for the streetcar is farther away, fer cryin out loud.

The inside of the Beaches Bagels on Fire has very limited sitting, with most of the space dedicated to the ordering counter and a considerable amount of supplies in the back. There are a few small tables and chairs inside, with even an adorable little patio outside by the window (you can see it in the photo)... maybe not the ideal spot to eat a freshly baked bagel when the snowbanks beside you are swallowing parked cars, but adorable none the less. 

 

 

I've been on an obsessive breakfast sandwich kick lately (to be continued) and so went for the Bagels On Fire version of those on a poppy seed bagel, along with an everything bagel (considered one of their best sellers) with a chive cream cheese. 

All in (tax and tip) it registered at around fourteen bucks... which isn't all that bad. Sure, if you went to Tim Horton's this would easily be under ten dollars... but as my reviews have hopefully established... Tim Horton's food sucks (they've been in a gradual downward death spiral, as it were). Besides, these here are Montreal style bagels! Right? Well, lets finally dive into that. 

 

 

The breakfast sandwich is probably the better one wherein the qualities of the bagel itself are more present: cream cheese tends to dominate the palette and especially on an everything bagel... there's a quite an dual overwhelming factor on there despite such a simple item. 

My first thought on my first bite was how odd the texture of these bagels were (it'd been maybe fifteen years since I had a Montreal style one). There's a good baked exterior but then within... a gummy chewiness that initially threw me off. It's not a dry chewiness, more like a very soft yet condensed bread. 

Being just not being used to this kind of baked good, it took a few bites for me to start getting into it... which I very much did. It's the perfect baked crunch of the outside that makes it work: wood fire gives such a distinct texture and flame-licked flavour (it's true for pizzas as well) and both these bagels were baked to just the precise point of keeping the crunch/soft balance. 

Flavour-wise... I didn't know until afterwards about the honey water boiling aspect of Montreal bagels, as while eating this I did detect a subtle syrupy sweetness within the dough that I just couldn't place my finger (or tongue) on. Never an overpowering or sugary kind of sweet... just a little touch within the softer parts of the bagel that add a nice gentle extra flavour.

As for the breakfast portion of the equation... it's fairly straightforward as far as breakfast sandwiches go. Slab of fried eggs cooked somewhere between over medium and over hard, little bit of sliced ham (could've chosen bacon instead but... meh) and some cheddar cheese. There's very good balance between these three fillings... none of the three really dominate at any time and you get a solid taste of each on nearly every bite. 

I'd have preferred more ham on here, but for the limited amount we have it's a very vivid cold cut... avoiding abrasive saltiness and just giving that classic hammy kind of taste (it's like 6am and I can't think of a good description... but don't cancel the ham!). As mentioned the fried eggs are nicely done wherein they're fluffy but without any of those dried out bits along the edges. Beyond that, the only frills this sandwich gets at all are some black pepper and a dab of standard mayo. Like I said, incredibly straightforward.

 

 

There is much less to say about the cream cheese offering (I mean it's a bagel and cream cheese, can't exactly write a novel here... or can I...???)

It's very good! The everything bagel has much more of a roasty kind of flavour to it. The smell (which is awesome) and taste of baked sesame are very prevalent throughout. There's the same honey sweetness and soft chewy texture as the poppy seed bagel, although this one has a bit less crispness on the edges (probably deliberate since all that stuff on top will burn quicker in the oven I imagine).

We can talk about the chive cream cheese as well. Not sure if they make it in house (I'd strongly lean towards 'yes they do') but I can definitely say this is notably different than just grabbing a tub of Philadelphia and spreading it all over the crackers of your sadness. Not that I've, uh, done that... nope. 

For comparisons sake, Philadelphia cream cheese really turns into a weird runny... thing... when placed upon something with heat, like a bagel fresh from the oven. Don't get me wrong, Philadelphia is entirely acceptable in most situations but I think the distinction has to be made between "cream cheese spread" and "cream cheese" here, and the key is within that texture. 

This chives cream cheese that Bagels On Fire uses is not like a spread at all... I mean you can spread it here, but what I mean is you'd prefer a spoon instead of a butter knife. There's much more of a lightness, a whipped quality to the overall taste and feel in your mouth... while still containing those key cream cheese elements (fullness, rich flavour). Maybe not as intently flavourful as some of those Philadelphia ones, like their salmon flavour (definitely a guilty pleasure) but you get that nice sting of real fresh chives in here more than once, and again that sort of thickly whipped texture just lends itself to the delightful levels that softer cheeses can bring.

 

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Overall! I can't vouch for the other two locations and I don't have much intention to... this one is around the corner from my house... and it's the original! Why would I go to the other ones? 

In all seriousness though... everything I experienced here was genuinely fabulous. This was my first real experience giving a Montreal bagel an honest, thoughtful look... and there's a definite charm and tastiness within here. That exact balance of fire baked crunch on the outside with the pretty soft yet dense and sweet inside... very appealing. 

Regular bagels are, strangely, much airier yet also considerably heavier on the stomach (and generally larger on the calorie count too). These Montreal style bagels are considerably smaller, which should be noted... but that compactness of the dough was just as filling as any regular grocery store bagel, while also significantly more interesting. Tasty and enjoyable in both flavour and texture. 

Recommend? Damn right! Going back to the breakfast bagel, I always admire a place that can keep things simple and yet be so memorably excellent. Simplicity can bite your ass when you don't have the quality or tight execution (see my La Roma review)... but Bagels On Fire does one thing exceptionally well (bagels, bet you didn't guess that) and the other elements are high end role players bringing it all home. Nicely done... 

 

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The Jon Dowd All-Stars

Considered by many one of the greatest, most groundbreaking sports video games of all time... 2025 marks the twenty year anniversary of MVP Baseball 2005. 

Funny enough, during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic I was extremely bored (shocker) and needed some kind of sports fix. I found a way to get MVP Baseball 2005 to work on my laptop and it rediscovering it (probably had been 15 years since I played it) was an incredibly fun distraction from all the surrounding gloom. 

Here's a brief little video (from the official MLB YouTube account no less) getting into some of the development and stories behind the making of the classic game. 

