Radiohead - The King of Limbs

Well it's not like I hated it or anything, always thought there were nice and interesting moments. And I'd maybe listen to it once every two weeks or something.

That wasn't a sarcastic "wow" - I'm actually quite impressed with that as a listening exercise, and an example of how music can grow on you.

If it was pretty much any other band I probably wouldn't have bothered.

Yeah, I completely understand that sentiment. That if you love everything else by an artist, except that *one* work, you would be more prepared to delve into it and figure out what made it tick.

(I still feel a bit bad about choosing not to make that effort with AMOK when it didn't click. But I also felt like that was an album I could force myself through repetition to like, but never really love.)

Sorry about the username synergy. Anyway...

The 4-song finale of LotusFlower-Codex-GiveUpTheGhost-Separator is on par with the best of their post-Kid A albums. In contrast, it's the first four songs of the album that sound like tossed-off B-sides. "Hail to the Thief" B-sides specifically.

There was a live guitar rendition of "Good Morning Mr. Magpie" floating around for years that was much better than the version that ended up on "King of Limbs." And several stand-alone tracks were released just before and after "King of Limbs" -- "These Are My Twisted Words," "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)," "Supercollider," "The Butcher." Should've added at least some of these to make it a complete 10- or 12-song album.

/Rant over (from a fan)

I agree. Second side is great. First side is weak but wouldn't matter so much if there were 12 songs instead of eight. I wouldn't mind Feral at all on Hail to the Thief but here I was like, Really? You're devoting one-eighth of your first album in four years to this?! KoL doesn't sound bad to me, just insubstantial, incomplete. It needed one of those annoying (but ultimately correct) A&R men who says go away and write some more songs, it's not done yet.

still waiting for this to creep up on me, probably doesn't help that I skip most of the tracks when they come up

was that guy from Friendly Furnaces actually kidding re 'Harry Patch'? i can't believe he was tbh.

In an interview with AOL's Spinner.com, Matthew Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces criticized the song's release, saying of Radiohead: "Fuck you! You brand yourself by brazenly and arbitrarily associating yourself with things that you know people consider cool. That is bogus. That's a put-on. That's a branding technique, and Radiohead have their brand that they're popular and intelligent, so they have a song about Harry Patch." The Fiery Furnace's publicist said that Friedberger confused Harry Patch, the veteran, with Harry Partch, the microtonal composer. Indeed, in the interview Friedberger mockingly asks "Is it 48 notes to the octave?" in reference to Partch's just intonation 43-tone scale. Friedberger defended his reference to the composer as deliberate "fooling around" rather than genuine confusion. In the same statement, Friedberger says he "would have much preferred to insult Beck but he is too afraid of Scientologists"; shortly thereafter, Beck released a song about Harry Partch, which Pitchfork referred to as either "directly related to Friedberger's remarks, or just one hell of a coincidence". Radiohead did not respond to Friedberger's criticisms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Patch_(In_Memory_Of)

separator is a really lovely, appropriate way to close this disc. yes, very strong side-two on this album.

In contrast, it's the first four songs of the album that sound like tossed-off B-sides. "Hail to the Thief" B-sides specifically.

kind of agree with this but 'Bloom' is mysterious and great. i'm fine with 'Feral' as a cool electronic instrumental/interlude, even on a short album.

i think my main problem with the first third of the album is the way the live drums were recorded/mixed.

It needed one of those annoying (but ultimately correct) A&R men who says go away and write some more songs, it's not done yet.

"Where's the single?!" But yes, agree with this.

"Where's the single?" made Springsteen write Blinded by the Light, Blur write For Tomorrow and Bat for Lashes write Laura. A&R men can be dunderheads but sometimes they're like great editors, saying "This is good but it could be great. Try harder."

Imagining the look on Thom Yorke's face as I tell him this, obviously.

'give up the ghost' and 'lotus flower' totally work as singles, maybe 'codex' too.

