Radiohead: Classic or Dud?

And fuck, who DOESN'T hate ICP and Celine Dion, et al?

Then something changed. But not quite Classic. They're still too awkward / nervous to really be defined as such. But far from Dud, though "Fake Plastic Trees" sounds dudder every day.

Saying that, is anyone else getting a bit freaked out by Reynolds hyping them in Uncut and The Wire?

If only for the last two albums. And Ok Computer...and The Bends.

But resolutely NOT Pablo Honey. Creep is the DUDDEST song in recording history. Shame about that but at least they learnt from their mistakes.

then, i was playing ok c much less after a while. sometimes i'd put it on and it would seem like old-fashioned overblown stadium rock (no, i don't think that of yes, thanks for asking) with empty vague misanthropic lyrics. and why couldn't he pronounce his consonants? i'd go back and read those glowing reviews and i couldn't connect with them. i'd never liked it that much, had i?

i heard kid a, again mostly to see what the fuss was. aside from "idioteque," nothing made much of an impression again. sounded like some modern rock band using watered-down versions of new electronic music trends as glossy production. i didn't listen repeatedly this time.

i sold ok computer in a clearing-out of my collection this summer.

searches: "street spirit," "let down," "idioteque"

One of the few bands that can survive having a slightly dud but hugely popular first album, but went on to overcome and go from height to height. Because they manage to progress and change their sound without losing what made them interesting in the first place.

What makes them interesting in the first place: *texture* - RH are masters of making music that sounds and *feels* interesting. Complex and multi-layered without sounding "busy". You can listen to a RH song a thousand times, and hear something different each time, as you concentrate and focus on different tiny aspects of the music.

I don't think that RH are avante guard or groundbreaking or anything like that, and that is an accusation thrown at them again and again- that they're not bleeding edge *enough* - "Oh, imitating 5 year old Warp records is hardly progressive" etc. etc. I don't think they're groundbreaking at all - what I *like* about RH is the fact that they are able to steal and borrow from the avante guard- a textural bit from GSYBE!, an approach to beats from Warp- and make it into *POP* by adding melodic hooks, vocals, guitars, etc.

Oh, and they're very good looking. That of course helps. ;-)

"Adore" is much to strong a word for how I feel about ICP, particularly after they putout the weak _Amazing Jeckel Brothers_ album. _Bizzar/Bizaar_ redeemed them somewhat, but they really should have trimmed it down to one great album as opposed to two decent ones. And, honestly, _Ringmaster_ is a phenomenal CD. They're a lot of the things Eminem claims to be, only not prepackaged for MTV. Mike E. Clark's beats tend to stomp all over Dr. Dre's, too.

Pablo Honey isn't much cop apart from the three singles. Not pleasant but it has to be said. But Creep was the right song at the right time so that's... about as much as I can objectively say about that.

When OK Computer came out, I refiled The Bends as the lesser of the two albums, but as a guilty pleasure. I still listen to it, and I'm coming to terms with its indulgence. It might be me getting older, but I just sometimes feel like indulging in this, the best angst-rock album in the world, like, ever. It sounds like the video for Drive looks. Listening to it now, you can see it's cut from the same cloth as the later stuff. There a lot that mannered and polished on the album, but there isn't anything that's fake. They pour the same integrity through the guitars that they later express through loops and stuff. It also doesn't hurt that to my ears Thom Yorke has the best voice in the world for this purpose.

I've talked enough about OK Computer over in its Classic or Dud thread. When I heard that Kid A was "difficult", I realised that Radiohead more than any other band I was willing to let go their own thing because if I wanted to hear their old stuff, I'd go listen to it again, like I did at least once a day for a few months. I _like_ their lyrics, and the fact that they're unpretentiously about paranoia and other ways we find to fuck things up. Our mad yoga teacher put the album on halfway through the class, and I was surprised to find out that the stuff I thought was dark and intense four years ago is now sort of calming in parts (Let Down, Subterranean Homesick Alien). But not Climbing Up The Walls, no. Perhaps I'm starting to indulge in this one too. Perhaps in fifty years time we'll all see them as the same album made different ways. I guess I haven't talked enough about OK Computer.

Kid A is difficult, though. I'm ignorant of a lot of its reference points, and the lack of that voice, and any proper lyrics, threw me for a while. But there's a hypnotic mood, and, yes, some fantastic textures that kept me entranced until a way in appeared.

Which was Amnesiac. I'm not sure I've listened to it enough to really appreciate, but it gets better whever I do, and a giant mix of it and the last two albums is pretty much all I listen to some days.

And that's all the albums, but not all the story. Last October I saw them when their tour pulled into Punchestown Racecourse, and saw the other half. Kid A above all is a fractured and neurotic album and I imagine a number of people in the crowd were slightly worried for Thom's mental state. But the live performance is amazing, because they're still a pop band. They may worry for the state of the world, and they may have produced an album of drawing-in and murmurs, but they worry because they love. They've got new ways of expressing this, but they still get the guitars out for the old hits, and you can see the common thread. They don't make guitar music anymore, but they don't regret it. They tore it up for Just, and there isn't an inch of fake on them. They've made an album of the stuff inside their heads, and the kids went mad for it, and they genuinely appeared to be the happiest band in the world. And the look on Thom's face after the crowd went crazy after the floating down the Liffey line was magic

Uh, that's it. I'm done now.

Hated them at first though. I saw them support Kingmaker (PAH!), a juggler and Kingmaker's slightly sexist video/art-film. Anyway, I thought they were a hopeless, noisy, generic, grey-sludge (schm)indie band, totally interchangeable with any and every other hopeless, noisy, etcetera, band out there.

My friend, who dragged me there in the first place, tried to defend them to me: "but they've got this song called 'Creep' that's amazing... " Nah, I still prefered Kingmaker (PAH!).

I felt vindicated during the 'Pablo Honey' period, though 'Creep' *was* growing on me. Not that I would admit it.

I bought 'The Bends'. I liked it. Most of it. Thought it was a bit too 'straightforward' (whatever *that* meant), noisy-indie still. Played it a few times then filed it away.

'Paranoid Android' I thought was the best single I had heard in forever and ever. A shaking with rage/trembling with fear, blast- furnace of a song. Total Droid rage. More than that the nudge-nudge, wink-wink, forced, day-glo jolity of BritPop and Loaded-Lad culture had become wearying. During the Cool Britannia party Radiohead were sat on the stairs, head in hands, muttering darkly to themselves. 'OK Computer' saw them swing from anger to sorrow, intensely at odds with an increasingly bankrupt culture where beauty seems to be drifting further and further out of reach and emotions have become numbed in meek surrender to consumerism. Every time I listen to it I end up walking away in a bad mood. I don't listen to it that often as a result. Not all the way through anyway.

