Radiohead - In Rainbows

from upthread (weird, google desktop thinks this salon page is malware):
But my record of the year came from outside the classical field. Radiohead are filed under rock, but to me they are collectively one of the most interesting composers in contemporary music. The secret weapon on "In Rainbows" is Phil Selway, drumming intricate, tricky, spiky patterns under the surface of what seems to be a lush, almost romantic album. Was there some story about the price? I forget: "Videotape" puts me in another world.

Pablo Honey - 5
The Bends - 8
OK Computer - 7
Kid A - 10
Amnesiac - 6
Hail To The Thief - 9
In Rainbows - 8

:)

So you CLAIM oh wait.

okay, listening to this at 33 rpm is awesome.

Stoner.

anyone watching the concert?

yep. fuggin' fireworks get in the way a bit though

it went from being great video to pixellated hell. :(

so much for that experiment.

Working fine for me.

that New Years thing they did for Current:

http://current.com/items/88803042_radiohead_s_scotch_mist

so the discbox is selling on eBay for $150 to $200, yet is still available for under $80 in the Radiohead store...

very surprised that alex ross liked this album.

You're surprised that Alex Ross likes something by Radiohead, Bjork, Justin Timberlake, or Missy Elliott?

http://images.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2008/01/08/obama/story.jpg

Secure Mail Services have a delivery for you that requires a signature, This item is your Sandbag Discbox Set of RaidoHead.

RaidoHead sounds like a cleaning product.

finally adding my two cents after months of holding my tongue.

excellent record with a nice sort of homogenous feel to it that 'hail to the thief' was lacking. but i guess variety and experimentalism was part of the appeal of 'thief'. but anyway, while it doesn't appear that 'in rainbows' makes much new ground on the first few listens, there are intricacies and hidden nuances to these songs that only emerge with close, involved listens. RECKONER is a treat for the ears - appropriately restrained and slightly aloof, it took me a while to realise that the true centrepiece and shining element of this song are the beautiful vocals. by contrast, JIGSAW FALLING INTO PLACE defies restraint and launches into a stunningly climactic final minute that creeps up on you before you even realise its happening. importantly, the record is extremely well paced and sequenced and is seems to be the perfect length. the shorter numbers are fortunately very substantial, and in the context of the record act as fitting segueways to the more played-out numbers. this is the best since 'kid a'.

Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel about it. Well said.

thanks!

there are intricacies and hidden nuances to these songs that only emerge with close, involved listens.

Spot. On.

Until Monday night, my relationship with In Rainbows was limited to headphone and car speaker engagements. While auditioning some new gear for the home hi-fi, the album really began to reveal itself. From Selway's cymbal (i.e., ride) work at the end of "Reckoner" to the ebb and flow outro of "Videotape", there's so much more to be heard if one's willing to listen. No, I mean, really listen.

Spot on again. Also, the difference between the original mp3s and the CD is quite noticable the more you listen to it. Particularly on Nude.

Gotta hand it to Radiohead, no? Preemptively leak low-quality MP3s of their latest and greatest to tease their mostly audio-aware fanbase (and others) into buying its higher fidelity release? Brilliant!

Although, as I've said once before upthread, is there not something audibly fishy betwixt 2:20 and 2:30 of "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi"?

Radiohead zooms to No. 1 this week on The Billboard 200 with "In Rainbows" (TBD/ATO), a week after a premature debut at No. 156 due to street date violations. The set sold 122,000 units in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, a dramatic downturn from 2003's "Hail to the Thief," which started at No. 3 with a career-best 300,000.

However, the comparison is somewhat unfair, as "In Rainbows" was available for several weeks in the fall as a "name your own price" download exclusively from Radiohead.com, and sales figures for that experiment have not been released.

