Released on
June 10, 2003,
True Love Waits is a brilliant album by
Christopher O'Riley, showcasing his interpretation of
sixteen Radiohead tracks on the piano. This album (coincidence or not) was released the
same day as
Hail to the Thief.
The track list:
Everything In It's Right Place
Knives Out
Black Star
Karma Police
Let Down
Airbag
Subterranean Homesick Alien
Thinking About You
Exit Music (for a film)
You
Bulletproof
Fake Plastic Trees
I Can't
True Love Waits
Motion Picture Soundtrack
A review:
In a word: brilliant. From the first moment to the last second, it is a truly inspired effort that some times makes my head spin and wonder how a human being's hands can move so fast across the keys of a piano. I think Mr. O'Riley has had some bionic implants or something to speed him up, because there are occasions (like on Karma Police), when he tears up the piano like nobody's business.
On the flip side, tracks like Let Down and Bulletproof show a softer, but no less fantastic, side of O'Riley's interpretive skill. The frenetic pace of the other tracks are slowed and tempered.
The high points: Definitely Let Down and Knives Out, but Motion Picture Soundtrack is up there as well.
The low points: Everything In Its Right Place is far too quiet for it's own good, but that may not be the fault of O'Riley, just production. Thinking About You seems to be a bit of a throwaway, but it has its place as the "midway marker" of the album.
Overall, I'd say it's better than its release date partner, but, as they say, I might be wrong.