OK Computer is one of my all-time favorite albums. Every single song on the album is a mini-masterpiece, a painstakingly crafted work of art. Together they create a phenomenal record. However, I’m quick to admit that my belief in the album’s greatness far surpasses my ability to explain why the album is so great.

Understandably then, I jumped at the chance to hear someone do what I never could. Unfortunately, 33 1/3: OK Computer is not that chance.

The primary problem is that while author Dai Griffiths is extraordinarily descriptive, he is very rarely critical or analytical. Griffiths is very well trained in music and so he understands what’s going on within the album on a technical level. He explains much of that, but never tells us why OK Computer is any better than the next album.

The book, which is not much longer than an extended essay, is surprisingly short on the discussion of OK Computer at all. The first half of the book “places the album in context” by outlining the history of the album and its migration from vinyl to compact disc. The discussion is mildly interesting but ties in weakly to the study of OK Computer.

The second half of the book goes through the album, song by song, describing each track with a lot of musical terminology and detail. It’s almost as if the author is trying to explain what the album sounds like to a fellow music professor who has gone deaf. This is interesting on one level, but it really amounts to nothing more than a sort of musical synopsis.

12/04