Album Review : Radiohead’s Strong Line of Seductive B-Sides

**** RADIOHEAD

“Airbag/How Am I Driving?”

Capitol

In most cases, it’s smart to be wary of “B-side” collections because the only reason the tracks end up as extras on singles is that they weren’t strong enough to make the album. But the most demanding artists tend to be as careful about the quality of B-sides as they are about album tracks themselves.

Accordingly, anyone who enjoyed Radiohead’s “OK Computer” album will find much to admire in this EP, which will be released Tuesday and consists of six English B-sides and one number, “Airbag,” from the “Computer” album.

Thom Yorke’s songwriting always starts with the melodies, the urge to capture or expand upon a sound that he hears in his head. In some of the B-sides here, you get the feeling that Radiohead didn’t take some of these songs much further than the starting point.

There are lyrics to “Pearly” and “Melatonin,” but the heart of these tracks is rooted in the cinematic sweep of the masterfully layered instrumental textures--at once seductive (in their beauty) and disorienting (in their willful sense of mystery and icy reserve).

All of which shows how artfully Radiohead’s music is designed. When you put Yorke’s searching vocals and anxious lyrics about life’s various puzzles on top of the exquisite foundations, you have a band that in its best moments mixes creative ambition and instrumental command better than any rock arrival since U2.

*

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).