I have yet to hear a really great tribute album. They’re all just academic exercises – what would Ween sound like covering Barbra Streisand? (Actually, that sounds like something Ween has probably done.) So the Radiohead tribute Exit Music didn’t exactly disappoint: my expectations were quite low, and it just about met them.
Not that there aren’t good songs on here – there’s Mark Ronson’s funky “Just,” Shawn Lee’s stuttering, Bowie-ish, but mostly faithful “No Surprises,” and the handclap groove of “In Limbo” by Pete Kuzma, which sounds like what that song always should have been. In the middle ground for me is Osunlade’s dark, tribal “Everything In Its Right Place,” and the Cinematic Orchestra’s meditative title track, “Exit Music.”
But it’s all weighed down by the bad, which are almost without exception the longest tracks on the compilation. The bad: RJD2’s spaced out, robotic “Airbag,” Matthew Herbert’s disjointed “Nice Dream,” a beat-driven version of “Morning Bell” by the Randy Watson Experience that drags on for nearly nine minutes and exemplifies everything I can’t stand about the broken beat/electronic/remix movement, Sa-Ra Creative Partners imitating Parliament at their most annoying, and experimental jazz soreheads the Bad Plus sucking the life out of “Karma Police.”
Too many artists are fascinated with the innovative aspects of Radiohead’s sound and uninterested in their heart, which is an underrated part of their success. The good news is the age of iTunes means tribute albums finally make sense: You’re always bound to find a Pete Kuzma in the bunch and you can just pull it right out and toss the rest away.
Tom Vale
Exit Music: Songs With Radio Heads (Rapster)