Then I went off them. It was all too much. 'OK Computer' was this dark place that I was too afeared to re-visit, and just what *was* Thom Yorke's *problem*? His petulant behaviour was making him come across as more spoilt teenager than world-weary visionary; rage replaced by ugly querulousness. Ah well...

I ignored 'Kid A' when it came out, it didn't interest me. So Radiohead had disappeared up their own wazzoos, so what? What else was new?

A friend taped me a hissy, muggy copy and I gave it a listen.

Instead of the "difficult", "obtuse" and "avant garde" mess-about I had expected, 'Kid A' damn nearly broke my heart on first listen. I immediately recognised the world within and I gladly let the gentle undercurrant pull me under. It's a real headphones on under the duvet record. Not so much as too escape the 'real world' but to re- experiance it with an empathetic arm around the shoulder. The bruised, haunting voice and the distant clicks and whistles may have been indistinct but it perfectly matched how I have felt on occasion, in the murk of a sleepless pre-dawn. And so on...

I still haven't *connected* with 'Amnesiac': it's too juddery; disjointed. Flashes of majesty come and go but I'm left feeling more impressed than... I dunno, *involved*. Still, 'Pakt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box'; 'Pull/Pulk Revolving Doors' and the aching, Smiths- like romantic-disappointment of 'Knives Out' are three of the best things I've heard this century.

Thom can annoy me if I let him but Radiohead are beautiful. Just beautiful...

lol u got rick rolled

even if they are good they suck, because loads of knobs like them.

given that 2/3 of the british student population like them, you're bound to get a few knobs in there. alongside diamonds like myself. ;-)

"PROG ROCK INNIT"

not such a bad thing compared to some of the less imaginative bands around now, just not really my cuppa tea.

One of the maybe five active rock bands worth listening to.

They're a fine-sounding band, who I can find no obvious fault with.

And yet I can't be arsed with them.

is it wrong that around the time of ok computer i thought they were basically the faces for the 90s?

i wonder how max feels about his doppelganger using phrases like loads of knobs like them.

not as good now as they were in the mid 90's, when they weren't as good as oasis.

They're this era's U2, except they're actually good. No wait they're this era's Pink Floyd, except they're actually good. No wait, they're just Radiohead and they're a really good band. Realy good.

Are they not this era's R.E.M. except they're more groundbreaking in terms of what is considered popular? I fell in love with them the first time I heard "Creep" (and still dig that first album), own every single b-side but, like others here, for some reason don't play them much at all. Something about over-exposure will do that.

Like Pink Floyd, and to some extent U2, they are just plain damn good. Or, at least they were in the 90s.

It would be cool if they wrote a song as catchy as "Creep" again.

It would be cool if they wrote a song as catchy as "Creep" again.

You mean something as catchy as "High And Dry" or "Let Down" or "Idioteque" or "Knives Out" or "Where I End And You Begin"? Yeah, that would be cool.

Listen before you leap.

I listened to all of the main albums today and after ignoring it for years because I didn't like it too much at the time (last heard it the week I bought the CD) I'm now completely blown away by HTTT. </shame>

I also find that I now seem to like Kid A & Amnesiac less than I always thought.

I share your shame. For whatever reason, it wasn't until I revisited HTTT (three years after its release) that it's now sunk in and, for me, surpassed all of their others LPs in terms of balance/quality/strength.

HTTT sounds like a Radiohead greatest hits compilation composed of completely new material

HTTT sounds like a Radiohead greatest hits compilation composed of completely new material

I couldn't have articulated my assessment or appreciation of HTTT any better. Cheers.

Saw Radiohead live last night. Light show was fantastic. Many of my fave songs were played. I was aghast that they could do Climbing Up The Walls and In Limbo and Dollars & Cents and Talk Show Host, still in 2008, in the same show. I mean boy that's the way to Bimble's Radiohead heart for sure.

But they also fucked up a song from In Rainbows (whatever the really quiet one is with an acoustic guitar, I can't be bothered to look it up) and though people laughed, it really wasn't all that funny and I shouted out "Neil Young". Because it sounded like Neil Young anyway, what they were playing.

I was left feeling that even if Radiohead are past my prime, I may be past my prime as well. I struggled with the indifference of those around me. All around me, people just standing there motionless. Who were they, why were they here? They didn't give a fuck about Radiohead.
Luckily there were some girls just behind me who were at least showing some enthusiasm.

I struggled realizing that if a person was here and was say 20 years old, they would not necessarily remember the Radiohead show I saw here in 2001. Yeah I really struggled with that, too.

The only thing I held against them was the lack of Paranoid Android. I mean wow, how could they leave THAT one out? But okay you know, we're all getting older all the time, maybe we're too old for Paranoid Android?

But it was a good show, I don't mean that. There was nothing wrong with the performance aside from that song, really. And what was the new bass & drums thing they added to the fucking GLOAMING??? WOW!

I would be sort of pissed if they left out P.A.

Awwww...thanks. That makes me feel better.

According to the setlist at At Ease they did play a bit of Neil Young when they screwed up "Faust Arp":

"Faust Arp [Thom messes up lyrics several times, starts singing Neil Young's "Tell Me Why"; Jonny tries to follow along but can't quite get the chords. Phil comes out and drops an American dollar bill out in front of Thom and Jonny and runs away laughing. Thom and Jonny crack up completely to loud cheers. Thom tries again, says "Fuck it!", but then continues and finishes the song.]"

Yes, I'm ashamed to admit that I check the setlists for Radiohead shows I didn't go to.

You know, I'm realizing now though, that I craved to hear "Airbag" at the concert, too, and didn't hear it. That's the only other one I craved.

Yes they did play bloody Neil Young? Oh my god, really? Cause holy shit I didn't even know that. I don't even know that song at all. What the hell? Fantastic. I <3 Radiohead.

i for one would love to hear radiohead cover "tell me why."

No, but I remember wanting to know what that song was. I didn't recognize it. I don't understand how I guessed it was Neil Young. I mean I'm not trying to say I'm some supreme psychic or something, but that flips my lid completely because that was the one moment at that gig where I just felt they lost me.

And what was the new bass & drums thing they added to the fucking GLOAMING??? WOW!

ooooh yes this was one of the biggest highlights of Houston show a couple months back. so stunning & creepy. i would take the gloaming (esp. this new version) any day over paranoid android, for the record.

Look, I've got a thing for Colin to begin with, man. That shit sent me over the moon. He is the sexiest thing on wheels.

I <3 Bimble

Heehee! Stop. *blush*

And what was the new bass & drums thing they added to the fucking GLOAMING??? WOW!

They've been doing that since 2003. A very good twist, to be sure.

But Ned, no...don't tell me that.

