Radiohead Live

Over a decade after being labeled “complaint rock” in the movie Clueless, British alternative legends Radiohead have proven they’re anything but.

With a constantly-evolving sound and an innovative, distinctly anti-corporate approach to making and selling their music, the band has defied pretty much every label (literally and figuratively) that’s out there.

So, when we heard that NPR was launching a free concert from the band on their website, well, let’s just say it was one of the first uses of our tax dollars that we’ve approved of in quite awhile.

The concert – taped live on August 28 at the Santa Barbara Bowl on the final night of the band’s In Rainbows U.S. Tour – is a mix of old and new material that’s easily-navigable using NPR’s streaming audio feature.

For those of you who dig Radiohead’s old-school pop sound, check out “Lucky” (1:56:24 mark), “The Bends” (1:05:10), “No Surprises” (56:27) and “Talk Show Host” (30:26 – from the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack).

Of course, the choicest cut of the older stuff by far is a rangy, down-tempo version of “Karma Police” which you can find at the 1:09:34 mark.

We’ve featured some much harder-chargin’ covers of “Karma Police” on our website before, but this version from its originators flat out blew us away.

With all respect to Panic At The Disco, Thom Yorke & Co. have reclaimed one of their masterpieces in our book.

The show also includes some killer tunes from the band’s new album, which as you may remember was launched via an unprecedented “pay-what-you-want” digital download format earlier this year.

Of these tunes, we recommend the concert’s opener “Reckoner,” along with “Jigsaw Puzzles Falling Into Place” (1:00:42), “Weird Fish/ Arpeggi” (35:40) and “Bodysnatchers” (1:14:04).

Anyway, props to Radiohead for continuing to push the envelope, and props to NPR for finally doing something cool with government-sponsored culture.

UPDATE – Click here to listen to the show in its entirety.