This is another of those occasions when I think ‘how long ago???….you’re joking!!’
August 1997 was when Karma Police was released as the second single from the album OK Computer. It can’t really be just short of 30 years now……
It was released on two CD singles and a 12-inch vinyl single. Anyone who has a copy of the 12″ vinyl can flog it off nowadays for at least £50 on the second-hand market. Each of the CDs can be had for as little as £2. I don’t have the vinyl……
CD1
mp3: Radiohead – Karma Police
mp3: Radiohead – Meeting In The Aisle
mp3: Radiohead – Lull
The two additional tracks are otherwise unavailable.
Meeting In The Aisle is a relatively straightforward three-minute long instrumental that has a feeling of having been worked up for some sort of film or TV soundtrack…..or perhaps, with the benefit of hindsight, an early indication of what would emerge in the tunes on Kid A and Amnesiac.
Lull is a fully worked song of just over a couple of minutes in length that perhaps was kept off OK Computer due to its slight similarity, through the use of a chiming guitar and glockenspiel, to No Surprises.
CD2
mp3: Radiohead – Climbing Up The Walls (Zero 7 Mix)
mp3: Radiohead – Climbing Up The Walls (Fila Brazillia Mix)
One of the most intense tracks on OK Computer is given a couple of remix treatments on CD2.
Zero 7 are an English duo made up of Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker whose speciality is downbeat trip-hop and that’s very much what they bring to this particular party. It makes for a less abrasive and therefore easier listen than the album version. Worth mentioning that Binns and Hardaker were also involved in the recording of Meeting In The Aisle as found on CD1.
Fila Brazillia are another English electronica trip-hop duo, consisting of Steve Cobby and David McSherry. This one stretches out the track to over six minutes and has a more dubby feel in places, along with a fair bit of keyboard noodling, particularly over the final few minutes. Probably sounds superb if you’re stoned
Karma Police reached #8 in the single chart.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
For me one of the greatest single of that decade. Like top ten. When people ask me what the 90’s were like (which never happens) I play them Karma Police. So evocative and of its time is it I’m one of those “they could never be better than they were in ‘97” folks I’m afraid.
This was the first single I bought – I picked CD1