In an interview with AOL's Spinner.com, Matthew Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces criticized the song's release, saying of Radiohead: "Fuck you! You brand yourself by brazenly and arbitrarily associating yourself with things that you know people consider cool. That is bogus. That's a put-on. That's a branding technique, and Radiohead have their brand that they're popular and intelligent, so they have a song about Harry Patch." The Fiery Furnace's publicist said that Friedberger confused Harry Patch, the veteran, with Harry Partch, the microtonal composer. Indeed, in the interview Friedberger mockingly asks "Is it 48 notes to the octave?" in reference to Partch's just intonation 43-tone scale. Friedberger defended his reference to the composer as deliberate "fooling around" rather than genuine confusion. In the same statement, Friedberger says he "would have much preferred to insult Beck but he is too afraid of Scientologists"; shortly thereafter, Beck released a song about Harry Partch, which Pitchfork referred to as either "directly related to Friedberger's remarks, or just one hell of a coincidence". Radiohead did not respond to Friedberger's criticisms.

radiohead should have responded with "...what?"

Henry John "Harry" Patch (17 June 1898 – 25 July 2009), dubbed in his latter years "the Last Fighting Tommy," was a British supercentenarian, briefly the oldest man in Europe and the last surviving soldier known to have fought in the trenches of the First World War. Patch was, with Claude Choules and Florence Green, one of the last three surviving British veterans of the First World War and, along with Frank Buckles and John Babcock, one of the last known five veterans worldwide. At the time of his death, aged 111 years, 1 month, 1 week and 1 day, Patch was the verified third-oldest man in the world, the oldest man in Europe and the 73rd oldest man ever.

And for those who haven't heard it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ2ELVsz2Yk

'Bloom' is mysterious and great.

The magnificent From the Basement version is mysteriouser and greater - that's what made the song click for me.

i'm fine with 'Feral' as a cool electronic instrumental/interlude

Nothing wrong with this in theory, I just think it's a pretty weak track. If I want to listen to angular disjointed post-dubstep nonsense I'll put on Forest Swords or something.

Always felt like Little By Little was the highlight, along with Give Up The Ghost, but yeah this album is B-sides, not that that's a bad thing cos R'Head b-sides are generally good, but it's B-sides.

I'm looking forward to the inevitable rarities and b-sides comp. There's shit loads to choose from.

that's fair, although Forest Swords is like the least angular and disjointed (or post-dubsteppy) example i can think of.

xp

Fits the bill more than The Lighthouse Family or Aerosmith.

That was me being factious, sorry.

The first four songs made more sense live particularly Bloom and Feral.

Staircase has always been the b-side highlight in here for me, should have been added in the album.

Bloom is really great, I think, just texturally gorgeous. It's Morning Mr Magpie and Little By Little that feel really incomplete to me, scrawny and half-finished when they should be full of dynamics and momentum.

KoL doesn't sound bad to me, just insubstantial, incomplete. It needed one of those annoying (but ultimately correct) A&R men who says go away and write some more songs, it's not done yet.

^^^ This.

That guy from Fiery Furnaces is extremely douchey.

yeah, if mistakenly thinking there's an extra letter in a song title sets you off on a crazy tirade you have to reassess

Bloom is awesome, and i agree that the from the basement version kind of opened it up to me. the basement version's mix and organic build makes the song title make sense.

i really wish they'd try recording with a different producer, just for kicks

They could definitely try teaming with a different producer at least for a b-side to see how it works out but Nigel is sort of like a 6th member. I don't see how they could do it without him feeling butthurt. At this point it would be like doing a Radiohead album and sending Phil home for a couple of tracks and having the Portishead drummer fill in for him instead.

^would enjoy that

(nothing against phil but clive deamer is great)

Really, Staircase and Supercollider should have both been on the album, IMO.

Yes, Supercollider and Staircase are confusing omissions, if they had them laying around why did they left them out when the album is too short and they are amongst the best material in here? Daily Mail doesn't really fit with the overall sound and the Butcher sort of meanders. I've said it before but this is the perfect sequencing of this album for me, I have been listening to it this way in itunes for almost three years and it has made me love the thing even more.