Please don't tell me that.

I have to have the live versions now.

I normally didn't like that song, but shit.

xpost Ned, i don't recall that at ALL from the 2003 tour.

the deep rumbly bass, yes, but not the drum parts.

Stephen, you're only increasing my hysteria about this music, thanks.

Colin is the reason why "Dollars & Cents" is one of my fave Radiohead songs. That's all I'll say for now.

"trap doors that open/I spiral down"

i never really cared for dollars & cents. one of my least favs off amnesiac.

Ned, i don't recall that at ALL from the 2003 tour.

I do and I have a recording of the show to prove it. Perhaps they were testing things out during the tour, which wouldn't surprise me.

yeah the gloaming has always been like that live. youtube has the proof.

also, classic. very classic. saw them a few weeks ago at all points west and they freakin' killed.

But they also fucked up a song from In Rainbows (whatever the really quiet one is with an acoustic guitar, I can't be bothered to look it up) and though people laughed, it really wasn't all that funny and I shouted out "Neil Young". Because it sounded like Neil Young anyway, what they were playing

12. Faust Arp [Thom messes up lyrics several times, starts singing Neil Young's "Tell Me Why"; Jonny tries to follow along but can't quite get the chords. Phil comes out and drops an American dollar bill out in front of Thom and Jonny and runs away laughing. Thom and Jonny crack up completely to loud cheers. Thom tries again, says "Fuck it!", but then continues and finishes the song.]

sounds like a fun time.

saw them last night in SF, was excellent, but fuck you Meyer Sound...the PA cut out COMPLETELY twice, totally ruining two songs. I've never heard such a deafening silence at a festival

Dollars & Cents is one of their best songs. Not only is the bass gorgeous, but... those STRINGS!!

Awwww yeah man. Look I can't even get over "In Limbo" right now. Don't they just squeeze out all the rest of music ever like a tube of toothpaste sometimes? I've got their cover of Can's "The Thief", too, from Warrington UK gig from Oct. 2000. It fucking SLAYS, man. SLAYS.

Dollars & Cents kills me because the bass line is the only thing I've ever heard that reminds me of Crispy Ambulance. I'm serious. I'll take the strings, too. Hell I'll take it all.

I met with a girlfriend of mine tonight and she said she'd been playing the Bends, an album I sold and greatly regret it, but by god, will they EVER surpass Kid A & OKC? I don't fucking think so, mate.

Radiohead are just the only thing I want to hear for at least the next 6 hours.

Please excuse my enthusiasm.

And did I mention they did "Talk Show Host"? Do you think they will still do that song live in ten years?

They make me want to kick the shit out of the bass drum.

Too many young people, too many young people who know hip hop but they don't know Radiohead. Too many young people, bless their hearts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgNE3TZV0u4&

x post bimble::

we got paranoid android tuesday here in vancouver.(we also got soaked with rain)

also in 2003 when they did the gloaming,they sampled yorke saying "alistair campbell" and sampled it as the song faded out .

setlist from atease from vancover::
Setlist:
01. 15 Step (Thom, ‘We brought the weather with us.’)
02. There There (Thom ‘How do you like the rain? It’s ok, you’ll get used to it.’)
03. Morning Bell
04. All I Need
05. Where I End And You Begin (Thom, ‘Alright no one get hurt out there tonight’)
06. Talk Show Host
07. Nude (Thom addresses crowd surfers, ‘Take it easy guys! Its not fucking Rage Against The Machine.’)
08. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
09. The National Anthem
10. Bangers And Mash (Thom, ‘This is a nasty little song.’)
11. Faust Arp (during the middle of the song Thom tells a heckler, ‘Shut the fuck up, you’re not funny you just don’t get out much.’)
12. Videotape
13. Karma Police (Thom, ‘I think we are confused. This one is called Karma Police.’)
14. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
15. Just
16. Exit Music [For A Film] (someone yells out I love you Thom. Thom replies whilst singing, I love you too darling.’)
17. Bodysnatchers

Encore 1
18. House of Cards (Thom, ‘During this song you have to snog the person next to you.’)
19. Optimistic (Thom, ‘Ok we know its raining and that’s a bummer, but fuck it this is Optimistic.’)
20. You And Whose Army? (Thom, ‘That’s show business!’)
21. Planet Telex (Thom, ‘Thank you everybody.’)
22. Everything In Its Right Place

Encore 2
23. Reckoner (Thom, ‘Ok, this is for making you feel warm inside.’)
24. 2+2=5
25. Paranoid Android (Thom,’This is the last song and you the viewers get to choose. Idioteque or Paranoid Android?’)

I was at the Seattle show also and it was way better than I had expected - it was a bad week and it was a drive (across the state, not just through the sprawl) to get there so it felt like more of an obligation at that point than a desire by that point. The light show was great.

I thought the crowd was kind of old actually, or at lacking in teenagers. And everyone around me was super into them.

Also, I've seen Phish, the Dead, and Cypress Hill in concert and never have I been in such a huge cloud of weed smoke at a show.

Drone/a/sore! You got paranoid android! you are a fucking asshole! oh I am SOOO jealous. But okay I guess I'll let you live this time and not kick your ass.

And yes there was a lot of weed! At least we had that! In fact, the guy in front of me with the super cool Bernard Sumner haircut was the one who kept lighting up joints.

Also everyone knows that Idiotque is an orgasm all its own.

How does Nigel Godrich still look like a hideous freak while pictured next to Thom Yorke!?

Yeah he came out on stage for a bit.

I wish someone would talk to me about Radiohead. I'm dying right now. Do you know even their cover of Can's "The Thief" is on youtube? That is fucked up. Drone/a/sore's notes about the gig are priceless, too. Thanks! Thom was obviously more talkative in Vancouver than I recall him being here.

xpost bimble

i cannot take credit for the notes....they come from atease.com

haha okay :)

Reckoner:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V65jfFBCRMo

Are they really still playing Optimistic and Dollars & Cents? Why?

because they kick ass.

Are they really still playing Optimistic and Dollars & Cents? Why?

They're playing even older ones still, Matt! Why are you surprised at these two?

They're like the two dullest things from their back catalogue.

i was surprised by Talk Show Host in SF.

I would like to hear Radiohead cover "I Want it That Way"

They played a full cover of "Tell Me Why" in LA last night. Check the comments at At Ease for a download link.

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/08/28/radiohead-to-broadca.html
Rumours abound that Radiohead's show tonight will be broadcasted online..

Rumors correct:

http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/index.php?a=405

"How To Disappear Completely" is particularly kicking my butt right now.

