Taking Sides - Amnesiac vs. Kid A

Ha, I remember that. EOB always seemed like a super chill dude to me, I guess his pretty-boring-but-nice-sounding solo music more or less confirmed that

that's funny, to me Knives Out sounds like a poor man's reprise of Paranoid Android. Or is that what you meant?

― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Monday, March 8, 2021 7:33 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Huh, yeah I guess you're right there. It's a bit of a mash up of a few if their songs. Even has a little bit of Creep in there "I want you to no..."

Here's my shot at a 13-track, 56-minute album pulling from both albums and the Amnesiac b-sides. I would be very happy with this tracklist, though I know I left off a few fan favorites:

1. Pyramid Song
2. Kid A
3. Everything In Its Right Place
4. You And Whose Army?
5. The Amazing Sounds Of Orgy
6. I Might Be Wrong
7. Packt Like Sardines In A Crusht Tin Box
8. In Limbo
9. Idioteque
10. Morning Bell
11. Like Spinning Plates
12. How To Disappear Completely
13. Fog

i like the b sides a lot, and in a more directly emotional way than the actual album tracks, which are a lot more worked on, thought about, and treated. theres a spontaneity in songs like fog and worry wort you dont get in the proper albums.

if i was to make it one single 45-50 min album, then id make it like this. side one: packt like sardines, idioteque, everything in its right place, i might be wrong, pyramid song. side two: national anthem, optimistic, kid a, you and whose army, life in a glasshouse, motion picture soundtrack.

also how good is that bassline on i might be wrong?

The EOB diary weirdly doesn't really mention much about the electronic things going on, guessing because he wasn't that involved on those. The song he seems to be more excited about is "Optimistic", I guess because that's the one where he contributed to the most.

We didn't get a KID A 20th Anniversary in 2020. Hope we get a KID A / Amnesiac one. Judging by Ed's diary there's many different takes of each song and lots of early tests of songs that didn't make it in here (Up on the Ladder, Neil Young*9 / Bombers (4 minute warning), Innocent Civilians (sit down stand up), A wolf at the door, gagging order, true love waits...) + probably many more that ed doesn't mention

I think these KID A/AMNESIAC might have been the most productive Radiohead sessions, there must be a treasure trove of unreleased material and demos in there.

i think some word leaked out that they were preparing something... Maybe for the 25th at this point

iirc most of the songs of HTTT were actually leftovers from these sessions.

xpost: amnesiac was released in June 2001 so I'm guessing if they're actually doing a 20th anniversary for both albums we'll hear news before march/april.

I have probably said this elsewhere on ILM but for my nobody GAF opinion: Kid A is far and away the better album, the best in their catalog, and probably one of the 3 or 4 best rock albums of the 21st century if we're being honest here. And yet, I still listen to Amnesiac 2x as often, especially in winter. It's become my favorite of theirs even though it objectively falls short of at least a few others. It's got the closest thing to the Radiohead atmosphere I want to hear most often 20 years on.

Cognitive dissonance. Amnesiac is at least as good as Kid A and you know it.

Amnesiac seems to be tougher, a bit greyer. I'd love a good set of outtakes from this period. It's weird as I've mot really listened to this stuff in a decade but now I think I like it even more. Lockdown has somehow made it seem better too maybe.

Hey I just made a list of these the other day in reply to a similar question! All these songs that I've listed are ones that were worked on (written, recorded, or experimented with) during the Kid A sessions. A lot of these songs that didn't make it onto Kid A, Amnesiac, the Pyramid Song single, or the Knives Out single later turned into a large portion of Hail to the Thief. If they were to do an OKNOTOK release for Kid A, I'd imaging we'd get a lot of early versions of these songs in addition unreleased ones.