 

 

Development Done Good

I'd been meaning to share this for a while, but this is an example of Toronto taking a part of town that's fallen into little use and disrepair, and proposing to make it into something interesting and community oriented rather than just another batch of boring condos 97 percent of people can't afford. Like what they're doing with the Port Lands (yeah there will eventually be condos there I know, but at least adding plenty of public parkspace is also a priority in their revitalization).

https://www.blogto.com/real-estate-toronto/2025/01/440-unwin-avenue-hearn-generating-station-toronto/              

Tuesday Tune

This review was all set to come out last Tuesday (it was indeed already mostly written), but then something happened that was pretty much like an earthquake into my general psyche. I don't care to elaborate, but a stay in a hospital was involved as are some significant lifestyle changes I'll need to actually consider seriously this time. 

As such, spending most of last week not caring to do really much of anything (including leave my house)... this song kind of popped into my mind in those very dark, bleak moments. It's a classic, it's a stunner, and a timeless beauty. 

Take care of yourselves everybody, physically and especially mentally... and don't spill that mustard. 

 

 

     

The Tuesday Taste - Bad Egg

 

 

Don't go there

cause you'll never return

I know you think of me

when you think of her

But then it don't make sense

when you're trying hard

To do the right thing

but without recompense

Another Tuesday... another Taste! This week I did not have to travel very far at all to sample the offerings of this particular restaurant, which was a very good thing considering all the snow in the entire world seemed to have fallen on Ontario in the span of one weekend. 

Bad Egg! Oh man... get ready for the puns. You've all been warned. Bad Egg is a restaurant chain that does a Korean fusion kind of thing, with Korean egg drop sandwiches as their sort of flagship item. Believe it or not, the origins of this Korean food concept started out... in Karachi, Pakistan, which their primary Instagram account is based out of. The chain is still very much in its infancy... going back to that main IG account it looks like they first opened up in Karachi sometime early in 2023. 

Clearly a big success, they've made enough of an impression to expand internationally to here in Canada (supposedly thanks to a pair of Toronto tourists who discovered the place) and in Ireland! That's right, the only three countries with Bad Egg locations are Ireland, Canada and Pakistan. If you can find another thing all three of those nations share in common... 

 

     

Oh no... the restaurant itself beat me to the punch on the corny 'egg' puns! I take eggception to this behaviour...

Bad Egg have two locations in Toronto now: the first one is somewhere downtown and the newest one, a few months old, now on Queen Street East here in the Beaches... like two blocks from my house! Sweet... but, are they any good? Lets find out. I went twice just to be sure. 

 

 

Did I mention the snow? (and this was before the second storm)

Considering Bad Egg offer a lot of different types of items, from egg drop sandwiches to smash burgers to Bao buns to kimchi bowls... well on my first visit it was tricky to decide on something but I went for their Korean poutine (with the chicken option instead of the beef). Basically what we've got here are fries, cheese curds, green onions and a drizzle of sauce (no gravy in here). 

 

 

While I hesitate calling this a poutine (again no gravy) whatever kind of french fry dish you wanna call it (K-tine?), this was extremely tasty. Lots of flavour: there's an earthy bbq-like spice to the breaded bits of fried chicken, which themselves are tender and crunchy. Stringy on the inside, rather than a minced texture you find in regular chicken nuggets. Green onions always make almost everything better, while the fries definitely have a real potato taste and no hint of any hollow pre-frozen flavour.... they stay fluffy and crisp even underneath all the sauce and hot fried chicken. 

The curds are nice to have in the mix... not the squeakiest cheese curds you'll find but considering how many places like this get lazy and just use shredded cheese, seeing actual curds is nice and those partially melted globs do indeed elevate the experience. Finally, the drizzle of sauce. A bit like a light creamy cilantro aioli that compliments rather than trying to out-flavour the more intense smokey flavour the chicken strips are dressed in. 

Also have to mention the portion size. Quite a lot of food! On it's own this is like a small meal for one. Split between two people, a very satisfying appetizer... and they are indeed quite generous with the chicken as well. Thumbs up from me, this was a neat twist on a Canadian classic and those Korean-style spices really shine through. Nicely done. 

 

 

After that initial positive experience, I had rather high eggpectations going back (hey, I resisted the urge this long, plus I didn't say 'eggperience' which would've been much cornier). This here is their "Mince Me Beefy" egg drop sandwich.

First off, what exactly makes an egg drop sandwich? I didn't actually know beyond how pretty they look on the interwebs. Well! After having now sampled one myself and reading this online recipe, I think the key elements are the type of bread, how the eggs are scrambled and the sauce you use. And cheese of course. I'm sure there are variations but the thick slices of bread, brioche ideally, seem to be consistently crucial.

This particular egg drop sandwich from Bad Egg (how many times am I gonna say "egg" in this review? It's getting eggcessive...) does things a bit differently, most notably adding a sliced hard boiled egg to the top of the sandwich when posed vertically like this. I'm actually not a fan of hard boiled eggs normally, but I must say this one may have converted me. So damn tasty with the toasted bread, lots of pure eggy taste, fantastic squishy texture that mixed in with the creamier scrambled eggs in the sandwich beautifully. 

 

 

It's good to know that Bad Egg absolutely nails one half of their namesake, but what about the rest of the sandwich? The 'drop' as it were? I admit to being initially worried this bread might've been over toasted, a worry that vanished upon the first bite. Incredibly soft and buttery almost to the point of decadence, like a croissant, with the slight toastyness helping keep it firm and not falling apart (this was a surprisingly non-messy sandwich to eat).

There isn't any possible photo I could've taken to show the beef portion (at least without dissecting the sandwich before eating it, which is totally fun and totally not deranged behaviour)... but it is in there I swear and certainly a steady flavour presence. Definitely gives a greasy smash burger taste, those distinct grilled beef edges and juicy bits pair really well with, frankly, the extremely overpowering amount of egg in this sandwich (not a bad thing). Plus, there are some raw bits of red onion thrown in, which normally I'd protest about but it's such a minor thing and frankly adds another layer to the heaviness of the bread, egg, grilled beef and American cheese. 

