Classic Album Sundays: Radiohead 'The Bends' with Producer John Leckie

Radiohead’s second album The Bends was released on the 13th
March, 1995 and exactly 30 years later Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy
interviewed producer John Leckie on the story behind the album at
an event at The British Library. The interview was followed by an
uninterrupted vinyl playback of the full album on British audio
brand Bowers & Wilkins’ iconic 800 Series loudspeakers, which
were used in the mixing of The Bends at Abbey Road Studios. 


The Bends is generally considered to show the remarkable
evolution of their sound, which soon made them one of the most
acclaimed bands in the world. With a healthy dose of the guitar
rock and melancholic pop that characterised breakthrough single
“Creep”, it also features beautiful ballads, a new range to Thom
Yorke’s voice, blistering riffs and solos from Jonny Greenwood
and multiple acoustic treats.


It was produced by John Leckie, one of the most
important and distinctive producers in British music.
John Leckie has had an extraordinary career. His
early career at Abbey Road Studios, saw him working with John
Lennon and George Harrison and then as an engineer for Pink
Floyd’s Meddle and Wish You Were Here and Paul McCartney and
Wings’ Red Rose Speedway. Among much else he then produced Public
Image Ltd debut single, a brilliant early sweep of albums by
Simple Minds, The Stone Roses, Muse and many others.