Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool

Ha, I was thinking I was kind of done with it...

haha... well I'm only on 7th listen or so

anyone ever come up w an excuse for the album title?

Nah, they're talking about a person named moon (Keith?) and how they influenced the game of billiards

― 6 god none the richer (m bison), Monday, May 9, 2016 12:24 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well it's either a pool that's shaped like the moon or a pool shaped by the moon

something to do with the tide being affected by the moon... I dunno... guess we discussed all this up thread.

duno if it's been mentioned upthread but apparently identikit starts of with the mumbling of

A moon shaped pool
A desert cold
You love me
Now I know that there’s no more me
Whole me

well I guess I was never into radiohead for the lrx

I buy into the Keith Moon theory

lots of 'love/relationship' lyrics huh?

Huh, I would have never known those were the words if I hadn't read them.

xp people are calling it a breakup album right?

Ful Stop has a line something like "why should I behave if you can't" which is a bit ouch.

I don't get a Melody Nelson vibe from the strings on this at all.

Not in general, but on the Numbers it's almost an homage

I still don't really hear it... the Led Zeppelin comparison sounds closer to the mark, IMO.

Oh, I def do,more a JC Vannier one, but.

"Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water.
The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.
Although its light is wide and great,
The moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide.
The whole moon and the entire sky
Are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.
Dogen"

This seems to be a rather solid album. I am just in the middle of my first listen. What kind of surprises me is the relaxedness. Nice late night music. Cool and not depressive at all.

xpost - Yeah, I was also reading some sort of Buddhist reference in the title. Would also be consistent with the various Buddhism allusions in TKOL.

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/radiohead-a-moon-shaped-pool.471923/

lot of people complaining about the lack of dynamic range (DR) on the album, poor sound quality (SQ) etc. the SH forum is insane, btw..

is it true that AMSP sounds best on Mac desktop speakers?

No no no strings for The Numbers are a Curtis hommage:

http://youtu.be/tE1K-hdRvmI

There is very little dynamic range but this is Radiohead, they've not been concerned with that or traditional sound quality for 20+ years.

Besides Melody Nelson, are there other Jean-Claude Vannier records that have strings that sound like this?

I definitely get a soul-y vibe from The Numbers strings too, maybe like something from an Etta James song.

xpost look around for Andy Votel's "Histoire De Melody Vannier" mix. It's a great introduction to Vannier's expansive arranging work in the '60s and '70s. Amazing arabesque string arrangements on tons of French pop records.

Voila!

Dynamic range is about a lot more than just production and mastering and, with the exception of the occasional swell of the strings, these just aren't songs with a great deal of dynamics full stop. OK Computer is about as compressed a record as any in their catalogue and it has WAY more in the way of dynamics than AMSP, which mostly drifts along in a haze. That's definitely a conscious aesthetic decision by the band though.

There's definitely a sag in this in the second quarter - Desert Island Disk and Ful Stop don't hold my interest at all, but there are so many great harmonic and textural shifts in the arrangements on the second half. The run from Identikit through to Present Tense is my favourite section now.

yeah i don't think this album would work in the same way if it were full of loud and quiet bits. it's a sustained piece from beginning to end in that respect

whoa thanks Captain Jay Vee !

My pleasure!

My ranking:

Decks Dark
Daydreaming
Tinker Tailor...
Ful Stop
The Numbers
Burn the Witch
True Love Waits
Present Tense
Desert Island Disk
Identikit
Glass Eyes

i wonder why they haven't played Glass Eyes yet

Cos it's the worst one?

I like the instrumention, but the vox so mopey.

ARE so mopey.

I'm beginning to feel that, as good as this record is, I may have burned out on it already. Hmm.

it is endlessly replayable for me. i haven't been putting it on as much in the car or on headphones (although i keep noticing new little details when i do), but i'm always happy to put it on in the background.

It's developing into a "mood" record for me, which is strange because I can listen to stuff like Kid A in any mood.

I think it's because Glass Eyed is very reliant on the orchestral arrangements to work.

My friend phoned me late last night, almost frothing at the mouth about how good the Roundhouse gig was, anybody attend?

I was there last night. Loved how the band just seemed very comfortable with themselves now and the ease with which they'll just drop in a classic old song with the 'newer' (ie last 10 years)albums.

I dunno. find this to be their most beautiful record. The choir / treated vocal parts that crop up throughout , like in " Present Tense", floor me on each listen. Love the string arrangements, the guitar playing, the seamless (finally) integration of electronics ( something I felt always stuck out in an awkward way on most of the previous albums from "Kid A" on). Endlessly rewarding a whole lot of listens in.

Listened to an audience recording of a recent Paris gig and the stuff sounds great live, yeah.

I wonder how these new songs would fare in a new Radiohead artist poll. As far as I remember not a single King of Limbs song made the top 40 when we did it a couple of years ago.

"Daydreaming" would easily make my top ten now

Yeah I was underwhelmed first couple of times I heard it, but it's lovely. The vintage sounding synth that comes in about halfway through mirroring the piano is gorgeous.

"Daydreaming" top ten for me too

Hmm. I think this album is one of those albums that is greater than the sum of its parts and at this stage I find it hard to see it as a series of individual moments. I suppose 'Burn The Witch', 'Decks Dark', 'Ful Stop', 'Identikit' and 'The Numbers' would be my ballot contenders from this record, but truth be told, I'm not sure any of them would make it because I can think of 20 or more Radiohead tracks which are stronger in isolation for me.

My friend phoned me late last night, almost frothing at the mouth about how good the Roundhouse gig was, anybody attend?

assuming we don't have the same friend but i had the same experience

I caught myself skipping 'Burn The Witch' when I put this on last night. Uh-oh....
― TARANTINO! (dog latin), Friday, May 13, 2016

this time around I only skip Burn the Witch because I heard it way too obsessively before the album came out.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, May 13, 2016

'Daydreaming' is the one I skip now, still love 'Burn The Witch'

I kind of want to hear a Sting cover of Present Tense now.

probably should have bumped this thread instead:

http://www.avclub.com/article/radiohead-fans-attacked-listening-event-turkey-238425