As for the egg drop sauce on here... bit of a sweeter kick to it among the spectrum of mayo-like sauces. Quite nice, although it's completely gone by the time you're halfway through the sandwich but it is pleasant while it lasts. 

 

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Overall! I must say that the name of this place is an absolute lie... there is nothing "bad" about this egg! Frankly, it is eggtremely misleading...

But seriously, Bad Egg is really damn good. The Korean poutine was certainly tasty but most likely not something I would seek out often. Their egg drop sandwiches however... hook that stuff to my veins. Like I said, the sandwich is packed full of egg (so you better really f**king like eggs to enjoy this thing) and the textures within are just heavenly. The different types of egg, the toasted yet pillowy and buttery bread, the grilled beef... I absolutely loved it and would highly recommend checking them out if you can. 

I'll certainly go back (helps when there is one a three minute walk away). One of their egg drop sandwiches has shrimp in it and I'm very curious how they pull that one off. To be continued indeed...

 

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Burnt Ends

If you missed it, I recently finished my longtime in-the-works project on looking at the Radiohead discography. Seriously, I agonized over this thing for well over a year... unsure of the general tone I was looking for when discussing such a band that has been... well discussed so much. If like me you're a fan of the band, give it a read!

http://westcollierstreet.blogspot.com/2025/02/ranking-radiohead-albums.html 

 

 

Calvinism

While Facebook has indeed been a wasteland of ads, horrifying opinions and unfunny memes the past little while... I've noticed that by liking certain things a lot, the algorithm adjusts and sends a lot of those types of things into your feed. The result for me has been... well I really only go on FB anymore to see if anybody has messaged me/commented on one of my articles, and then read lots and lots of comic strips, with the legendary Calvin and Hobbes now being the most common among them that pops up. 

So here's an article I found pretty interesting about the backstory of the strip. For instance, I never knew Bill Watterson was so opposed to merchandising his characters despite their significant cultural popularity (unlike say Garfield).    

 

 

Extra Cheese On Your Trade War

Rant warning! So I'm watching the Four Nations final (woot Canada) at a bar nearby my house, and since it's a televised broadcast of course there are commercial breaks and whatnot. I legit have not had cable since I moved out from home fourteen years ago, so I've been generally unfamiliar with whatever commercials are filling those airwaves (I'm sure I've been missing out).

During such a commercial break, I saw an ad that started with big orange and white BOLD LETTERING about the danger of potential incoming tariffs. Seeing the colours, I immediately assumed this would be a political ad from the NDP (which would've been a semi-pleasant reprieve from all the fucking Pollievre or Doug Ford ads Sportsnet were jamming into our eyeballs).

Nope! There's another brand that is known for their orange and white colour scheme... and it's Pizza Pizza. Yes, that's right... Pizza Pizza have a television ad mentioning the tariff threat, something that could ignite mutual economic destruction between Canada and the USA... as a vehicle to sell their objectively terrible pizza. Pizza... fucking... Pizza. What... what universe is this? Is this like one of those Star Trek episodes where they end up in an alternate dimension where nothing makes any microbe of sense? Where's that transporter jiggery to get me out of this absurd place! Scotty! Hurry up!

Seriously though... have you no shame whatsoever, Pizza Pizza? Actually, having sampled your products an unfortunate amount of times over the years, I don't need an answer to that question. Whenever I get around to updating my Top Toronto Pizzas list (probably a top 200 at this point) I'm including bigger chains for the sake of context, and now it will be extra satisfying to place Pizza Pizza in the cellar they richly deserve.         

 

Tuesday Tune

Wow... the song of the week is actually something from this current decade? Not from over a decade before the authour of this article was even born? Who's in charge here? Well... this band has actually been around since the late 1990s so... 

I'd kind of written off The Strokes after their very uneven third album, First Impressions of Earth, which is too bad considering how ridiculously great their first two records are. They actually were the first ever concert I worked at Bud Stage back in 2019! And they were genuinely excellent.

So when I discovered they released a new album the next year, and it was highly regarded... well I had to give it a shot. And yeah... it's a pretty good record. An interesting return to their classic sound with some more mature touches and keyboards. Here's the opening track from that very record, The New Abnormal.

Plus, the video has baseball in it. As a jersey collector, I'd totally rock one of those Strokes unis. 

 

 

That's it that's all for this week! Just a reminder, if you live in Ontario please do get out and vote on Thursday if you haven't already. Seriously! Go do it. My thoughts on this have been pretty clear over the years (our current premier... really not a fan whatsoever. Nope nope nope) and no matter the outcome it is crucial we exercise our democratic rights and voice our opinions through the ballot box. The future of Western democracy is... well a discussion for another day in a much different forum, but lemme just say, more than ever, that if you don't use it you might just lose it. 

Anyhow, stay safe, stay warm, go vote(!) and most of all don't spill that mustard. 

 

                 

 

Ranking the Radiohead Albums

 

 

In late 1992 a mostly unknown British band, a quintet of lads who had all met in Abingdon boarding school in Oxfordshire... were in a recording studio working on their debut record.

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They'd formed as a band several years earlier as schoolmates, the younger brother of the bassist being the final member to join on lead guitar. The commitments of university put musical ambitions on a back burner for a time, but all five of them still kept in touch and rehearsed together on steady occasion. 

Eventually, 1991 to be precise, they regrouped full-time and built up some demo recordings that attracted some attention. Within that same year and less than a dozen actual gigs under their belt, EMI had signed them to a six record deal (more on that later) with the expectation of a debut record forthcoming. The only stipulation: change the name of the band. They'd been known as On A Friday, a reference back to the ideal weekday in boarding school they'd claim an empty classroom and play. As the story goes, they pivoted to "Radiohead", it being the name of a Talking Heads song on the Head's later album True Stories. 

Their first EP, Drill, didn't land with much success. A full length release was next on the table, and in an attempt to appeal to the emerging American alternative rock market... a pair of American producers in Paul Kolderie and Sean Slade (who had worked with Pixies and Dinosaur Jr) came onboard.  

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Bringing things back to a recording session in late 1992. 

