Earlier today, Radiohead released over 16 hours of unheard demos, rehearsals, outtakes, live performances, and other miscellany recorded around the time they were working on 1997’s OK Computer. According to a statement from guitarist Jonny Greenwood, the band never wanted to put these recordings out, but once they realized someone had stolen a cache of MiniDiscs from Thom Yorke’s archive—and was reportedly demanding $150,000 to not release them—they decided to upload everything onto Bandcamp themselves. You can stream it all for free for the next 18 days only, or pay £18 for downloads, with the proceeds going to the environmental organization Extinction Rebellion. “So for £18 you can find out if we should have paid that ransom,” Greenwood quipped. For his part, Yorke wrote in the Bandcamp release’s description: “it’s not v interesting. there’s a lot of it.”

He’s not completely wrong: Contextless recordings put out under duress in an unwieldy and unabridged format do not make for an ideal listening experience. Nevertheless, here we are. Vast swaths of this material—underdeveloped early drafts, eerie found sounds, random jams—would likely be notable to only the most diehard Radiohead fans (several of which have already created an annotated guide to the whole thing). And yet, there are a few moments of brilliance (and strangeness) that cut through: an alternate version of fan favorite “Lift” that could have topped the charts, a whole EP’s worth of Yorke singing unreleased songs with his acoustic guitar, a 12-minute take of “Paranoid Android.” There’s even one part where Yorke starts beatboxing. Here’s a selection of highlights, rarities, and oddities that we were drawn to most. (Special thanks to writer Matthew Perpetua for mapping out some of these gems before we did.)

“Lift (Alternate Version)” [MD125; starts at 9:46]

The fabled “Lift”—the song Radiohead chose not to release as the first single from OK Computer because it would have made them “too big,” the song with a story longer than this leak—was finally heard in studio-recorded form on 2017’s 20th-anniversary reissue, OKNOTOK. This alternate version is even better. It’s not mixed very carefully, but it sounds scrappy and untamed, like the band is pushing it into the red unselfconsciously. It lives up to the myth. –Jeremy D. Larson

“Motion Picture Soundtrack (Slow Full Band Version)” [MD114; 33:21]

Normally, combing through a band’s alternate takes feels like settling on one of seven nearly-identical selfies. But Radiohead’s alternate takes are more like alternate conceptions—different lives the songs might have lived. Hearing the full-band version of “Motion Picture Soundtrack,” without the lush Bond-theme string arrangements that made it to the finished Kid A studio version, is to see another Radiohead. The guitars chime, the cymbals splash quietly. This Radiohead never deviated from the path suggested by The Bends. Here, it’s very nearly another “Fake Plastic Trees.” –Jayson Greene

“Paranoid Android (Long Version)” [MD115; 5:37]

Most of the in-progress versions of “Paranoid Android” that appear on the leak are either scraps of rehearsal starting from various parts of the song or live versions from 1996, when Radiohead opened for Alanis Morissette. But this version answers the question: “What if Radiohead’s most expansive prog-rock opus was twice as long?” It’s rough and loose, with a few different lyrics. At one point, it descends into a kind of “Dazed and Confused” psychedelic section with lots of clicks and clacks on the rims of drum heads. It feels like a jam session waiting for someone to end it. –JDL

“Hurts to Walk” [MD112; 52:23]

This previously unreleased track is pure yearbook-photo material, equal parts embarrassingly awkward and sweet. A simple, near-Britpop strummer, it sounds very nearly like Del Amitri’s inescapable 1995 hit “Roll to Me,” slowed down to half-tempo. Polished up in a studio, it could have soundtracked a late-’90s teen comedy, and you wouldn’t have blinked. –JG

“Nude (Solo Acoustic)” [MD115; 49:50]

Listening to these tapes, you’ll come across something that has the scuzzy fidelity of an early Mountain Goats tape or an old 78. There are two versions of In Rainbows’ “Nude” to be found here—a full band take and this extremely lo-fi acoustic demo from Yorke that almost feels like someone trying to creepily cover it. This early draft is spectral and difficult to make out, but therein lies its allure: It allows you to trace its journey from this demo to the song we know. –JDL

“True Love Waits (Full Band Version)” [MD111; 15:40]

Well, this doesn’t really work, does it! Perhaps there is just too much lore around this song, which only existed as a cherished live bootleg for decades until a meditative version finally arrived on Radiohead’s latest album, A Moon Shaped Pool. This early take pulls the song into an uncomfortable shape thanks to some spacey ELO synths and a regrettable wah-wah effect. It offers insight into why one of Radiohead’s most pure and uncynical songs was notoriously difficult to pin down. –JDL

“Airbag (Mellow Version)” [MD111; 38:00]

This version removes the big old Tommy Iommi-style riff as well as the DJ Shadow-influenced stuttering beat from the center of OK Computer’s monolithic opener, and lo and behold, it becomes airy, sweet, nearly weightless—something an alternate-universe Radiohead could have performed on another MTV Spring Break. –JG

“Let Down (Long Version)” [MD119; 24:33]

The version released on OK Computer features some of the best, simplest guitar arrangements Radiohead ever put to tape, an interwoven chime that makes it sounds like you are inside the bells of a church. If you never wanted those guitar notes to stop bubbling over, here is a 10-minute version of that. –JDL

“Life in a Glasshouse (Acoustic Demo)” [MD119; 38:00]

As the closer to Amnesiac, the studio version of “Life in a Glasshouse” brimmed with near-apocalyptic intensity, Yorke’s voice mingling with the scream of New Orleans-style brass and woodwinds. This demo is a skeleton, just a hard-strummed acoustic and Yorke’s holler; the energy isn’t too far off from something like KT Tunstall’s 2004 hit “Black Horse and a Cherry Tree.” –JG

“Maybe This Is Love (Acoustic Demo)” [MD113; 26:07]

The solo Thom Yorke cuts sprinkled throughout the leak are winningly pure-hearted and lovely, in the simplest sense of the word. This song, which begins with Yorke yelping out a strangled “Maybe this is not the reason,” finds the singer exploring his pinched, pained upper reaches, where his chest voice breaks into falsetto. There is a hiccup in the tape somewhere in the middle, but even with that glitch, the song is a hauntingly indelible wail. –JG

“It’s Gonna Be Done (Acoustic Demo)” [MD113; 35:27]

There is a lost solo coffeehouse EP somewhere in this data dump, which Yorke might want to keep buried, but these humble takes showcase the larger-than-life frontman at his most vulnerable. The melodies to several Yorke solo demos from the leak didn’t seem to find homes in other Radiohead songs, perhaps because they were not dark enough, or maybe they didn’t lend themselves readily to full-band arrangements. (Or, knowing the pace at which Radiohead works on songs, perhaps they are still in development somewhere in the band’s collective unconscious.) –JG