Bootleggers are holding over 18 hours of music from Radiohead‘s ‘OK Computer’ sessions, according to a news report in NME.
The so-called thieves who managed to leak the material are holding it to ransom for a large sum.
‘Ok Computer’ regarded as one of the most successful albums of all time was released
in 1997. It was the band’s third and it received a deluxe reissue as ‘OKNOTOK’ in 2017 which was complete with B-sides and the three songs ‘I Promise’, ‘Man of War’, and ‘Lift’, previously unreleased.
As well as the extra material on the deluxe issue, there was an amount of material that was yet to go out. It was revealed on Reddit, that a bootlegger had made contact with fans telling them that he holds 18 Minidiscs billed as ‘The Entire OK Computer Sessions’ in his possession.
The haul includes nearly 18 hours of demos, alternate takes, and early live recordings. Thom Yorke the frontman of Radiohead supposedly recorded and archived the sessions which include a 12-minute version of ‘Paranoid Android’, early studio versions of ‘Exit Music’, ‘I Promise’, ‘True Love Waits’ and even ‘Lift’ a track that never made the cut on the original album because the band feared it was too “anthemic“.
A Google Doc of the contents of the session has been made by fans, they say that the original person in possession of the material was asking for “upwards of $150,000 for the entire set” or “$800 per studio track and $50 per live track. The fans are not pleased and one in particular wrote on Reddit saying, “We are unhappy with the idea of this stuff getting sold off to high-paying trading circles and of someone profiting off of stolen material.”
Another quote said: “What we’re talking about is simply theft, and it is wrong”. In general, the comments recognise just how detrimental this could all be for the band. Early versions of tracks from ‘Kid A’ ideal material for an upcoming official Radiohead 20th anniversary edition was amongst the leak.
Guitarist Johnny Greenwood acting as a spokesperson for Radiohead told NME that the likelihood of a Bohemian Rhapsody-style biopic of Radiohead been made was slim. At the moment Greenwood is concentrating on the new music he is making for the BBC Proms 2019.
He claims that the band have been a bit side-lined at the moment, due to Thom Yorke’s upcoming “dystopian anxiety” album and the “Brazilian-inspired” debut solo record from guitarist Ed O’Brien and according to Greenwood Yorke’s next solo album “sounds great”. In addition, Yorke recently revealed that the band were planning to “do something really cool” with archive material from ‘Kid A’ and ‘Amnesiac‘ so hopefully they’ll get their bootie back.
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