I think Vespertine and (maybe?) Kid A were the two albums I first listened to pre-release due to lol internet
― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Thursday, 18 October 2012 15:10 (eleven years ago) link
I've had times in my life where I've loved both these but now I feel like I really never need to hear any of their albums again. With OK Computer, I think the above quote "a better U2" is spot on. But I don't really like regular U2. So it's just, "yeah it's good, but not really my alley". I like Kid A quite a bit but I'm never in the mood to listen to it; the mood they go for is done so much better on other (older) albums. I thought Hail was pretty good and maybe my go-to when I just wanna hear some Radiohead (never happens). Bjork is one where I really like the anthemic stuff she does like "Big Time Sensuality" and "Isobel" and "Alarm Call" but am kind of left cold when she does like serious mood music where you can tell she worked overtime perfecting every last note, I dunno it just sounds overworked to me. Plus I don't really like the "stick the mic down your throat" technique either. Like recently I've gotten into Jun Togawa, she's really everything I hoped Bjork would be; equally eccentric, but she plays into her own silliness a bit. Her lyrics are all in Japanese which means I only understand them slightly less than Bjork's.
― frogbs, Thursday, 18 October 2012 15:16 (eleven years ago) link
Just dug Vespertine out for the first time in ages (thanks, thread) and it's even more awesome than I remember it.
I had never actually listened to Medulla all the way through before, and it's as strange and weird and awesome as everyone says it was.
So although I was feeling all eyerolly and "this is just the poor man's Aphex Twin vs Madonna thread" it's been good for me.
― White Chocolate Cheesecake, Thursday, 18 October 2012 15:19 (eleven years ago) link
I saw Kid A in my coll the other say, went "aww" but didn't dig it out. Guess I'd still ove it.
I saw "OK Comp" for £2 in Morrissons, went "oh" but continued not to own it.
Which is odd, as I bought a "OK Comp tribute" CD recently, still haven't actually played it...
― Mark G, Thursday, 18 October 2012 15:19 (eleven years ago) link
xpost well, the two albums chosen have been good ones to pair, I guess.
― Mark G, Thursday, 18 October 2012 15:20 (eleven years ago) link
Vespertine was where I got off the Björk train. I listen to it once a year to remind myself that I still hate it.
― Melissa W, Thursday, 18 October 2012 18:56 (eleven years ago) link
:(
it took a while to grow on me, and song-wise I think my favorites are on the 90s albums
― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Thursday, 18 October 2012 19:00 (eleven years ago) link
I listened to Kid A for the first time last year. I don't know what made it any better than say, Dave Matthews Band or something
pretty otm, radiohead-worship is so baffling to me.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 18 October 2012 19:02 (eleven years ago) link
I made a remark about it at the time, but I can't find it in search, so my exact impressions are lost to me.
I remembered this now! My remark was that absolutely nothing stood out for me except that part of one of the songs reminded me of part of "Eternal Flame" by the Bangles.
― sorcery is in the gutter (how's life), Thursday, 18 October 2012 19:11 (eleven years ago) link
Which I preferred.
Listening, I remember that Vespertine is probably the least-abstract Bjork album. Not as bombastic as the louder moments of any prior album, and not quite as experimental with song structure as later albums, definitely a less-varied sonic palette.
― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Thursday, 18 October 2012 19:20 (eleven years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Friday, 19 October 2012 00:01 (eleven years ago) link
I'm finally getting into Radiohead. Yet another sign that I've gone old and soft.
― peace, man, Tuesday, 14 March 2023 11:53 (one year ago) link
Wow, that's a very surprising result. I mean, the vote could have gone either way, but I wouldn't expect Bjork to win by such a large margin.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 19:17 (one year ago) link
I don't think this vote would go this way today, fwiw
― عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 19:19 (one year ago) link
Yeah, I was thinking that, with the output of each since the original poll.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 19:19 (one year ago) link
I mean, Vulnicura alone is a major achievement post-2012; I just think ILM has become an even more insanely slavish hub for Radiohead fandom
― عباس کیارستمی (Eric H.), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 19:38 (one year ago) link
Idk, I think the popular narrative is that Bjork's albums have become increasingly hermetic and hookless after the '10s, while the last Radiohead is widely acclaimed well beyond ILM? It would be a pretty different story without A Moon Shaped Pool, since King of Limbs is their only other album in the same era and is probably their worst.
Still, they've remained very high profile with the side projects and soundtracks, and I don't know anyone irl who has kept up with Bjork.
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 19:46 (one year ago) link
I love the TKOL sessions :( if Supercollider and Staircase were on TKOL it’d be less maligned. It might be the third or fourth RH album I come back to the most.
Also it can’t be their worst when Pablo Honey and HTTT exists.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 20:21 (one year ago) link
Wait, HTTT is now disfavored?
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 20:22 (one year ago) link
I've seen it get hate for being overstuffed but I love HttT
(I don't think I've ever listened to Pablo Honey all the way through tbh)
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 20:24 (one year ago) link
HTTT is generally ranked at the bottom with Pablo Honey and TKOL.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 20:32 (one year ago) link
Also Amnesiac which is sort of a polarizing album.
I put it above Amnesiac.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 20:33 (one year ago) link
HttT is awesome. Probably the worst production/mastering of their post Bends catalog though. I also like it more than Amnesiac.
― octobeard, Tuesday, 14 March 2023 21:16 (one year ago) link
Have we done a Radiohead poll?