It hadn't been a particularly fruitful session, but Radiohead's lead singer-songwriter Thom Yorke had a song he'd written back when he was in university, proposing they throw it at the wall and see... so the band tried it out. After the second take, the producer Paul Kolderie called the record company to say these fellas had their first single. 

The song was "Creep" and to this day is still Radiohead's most successful single, and still their most famous song quite easily. The music video has over a billion (with a "b") plays on YouTube. 

The band quickly grew extremely sick of playing it live by the mid 90s... stopped performing it entirely for over a decade until sprinkling it in their live sets sporadically (only if it "feels right") in their more recent 2010s tours. "Creep" is one of those tunes that even if you've heard it too much... objectively it's still a darn good song. Way more fun to play on guitar or bass than to listen to (very easy to play) which arguably speaks to its lasting power. Personally as a musician myself who has played many covers, I'd much rather play "Creep" than "Wonderwall" and it's not even close.

From the point of "Creep" onward, they've been at times the biggest rock band in the world... sort of whenever they feel like it. A group notorious for alienating rock fans, but only via taking unexpected musical directions and incorporating experimental electronic work (unlike the excess of late 1990s Oasis). 

They're also known for making headlines with innovative methods of releasing music... and utilizing the internet to maintain a blog (Dead Air Space) for interacting with fans several years before that was a common thing... all while aggressively downplaying the mystique and "larger than life" aspect of being recognizable musical stars in the public eye. Radiohead are just musicians, not heroes... although they certainly have directed their fame and successes towards admirable causes.

Regardless, let us (in the spirit of the band) not play up Radiohead's mythology and instead approach each of these albums individually on their own musical merits, while also how each one fits within the progression of the band's sound. 

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Personally, I've struggled writing this review for so long because there are so many angles you can approach Radiohead from. A friend of mine insists they're better than the Beatles. The freaking Beatles! Not sure I'm all the way there... from a modern perspective I can see the argument... but these are such different eras and very different bands that a comparison isn't entirely fair. And yet... imagine a band as objectively as proficient on their instruments as the Beatles, but so intent upon avoiding the public eye that their exceptional skill isn't perhaps discussed in the same way. I can hear my dad already groaning in protest (hello!) yet I think the comparison in pure objective musical sense is right there.  

I really wanted to approach the Radiohead catalogue with as sharp a technical eye as I could... a task which proved unbearably daunting. People much smarter and more in tune (see what I did there) with music theory than I... could, and indeed have, written books about this band's particular Xs and Os brilliance. Instead, I'll focus on what stands out to me as far as melody, atmosphere and particular sounds, while hopefully still providing some decent insight. All right, lets get started before the wolf at the door gets here.

Also, we are not counting the three The Smile albums in here. Two are fabulous records (especially Wall Of Eyes) that would probably land somewhere in the middle of the list. As would Thom Yorke's incredible The Eraser (I haven't listened to really any of the other solo records by Yorke or the other members).  

(All images courtesy of the Radiohead Public Library... something very cool that if you're reading this article, you should check out)  

 

#9. Pablo Honey (February 1993)

**1/2

 

 

It may be the absolute easiest choice in the history of discography rankings to place Radiohead's debut album at the bottom, even if one of YouTube's most famous music reviewers disagrees.

Frankly, Pablo Honey isn't bad, and it gets somewhat unfairly maligned in comparison to what they'd become... but Honey is like listening to a completely different band. A less attractive duckling in sound and songcraft to what they'd soon achieve. 

In a way it's a cute introduction: not fitting in with their general tone or attitude at all... just existing on its own strange singular street with the catalogue. An easy record to groan at but honestly it's just a very okay but forgettable outing within that era of early/mid 90s alternative distorted guitar rock. What makes it so weird are how few clues there are that this band is about to quickly become what they would indeed become within just four years. 

The biggest weakness is indeed its datedness. Yorke's lyrics are almost lovey-dovey and far less minimalist, abstract or bleak than what he'd later be known for. Lots of Pablo Honey is filled with love laments (even "Creep" in its dark twisted way fits this description). The guitars are noisy and layered heavily through the mix, often existing merely for heavy texture rather than interesting interplay or adding anything meaningful, and there aren't any additional little touches (Nigel Godrich had yet to appear on the scene) that make the production really pop. The tone of the album really just blurs together. Also, there's an awkward sunniness to many of these songs, another thing Godrich would help buff right out of them. 

Some people say this is Radiohead trying to be U2 (and for one song that is extremely on point) but to my ears there are elements of multiple influences like Sonic Youth, Pixies, The Smiths, even early Oasis at points (one figures that's more a 'British rock of the time thing' than a direct influence since Definitely Maybe actually came out a year later).

As an album, it isn't a cohesive listen. Plenty of very forgettable songs.... though there are some terrific moments. "I Can't" is such an opening theme to a 90s sitcom that I can't believe that wasn't a thing. The album closer "Blow Out" is by far the best song on the record, with it's tense reverb guitar buildup and freakout, while "Prove Yourself" is fairly catchy in a singalong way. 

But I'm not a fan of "Stop Whispering" at all... that chorus kinda sucks, and so much else of the record blends together in such an unengaging way that I still get some of these deeper cuts confused with one another. As an album it's far more interesting as an artifact than as music.  

 

 

#8. The King of Limbs (February 2011)

***1/2

 

 

Now the task gets hard. Surely I'm gonna get some hate for putting this one adjacent to the bottom.

My issue has always been how King of Limbs really just plays and flows together like a soundtrack instead of an album. Cool, I guess... but the tone of the music never totally captures my attention or my imagination. Excellent background music for sure, but little of it truly captivates. 

The Live From The Basement sessions of these songs are indeed so, so much better: sounding fuller and more realized, tighter and punchier in their strikes and less like vague atmosphere. If that were actually the studio record instead, this would easily be a couple slots higher on the list. 

There aren't really any "bad" songs here... I don't hate this album, honestly. Alas something has to be the second worst Radiohead album on my list and so here we are. It has its moments: "Codex" is excellent in its haunting simplicity, "Give Up The Ghost" is softly sweet and totally Thom Yorke unleashing his inner Neil Young, "Little By Little" seems to constantly descend further down some haunted rabbit hole and "Seperator" is a decent closer with a weird groove that takes some time to grow on you (at least, it did for me). 

