18 hours of Radiohead's OK Computer Sessions Stolen ... and Then Released by Band*

I have considerably sympathy with this view. How this has come to be "available" is pretty horrible for the band and excruciating for XL who have built an apparently superb relationship with the group since picking up the retail edition of "In Rainbows" in Europe. And yet, as soon as I knew it was out there, I needed to hear it. Radiohead are an endlessly fascinating band for me and any insight into their creativity is something I grab with two very willing ears. So, much like Natalie Imbruglia, I'm torn. I feel very sorry for the group but I folded like a road map and went hunting for this as soon as I heard about it.

In terms of the sheer volume of material; I'd have been delighted to hear any portion of this music and eulogising the sheer quantity is certainly problematic. It's almost like bank robbers boasting about the size of their haul and I understand your reaction.

 

Not sure how so many people have heard these files...everywhere I look the forums/board/sites/etc all say they can't post links (and threaten bans), yet hundreds of people are claiming to have heard them. Stinks I missed the boat apparently.

 

This has been like an early Christmas present. The highlights for me after a cursory skim through are the full band Motion Picture Soundtrack takes and the alternate mixes of Lift. I am keen to delve deeper... I have decided to pick them apart and cut up the files myself to work out what’s on them in more detail. One disc down....

 

That's all I have seen, yes.

 

We get it. You hate Radiohead. Weird thread to comment on.

Just so we're clear..... There was a full disc of Urban Hymns outtakes that came out a couple years ago. All unreleased songs. Some very good.
And Oasis put a bunch of stuff on their WTSMG deluxe.... beyond the basically second album of outtakes that were all the original B-sides.

So yeah, there's plenty out there to please fans of all three bands. But given the way the Gallaghers piss people off, I'm sure someone formerly with Oasis will leak something soon....

 

18 hours of outtakes from the Natalie Imbruglia album Left Of The Middle leaked 2 years ago, but no one noticed.

 

Yes, it's not even 320 (it's 192).
But it's better than nothing I suppose.

I'm just 5 minutes into Disc 1, and it's totally fascinating and mindblowing !!!
18 hours of this stuff ? Really ?

This is the leak of the century .

 

Terrible... and this stuff actually has a market value, because Radiohead used portions of it as part of the OKNOTOK deluxe box.

Jai Paul just put out a statement last week about how having his unreleased material leak crushed him. Before rushing to explain to me how this is a completely different situation, consider that it isn't.

 

Even though these mp3s are only 192kbps, I still think they sound pretty good. Mainly because it's all unmastered anyway so it's of course going to sound a bit flat. All of it is still fascinating, though. Bring on the Kid A leaks!

For me, the leak of the century would be if Kanye's entire vault leaked onto the internet but otherwise, these 18 hours of "OK Computer" is it!

 

I'm still dredging my way through the discs today (I'm up to #7), but I've read that there is little to no overlap here with what was officially released on the C90 cassette in 2017.

 

I can see your point regarding Jai Paul's leak being similar to this, but this is ACTUALLY a lot different. This "OK Computer" leak has come 22 years AFTER the finished album was released. We already have the finished thing, and that's most of what we had for a very long time (until the 2017 box). Jai Paul's music was leaked before he even got the chance to finish it, so it obviously wasn't representative of the best he could make. Radiohead released "OK Computer" as a finished product 22 years ago, so I don't really see the harm in having everything leak now.

 

There is definitely some overlap but it's not much of course.

 

I wish I could have a "jaw dropping moment of revelation."

 

Do you mean that you don't have the files?

 

Careful, I'd really rather not have this thread locked / deleted.

 

He meant "flies" but two letters got mixed up

 

No I mean just in general, in life. Just a throw away line.

Ohh. You thought I was tryin' to score. Thanks but no thanks.

 

It's harmful because it's work product that Radiohead didn't intend to be heard and in the current climate it devalues material with which they could have stood to make a good deal of money through legitimate release if they so chose.

Radiohead aren't my favorite band or anything, but: those guys didn't even like the Bends b-sides being packaged out of context; I hate to think how being the victims of possibly the most egregious music leak ever -- committed by supposed "fans" -- makes them feel.

 

It does sound good being unmastered and all. You can hear the studio space with the natural reverb the mic is picking up and for the mostly non-electronic parts the separation of instruments is fantastic. There is a some mic distortion and overload, I'm noticing it more in the right channel.

I think the MP3 limitation is because they're from Minidiscs, isn't that using some form of lossy compression?

I hope this doesn't mean a leak for Kid A or Amnesiac is unlikely, I have to assume the band will be more stringent about this stuff going forward

Edit: favorite highlight of the day for me is the electronic jam they go into after the 11 minute Paranoid Android of disc 5.