It's all about the Neil Young cover, though, people. Seriously.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHIJcx9EB94

Okay woah woah woah woah. Is there anyone out there who might remember the early version of "Reckoner" (completely different to the version on In Rainbows)?? I had the Gorge, WA 2001 version forever, and pretty much thought it was the definitive early version - sorta like Radiohead trying to pull a Nirvana. It was a badass song, this early version of Reckoner.

But now I have heard an acoustic early version of "Reckoner" when it still had the same lyrics as this earlier grungey version and I am absolutely astounded! This is musical greatness, right here.

The thing is, though I have about 6 live versions of Reckoner now in its "In Rainbows" form and I am completely obsessed with this song, I feel no harm can come to me as long as this song is playing. It's only a minor technicality that if you really want to hear the strings at the end, you do have to surrender to the album version and leave the live ones behind. But the band really does do a fantastic job of trying to make up for the lack of strings at the end, and that's what is so exciting.

yeah, i remember.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc_3R2-TIJk

haven't heard the acoustic version. where would i find that?

Does anybody else think that Radiohead (and Wilco etc. come to think of it) have gone astray re: the write/record/play live process? In that they have songs that were seriously over tinkered with. I'd take the current Idioteque (and Handshake Drugs, for that matter) over the earlier ones, but OTOH there are the songs that had beautiful initial versions and the subsequent ones kinda died through trying too hard/losing the point of what made the song good in the first place. I'm thinking of the In Rainbows stuff first and foremost, but I'll admit that I've been listening to the YHF demos all day, so that's the train of thought I'm on. Also maybe this is more of a live vs. studio thing.

http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/radiomadinside.jpg

Radiohead
Collectionanthropolopolisology
[ EMI Toshiba; 2004]
Rating: 10.0
Traveling through space at 293.37246 million billion miles per hour, traveling past star systems and glowing golden suns, comes Radiohead's latest offering. Discovering a new Radiohead release is like staring into the eyes of Jesus Christ and feeling the eternal stream of love and awe that flows from Him. I might be so bold as to claim that Radiohead is the Jesus Christ of music; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost combined into one small package featuring the limitless talent of Thom Yorke.

So how do I review such an inherently perfect, flawless recording? It would be unfair of me to simply state, "this CD is perfection in the literal sense of the word," as that would not give such a masterpiece the sufficient praise it deserves. Putting this disc into your stereo and listening to it is like having the saints pee liquid gold into your ears. A beautiful, flowing, melodic wall of sound embraces you like the mother you never had because she was a filthy whore.

Track 1, "Ale A Gator," opens up with a lush field of melodic vibraphones and marimbas trumpeting the arrival of Thom York's genius. A glassy string section envelopes the sound field and reminds me of the time I was doing heroin in the middle of Canterbury Park. Finally Yorke's angelic voice sweeps in, crooning the following incomprehensibly intelligent lyrics:

Ale A Gator, the world is your at your feet
With a gaping mouth and jagged teeth
Your eyes remind me of capitalism (the telephone is ringing)
And your love is love like loving eyes, I will be there for you

Ale A Gator
Ale A Gator
Dragging through your personal hell
Ale A Gator
Ale A Gator
Encrusted jewels and a kissing kill across your gentle forehead

Time for sleep
Time for sleep
Time for sleep
Time for sleep
Gentle Ale A Gator

Such raw, unrelenting beauty caressed my soul like fingertips running across my spine. The power, the genius, the immeasurable talent which escapes from this porous CD can easily overwhelm you without proper preparation. Teams of NASA scientists could spend hundreds of years attempting to discover the meaning behind Thom's words, but nobody is intelligent enough to properly do so except Thom himself and his alter-ego, Jesus Christ. Perhaps some day they will both do a duet together and we can finally see who's truly the Son of God.

As for tracks 2-9, I was unable to listen to them as I was so blown away by Radiohead's sheer power that I beat my CD player into pieces with a rake so it would never be defiled by another, inferior compact disc. I shall review the rest of the album once my dad flies back from the Hamptons and buys me a new SUV to play it in.

Class-fucking-ic.

even if they are good they suck, because loads of knobs like them.

― max r, Sunday, September 30, 2007 3:00 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

has anyone bought the new Remastered versions of their old albums yet? i would like to know if the sound is actually better.

today was the last day for BMG Music Club so i decided to order both The Bends and OK Computer. the three CD/DVD set only cost me $15 each...

Well then:

We're doing a show this Sunday (24th January) to raise funds for the relief effort in Haiti. The venue is The Music Box Theatre at The Fonda in Los Angeles, doors at 7pm. All proceeds are going to the Oxfam Haiti relief fund. We're trying to raise as much money as possible, so tickets will be sold by auction at this site.

Auction starts Thursday 21st January 08.00 pm PST
Auction ends Saturday 23rd January 11.00 am PST

http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/09004434FC1C86AC

We're in the middle of recording at the moment, so you'll be catching us on the fly.... but if you're up for it, then we are too.

When the past catches up to you.

U.S. tour wisely avoids northern cities in Feb and March:

02-27 Miami, FL - American Airlines Arena
02-29 Tampa, FL - St. Pete Times Forum
03-01 Atlanta, GA - Philips Arena
03-05 Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center
03-07 Austin, TX - Frank Erwin Center
03-09 St. Louis, MO - Scottrade Center
03-11 Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center
03-13 Broomfield, CO - 1st Bank Center
03-15 Glendale, AZ - Jobing.com Arena

But, on the plus side, with them shunning Chicago or anything close (not driving to St. Louis for these guys), means I keep my streak of 15 years of listening to Radiohead and not seeing them live intact.

Same. Have never seen them live in about 16-17 years :-(

Its really only a sore spot because I was supposed to go their big 2001 outdoor show at Hutchison Field in Chicago, but I was kept at work for a huge deadline.

how much was asking price for tix in the past? v surprised they're coming to denver (or at least 20 miles outside denver)

Strongly considering going to the Austin show.

broomfield is definitely the coolest place radiohead has ever played.
are radiohead good live?

Dud. I loathe this band. They were acceptable until Amnesiac, then they shot their wad and became the most overhyped group of twats in the biz.

yeah? i've never been a huge fan, but i think they're good and fairly consistent! in rainbows might be my fave record by them. but that's just me.

woah afriendlypioneer isn't afraid to speak his mind

Dud. I loathe this band. They were acceptable until Amnesiac, then they shot their wad and became the most overhyped group of twats in the biz.

― afriendlypioneer, Monday, 7 November 2011 16:29 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

A strange tipping point to choose - don't think they really changed outlook/style/priorities around this time?

are radiohead good live?

They tended to stick to the studio arrangements as closely as possible the times I saw them, so there were few instances of unexpected fireworks. Oddly, it was the mostly electronic songs -- particularly "Everything In Its Right Place" -- that strayed furthest from the album versions, and were the highlights of the last show of theirs I saw (which was 2001).

