Radiohead 'The Best Of'

"What is the point of a Radiohead 'Best Of'?", you might ask. And you'd have a point. Surely everyone even vaguelly interested in music will own these songs and can make their own playlist or compilation tape if they so desire. Well, the point of this release, for EMI, is to make money. They missed out on releasing 'In Rainbows', one of the finest records of the past decade, and since then they have gone all 'car boot sale' with Radiohead's back catalogue, first releasing a pointless box-set of their first six albums and now releasing this 'Best Of' on no fewer than four formats.

Things to say about this?

Firstly, the title is plain wrong. Due to material from last year's 'In Rainbows' not featuring here this is not 'the best of' Radiohead, a more accurate title would be 'The Best of Radiohead before they released the best album of their career to date', but we think EMI probably dismissed that at quite an early stage. Anyone who is going to want to put together their own Radiohead compilation is surely going to want to include the likes of 'Nude', 'Reckoner' and 'Videotape'. Which puts them one up on EMI.

Secondly, the formats are boring. As Radiohead neither endorse or support this album, there are no sleevenotes from the band and no interesting 2cd gems, such as rare demos or out-takes. The only format worth having is the nice looking 4LP version. If EMI had any imagination or sense, they would have released a 2cd edition with the Glastonbury '97 set on the second cd. Now that would have been worth buying. Instead, they are lazy and impatient and have rushed this out hoping to attract a) Radiohead completists and b) People, and we assume these people are out there somewhere, who may have heard a few tracks by Radiohead, liked them, but not bothered to buy an album. Yup, those sort of people.

Thirdly, arguing about which tracks should be included on a pre-2007 Radiohead 'Best Of' is nit-picking surely? OK, let's nit-pick. The tracklist is actually pretty good, not chronological and it works well enough. But, no 'Let Down', no 'Talk Show Host', no 'Exit Music' and no 'Wolf At The Door'. Does 'Creep' really warrant inclusion ahead of any of those?

The music? Its great. Some of the best music made in the last twenty years. 'Paranoid Android' still sounds amazing, every time, 'Fake Plastic Trees' still soars and 'The Bends' is still thrilling. But, this compilation documents a fixed time period of a band who are still growing and making better music than ever. More than anything else, this compilation makes me want to play 'In Rainbows' yet again and get excited about where Radiohead will go next. Not sure that is the effect EMI were hoping for.

Music- 9.5, Concept- 0.0

'The Best Of' is out now, everywhere, on several bland formats. TracksandGigs suggests you make your own, using the tracks EMI weren't allowed to use.