Ah, those were the days. My Iron Lung is an eight-track EP of Radiohead B-sides, recorded back in the mid-90s around the same time as their monumental breakthrough album The Bends. This, of course, was when Thom Yorke and co still wrote frighteningly potent angst-rock songs with killer tunes, and not the meandering electronica that's so badly marred their recent releases. And while these off-cuts are inevitably more low-key and experimental than the classics we're all familiar with, the same spirit of anguish and fragility is still thrillingly familiar. Even in the closing acoustic version of 'Creep', you can hear the intensity that would ultimately raise the band well above their Britpop competitors. For years, this valuable relic was available only as a Japanese import. Now that it's been released properly, Radiohead fans shouldn't hesitate any longer to own it.