Thought they became unbearably cheesy w/ Amnesiac and the following albums were just bland-to-bad in my view. Sorry for speaking my mind. The thread's called "Classic or Dud," right? Just one man's opinion... doubt I'll affect their record sales.

never be sorry for speaking your mind, freedom of speech and all that

Escape Goat OTM. A lot of their more recent post-Kid A songs, especially the electronic ones, have had a tendency to sound half-finished on record. Live they really fill out and come into their own.

In Rainbows sounded fuller and fresher live, agreed. The band was fitter, happier, more productive.

Still dud though.

not contesting your POV afriendlypioneer, but how was Amnesiac and everything after it any more cheesy than Kid A (or OKC for that matter?). How is it "cheesy", even? Was it Yorke's increasing quasi-political remarks, or their earnestness to experiment?

that weirdo live album they did in 2001 was pretty neat, especially because I agree that they've sounded a little weak after Kid A. Still think "Hail to the Thief" is pretty underrated, "In Rainbows" is good, "The King of Lambs" is kind of a dud

I like my lamb cooked on the rare side.

Anyway, tylerw, they're wondrous live. Don't let the ~Taylor Swift is SO deep~ crowd lead you to think otherwise.

I like my lamb cooked on the rare side.

― Turangalila, Monday, November 7, 2011 11:10 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

If you can’t put a butterfly in a jar
If violence mars your final hour
If you make others feel like jam
Poured on a piece of charbroiled lamb

Anyway, tylerw, they're wondrous live. Don't let the ~Taylor Swift is SO deep~ crowd lead you to think otherwise.

Don't let the flat zings crowd deflate you.

feel like "Jump Then Fall" could be a Radiohead title.

Hmm, might try to go to the Atlanta show.

The shitty thing is this time around they're like, stadium-level shows. Which is a nightmare.

I saw them in Houston on the Amnesiac tour and at Coachella after Hail to the Thief and both shows were great. I'm sure this tour will be much more low-key, but the Frank Erwin Center is the perfect place for me to see them. It is very tiny for an arena, so these types of big rock concerts end up feeling much more intimate, which I think works well with the more quiet direction they've taken on the last couple albums.

The shitty thing is this time around they're like, stadium-level shows. Which is a nightmare.

They were playing huge places in 2001, too. The show I saw was at a horse racing track outside of Boston. 39,000 out of the 40,000 people present couldn't see shit.

They're great live, but yeah, yuck at Stadium shows. I was at the glorious 2001 chicago show (while jon was working overtime! sorry man, that's awful) and was one of those kids who showed up 12 hours early to get up really close. totally worth it. saw them on the Hail to the Thief tour a few times, in more stadium-esque locations, and it was a bit of a let down comparatively.

they don't improvise much live (although comments about them stretching out their electronic songs more otm) but they still have room to stretch their legs a bit on most of the songs, often via jonny's solos. this upcoming tour might be pretty awesome with two drummers - many of the songs could sound quite a bit different.

haven't been to the place they're playing in colorado but it's not huge, as far as i can tell. not intimate, but not a baseball stadium or anything. i think the roller derby happens there.

this upcoming tour might be pretty awesome with two drummers - many of the songs could sound quite a bit different.

Yeah, I was thinking that this could be a good reason why this tour could be worth catching. I'm hoping for another U.S. tour later in the summer or additional dates. Really be kinda surprised if they completely skip out on NYC/Chicago/L.A.

They're covering most of Speak Now, I read.

They should tour together specifically to cause critical agony.

Lex: "Can't...no...must...ARRRRRGGHHH!"

I wouldn't be against that. Maybe then she'd start experimenting with minor keys and dissonance and wouldn't sound like a pink fart.

they were awesome when i saw them at a stadium in 2001, i had pretty good seats, though.

how much! cuanto cuesto!

In 2011 Radiohead fans are as likely to sport a couple of Swift tunes on an iPod as Swift fans are with Radiohead tunes.

xxp lol idk maybe I'm too misanthropic & agoraphobic & terrible for the whole stadium/sports arena thing. I'll hope & wait for dates in smaller venues (perhaps in Europe?) to be announced.

i think it made more sense (the arena thing) when they were still playing songs from The Bends and stuff. there's a lot of ~ dynamics ~ in their newer stuff that probably wouldn't translate well to xtra large spaces.

Equally classic and equally dud.

I think 'Pablo Honey' = half-dud, half-good. It's a much better record than people give it credit for. Yes, it has more than its fair share of flaws, and sure, it's not the best collection of songs the band would ever make, but its highlights are truly wonderful, IMO: 'You', 'Creep', 'Stop Whispering', 'I Can't...', 'Blow Out'. Yes, there are stinkers like 'How Do You?', but filter out all the lesser songs and you've still got a decent EP/mini-album in there. The way I've seen some people talk about this record on the internet, you'd think it had absolutely zero redeeming features at all. This is certainly not the case.

'The Bends' = classic. I bought this album simply on the strength of hearing it play from start-to-finish in my local record store in early 1996, and played the hell out of it at the time. The album is full of beautiful melodies and very strong songwriting, IMO. It's somewhat galling to see the "newer" breed of Radiohead fans criticise the likes of 'High And Dry' because it doesn't have synth bleeps on it and Thom Yorke doesn't sound like he's singing in a cave (with the vocal track removed and the reverb left on). So what? It's a beautiful song, and shut up.

'OK Computer' = also classic. In hindsight, the 'Paranoid Android' single was a bit of a red herring for this album, because once you get past the first couple of tracks on the album, it reveals itself to be mostly mellow, save for 'Electioneering' which to me could have fit on 'The Bends', but also doesn't come close to most tracks on that album quality-wise. Plenty of fine moments on this record. The chiming guitars on 'Let Down', the fuzz bass on the outro to 'Exit Music (For A Film)' (which sounds like a template for Muse), the way the outro to 'Karma Police' takes the track somewhere else entirely. I could go on, I won't...

'Kid A' = classic. A lot has been made of Radiohead's "change in sound" on this album, but strip away all of the production and you're still mostly left with a bunch of typical Radiohead songs - and mostly good ones for that matter. Factor the production back into the equation, and you've got a bunch of typical Radiohead songs enriched with a different, possibly even deeper production treatment than what they'd attempted before. The song-sequencing is spot on on this record, and there's some good stuff here: 'Everything In Its Right Place', 'How To Disappear Completely', 'The National Anthem', 'Optimistic', 'Idioteque', 'Motion Picture Soundtrack'. So much emphasis has been placed on the "change in sound" aspect of this album, that I think people overlook the strength of the songwriting. The only dud for me on the record is the title track, which I don't think even compares to the Warp Records stuff that is a clear influence on it.