― octobeard, Tuesday, 14 March 2023 21:17 (one year ago) link
I love Amnesiac and the beefy production/mastering on HttT :)
Time for a redo: The Radiohead Albums Poll
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 21:23 (one year ago) link
Amnesiac is my favorite Radiohead album that I never want to listen to
― feed me with your chips (zchyrs), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 21:23 (one year ago) link
I know ranking Radiohead albums is the most basic and boring dude topic imaginable, and yet:
A Moon Shaped PoolAmnesiacHail to the ThiefIn RainbowsKid AOK ComputerKing of LimbsThe BendsPablo Honey
(I never want to listen to Kid A, and can't even really hear OK Computer anymore)
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 21:25 (one year ago) link
Seeing the Kid A/Amnesiac material performed live in 2001 was revelatory, I always hear those albums from the perspective of seeing them live at a time the band was peaking.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 21:48 (one year ago) link
The album I listen to the most lately is The Bends. But many of the songs on Kid A feel like their pinnacle. Definitely amused at how many times an album poll has been conducted, but I'd be more interested in a songs ballot poll at this point.
I enjoyed participating in the Bjork ballot poll!
― octobeard, Tuesday, 14 March 2023 21:49 (one year ago) link
would rank the albums something like this
vespertinekid ain rainbowsok computerhomogenic
postdebutthe bends
vulnicuraamnesiaca moon shaped poolfossorabiophilia
hail to the thiefthe king of limbsmedullavolta
pablo honeyutopia
― ufo, Tuesday, 14 March 2023 22:04 (one year ago) link
That's a very respectable sorting.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 22:06 (one year ago) link
Yeah Vespertine and Kid A at the top is very agreeable.
I’d place Medulla and TKOL higher though
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 23:03 (one year ago) link
HTTT = Postthe rest in some sort of orderIn fuckin Rainbows
― imago, Tuesday, 14 March 2023 23:08 (one year ago) link
post has some of her best tracks, but it would only just about scrape into my top 5 Bjork LPs. even with better sequencing I'm not convinced those songs go together.
― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Tuesday, 14 March 2023 23:15 (one year ago) link
HTTT is good, yes, and doesn't get enough love.
― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Tuesday, 14 March 2023 23:16 (one year ago) link
you can lose a whole bunch of tracks from the first half of Post without much problem, the rest bangs unbelievably hard though
― imago, Tuesday, 14 March 2023 23:17 (one year ago) link
skip from Hyperballad to Isobel to unlock maximum 'greatest mini-album that never was' power
― imago, Tuesday, 14 March 2023 23:22 (one year ago) link
I Go Humble is on the Japanese version and could make it gel better. What to do with Army Of Me and It's Oh So Quiet is more of a problem though. Maybe they should just have been standalone singles. Maybe starting at Hyperballad could work? Anyway, I can not just put this CD on and listen to it.
― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Tuesday, 14 March 2023 23:23 (one year ago) link
Man you guys really love In Rainbows a lot... am I missing something with that one?
― octobeard, Tuesday, 14 March 2023 23:34 (one year ago) link
I have never heard In Rainbows
― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Tuesday, 14 March 2023 23:37 (one year ago) link
I did this poll a few years back, before A Moon Shaped Pool, would be fun and interesting to do it again:
A POLL IN A CAGE ON ANTIBIOTICS - ILM Artist Poll #56 - RADIOHEAD - RESULTS THREAD"> A POLL IN A CAGE ON ANTIBIOTICS - ILM Artist Poll #56 - RADIOHEAD - RESULTS THREAD
― nate woolls, Tuesday, 14 March 2023 23:48 (one year ago) link
Damn thanks for sharing that thread - really surprised at There There making #1 over Paranoid Android and EIIRP, but totally worthy, honestly. HttT really does slay, and to me it's the last "Essential" album they dropped. Everything after begins to have that musky "old band" smell.
― octobeard, Wednesday, 15 March 2023 03:03 (one year ago) link
Absolutely. IR was dead bottom of my joint ranking. I have no idea why it has the cachet it does
― imago, Wednesday, 15 March 2023 07:29 (one year ago) link
it's some of their best & most accessible songwriting with rich, tasteful arrangements. nothing even close to a dud on it and a lovely warm sound too
― ufo, Wednesday, 15 March 2023 09:21 (one year ago) link
accessible, tasteful and warm! just what i want ;)
― imago, Wednesday, 15 March 2023 09:30 (one year ago) link
i think there's a good case for "weird fishes" as their very best moment
― ufo, Wednesday, 15 March 2023 09:46 (one year ago) link
― imago, Tuesday, March 14, 2023 11:22 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
This seems crazy to me because Hyperballad into The Modern Things and You've Been Flirting into Isobel are the best bits of sequencing on the album.
― Gavin, Leeds, Wednesday, 15 March 2023 10:10 (one year ago) link
I don't really put Björk and Radiohead on the same artistic plane. Radiohead is a decent band with some consistency. None of their albums approach Björk's work, so a ranking would start with at least 7 Björk albums, then maybe Amnesiac / OKC.
Listening to Hail to the Thief now, I think 2+2=5 was the first Radiohead song I heard, and Where I End and You Begin was a favorite, but I think my most powerful emotional reaction to Radiohead is polite attention.
― Nabozo, Wednesday, 15 March 2023 10:39 (one year ago) link