The Bends (studio album) by Radiohead

Their best by a landslide. In my opinion, all of the accolades later bestowed on OK Computer and Kid A were just overcompensations by the snobs who originally slept on the brilliance of The Bends back in '95. Gorgeous production, lovely arrangements, and some really fun hard rock moments.

My favourite Radiohead head album. Every song is a masterpiece. "My Iron Lung" is one of my all time favourite tunes...

My favourite Radiohead album at the moment, pure class.

This is not perfect, but clearly very important album not only in Radiohead discography but in music in general. Here Radiohead stays true to its alternative rock roots, but going beyond its boundaries at the same time, improving everything from songwriting and song structures to overall concepts of tracks. It starts with explosive Planet Telex - one of the greatest opeing tracks ever. It has also one of the best closing tracks - Street Spirit (Fade Out) is one of my absolute favorite songs by them it is almost foreshadowing OK Computer with its depressive vision of present and especially future world, piece of music that you just cannot be not moved by. Thom's vocals are fantastic on this album, they especially help on more dreamy, melancholic tracks like High And Dry, Fake Plastic Trees or (Nice Dream). I also love the vulnerabilith expressed here on Bullet Proof... I Wish I Was and Black Star, this is just the type of music I love the most. It is important step in band's moving from typical alternative 90s rock to more art rock sound that made them legendary.

This is the groups first very strong album as they begin to experiment with their sound more on this release. In result of this, we get an instrumentally diverse display that is also one of their most accessible and infectious listens. This leads to some irresistible tracks like Just, Fake Plastic Trees and High And Dry. All of these showcase the potential the group had to go on to do amazing things and this release is basically a precursor to the levels they would reach on Ok Computer. I also think that Thom Yorke gives a brilliant vocal display on here with his ability to create emotion in the listener being really impressive to me. The group then back his voice up very well creating an almost melancholic atmosphere that could easily draw in anyone who comes across it. However, I do find there to be weak moments on here which don't have the same significance or impact as the better tracks which is what holds it back in their discography ranking for me. Overall, this might not be my favourite Radiohead album or the one I think is the greatest but it still has its moments and I can't deny how much quality is present on here.

Every time I listen to this i tink it´s their best, but then for some reason, it´s always behind In Rainbows, Ok , and Kid a in my memory. Maybe the other three have somo sort of better aftertaste.

Great album

Radiohead's best album. Whilst it has a distinctive melancholy sound it avoids being self indulgent like later albums

A really good record. Radiohead rarely misses. My favorite song on this record was High and Dry.

A strong sophomore effort from the one and only Radiohead, The Bends see the group improve leaps and bounds from their debut. With the emotional, heavy sounds of the mid-90's grunge and the deep sensitivity that really makes the band distinct, The Bends can be called the first true Radiohead album. From the powerful opening of Planet Telex, the reflective Fake Plastic Trees, to the magnificent closer of Street Spirit (Fade Out), there is a lot to be said on this album. Even the deep cuts like (Nice Dream) and Bullet Proof... I Wish I Was are incredibly strong tracks. Every band out there aspires to make an album as sonically wondrous and as massive of a technical achievement as The Bends.