'Amnesiac' = dud. While it's admirable that Radiohead attempted to construct what is essentially an album of off-cuts as a standalone album in its own right, I really have never come across anybody who views it as such. There's an easy EP of superb material here: 'Packt Like Sardines', 'Pyramid Song', 'You And Whose Army?', 'Knives Out'. The rest of the album is dull as dishwater, IMO, and full of very unsuccessful experiments.

'Hail To The Thief' = dud. Like 'Amnesiac', there's a solid EP in this album. '2+2=5', 'Where I End And You Begin', 'There There' and 'A Wolf At The Door' being notable highlights for me. However, I find the rest of the record incredibly tedious and very going-through-the-motions-like. 'Sail To The Moon', 'Scatterbrain' and 'A Punchup At A Wedding' are all crippling borefests. 'Go To Sleep' is a great riff, but that's all it is.

'In Rainbows' = classic. This was easily the first record Radiohead had put out since 'Kid A' that I could get on board with as a complete work, and easily their strongest collection of material since then.

'The King Of Limbs' = crippling fucking dud. All style and no substance. I've written about this record before and why I feel that way about it elsewhere on these boards, but I won't bother re-typing it out completely - but in a nutshell, I think this record at its core is the most mediocre collection of material Radiohead have ever put out, and no amount of sonics and studio trickery to reel in the hipster kids can disguise that for me. I've heard this record being compared to 'Kid A', but... no. 'Kid A' is a far, far stronger and memorable record than this effort.

"sail to the moon" is one of their best songs. kid a and amnesiac may as well not have been released, so boring

I honestly couldn't agree that 'Sail To The Moon' is one of Radiohead's best songs. No way.

I love "A Punchup At A Wedding" to an almost unreasonable degree.

I am also a huge fan of "The Gloaming", "I Will", "Myxomatosis" and "We Suck Young Blood"

You are a man of taste, then. <3

I love the riff to "Myxomatosis" a lot, but I don't think they got the best out of it.

The closest I get to disliking a song on HTTT is some amount of indifference towards "Go To Sleep" when I'm not actively listening to it.

"Myxomatosis" is more about the interplay between the riff and the thundering drums of doom than it is about that riff alone; actually on a lot of these songs I feel like the interplay between the rhythm section and the melodic instruments is the overwhelming component that makes the songs awesome. (Obv not true of, say, "I Will", which replaces the death drums with sinewy interweaving vocal lines, but in general I think few of the songs work as well when you isolate their components as they do when you listen to how the band plays off of and responds to each other.)

I didn't give In Rainbows much of a shot and I'm thinking I need to revisit it. Overall, Thom Yorke's voice has really grown to bother me to the point where I have trouble making it through any of their material. I thought "Lotus Flower" was a decent song, but the rest of King of Limbs fell flat to me. I'm glad they're starting to de-emphasize Yorke's voice somewhat but I find the songs weak. Hail to the Thief is where they really lost me.

I'd be interested in hearing more instrumental tracks and maybe vocal contributions from someone else in the band. Time to mix things up.

And I actually like "Go to Sleep." I thought the video was pretty cool too.

So OTM about everything right now, DJP. I think the problem with that record is maybe how it was recorded/mixed? I've never understood the centrality of the beats of "Sit Down. Stand Up" (it's all about the driving PIANO) --- or, how the "There There" solo, for example, sounds so tame in comparison with the live version.

listening to "Backdrifts" now on headphones and the panning in the main keyboard line is transcendent, making that part feel like it is bouncing off of the drum machine and bass line with the vocal lines and guitar interjections floating through both like bees buzzing over flowers

basically, this album is everything I liked about Radiohead's career up to that point mashed together in series of awesome songs

'starting to de-emphasize Yorke's voice'?

You're kidding right? I thought the arc of that particular story was Thom has been trying to hide and destroy the place of his voice for a fucking decade since at least OK Computer and that it took recording The Eraser, without a band and with less places to hide, for him to become more comfortable with his voice again. Certainly his voice is far cleaner and less fucked with on In Rainbows than it has been for a long, long time,.

love backdrifts

A friend of mine once said that whenever she heard Thom do that "ah! ah! ah!" thing when the music stops in 'Backdrifts' she found it quite sexual. I just thought he was trying to do an impression of the Count from Sesame Street.

I like quite a few Radiohead songs through In Rainbows, The Bends excepted (I can't stand the record and sold it a few months ago). The breaking point for me is Yorke's voice, whose sound made me recoil even in '93: its tone, timbre, range. Then there are his lyrics, such as they are.

I agree with you on the lyrics front, Soto. I don't think Thom Yorke has ever been a decent lyricist.

And then there's the junk writing he posts to the internet. Yikes.

Agree with almost everything Turrican says other than this bit:

However, I find the rest of the record incredibly tedious and very going-through-the-motions-like. 'Sail To The Moon', 'Scatterbrain' and 'A Punchup At A Wedding' are all crippling borefests.

The latter two are some of my favourite bits on the album. HTTF is flawed by wonky sequencing. Take out a few ho-hum bits, rearrange it and you'd have had a killer record, not too far off the OKC mark IMO. There There is their best song.

HTTT is the first Radiohead album where I can't remember how all the songs go (think there might be one on Amnesiac). I'd be tempted to try rearranging HTTT to make it less flabby.

http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2002/Mar/Week4/1066038.jpg

I've found stuff to like about every Radiohead album since "Amnesiac," but the times I've seen them in support of "HTTT" or "In Rainbows" I've found them less than inspiring and sometimes even rote live. Then again, that aforementioned Hutch Field summer 2001 show in Chicago is one of the best shows by anyone I've ever seen. It had been about a week of record breaking heat and humidity, then for the night of the show it suddenly chills out into perfect weather. The city had been really flighty about even letting this happen, so there were no alcohol sales, which love or hate your beer certainly cut down on assholery. The crowd was so into it, so chill, plus "Kid A" and "Amnesiac" had had enough time to sink in that people all recognized what they were listening to (in every sense). And then of course mere weeks later September 11th happened and everything has sucked to varying degrees ever since.

I got a similar feeling from the crowd at the show I saw at Suffolk Downs that year. They were hanging on every blip, digging the new songs as much as (or more than) the older ones, even though few of us could see shit. There was beer, but assholery was at a minimum, as a good portion of the crowd was underage. Suffolk Downs is at the end of a Logan runway, which made for some insanely spectacular effects (huge jet flying low-ish over the crowd, over the stage, and sailing into the distance right at the slow midsection of "Paranoid Android").

