When listening to Pablo Honey, take it for what it is. It's a Brit-Rock album with flashes of brilliance. Understand that it is by no means produced with art in mind like Radiohead's other albums, and is certainly worth a listen or purchase from any Radiohead fan. It's an interesting experience for anyone exploring the band's roots and earlier style.

Recommended to Radiohead fans and, it pains me to say this, Brit-Rock enthusiests.

You've GOT to be CRAZY...
...I used to listen to OK Computer 24 hours a day - 7 days a week...then I got hooked on The Bends....Then Kid A....Then Amnesiac (with any other Radiohead CD I can find)...and I always just left Pablo Honey as the "other" album...the "rock" album that was a bit premature...I wrote it off....good listen, but not really addicting.

Boy was I wrong...just like any other of their albums, you need to listen to it a lot to get the full appreciation. I realize now that it IS 100% radiohead. Every aspect of their music is in here - in a wonderful raw form. There are times when I think this is their best album....I'm not kidding!!!

The guitar throughout this album is fantastic...the whining background feeds, the distortion, the acoustic...it's all there. You rocks with an amazing combination of angst and sincerity...Creep (all you people that CRY about it being a sell-out song or whatever, give me a break...YOU ruined that song for yourself if you listened to it too much - or - if are influenced by what others think who's the real sell out) is one of the finest songs of the decade...the Punk influence in How Do You is wonderful - amazing lyrics across all these by the way...social message of Stop Whispering....Thinking About You might be my favorite radiohead song...so pure and unbridled...Anyone Can Play Guitar - I don't even really need to mention - it's another of their best...Ripcord - one of the most underated songs...Vegetable....Prove Yourself...I Can't...Lurgee...Blow Out....I can't get enough of any of these.

Seriously - you can't call yourself a radiohead fan if you don't appreciate this gem!

This sucks!
I hate this band. Everytime I hear something good about one of their albums and I go out and buy it I am let down. I bought this and it sucked! 'Creep' is the only halfway good song on the album. I am honestly getting suck of it now and I havent even heard it that much. Radiohead is a band that like the whole world likes or whatever so I am gonna eat sh** for writing this but Radiohead is just a bunch of noises put together through a computer. You people say they sound differnt well they make their music from computers so they sound just like every other crappy band out their. Radiohead says their not prog-rock, well then they are the next best thing. And who ever said that they had good guitar bands and that they are the best guitar band out right now is on crack they are not a guitar band and if they want to hear good guitar players they need to hear Joe Perry, Slash, and Zakk Wylde cause they are the best guitar players out right now!

the prelude to a long series of masterpieces
You know your album is sub-par when your strongest single is on the disc twice. But despite the fact that this cd is only so-so, I still love listening to it. This album represents what I wish I could see more bands achieve. How many times have you listened to an album and thought to yourself, "I can hear so much potential." Even though the album isn't as great as you would like it to be, you're still applauding the effort. Occasionally, as in the case with Radiohead, a band will seize that potential and go beyond all expectations. Radiohead started out as a pretty weak band but soon became my all-time favorite musicians. This album is an important precursor to the greatness they would achieve later and should not be passed up.

As a side note, the song they became famous with, 'Creep', soon became the band's least favorite song. Through the 'Bends' and 'Ok Computer' years, Radiohead would often refuse to play 'Creep' while on tour. Last year while touring for 'Hail to the Thief', the band unexpectedly performed 'Creep' for the Atlanta crowd. Thom Yorke seemed to enjoy playing the song that he despised so much and acted playful on stage even adjusting some of the lyrics, like "I wanna perfect soul" with, "so I can look good next to you," while showing off his best feminine pose. It seemed that they were comfortable enough with their post-Creep accomplishments that they felt it was OK to play that 'wretched song'.

Before Radiohead were interesting...
...they sounded like every other guitar rock band on the planet, and if there's anything Radiohead usually aren't, it's generic.

Alas, Radiohead's debut has not aged well at all in any way. Momentary flashes of the group's later brilliance pop up occasionally (most notably in the horrendously-overplayed (yet still high quality) "Creep" and the wonderful "Anyone Can Play Guitar"), but for the most part, it's a group trying to find its voice and failing miserably, as most of this album will be forgotten as soon as you're done listening to it.

Some would say that this album was ahead of its time when it came out. No it wasn't. Radiohead sounded like every other post-grunge outfit on the radio at that time. It can't really be "ahead of its time" if its sound can be classified by the time period it was released in.

Some would also say that you shouldn't come down so harshly on this album for being such an early release by the band, and this may be true. However, just going by the differences between Pablo Honey and The Bends (their second album), the jump in quality between the two is staggering. Even the difference in quality between Pablo Honey and the My Iron Lung EP (released the year after Pablo Honey) is pretty noticeable.

Overall, what we're left with are the very sketchy beginnings of one of the greatest bands in rock and roll. Some of you Radiohead fans might be tempted to buy it just to make your collection complete. Don't. You'll probably only listen to this album once and put it away on a shelf somewhere. Your money would be much better spent elsewhere. Also, those of you thinking about buying Pablo Honey as an intro to the group should think again. The Bends makes a much better introduction to the group's sound.
Before Radiohead became the biggest critics' darling since Pavement or Dr. Dre, they were just another pre-Oasis British band with some loose indie ties, trying to gain some cred. Loopy enough to name this moody, often battering debut album for a Jerky Boys routine, they were also a lot more interesting when they hadn't yet learned the word "soundscape." "Creep," the miserably majestic single they now claim nearly ruined them, may not even be the best thing here; try "Anyone Can Play Guitar," an epitaph for River Phoenix before the fact. --Rickey Wright