This record is very much a transition into modern Radiohead in that they're not trying to reinvent themselves or their sound quite so much anymore, settling into a comfort zone of stark well crafted art rock. To steal a line from a drummer friend of mine: King of Limbs feels more like an EP than a full length record (and is in fact handily the shortest running time among Radiohead's full length releases).

 

 

#7. Amnesiac (June 2001)

***1/2

 

 

A difficult, uneven album to discuss. Even though these songs were recorded at the same time as Kid A, the band's turbulent internal relations at the time led to the decision to split them into two separate records. It appears a smart move in retrospect, and the lads have gone on to claim the two projects are too distinctly different to have been grafted together. 

I tend to agree. The criticism against Amnesiac has always been how it plays like a bunch of Kid A B-sides... but have you ever listened to Radiohead's B-Sides? Some of them are among their very greatest songs and it's wild so many still never appear on a full length record outside of various anniversary editions and compilations.

Amnesiac is the more experimental record than Kid A (if you can believe it) and as a result is the more disjointed and inconsistent one. Some of the best songs they ever recorded (the chillingly gorgeous "Pyramid Song", the sublime melodies of "Knives Out" and "I Might Be Wrong") are here, as are interesting tunes with far superior live versions, like the distinctive bassline of "Dollars and Cents" or "Like Spinning Plates" (if you've never heard the live version with just Yorke on the piano... hoo boy is it otherworldly). 

For the most part the weirdness and often minimal conceptions do succeed. This album is full of heavy vocal effects, backwards mixing, bizarre time signatures, avant-garde instrumentals and a freaking bizarre jazzy finale (that I'm not a huge fan of). A lot of Amnesiac is truly exceptional, but it's also a very difficult album to listen to start to finish... there are so many twists and turns in tone and direction (unlike it's sibling album which holds together brilliantly). Amnesiac is so claustrophobic with all these sounds seemingly compressing all around and squeezing you in with them. Not ideal for a Radiohead first date.

The sheer randomness of the experiments are its biggest weakness, as the second half of the record starts veering completely into total themelessness. Their later (and stronger) albums do have tons of variations musically and lyrically, but aren't nearly as chaotic or unpredictable. Amnesiac is still a very fine effort though, even if this version of "Morning Bell" ain't great and songs like "Pulk/Pull" never really go anywhere beyond glitchy sounds. 

 

 

#6. The Bends (February 1995)

****

 

 

My very favourite Radiohead album for a considerable time (at least until I was finishing up high school). Like Pablo Honey it suffers by how rooted in 1990s alternative rock it is and these are pretty straight-forward songs (I can play a bunch of them for crying out loud). Still though for what it is, it's pretty damn good and truly Radiohead's first leap forward.

It's a great record for guitar, both electric and acoustic. Thom Yorke is beginning to get very introspective with his lyrics ("Where do we go from here/the words are coming out all weird") while Jonny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien (and Yorke) are building their own combined distinctive triple guitar attack instead of mimicking other bands. Likewise drummer Phil Selway is more of a presence as is bassist Colin Greenwood (truly the two overlooked, forgotten heroes of Radiohead). 

Criticisms of The Bends are that it's merely Pablo Honey only better... I wholeheartedly disagree because the improvement in the songwriting is enormous. Not to mention the diversity throughout this record (even though it is guitar heavy)... I mean there's no way a song so precisely gentle like "Bulletproof... I Wish I Was" or the strangely poppy "High and Dry" could ever exist in this delicate form during the Pablo Honey era of the band. 

I don't have a lot of negatives with this one (a theme which will continue as we progress) beyond how a few songs don't quite land for me as well as others. If you cut a song or two ("Nice Dream" is the casualty in my opinion) you'd have a very tight, very damn good 90s rock record. Ah, it's already that regardless. 

"Planet Telex" is just a perfect opener, with that delayed guitar chord slowly drawing you in until the big riff announces the band with authority. "Bones" is a personal favourite deep cut with some great electric thrash, "Fake Plastic Trees" really shows how they were already bringing considerable depth to their sound and "Black Star" uses the quiet-loud dynamic fabulously. And you've still got "Sulk", "Street Spirit", the title track, "Just" with it's incredible music video. Listening to this record is much like revisiting a photo album from a younger, simpler time.

 

#5. A Moon Shaped Pool (May 2016)

****1/2

 

 

An album that takes some time and repeat listens to reveal its intentions and secrets, and as such seems to have aged extremely well critically. The initial listen and impression is likely "that was weird, unsettling but good? I think?" and then the brilliance of it slowly trickles out upon each revisit. 

It starts with a misleading energetic bang, with the urgent strings of "Burn The Witch" feeling indeed like a "full blown panic attack". Very little of the rest of Moon Shaped Pool carries the jitteriness of that opening track. If anything, it's a sleepy nighttime record... something you listen to while sitting in a chair by a fireplace while contemplating the past moments of your life. So many of these songs are understated, subtle songs with lush instrumentation, especially in the back half. 

"Daydreaming" is somber, self-introspective Radiohead at their very best... taking you along for a journey that may not go anywhere but still means something to you (like a daydream), with Yorke hitting the vocal notes with precision overtop the delicate piano chords. You get plenty of those classic claustrophobic later career Radiohead moments as well, like the cramped buildup of "Ful Stop" or this version of "True Love Waits" (originally appearing fifteen years earlier on the I Might Be Wrong live album) that closes the record. Both versions are haunting in such different ways, with younger Yorke singing it with vain hopefulness while on Moon Shaped Pool there's a matured, bleaker resignation or acceptance to his tone.

Despite all that, this record provides some lighter moments, at least musically (Thom Yorke's lyrics are rarely ever smiles and sunshine). "Decks Dark" is a slow lightly groovy tale about a possible close encounter, "Desert Island Disk" and "The Numbers" are just lovely acoustic guitar driven tunes, with the former describing a kind of spiritual self-discovery (maybe) while the latter is a borderline protest song.         

