Pablo Honey: Дебютный альбом Radiohead

1993 studio album by Radiohead

Pablo Honey is the debut studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 22 February 1993 in the UK by Parlophone and on 20 April 1993 in the US by Capitol Records. It was produced by Sean Slade, Paul Q. Kolderie and Radiohead's co manager Chris Hufford. Radiohead formed in 1985 at Abingdon School in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, and signed a recording contract with EMI in 1991. Their debut EP, Drill (1992), achieved little success. Radiohead's management targeted the American market and chose American producers for their debut album. Pablo Honey was recorded in three weeks at Chipping Norton Recording Studios in Oxfordshire from September to November 1992. The recording was hampered by Radiohead's lack of studio experience. The singles "Creep", "Anyone Can Play Guitar" and "Stop Whispering" initially made little impact. However, "Creep" gradually gained international radio play, reaching number seven on the UK Singles Chart after it was reissued in 1993. Radiohead embarked on an aggressive promotional tour in the US supporting Belly and PJ Harvey, followed by a European tour supporting James. In May 1995, a live video, Live at the Astoria (1995), was released on VHS. Pablo Honey reached number 22 on the UK Albums Chart. It was certified gold in the UK in 1994 and triple platinum in 2013. In the US, it was certified platinum in 1995. Pablo Honey received generally favourable reviews, but some found it underdeveloped or derivative. Though it is less acclaimed than Radiohead's later work, some retrospective reviews have been positive and it has appeared in lists of the greatest albums. The members of Radiohead have criticised it, citing weaker songwriting and their studio inexperience. "Creep" remains Radiohead's most successful single.

The members of Radiohead met while attending Abingdon School in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. In 1985, they formed , the name referring to their usual rehearsal day in the school's music room. They recorded demo tapes, including Manic Hedgehog, which featured versions of the future Pablo Honey tracks "You", "I Can't" and "Thinking About You". He and his business partner, Bryce Edge, became the band's managers after attending a concert at the Jericho Tavern, Oxford. and changed their name at EMI's request. Their name was taken from the Talking Heads song "Radio Head" from the 1986 album True Stories. Hufford said producing the EP himself was a mistake, as it created a conflict of interest and generated friction in the studio. He and Edge resolved to find different producers for Radiohead's next recording. They first attempted to record two songs that EMI was considering for Radiohead's debut single, "Inside My Head" and "Lurgee". They made little progress; Kolderie described Radiohead as "desperately inexperienced", and neither they nor the producers liked the choice of songs. Kolderie said "Inside My Head" was "not very melodic" and lacked the power of Radiohead's other songs. Pablo Honey was recorded in three weeks. Kolderie described it as a struggle, and said: "It was their first record and they wanted to be the Beatles, and the mix had to have no reverb, and they had all the ideas they'd ever come up with in 20 years of listening to records." and jangle pop. Gary Walker, writing for Guitar. com, described it as "nakedly naive and unguarded" compared to Radiohead's more complex later work. He wrote that it captured the "embryonic dynamic between the band's three guitarists" and described Greenwood's guitar work as an "exhilarating melange of tremolo picked soundscapes, chunky octaves, screaming high register runs and killswitch antics". Yorke described it as a "self destruct song". The lyrics were inspired by a woman that Yorke followed around who unexpectedly attended a Radiohead performance. That September, performed at the UK EMI conference in September. They impressed the EMI promoter Carol Baxter, who said: "This funny little band came on and they obviously had something. This was a hideous record company do but Thom gave it everything." Around the same time, "Creep" began receiving airplay on US radio stations and rose to number two on the US Modern Rock chart, The single reached number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. "Creep" reached number seven on the UK Singles Chart when EMI rereleased it in September 1993. That month, Radiohead performed "Creep" on the British music programme Top of the Pops and as the first musical guests on the American talk show Late Night with Conan O'Brien. EMI's American arm, Capitol, wanted to continue promoting Pablo Honey and build on the momentum. Radiohead struggled with the tour. Yorke disliked dealing with American music journalists and tired of the songs. According to some reports, EMI gave Radiohead six months to "get sorted" or be dropped. EMI's A&R head, Keith Wozencroft, later denied this, saying: "Experimental rock music was getting played and had commercial potential. People voice different paranoias, but for the label [Radiohead] were developing brilliantly from Pablo Honey." On 13 May 1995, a live video, Live at the Astoria (1995), was released on VHS.