 

Neither here nor there, but it was highly unlikely this stuff was ever going to be released to this extent anyway. Though granted, that should be up to the band to decide.

It's ironic that we are now 20 years out from Napster this year, and over ten years since Radiohead thumbed their nose at the industry with the "pay what you want" model of In Rainbows. I do wonder what they think about this leak. I can only imagine Thom Yorke might be the most dismayed over the amount of work in progress / unheard / unreleased bedroom songs here that he likely wouldn't use now (if he's still pulling from this far back).

 

Im an Oasis die hard and Morning Glory is one of my favorite albums of all time.

Doesnt change the fact you are spot on

 

If it really was an XL employee that leaked this, I'd sue WMG and XL to high heaven for ownership of the masters.

 

I’m sure they’re feeling embarrassed and pissed off. Thankfully, they already had a chance to exploit this material in a meaningful way (in fact, doing it a second time is what allowed this invasion of privacy to even happen). Personally, other than “more”, I’m not hearing anything that was being “held back” from release (and don’t agree with the people here saying how the 2017 reissue wasn’t done well). That doesn’t mean I excuse what happened. But it doesn’t seem like it’s mostly the fault of the fans. It appears as if it started with a record label person. If they can find the person, maybe they can have them arrested or sued civilly? Hell, maybe XL itself can be held liable? If so, maybe they can leverage their commitment with the label against finding the perpetrator?

 

The story is that it's a "former XL intern" who inserted a USB openly in front of the band (or at least Colin) during them going through these tapes for the OKNOTOK reissue. Why sue XL over this?

Whole section on a thread on Reddit about this, though it may or may not be BS (sourced from 4chan!)--so take it with a few grains of salt!

Spoiler

Jambz
40 points·1 day ago·edited 1 day ago

Edit: as people are pointing out, the person that made this claim likely seemed to be full of ****. I'm keeping my comment and the transcript of that discord convo up in case there's any validity to it.

Apparently a former intern at XL Recordings just ripped it onto a usb while sitting with Colin (I think Colin knew and didn't care, but I couldn't tell from what I read). Someone on 4chan posted snippets from the discord chat the leaker was in.


SwimmingCampaign

20 points·1 day ago

what in the **** lmao

How did an intern just have access to that ****?????

level 5
Jambz

30 points·1 day ago·edited 1 day ago

Here's the full text from 4chan. Lots of odd claims. Take it with a grain of salt:

per the reddit discord, words from the supposed insider:

yo, do you have the scope on the new t yorke solo record?

yeah. been a pain the ass. no idea how to get the vibe of the live album because the live shows are almost... the record... and the shows.. are the record?!

for the first time thom is considering outsourcing the art

because tarik did a pretty good show and it seems more indebted to that

i have a feeling thom spoke about this in a suspiria interview desu so it's not news

Anyway baaaack to XL

nice people but interesting

**** was a bit wild at a certain time and it's when OKNOTOK was being collated

Colin was the most important cog to it

Thom listened to all of it and had artistic control. Jonny gave about no ****s.Ed was just happy to be part of the experience. No idea about Phil

(dude is a disgruntled former intern at XL)

But yeah Colin literally sat at the console as this guy ripped the USB

I felt like **** when he told me but yeah Colin is a really nice dude but a bit like... doesn't understand what he's in?

Loves a dark beer

Huge No Age fan too fwiw

Wew

Jonny is an okay dude but like there's a reason he's done no collabs (you know what I mean)

Anyway I have to get a train soon AMA for 10 more minutes

what makes people say LP10 2020 and Kid A anniversary this August?

Yes. Kid A will be out pretty soon. Thom is struggling with LP3. There's a reason he hasn't marketed it under his name. Blur between project and album and era and... actual material?

Frank Ocean asked Thom Yorke for a collab and Thom sent his son over as he was a huge fan. There's a story.

Frank – an introvert – had no idea what to say. They got Papa John's

LP10 isn't an 'album'

Sessions were done in Tuscany, France, England in 2017 during the summer gigs

The 2018 US shows were planned around recording sessions. Self-produced.

Follow Me Around was not recorded.

The only three old songs recorded were Cut A Hole, Open the Floodgates, and weirdly enough... Spooks

LP10 will be about before LP3. It's been working for a while.

(wtf? I ****ing doubt this)

And? It was a random, long, boring version of it. Radiohead have an interesting recording method

Floodgates has been poured over for years

Skating may be a song but it hasn't worked so far

Skating has terrible lyrics. Thom knows.

Cut a Hole has been recorded three times. First time was at Jack White's studio and low key no one in Radiohead was an especially big fan of Jack White

No. Not Identikit.

Jack White is a ****head

Nigel clearly peaked in 1997 too in terms of production

Entire OK Computer Sessions Have been leaked : radiohead

 

You know what they say ... opinions are like ... holes.