Pablo Honey

Flashes of emergent experimentalism bring this melodic indie-rock debut to life. This early iteration of Radiohead might be straightforward by their later standards but you can still hear their leftfield instincts surfacing. The crunching riff that rips through “Creep” and “Blowout”’s yin-yang of lounge vibes and grunge noise demonstrate a willing to blemish and warp rock convention to create something much more interesting. Thom Yorke’s vocal is already assured too, delivering angst and pain with the penetration of a surgical scalpel on “Stop Whispering” and “Lurgee”.

Radiohead's debut album, Pablo Honey, is a promising collection that blends U2's anthemic rock with long, atmospheric instrumental passages and an enthralling triple-guitar attack that is alternately gentle and bracingly noisy.