Thom, Johnny and MF Doom collaboration track:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/12715-retarded-fren/

Really hoping the full album rumor is in the works.

i heard that through once & thought it was terrible; idk if there is like an 'indie guys do hip hop' mindset in which they felt they should make like a loop that's v evidently a loop, rather than just being naturally musical & doing their own thing. doom unusually spiky + bad on it also.

agreed. he doesn't seem to work so well at a slower pace like that (dull) track. i like Doom and Radiohead, so obv was hoping for better.

I don't even understand why it's being called a collaboration when it's clearly just a sample from Jonny's older solo stuff.

Just posting this cuz I love her and am proud of her, but my gf took some nice shots from the photo pit at Bonnaroo on Friday.

http://blogs.metropulse.com/the_daily_pulse/assets_c/2012/06/IMG_8546small-14502.html

Well, that din't work.

Photo is here:

http://blogs.metropulse.com/the_daily_pulse/assets_c/2012/06/IMG_8546small-14502.html

Whoa, great shot!

Oh, and they're very good looking. That of course helps. ;-)

― masonic boom, Monday, July 2, 2001 12:00 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^^^ still OTM.

Lovely picture, BTW.

jfc can't there just be one general radiohead thread, now that the 2000s are over

everyone is sleeping on the suspiria soundtrack

Haven't gotten around to it yet but the single was lovely.

of the more song-oriented material, "unmade" is a gem

as for the rest, i don't expect it to resonate with everyone, but this is quietly some of the most experimental, patient, satisfying music in the entire radiohead catalog

https://radiohead.com/library/

finally, a better quality version of their drunken "winter wonderland" cover

Videos appear to be in 1080! Only looked at ‘Just’ so far though. Looks better than it did on YouTube.

https://www.radiohead.com/library/curatedby/colin/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7Djc5z-EMg

Ringo Starr had a solo career I guess

Why isn't this a Kinks cover?

ed, no

once it kicks in it rises to the level of forgettable

Sadly otm.

now i'm imagining ed back in the 2000s when he was always trying to get radiohead to do the full-on back to the basics, return to The Bends sound album, and then a moment of weakness the other guys relent and Ed plays the demo for shangri-la

oh i quite liked "brazil" so i was optimistic but this is not good at all

Big Pomplamoose influence, tasty!

this sounds like something I'd make, and that's not a compliment

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/may/22/radioheads-thom-yorke-and-jonny-greenwood-form-new-project-the-smile

Thom & Jonny have formed a new band The Smile with Tom Skinner, who's the drummer in Sons of Kemet. Nigel's producing of course

That group photo is pretty hardcore, Thom looks 110 years old there.

And yet Jonny looks about 19

I wonder if they decided on the name before or after taking that photo

lol

So is that the right or the left SoK drummer

https://watch.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/livestream-1/backup/livestream1.html

just tuned in and they're playing right now. sounding very krauty which is promising. jonny's on bass

they apparently played unreleased radiohead song "skirting on the surface" that's been floating around for like 15 years now

several of the songs were really good. it's been announced that colin, phil, and ed have been sacked. colin because both thom and jonny can demonstrably cover it and their overall sound with just bass + guitar is really lovely and open, a relief of sorts from the pre-sacked radiohead. phil was sacked because this new guy is a much better drummer, has jazz-chops and can thus improvise, his feel and approach is much more appropriate for modern-day thom+jonny, and because he has hair. also because can he sing, too. ed was sacked because he's fucking macca now

Radio ... dead? Say it ain't so.

Is the bassist the only one that has no had his side project yet?

....wow, really?

colin hasn't released any solo albums or anything but has played on a bunch of other things here and there, including solo work by thom, jonny & ed, and a gaz coombes album

they've been sacked

Nah.

i can personally confirm karl's source on this.

lol

so what you are saying is the people responsible for saying they've been sacked have been sacked?

‘They’ve been sacked’ is a classic Thom lyric iirc.

it was ed sleeping with paul that was the final catalyst for the sacking

Ooh, I like this opening song of the set's 4+4+3 11/8 rhythm--the following one's cool too, with a unison-line main riff that I could imagine Theon Cross from Sons of Kemet playing as bassline-on-tuba

Also, someone obv needs to radio Ed

the first song is "skirting on the surface", here's older versions of it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGm1dxyOSco

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

the live link above is now showing honey dijon dj'ing in a bus which is pretty cool too

you can scroll down and use the progress bar to go back to the previously aired stuff if you want to catch up on it

there were some really good ones in the middle of the set, and also jonny played 16th notes for like 10 minutes across a couple different songs.

some of this stuff is exactly the sort of direction i've wanted radiohead to go in for a while (the krauty groove-based stuff) & some of it is just kinda meandering but i'm very intrigued overall

funny to see jonny's signature huge strums applied to playing bass too lol

Yeah, really nice rhythmic delay by JG on both those tunes--caught a glimpse of a Moog Taurus or somesuch synth bass setup being stepped on by him at some point, too.

also really fun to watch thom playing bass and jonny on guitar on one song, and then they swap instruments for the next! sick

my favourite is the 7th (i think?) one "we don't know what tomorrow brings" etc.

I don’t think Radiohead operate as that sort of band. Sure Jonny and Thom are the most important elements but it’s not like the rest are ego-tripping into thinking the band works solely because or their input. If anything excluding Thom they’re a very selfless band.

Even Jonny who might be the greatest asset of the band seems to hate the spotlight.

anything i post is a joke

as a longtime fan, that's the image, but if 3 cannonballs are flying we all want them to knock phil, ed, and colin, off the boat. the very last cannon would result in some sort of shipbeam falling over and thom and jonny fighting with swords at dawn. but there's no way it would be anyone other than them. it's true that "radiohead" as a sound is all 5 of them together. i love the way they sound all together. but still, the core of the band is those two, for the last 25+years

Forget it I just watched the first 15 mins and sons of kemet drummer is amazing. They need to ditch everyone and just make Radiohead be that guy.

^^

jonny and thom play so well together, with a drum machine. but every time they play with another drummer it's with other musicians. they get to play with clive, but phil is there. they get to play with joey waronker, but flea is there. when it's just thom and jonny + the sons of kemet guy, though: that's good. that's very good. that's a drummer who is comfortable with playing loosely and improvising - as are thom and jonny, and as are NOT the rest of the band imo

But seriously: wow

i immediately take that back

colin can handle it: but damn, they sound so nice and open as a 3-piece

if you haven't heard them Sons of Kemet are rad as hell

whatever it is,

But seriously: wow

― ✖✖✖ (Moka)

otm

Excluding the last two songs - particularly the “rock”’one I think it’s 7, sounded like a demo of a non-descript new wave band - the first 4/5 songs have great grooves

anywhere to watch this now?

found it on the dreaded reddit

thanks

that was cool, never getting over my radiohead phase it seems

Here you go

https://bcovlive-a.akamaihd.net/a1a395c883004c05b3184dc2ea9570f1/eu-west-1/6252938537001/profile_0/chunklist_dvr.m3u8

It seems the whole concert is there: haim, coldplay, damon albarn, jorja smith, kano... the smile are at at the 2 hour 40 min mark.

phil is walking along a quiet river path. life is like a river, in some ways, he thinks. mostly made of water. he absent-mindedly starts tapping out a familiar rhythm -- no, no. that time is over now

lol

this didn't do much for me, although i wasn't paying close attention. aside from a few tracks from the eraser i don't really enjoy thom outside of RH

Just now watching the Glastonbury recording, love it!

