Provoking memories and introducing new ones
June 19, 2008
RADIOHEAD
“The Best Of”
Label: Parlophone
I have mixed feelings about best-of albums. I tent to think of them as produced only to make money. Still, I own a couple and they belong among the albums I listen to most.
Listening to Radiohead’s “The Best Of,” a selection from Radiohead’s seven albums, makes me recall friends. In my hometown, we used to turn up the volume of “Creep” and sing alon gwith the words “what the hell am I doing here / I don’t belong here.” On a hot summer night somewhere in the Balkans, my friend Bojan aksed me to close my eyes and listen to the words of “Everthing in its Right Place.” As I did so, a sudden cool breeze came in from the balcony.
Listening to the album is like travelling through my own memories and Radiohead’s musical development. Maybe that’s the real purpose of best-of albums: to provoke memories and introduce us into new ones.
I play track 16 again. Listening to the words, I can just say: Bojan, you were right. Everything is in its right place.
Seoul. June 16, 2008.
Published in JoongAng Daily
