Airbag / How Am I Driving?

Once the incredible OK Computer went platinum, proving (at last) to be as impressive to the populace as to the press, Capitol salivated for quick new product, with a new LP two years away. Fortunately for the company that made Sinatra and the Beatles famous, their powerhouse Oxford five had been releasing B-sides in the U.K., on the back of the singles "Paranoid Android," "Karma Police," and "No Surprises." Presto!! Out pops this seven-song mini-LP, basically the LP's "Airbag" and six B-sides. Mind you, Radiohead are effective judges of their own material. Unlike many U.K. bands, they never serve up a non-LP track so fantastic it should have made the first team. But Airbag is a fine purchase, as their lesser material is still provocative, ambitiously stretching (Thom Yorke and pals take a few chances, such as the spacy instrumental here, "Meeting in the Aisle"), and, as usual, clash several moods together at once