A terrific record, and as I said one that you really have to listen to a few times to get acclimated with. This is a band that has thrown so many curveballs and wrenches into expectations, that I think here is one time where they played it relatively straight and subtle, much to the surprise of people at the time. 

Regardless, A Moon Shaped Pool seems to find the group settling into a comfortable middle age where they don't feel like they have to reinvent the wheel anymore. Whether this ends up being their last ever full release of new material (it's been almost nine years now, all five of them have solo records while Yorke and Jonny Greenwood seem content to explore their musical directions with The Smile stuff)... this would be an absolutely great final chapter* for such an incredible band.

 

*But lets hope not

  

 

 

#4. Hail To The Thief (June 2003)

****1/2

 

 

 

This is where my list gets a little weird, as I suspect I'm in the minority among fans putting this ahead of A Moon Shaped Pool. The crazier thing is, I so want to put this even higher.

 

By far the most overtly political Radiohead ever got. Outside of music they are very outspoken about a multitude of issues, but almost never this much on record. They don't waste any time either nor do they hold back on the opening track "2+2=5" and what a goddamn killer opener that is. 

Much like the record just below it on this ranking, that opening track is very misleading for the type of record you're about to experience. Sure, there are far more actual guitars and drums on here than the previous two records (something which at the time made many of us very excited... they're playing electric guitars again!) but make no mistake Hail to The Thief is loaded with lots of electronic elements. Which actually are probably the weaker moments of the album, looking back. Songs like "Backdrifts", "The Gloaming" (initially the planned name for the album) and "Sit Down, Stand Up" work fine as sonic experiments but not as well as actual songs. 

Hail To The Thief also suffers by how long the tracklist is. Fourteen songs? I love love this album but you could cut about three and it would be tight and perfect. Even so, within their catalogue I think it's become a forgotten masterpiece because... yikes. Some of these songs are just unbelievable. "Go To Sleep" with it's slick tempo change halfway in... the incredible "There There" playing like a slow building nightmare... "Punchup At A Wedding" is the best elevator music imaginable, the closest the band ever got to being funky... "Where I End And You Begin" is one of my favourite basslines of all freaking time, the whole song coming at you like a haunted train. Even the slower numbers are great: "Sail To The Moon" with its anxious piano lullaby quality, "I Will" playing like a dirge... I haven't even mentioned the closing "Wolf At The Door" where Yorke goes into beat poetry mode and pulls it off (of course he does).  

Within the context of the band's history, Hail To The Thief acts like a bridge, a merging between the electronic driven stuff and their rockier roots. They're playing electric guitars again! But the general feeling of this album is very moody and dark: programmed drum beats and tight, fast sounds are all over the place here. This also suggests where they were about to go with the next album: generally quieter songcraft with the electric guitars, synth atmospheres and computer sounds used as more supporting elements than a main feature.   

I admit, this can be a difficult front to back play. Thief goes in so many dark, abrasive directions that it can be a bit too much at times. And yet... it's so damn good. Listening to this album is like wandering through a dark haunted forest: you'll be okay, probably, but also seriously don't lose yourself along the way. 

After Kid A and Amnesiac were unfairly maligned by many at the time, Radiohead could've easily said "screw it" and recorded a commercial radio-friendly rock record to appease the masses and return to their good graces. Say what you will about the lads, chasing trends over artistic integrity has never been any kind of problem. Hail To The Thief indeed holds up over twenty years later as a weird, beautifully spooky record and it's reservation in my heart is untouchable. Probably the first album of theirs I recall listening to a bunch at the time it was released. 

 

#3. OK Computer (May 1997)

*****

 

 

 

Arguably the best album of the 90s. Arguably. Don't think I quite agree but it's in that discussion no question. 

It's also the best album of all time according to webzone Rate Your Music (edit: it and Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly seem to alternate between the top two spots).

I definitely don't agree with that either, but also... geez man... what an incredible record. Simultaneously a perfect artifact of the zeitgeist of the late 1990s while all of its general themes have aged exceptionally well. In many ways this is Radiohead's Dark Side of The Moon: it's the one everybody knows and is thematically their most relatable record. 

I'll get my criticisms of OK Computer out of the way quickly. First off it really sounds like 1997, that particular and precise feeling of paranoia of that inbetween age just before the internet was about to transform our very society... which again also works in the album's favour as a document of living in those very times. Perhaps it's because so much of Radiohead's absolute best work has such a timeless quality to it, this record being arguably tethered to a specific era (even if its ideas are just as relevant today) is a slight point against it from a purely musical standpoint. The concepts have aged extremely well, but the music itself still sounds like 1997 to me (and for the record I was ten in 1997, I do remember these songs when they came out). 

Second, I just don't like "Let Down" at all. One of my least favourite Radiohead songs and nobody has ever agreed with me on this. Nobody. That chorus is kinda lame! Why isn't anyone with me here? My musician friends have ridiculed me for many years now about my feelings on this. I don't get it!  

That's all I've got to say about the bad stuff. The rest? Good lord. The Bends was a serious leap forward, a British guitar band does good and scores a few hits. OK Computer? Like jumping over Mount Everest. This album is the one that made them the biggest rock band in the world, the new saviors of the genre. Of course, as we know now, Radiohead had no real desire for such things (and have publicly disavowed against the very notion of musical deities).  

This is the first time Nigel Godrich shows up full time as a producer (he'd helped a little on The Bends) and a lot of the changes in atmosphere and diverse sounds surely has to be attributed to him considerably. Godrich seems unafraid to push an artist in a direction (the man eventually worked with and challenged Paul McCartney... Paul f***ing McCartney) and it's clear he has an ability to nudge Radiohead into different sonic directions. One of OK Computer's greatest strengths is how distinctive each song is from the other, yet they all fit together within a tight musical context. The wild jangling guitars of "Electioneering" somehow makes perfect sense next to a brooding downer like "Climbing Up The Walls" or following the almost un-musical "Fitter Happier".       