Didn't Kid A sell around that much its first week as well? From one noted pre-release leak to another...

i'd bet a lot of money that's about exactly how much they would have sold anyway.

the difference between the original mp3s and the CD is quite noticable the more you listen to it.

yes, absolutely. i noticed the difference as soon as the first listen, it was astonishing. the cd sounds gorgeous.

Until this album, every album they've released since 2000 has outsold the other in its first week, while debuting one position less.

At what point do sales figures mean jack shit anymore? (rhetorical)

..aside from obviously paying the band, I mean? I'm talking more about the chart ranking aspect.

Saying such-and-such album was NUMBER ONE ITS DEBUT WEEK in 2007 is going to be kinda laughable in the future history of music writing.

Actually, ignore me. Wrong thread. Apologies.

This album has turned me from a casual Radiohead fan in to quite a big one. It's also made me realise that one of the main reasons I've always liked them more than every other 'indie' act is that they are extremely thoughtful about the way they use percussion.

Hmmmm, SMACK! Hmmm, SMACK!

Some not-much-news news:

The tour will take place in two segments, one prior to and one following the recently announced summer tour of the UK and Europe.

The cities IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER are:

Atlanta
Boston
Charlotte
Chicago
Cleveland
Dallas
Houston
Indianapolis
Los Angeles
Miami
Montreal
New York
Philadelphia
San Diego
San Francisco
Santa Barbara
Seattle
St Louis
Tampa
Toronto
Vancouver
Washington DC

Exact dates and venues will be announced at a later date

Sales figures may not be the most important thing, but the fact that an album that has been available for downloading for almost three months goes straight into #1 brings some hope for those of us who prefer CDs to computer files.

i just picked up the vinyl today, looks nice.

picked up the CD last week, and i'll be going to definitely Houston, possibly Dallas as well, just depends on the details.

Boston + Montréal, s'il vous plaît.

It's also made me realise that one of the main reasons I've always liked them more than every other 'indie' act is that they are extremely thoughtful about the way they use percussion.

This is OTM. Except that In Rainbows has some of the more boring drum & percussion arrangements of their career (with some exceptions, like 15 Step and Reckoner).

woah i love the real minimal beats and just little touches of percussion that they use on in rainbows...minimal isn't necessarily boring, just like using tons of shit isn't necessarily creative...actually the snare/kick thing on "videotape" kinda kills me and it's just two hits repeated over and over.

"hello. so we have a tour coming up. you can buy tickets on our site. you can pay as much as you want. cheers"

Percussion is unimportant.

seriously?

no, really, are you serious?

Are YOU serious?

Yeah, I should've known better.

hows the vinyl sound? is it very loud? cos i had that problem with the arctic monkeys album on vinyl. sounded like it was from the cd master.

xpost

"Too much compression can be heard as musical clutter; on the Arctic Monkeys' debut, the band never seems to pause to catch its breath. By maintaining constant intensity, the album flattens out the emotional peaks that usually stand out in a song..." Source.

..."In Rainbows" (TBD/ATO)...sold 122,000 units in the United States...a dramatic downturn from 2003's "Hail to the Thief," which started at No. 3 with a career-best 300,000.

However, the comparison is somewhat unfair, as "In Rainbows" was available for several weeks in the fall as a "name your own price" download and a 2-disc, double-vinyl "discbox" exclusively from Radiohead.com...

Have sales figures for the discbox "experiment" been released?

I'm not suggesting that Radiohead shipped/sold 180K discboxes to U.S. customers (fewer than 3K? Less than even half that?), but wouldn't seem a reasonable guess that between the pre-01/01/08 name-your-price downloads and discboxes, together with the post-01/01/08 availability on iTunes, et al., together with those 122K units, that the number of "units" in US households is in the neighborhood of 300K? Perhaps even more?

I wish geir would die.

Although, as I've said once before upthread, is there not something audibly fishy betwixt 2:20 and 2:30 of "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi"?

It took me 3 or 4 listens to pick it out, but you're right, at 2:19 it definitely muffles. I would never have noticed it unless you'd said.