Pablo Honey failed to make a critical impact upon its initial release. NMEs John Harris referred to Radiohead as "one of rock's brightest hopes". Q wrote that "British teenagerhood has never been grumpier" and described Pablo Honey as a good album with moments that rivalled Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr. and Sugar. Billboard said the lyrics had "enough bite to make it on their own" despite the U2 comparisons. In a mixed review, Mario Mundoz of the Los Angeles Times wrote that it "doesn't really deliver anything you haven't heard before" but "does offer clever lyrics and good hooks".

Although Pablo Honey did not receive the acclaim of Radiohead's later albums, it has received praise in retrospective coverage. According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic, the songwriting does not always match Radiohead's sound, but when it does, it achieves "a rare power that is both visceral and intelligent". Clash said that it "points towards everything that [Radiohead] would go on to be". Based on their work on Pablo Honey, the American band Hole hired Slade and Kolderie to produce their 1994 album Live Through This. In a 2008 review, Al Spicer of BBC Music described Pablo Honey as Radiohead's "exploration of suburban, adolescent self awareness" and "one of rock's most impressive debuts". In 2009, PopMatters Mehan Jahasuriya criticised Pablo Honey as "a hodgepodge of half baked grunge, jangle pop and stadium ready alternative rock nearly indistinguishable from other early '90s college rock throwaways, save for a few hints of greatness". After the success of "Creep", Radiohead grew to resent it. In 1993, Yorke said: "It's like it's not our song any more It feels like we're doing a cover." While touring for their 1997 album OK Computer, Yorke became hostile when "Creep" was mentioned in interviews and refused requests to play it. In the following years, the band stopped performing it entirely, but later started performing it infrequently. In 2007, Pitchfork wrote that, with Pablo Honey, "Radiohead didn't so much ride the coattails of grunge to mass success as stumble over them, and they've been apologising for it ever since." In 1996, the bassist, Colin Greenwood, said, "I'd give [Pablo Honey] a seven out of 10 – not bad for an album recorded in just two and a half weeks." In 1997, O'Brien said it was derivative of Dinosaur Jr. and the Pixies. He described it as "a collection of our greatest hits as an unsigned band". Jonny Greenwood said in 1998 that it "lacked freedom", and was hindered by the band's fear and inexperience.

In 1998, Pablo Honey was voted the 100th best album of all time in a poll held by Virgin and 61st in a poll by Q. The journalist Colin Larkin placed it 301st in the third edition of All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). As part of its 2007 list of the "500 Greatest Lost Tracks", Q included "Lurgee" and "Blow Out" in a list of 20 essential lesser known Radiohead songs. In 2006, Classic Rock and Metal Hammer named Pablo Honey one of the 20 greatest albums of 1993. In 2008, Blender ranked it 82nd in its list of "100 Albums You Must Own".

Radiohead left EMI after their contract ended in 2003. In 2007, EMI released Radiohead Box Set, a compilation of albums recorded while Radiohead were signed to EMI, including Pablo Honey. Radiohead had no input into the reissues and the music was not remastered. In February 2013, Parlophone was bought by Warner Music Group (WMG). In April 2016, as a result of an agreement with the trade group Impala, WMG transferred Radiohead's back catalogue to XL Recordings. The EMI reissues, released without Radiohead's consent, were removed from streaming services. In May 2016, XL reissued Radiohead's back catalogue on vinyl, including Pablo Honey.