I have to admit that I was a rather late arrival to the Radiohead party — having not fully embraced them until they released their semi-electronica trilogy (minus one), in the form of the albums Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001).

Don't ask me why, but it wasn't until the release of those two albums that I really first started to "get" the band, with my first live Radiohead concert — in 2001 under the starry skies and picturesque setting of the Gorge Ampitheatre in Eastern Washington state — pretty much sealing the deal.

Even though I've long since gone backwards and absorbed the rest of the Radiohead catalog, it is these two albums that remain among my favorites by the band. Don't get me wrong here. I think OK Computer and The Bends are every bit as brilliant as everybody else says they are, and the current In Rainbows is a stunningly gorgeous piece of work as well.

But for all their icy, mechanized sounding loops, bleeps, and beats, you'll also find things like the jazzy, borderline flamenco guitar runs of "Knives Out," and Thom Yorke's haunting, anguished sounding vocal on "Pyramid Song" on those same two albums I first discovered this great band with.

More than anything else, Kid A and Amnesiac represent a defining moment of musical discovery for me. Call them sentimental favorites I guess.

"Knives Out" and "Pyramid Song" are among the tracks which each show up on both the double CD and DVD versions of Radiohead's first official retrospective set, Capitol's The Best Of Radiohead. The double CD edition also features cuts like "Optimistic" and "Everything In It's Right Place" from my two favorite albums. Unfortunately, the DVD doesn't include promo videos for either of those.

Still, as easy as it would be to dismiss The Best Of Radiohead as one of those releases designed to blow off the band's contract with its former label (in this case EMI/Capitol), both the double CD and the DVD editions do a surprisingly great job in compiling a satisfying overview of the band's career up until just before In Rainbows.

You could actually call the double CD a really great Radiohead mixtape. In the thirty songs represented on the two discs, it really misses very little, while hitting almost all of the high points from Radiohead's amazing career at EMI/Capitol. I've already covered the highlights from my two favorite albums. But for fellow late bloomers, this is also a great chance to go back and do a quick catchup without having to buy the entire back catalog.