A lot of OK Computer is also Yorke finding his voice and really coming into his own as a singer. On Honey he was a dude who can wail some angst... The Bends hints at his range between haunting howl and restrained restlessness... but on OK Computer he just does whatever he wants. Subdued? Passionate scream? Anything. He's an absurdly talented singer with a gorgeous voice, a fact he laments ("I wish my voice wasn't so damn pretty" he has joked) but it works perfectly within the context of these incredible songs. It brings such a crucial raw human element to them, flaws and all.

It's a nearly perfect album, if such a thing can exist, and with any of these top three on my rankings here I can't really debate the merits if you prefer either of my runner ups. I have Computer as a bronze medal more for personal taste than anything, even though a bunch of my favourite Radiohead songs are on here. "Karma Police" is freaking Karma Police, no more needs to be said... "Subterranean Homesick Alien" is marvelously spacey (that delayed guitar man) and also one of their best ever song titles... but "The Tourist" might be one of the best songs to close any record ever. For a time I always thought it was a lighter song to ease things after the tension of "Lucky"... whoops! I also thought it was about a nightmarish time Thom Yorke (who notoriously detests cars, I feel ya man) had in a France taxi that was going too fast, which may not be entirely accurate either. I got the France part right, but it was actually Jonny Greenwood who conceived most of it and the lyrics appear to have been inspired by watching tourists zip through a busy French square without slowing down to appreciate the beauty (life perhaps) of what is around them.

Some argue OK Computer is a concept album, which I somewhat disagree with. It certainly has concepts that have aged extremely well, which has given the record a certain revered prescience now nearly three decades since its release. On those merits in a vacuum, it is their best album. Musically however, I just prefer the next two a little more. But I do think there is no argument OK Computer is their most important record. Not just for their own reputation, but this is the moment they really become what they've been ever since... whatever it is you want to call that, which is kind of the point.            

   

 

#2. Kid A (October 2000)

*****

 

 

First things first, we have to get one of the most notorious written music reviews out of the way...

OK Computer made Radiohead the biggest rock band in the world. Kurt Cobain had been gone for three years... Oasis was already falling apart from drugs, creative excess and the Gallagher brothers being the Gallagher brothers... Blur was never really a contender aside from a few popular singles and the garage rock revival led by bands like the The Strokes, The White Stripes or The Hives was still half a decade away. Radiohead could've kept churning out guitar-heavy rock hits like "Paranoid Android", or "Airbag", or "Lucky" and kept the crown indefinitely. Fans and critics alike would've most likely adored it.

The massive success of OK Computer burned out the band both musically and creatively, and now with such a spotlight under them there was severe difficulty and pressure in deciding where to go next. Internal pressure within the group to continue with the guitar-centric melodies conflicted with Thom Yorke's writer's block and severe distaste for bands now imitating their sound, feeling they'd sold out "to the highest bidder". 

Finding guitar a creative dead-end, Yorke embraced electronic music (Aphex Twin the most famous example) and the concept of his voice as just another instrument rather than leading. Rather than focusing on melodies... mere textures, moods and sounds were the goal as he learned on the fly (having little knowledge of electronic instruments beforehand, he claims). This wasn't easy for the band either, their typical creative process having been completely shaken up and with several of the new songs not even requiring traditional rock instruments. There was severe tension among the other members questioning what purpose they would have within this new direction ("awful art-rock nonsense for its own sake" feared Jonny Greenwood). 

Many of the initial sessions yielded nothing of consequence and the band nearly broke up multiple times, thinking if they couldn't reach an album worth releasing that this was curtains. Producer Nigel Godrich, though confused by Yorke's obsessed desire to pivot musical directions, managed to help keep the group together with some creative exercises and eventually the potential of electronic instruments won over the rest of the band. A bunch of songs were recorded, so many that they weren't even sure how to release the record (eventually they were split up, the leftovers of course becoming Amnesiac).

The initial critical reaction to Kid A was one of serious confusion, the record being so uncommercial without any obvious singles (the band did little work to promote it either) that many wondered if they were trying to deliberately alienate their fanbase. Weren't these guys the next great rock band? What's with all the synthesizers, jazzy horns and electronic drum machine shit?   

Like almost everyone, I didn't get it at first. However in my defense, I'd just turned thirteen when Kid A was released and probably listening to a lot of AC/DC or Elvis Costello at the time. (I was a weird kid)

I never dismissed or hated Kid A, even as a 13 year old. In my adolescence I thought it was really strange music but bizarrely interesting at some points. The fuzzy bass hook of "National Anthem", the irresistible guitar attack of "Optimistic", the hypnotic robotic keyboard opening of "Everything In It's Right Place"... little shavings of melody in an intentionally unmelodic album. Now as I've gotten older, have gathered more experience and appreciation of music... this album consistently leaves me in awe how deep, expansive, beautiful and fearless it is.

 

It seems silly now, since time has allowed Kid A to be rightly regarded as a masterpiece. I don't think it took all that long for that to happen... like a lot of people needed the shock to wear off before patiently realizing how brilliant this all actually was. 

Picking out which I think are the outstanding cuts (it's "In Limbo" by the way) isn't the most productive way to approach this album. It's a piece of music mostly lacking in hooks or songs you can even really sing along to ("Optimistic" comes the closest), yet is so intensely memorable by its shifts in mood, tempo, atmosphere and sound. Even the lyrics don't matter, not really: Yorke used a technique (inspired by David Byrne) of picking out random phrases and throwing them together. 

What is that sound, that feel of this album exactly? I don't know... haunting, internal, confined, expansive, hollow, simple, futuristic, technological, melancholy, cold, desperate, harrowing, soft, distant, intimate, hopeful, defeated... it can be anything you hear and or feel it to be. Sometimes the best art is completely open to your own interpretation, whatever you want or need it to be. That's Kid A. Beyond it's objective musical qualities and influences, it's nearly impossible to describe what it is beyond what you actually are hearing. A frightening descent into a cold dystopian wasteland or whimsical detour through a computerized world, maybe something else entirely. You choose. It's a record that simply transcends any regular notion of popular music and still to this day sounds like something that landed from another distant world. 

   

 

#1. In Rainbows (October 2007)

*****

 

 

One of those rare albums I remember exactly where I was when I first listened to it and within five seconds knew: "holy shit this is gonna be really good".