Ok remember that a year ago I posted a link to rearrange the tracklist in accordance to the newspaper version? ( http://www.oesquema.com.br/trabalhosujo/2011/02/28/the-king-of-limbs-newspaper-album-ou-codex.htm#comment-21810 )

Well, I was thinking about using this rearranged tracklist and adding supercollider and staircase in there to make it a 10 track album. daily mail and butcher I feel like they disrupt the overall aesthetic of the album and I'm fine with leaving them as b-sides. I was also thinking of removing Feral completely and adding Staircase in there because it sounds great in between lotus flower and little by little. Without removing any of the original tracks this is what I came up with. I think it sounds fantastic. Give it a try and tell me what you think:

1) “Lotus Flower”
2) “Feral”
3) "Staircase"
4) “Little By Little”
5) “Codex”
6) “Give Up the Ghost”
7) " Supercollider"
8) “Morning Mr Magpie”
9) “Bloom”
10) “Separator”

― Moka, Thursday, February 16, 2012 6:21 AM (2 years ago)

They could have edited 'Supercollider' by a minute or so, imho. But even with this modified playlist the album is 50 minutes long.

This is where I always say that Supercollider really should be 18 minutes longer...

Agreed that Supercollider is next level, probably better than anything on KoL. Would be totally up for their next album having loads of pulsing muted house synths.

Dont get me wrong I love supercollider and I'm in for an extended version, just saying if it was an actual song in the album I'd edited to make it blend better in the album context and not as a stand-alone piece. Same thing with life in a glasshouse, I prefer the extended version but I understand why they added the edited
version instead (although they also made some awful sequencing choices on that album but that's another discussion)

That Friedberger story is amazing, it's like a real life version of one of those self-clowning oven ILX posts.

'Supercollider' is one of my favourite things to come out of this era of Radiohead, definitely.

Played around with this last night. You just have to add the stand-alone singles in the middle and it becomes a full, pretty good album:

1. Bloom
2. Morning Mr Magpie
3. Little By Little
4. Feral
5. Supercollider
6. The Butcher
7. The Daily Mail
8. Staircase
9. Lotus
10. Codex
11. Give Up the Ghost
12. Separator

Really flows well.

On Give Up The Ghost, why does Thom keep singing "Radio 1"?

Haha. I think he's saying "Don't harm me" and "Into your arms" in the background.

Was at a jazz club in DC last year and the band played "Give Up the Ghost." Pretty interesting arrangement.

i'm listening to this again for the first time in ages, and it's fair to say this album has bits that sound like a complete mess and not in a good way. The drums on the first two tracks sound like they were put in as placeholders. Even on Little By Little, which I like a lot, it sounds like the rhythm is doing something completely out of touch with the rest of the song.

I love the drums + bass combo on this one O_O

If it were for me all radiohead albums would be this rhythm-driven... its the closest I get to a modern Can. It's the actual songs I have a problem with, the elements are there but it's too abstract at points. You can see they are mature musicians now but there's more interest in style than content. They know how to make a song sound cool and ambitious, they just need a song now.

the most interesting thing about "little by little" is how the rhythm is almost at odds with the rest of the song! it creates this neat, fluctuating pocket

live from the basement version of this record is probably their best record, but if i were playing god with the studio recordings i'd probably just have "staircase," "little by little," and "supercollider" followed by the second side

i never got into this. and i really like ok computer, kid a, in rainbows, some of the bends and hail to the thief

amnesiac has its moments

the singles make this album way better. weird that they didn't get included.

i would add harry patch too

I really like These Are My Twisted Words.

Ditto - think I prefer it to almost everything on the album. Nice and muscular.

Little by Little is a shoe-in for my ballot in the upcoming Radiohead poll

Think the only two from the actual album that'll make my ballot are Lotus Flower and Codex, though Supercollider and probably Staircase will be there.