Thom Yorke remixes Creep.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYRAGR91CHQ

what the hell is he doing here?

it was commissioned for a fashion show last year

oh actually from earlier this year

I thought he was trolling when he played it on that fashion show. It used to be just a slowed down version of the acoustic version of Creep, but he added some synths around the 3 minute mark that almost redeem the “remix”.

Still think he’s trolling with this.

the synths aren't new to this release, it was like that in the fashion show too

i think they specifically asked for a creep remix as the show was called "creep very" and this is what he came up with

Yeah you’re probably right. I didn’t really pay attention back then.

High time they released a new album

I'm not really sure where they can go after AMSP, and judging from snippets I've read recently neither are they yet.

make some fuckin rock music again lads. engerlaaand

actually, they should just go full prog ffs <<<vmic

i was thinking a more down-home approach (with some twists and surprises, naturally) would be a logical step now. They can't have run out of ideas, surely?

i don't think they've even started work on a new one yet, but the smile album is probably on its way sometime soonish

my forbidden opinion is that In Rainbows led them up a creative cul-de-sac that they've been unable to emerge from. rewind to HTTT and relaunch from there, except more fun pls

'Very 2021 Rmx', heh. Definitely a troll.

what about long tunes that aren't proggy like paranoid android? 'these are my twisted words' was an interesting direction for them

imago, how is In Rainbows a significant turn/dead end to HTTT? I mean, they're different albums but it's not like they're vastly different

"These Are My Twisted Words" is very much in the 'itchy twiggy loops' style of TKOL

imago, how is In Rainbows a significant turn/dead end to HTTT? I mean, they're different albums but it's not like they're vastly different

― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin)

I don't know about creative dead end, but the two albums are about as different as Radiohead albums could be - one sprawling, disjointed, a little abrasive, the other focused, concise and dreamy.

i was thinking a more down-home approach (with some twists and surprises, naturally) would be a logical step now.

HK Bobo?

They should do a Back to Our Roots "rock" record.

full orchestral shit only imo

I don't know about creative dead end, but the two albums are about as different as Radiohead albums could be - one sprawling, disjointed, a little abrasive, the other focused, concise and dreamy.

― chap, Tuesday, July 13, 2021 4:22 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Hmmm... The first two songs on In Rainbows would easily fit on HTTT whereas there are loads of dreamy tunes on HTTT that would fit on IR. I don't really hear them as particularly focused through-and-through. They are Radiohead albums with slightly different bents, sure, but I don't understand why IR could be considered a "cul-de-sac", especially since there have been several releases since then.

the smile is their way out.

the band, The Smile, which happened after phil was sacked, along with colin and ed.

it's sort of a joke, but also, that one set was very good and had lots of incredible ideas. that's their way forward. "they" = thom and jonny. they don't need ed there adding his tiddly-doos and his "ahhhhhs". colin is great but who needs bass. and phil, well. he's been sacked. they sounded incredible as a tight 3-piece. i could hear everything jonny was doing so clearly, every little thing. the smile. it's just as bad as "radiohead". it's great. the smile. that's what they're doing now. it's better.

Have been enjoying you so stubbornly sticking to your conspiratorial guns, KM
(I'd actually be 100% on board with that posited turn of events, since I was really impressed by the Smile's Glasto video set and think Skinner is a pretty perfect foil for them)

the trick is to fool yourself, too! i mean, to me, that happened

seriously though, i think they sound great that way, as a 3-piece. i've heard some thom/jonny duets before, of course, including the lovely ones with PT Anderson and a quiet drum machine. those always sounded like what they were - one-offs. with a real drummer (and a really good one, skinner), though, combined with new songs that fit that format? they were LIGHTNING

(Also would have maybe preferred The Erase as a good bad band name for this new trio, perhaps a passably Spinal Tap stupid-funny thing for them to try and pull, like 'well, the r was just, like, eraaased, man', plus that way it'd fall a bit more closely in line with Atoms For Peace)

personally i would have gone with T+J Maxx

Now we're typin'

Am imagining a scenario where Phil Selway lurks ILX occasionally for Krautrock recs and, in a moment of curiosity, reads this thread and subsequently starts frantically Googling for news sources on his own sacking.😄

*phil googles self, sees breaking news*

"bald british batería banned by bandmates"

"fuck."

Phil reads on, hoping against hope that it was the drummer from Portishead

...or Gaydaddiohead

Anything from “the smile” released yet ?
(Don’t kid yourselves, it’s a terrible name)

full orchestral shit only imo

As someone who loves 'Harry Patch (In Memory Of)' and their unused theme for 'Spectre' endorse this 100%.

i dont wanna see these sad old bastards do anything but have bad hair in a performance hall while they revive endangered instruments and do more penderecki shit.

lol

lol pic.twitter.com/up9HlVwHuj

— br◎seph (@on3ness) July 14, 2021

So, everything's now on Bandcamp, pretty much. Or at least a lot of it.

https://radiohead.bandcamp.com/music

No singles/B-sides from the first two albums but the expanded OK Computer is up as well as the forthcoming Kid A/Amnesiac reissue with the bonus tracks (but not all the B-sides), plus the King of Limbs remix album and the second disc of In Rainbows.

I totally forgot about that second disc to In Rainbows. It's supposed to be a pretty nice EP, alternating between instrumentals and what are essentially outtakes, correct?

Personally I only find “4 minute warning” to be the highlight of that collection. Mk1 and mk2 are pretty much jokes, so it’s only 6 tracks.

bangers and mash goes hard

I do like it better than Bodysnatchers but people keep telling me I’m wrong about that one. The only part I love about Bodysnatchers is the bridge.

who are these "people"

bodysnatchers is fine, but the riff is p basic

The riff near the end reminds me of "Oh, Pretty Woman"

"bodysnatchers" is great

best of the in rainbows outtakes is "go slowly", i would have put that on the album. the rest were left off for a reason

iirc they said "bodysnatchers" was inspired by wolfmother which is a pretty funny reference point to have had

“Go Slowly” is iirc inspired by Can’s “The Thief” and it was kind of an alternate experiment for “There There”.