999,890: Mark Ronson featuring Alex Greenwald—Just

If there's one major knock against the Radiohead of the mid-nineties, it's that they never orchestrated totally sick horn charts for their songs. Sure, The National Anthem features primitive, almost feral sax work, but that came after OK Computer. Think about it: Creep—zero trombone players; Paranoid Android—not even one single trumpet section; Just—a complete, incomprehensible lack of brass instrumentation.

At least, this becomes a knock retroactively once you hear Mark Ronson's cover of Just. On paper it doesn't look all that promising, buried as it is in the middle of a mediocre Radiohead tribute album and featuring the singer from Phantom Planet on lead vocals. But just when your heart sinks at the thought of Thom Yorke and company co-mingling with the theme song from The OC, the rhythm guitar kicks in.

From the first chord, it's a monster. It's the same notes and almost the same rhythm, but tightened to a syncopated clockwork fit with a tambourine shake. Then the trumpets enter, followed by the baritone saxes and the thudding beat. With Alex Greenwald doing his best Thom Yorke impression, it's almost like a Radiohead from an alternate dimension where the five Abingdon schoolboys started a funk band.

Just feat. Alex Greenwald - Ma...