OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997-2017

Anniversary reissues often feel like obligations. OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017 is something else entirely. Released in June 2017 to mark 20 years of OK Computer, Radiohead revisit their defining work with a rare sense of authorship, curating the project themselves following the transfer of their catalogue to XL Recordings.

At its core, OKNOTOK is a restoration. The original album is remastered, its eight B-sides reinstated, but the real draw lies in the three previously unreleased tracks. “I Promise”, “Man of War” and “Lift” are not afterthoughts or curiosities. They feel like missing pieces, fragments that deepen rather than dilute the original record’s world. Where many reissues rely on nostalgia, OKNOTOK expands the narrative.

“I Promise” unfolds with acoustic strums and a quiet, marching pulse, while “Man of War” leans into orchestral weight, its strings and piano adding a sense of looming drama. “Lift”, often mythologised through live recordings, arrives here in a more polished, Britpop-adjacent form. Not every listener will find it lives up to its legend, but its inclusion still feels essential. These tracks do not compete with OK Computer. They contextualise it.

The physical editions push further into archival territory. Alongside vinyl pressings and a hardcover art book, the inclusion of a cassette of demos, experiments and early versions offers a rare glimpse into the band’s process. Even the obscure details matter. A hidden computer programme embedded in the cassette audio, referencing a ZX Spectrum, reinforces the project’s fixation on technology, artefact and decay.

Promotion mirrored that same ethos. Cryptic posters, glitch-heavy visuals and a temporary return to the band’s 1997 website blurred the line between past and present. It was less a campaign than a reconstruction, an attempt to reinsert the album into its original cultural moment while acknowledging how much has changed since.

Commercially, the release proved its relevance, debuting at number two in the UK Albums Chart and becoming the bestselling album in UK independent record shops for a year. Critically, it was met with near-universal acclaim, with particular praise reserved for the unreleased material and the way it reframes the original record.

What makes OKNOTOK resonate is its intent. This is not a band revisiting old work for the sake of it. It is a band interrogating its own legacy, asking what was left behind and why it still matters. Two decades on, OK Computer remains intact, but OKNOTOK reveals the edges, the alternate paths, the unfinished thoughts.

In doing so, it achieves something rare. It makes a familiar album feel unsettled again.