Customer Reviews
Brilliant but Pointless - By: , 06 Nov 2005 
Let's not beat about the bush here, Paranoid Android is perfect. A brilliant single on it's own when it was released, & has just got better with time. It opens with a simple enough tune, with suburbly written lyrics to complement the beautiful tune. It then jettesions off into a slightly quicker yet still moving piece, with the lyrics maintaining their perfection while the guitar's get in, with a couple of crashing chords & solo's. This provides a perfect link into the more mournful end section. The lyrics & Thom's singing remain perfect thoughout & is only matched in brilliance by the actual tune. This song is truly one of Radioheads best.
The B tracks in here are also great. Radiohead have a habit for amazing B sides & this is no exception. Polythylene stands out as being a truly great song, with a slow acoustic bit misleading the listener before starting up with a good rock song. Pearly is another great song, with it's actual meaning being debated by many Radiohead fans still. Melatonin is not as good as the others, but still remains a good song.
The reason this hasn't got alll 5 stars is because as a single it is now pointless. Most of the B-sides are on Radiohead EP's & the actual single is on OK Computer, & if you haven't got OK Computer, one questions why you're even looking at this now & not rushing to the shops to buy it right now.
Faultless - By: Elliot Davies, 04 Dec 2004 
Paranoid Android is a song that manages to surpass in quality the entire back catalogue of some certain bands. It is a song of four parts. The intro brings to mind a sci-fi nightmare, with a frantic acoustic guitar, pained & wailed vocals & almost alien interludes. There is also the subliminal "I am paranoid but I am not an android". The first part alone would qualify as a classic.
Then Thom comments on how "ambition makes you look pretty ugly", followed by an almost jazzy bass line. "You don't remember my name!" he screams, & the song kicks into overdrive. Johhny Greenwood demonstrates why he should be callled a guitar god, with a solo that kicks down the door to your brain & bites a large chunk out of the cortex.
Feeling quite shagged out by this explosion of energy, the song slips into the mellow section, & it's beautiful. Thom urges for it to "Rain down" accompanied by some gentle acoustic strumming & drums that do indeed sound like rain. "God loves his children, yeah" he comments before the song explodes into hyper drive once again. Everyone gives it their best, with three guitars whittling out insane riffs from the tree of rock, & then it ends. And alll this in under seven minutes.
Add to this the B-sides, which are different depending on which cd you buy but alll are equallly inspired. My personal favourite would have to be Polyethelene, which uses the same quiet/loud dynamics as Paranoid Android but at the same time has a tune. It is a cliche to say this, but any of these songs could have made a brilliant A-side. Buying this single will give you as much pleasure as buying a full album, & at a fraction of the price!
An essential song!! - By: , 04 Sep 2003 When Radiohead released the bends, it was hard to imagine them releasing guitar tracks better than "just" or "my iron lung". However they did it in style, with PARANOID ANDROID, a masterpiece, starting with a great accoustic intro, & going through a rollercoaster ride of emotions for 6 1/2 minutes of bliss!
This is just one of the incredible tracks on "OK Computer" but I doubt a song of this style will ever be bettered.
The b-sides, are also awsome! B-sides, so often a pointless distraction, but here it is very much purchasing the single if just for the bsides. "Polyethyline" is stadium rock at its finest, & "pearly*" is gorgeus.
You must get this, some of Radiohead's finest work!
Sublime - By: RE TRANTER, 08 Jul 2003 Gorgeous. Innovative. Utterly Repeatable. Yet again, Radiohead manage to provide first class b-sides with a top rate single.
Yeah Good, not bad at all. Better than MUSE. - By: t.a.j.hill@herts.ac.uk, 07 Mar 2001 First single to come off the much acclaimed OK Computer lp. Four years on, & still the best track on offer with two more than good B sides.
