Mind Blowing Radiohead Covers

Pop Music To many people, I just blasphemed.  To those people, the words "Radiohead" and "Cover" should not be in the same sentence.  I was one of those people at one point in time; I might still be one of those people, actually.  The reason for this, for me at least, is due to the amazing result of what comes about when those 5 guys get together with a bunch of guitars, crazy weird synths (I got so excited when I saw Johnny G playing the Ondes Martenot live), and some percussion.  Sure, many people say that Radiohead is not pop (and pop is dead), and I would heartily disagree with them--Radiohead, while not getting much radio play since the early 90's, is a pop band. But man do they do some interesting stuff in their pop music.  Maybe they're sorta pop pioneers--I don't know, and I don't really care.  While Thom Yorke's voice is great, the thing that really gets me is how they seem to have their instruments mastered, which allows them to play with music, so to speak.  5/4 (in "Morning Bell"), 7/8 (in "2 + 2 = 5"), 3/4, 6/4, 7/4, 9/8... they play in all sorts of meters, mix meters, and even mix 5's and 3's to make a regular 4/4 sound interesting.  Remember, this is pop music... The Cover But I really love how jazz pianist Brad Mehldau (on Nonesuch) does their "Paranoid Android."  He does a version of it with his trio on his Largo album, but the version on his Live In Tokyo album completely blows me away.  In order to be allowed to cover a Radiohead tune, you really have to be as good or better at the instrument you play, or at least offer some amazing creativity in what you do with their stuff (check Radiodread out... Reggae is really hit or miss for me, but somehow this hits for me.).  Mehldau's version of PA makes my eyes wanna pop out of my head.  You have to put your patience hat on to listen to this one if you're not one that grins at 20 minute versions of tunes; for me, this is cake though.  If you know PA, you can easily pick out the various melodies when Mehldau plays them, which is always a plus for me when it comes to jazz.  The thing that blows me away is the range of dynamics and emotion that he gets out of this tune, all by himself, on a piano, over such a (relatively) long period of time.  In order to keep a piece interesting over such a period, you have to keep it breathing (so your listeners can breathe!); he grows this thing in just the right places. And then I marvel at his strength to pull this off.  If you've ever played a concert grand piano for more than 10 minutes, you know that it's a tad different than playing on that spinet in your living room; it really takes some finger strength to get tones out of those 7' or 8' or however long strings that you've got in your bass register.  If you really listen, once the piece gets going, he's playing 8th's or 16th's on these huge strings forEVER.  I'd pass out if I tried to do that. This is a great tune in general, and Mehldau dominates it.  For me, this is one of those sacred pieces--one of the ones you don't really wanna listen to too much, because you'll ruin it.  Please... enjoy... "Paranoid Andriod", Brad Mehldau, Live In Tokyo