There's of course the notoriety of Radiohead releasing this record at the time as a "pay what you want" type of digital purchase, which was very novel and unheard of back in the days of 2007. Keep in mind, this is way before music streaming platforms... YouTube was still in its infancy (and nobody was uploading songs on there) and even smart phones were a generally new kind of technology. If you wanted music on the go, it was still Discmans and physical CDs or iPods with digital files uploaded from your computer. 

It's not exactly like releasing the album in this way had been planned all along... more like the timing of things aligned rather perfectly for it to happen. Radiohead had fulfilled their six record contractual commitment to EMI after releasing Hail To The Thief and weren't particularly interested in reupping, despite the record company's obvious desire to keep them in the fold. As such, they recorded In Rainbows as an unsigned band and when the time came to figure out how to release the thing, the idea (possibly from one of the band's managers) to offer it as a digital name-your-price download caught on. 

Embracing the digital format for music certainly in hindsight appears significantly ahead of it's time (Radiohead sure seems to have a knack for such things)... although the results of it (large corporations like Apple and later Spotify taking control of the digital music market) were certainly antithetical to the greater type of creative and monetary artist control the band was ultimately hoping for. 

The criticisms of the release at the time remain true today, that such a system is great if you're an enormous famous band like Radiohead but what good does this do lesser known musicians? This is of course a whole other huge discussion and we do need to dive into the music itself, but this manner of how it was released (the first ever major artist to do it this way) is a significant part of the record's legacy.          

 

In Rainbows might be a predictable choice to top the list mostly because it is the most accessible Radiohead album (as accessible as Radiohead can be, obviously). There's an odd warmness to the record, an uneasy undercurrent of peacefulness beneath the usual panic and sense of dread. Not sure how deliberate any of this was: it took them a year of touring to hammer out the songs (they nearly broke up again trying to make the record) and "Nude" was a song they'd been performing live since the OK Computer days.        

It does play like Radiohead stripped down: you don't get the big abstract concepts or soundscapes of Kid A, the programmed glitchiness of Hail To The Thief, the ferocious electric guitars of The Bends, the zeitgeist songwriting of OK Computer or the orchestral layers of A Moon Shaped Pool. Yet, In Rainbows features moments of all of those elements while also being so distinctly its own thing. A precise encapsulation of their many musical directions (thus making it such an essential album in their catalogue) that becomes something entirely different in the process. 

For one, has the band ever sounded this groovy? Songs like "15 Step", "Weird Fishes", "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" all have some serious pep to them, while "All I Need" and "House of Cards" are themselves bringing a more mellow type of groove. If like me, you consider Radiohead's rhythm section considerably underrated... this is the record for you because Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway are in top notch form. The bass sounds so big and smooth, while Selway's drum grooves give either the urgency or perfect light touch each song needs. Meanwhile Ed O'Brien, who I've barely mentioned (a running joke among Radiohead fans it seems) provides just incredible backing vocals and additional guitar throughout the entire record. In Rainbows really does seem like the best record for all five members to fully shine and have their moments.   

The sequencing and flow of the album must also be commended. How many bands can go from the sneering electric guitar freakout of "Bodysnatchers" into the beautifully gentle "Nude" and then into the trippy deep ocean dive of "Weird Fishes" and have it seem so natural? "Faust Arp" is easily the weakest track here, and even it serves as a perfect interlude into the second half of the record. A brief little intermission tune, catch your breath for a moment. 

It's not like Thom Yorke is singing about flowers and sunny days (don't think he's capable of that to be honest) but the sound of this album is so lovely even as it descends into its darker places, and his lyrics on here are much less cryptic and more emotional. "I'm an animal/trapped in your hot car" is a hell of a lyric for a love song, while the closing "Videotape" combines a grim final farewell with a touching memento. It is a notable shift in songwriting for Yorke: mostly gone is the venom or sneering disillusionment, a world weary but open-eyed acceptance underscoring his words instead (though still with a love for abstract phrasing).   

The record is nearly perfect, offering up a vast array of studio brilliance, crystal clean production, memorable songs and immersive moments. My only minor slight against In Rainbows... is that "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" really sounds like the lads doing a Broken Social Scene song. I've thought this for seventeen years, damnit! Maybe it's just me (a true BSS song would have horns and much hornier Kevin Drew lyrics) but it does stand out since later career Radiohead just never sounds this much like anybody else. They're always just so unmistakably themselves, whether it be with a symphony behind them or Phil Selway's crashing cymbals on the fabulous song "Reckoner".            

A simply sublime, marvelous album front to back. Considering everything about it, easily one of (maybe the) most notable musical releases of the 21st century.         

 

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We also have to mention Stanley Donwood, who is for Radiohead as Storm Thorgerson was for Pink Floyd. Yorke met Donwood in art school, later commenting "I figured I'd either end up really not liking this person at all, or working with him for the rest of my life". The latter clearly was true, as Donwood is responsible for every bit of Radiohead (and The Smile, and Yorke's solo stuff) artwork post-Pablo Honey (which non-coincidentally is also Radiohead's worst album cover). 

Radiohead album covers are indeed iconic despite also being so abstract. None of the members ever appear on a cover (unlike Floyd, who did on Piper At The Gates of Dawn and Ummagumma) and each album is so strikingly different in colour, mood, shape and idea from the next it's astonishing that they're all designed by the same guy.  

 

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I sadly have my doubts we'll ever see another Radiohead album, but anything is possible on that front I suppose. Yorke and Jonny Greenwood seem rather content flexing their songwriting muscle with The Smile (also a great band, with a much faster recording process according to Godrich who, shocker, also produced their first album) while the other lads have all released solo material as well (except Colin, who seems much more into book clubs and photography). 

If the five should ever reunite again and unleash another record for our ears... well you know it'll be with maybe four days of notice (a week, tops) and you know it'll likely be absolutely brilliant. They themselves don't like that kind of stuff, the dewy-eyed sentimental appreciation or aggrandizing of public figures... they're only a quintet of musicians from England, that's all... but when together what musicians they are. One of the very greatest bands of all time, no doubt whatsoever.   

And seriously, explore the Radiohead Public Library. It's a hoot.