Sit Down. Stand Up
Backdrifts
Where I End and You Begin
We Suck Young Blood
The Gloaming
There There
I Will
A Wolf at the Door
Gagging Order
I am a Wicked Child
I am Citizen Insane
Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses (Reckoner)**
Up On the Ladder
4 Minute Warning
True Love Waits
Lift
Say the Word*
Follow Me Around*
I Froze Up*
Whatever Happens*
Ed's Scary Song*
"Jonny Scott Walker Song"***
* Unreleased

** The version of Reckoner/Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses that was around at this time is way different from the version of both songs we ended up getting so I'd consider it still unreleased.

*** That's just what Ed called this song. It either had its name changed and was released or it remains on the pile to this day.

https://www.reddit.com/r/radiohead/comments/8vg7ig/what_songs_are_unreleased_from_the_kid_aamnesiac/

Found this post on reddit. Not sure about the source but if true 11 tracks from HTTT - 8 if we only go for actual album cuts - were actually started during the Kid A period.

Maybe it's just me but I don't really want to know how the sausage gets made. Kid A as released, Amnesiac as released, etc., is the be-all and end-all as far as I'm concerned. I feel this way about all the music I love.

I dont want alt takes unless they're exceptionally diff, but I would like unreleased songs.

the source for that reddit post would mostly be ed's diary & anything that wasn't mentioned in it was played in one of their webcasts from the time.

feeling pulled apart by horses changed significantly but the final version of the song is clearly the thom solo version so i wouldn't count it as an unreleased song. lots of their songs existed in radically different arrangements before their final version

xps Very good. Me and my mixtape of highlights from the 17hr OK Computer demo leak are here for it!

That’s like the best part of the song wtf!

I find the brass kind of poorly attached to the song. It just sounds like a mot entirely succesful/coherent experiment. The live version on the IMBW ep is better for my money.

Oops meant to put that first line in quotation marks

i have made a kid amensiac playlist also, altho its meant to be just one beefier album as opposed to a double/triple! its my go-to when i want to listen to radiohead these days. it keeps certain sequences intact.

case in point:
1. everything in its right place
2. kid a
3. national anthem

but then
4. transatlantic drawl

which i feel carries on the chaotic energy from natl anthem b4 settling it down v quickly for

5. pyramid song
6. pulk/pull revolving doors

which have to stay together bc they both slap and also because they are stitched together.

then the acoustic-y stuff
7. optimistic
8. in limbo
9. cuttooth

before the more electronic/ambient stuff again
10. worrywort
11. packt like sardines in a crushd tin box
12. idioteque
13. like spinning plates
14. treefingers

clocks in at just over an hour.

lol. i ended up making two diff playlists. after going back to this, i dont think all the instrumental/more warp-aspiring pieces work that brilliantly, and are better as b-side material or if you really make it a proper double album. so i made a single lp playlist thats: packt like..., idioteque, everything in its..., i might be wrong, fog, kid a, worrywort, you and whose army, life in a glashouse, motion pic soundtrack.

thinking about this material, there is something just really tightly clenched about a lot of it, like it was just too worked on maybe? (really does remind me of dangelos voodoo in that sense). if they do release something this year with outtakes, if they are like the b sides, i think they will be much more enjoyable to listen to.

the relative looseness of a song like fog really works as a bit of a release in comparison to the other songs.

actually listening to those songs with the other album tracks, they sound like they are from different sessions entirely.

Mark - Sean -- I love Wish You Were Here!

moka i like your kid a/b/c sequences! any one of the three looks great; i may cue one up for later

this one, especially

KID C

1. Hunting Bears
2. I might be wrong
3. Optimistic
4. Knives Out
5. How to Disappear Completely
6. You and Whose Army
7. Trans-atlantic drawl
8. Morning Bell Amnesiac
9. Cuttooth
10. Fog

i have done numerous attempts at re-sequencing KidA/Amnesiac for lord knows how many years and i've always ended up in that immediate realization that i would never change anything about the opening 4 songs of Kid A, which, then based on my love of the songs on the latter half of the album, has left me not changing anything on it.

try the best you can, the best you can is re-sequence Amnesiac with that eras b-sides.

I'm not bothering anymore. Got to take it as is.