Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool

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

this album was released today and has finally shown up on Spotify. i will finally get to hear it, so excited.

Me too. Listened to it today, very mellow, I like more than TKOL, but it's going to take a while for these tracks to sink in.

What a bunch of assholes.

Referring to the extremist ramadan dickheads not the band or any of youse.

This has quietly turned into one of my favorite albums of the year, and I'm not a huge Radiohead fan per se. It also (and this is probably going to sound like a very backhanded compliment) reminds me a lot of Blur's 13, minus the louder tracks, and with much more restraint on all fronts. I'm not sure if a "Bugman" would have helped or hurt, but it means you don't have to adjust the volume when it's on in the background. Desert Island Disk was actually the first track where my ears really perked up (I already knew the opener via the single).

I'm grateful that this record was better than TKOL and it made me revisit the Radiohead records I listened to thousands of times then neglected for many years. Such a trip to come back after ~9 years to a band that you listened to obsessively for ~3 years. "There There," "Kid A," "Scatterbrain," "You and Whose Army" are just staggering (obviously). Anyway this album looks bad in light of the past. But I need to spend more time with it.

feel like dlp9001 -- this record sort of gains strength over a few listens and feels very strong, even though I sort of considered myself check out on caring about Radiohead. the playing is good, the sort of tonal through-line is complex and rewards close listening, the harder I dig in the more I find.

i'm with you guys, this is a grower and will reward deep listening. feels like it has a tension that their last few records have lacked.

it's funny to me that this is the first radiohead album where i've heard some of their descendents as much as their forebears--there's some mid-period shearwater in this, some of the liars records come up too as i listen.

agreed. "tinker tailor..." sounds like a Broadcast song to me.

I haven't listened to this for a while, not because I've overplayed it or burned out on it or anything, more that it's not the kind of record that chimes with my overall mood at the moment. Radiohead and tropical weather don't really mix well.

I've been listening to Spectre all over again in the context of this album and I think it's amazing. The vocal melody he makes when singing "My hunger burns a bullet hole a spectre of my mortal soul / The only truth that I can see
Is when you put your lips to these" keeps getting stuck in my head (just realized I kept mishearing the first line as 'My hungry bird" which made no sense). Even the lesser guitar and piano covers I've heard on youtube make you realize how great of a melody it is. Only thing ruining this song from being the best thing they've released in years is the awkward drumming and the reverb overload on the voice (I also blame those as the factor that ultimately won the bond theme to Sam Smith which is a shame... I'd love to have seen people that don't follow them remembering them from a song other than Creep)

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, May 13, 2016 4:32 AM (1 month ago)

I've had Spectre on regular rotation since it came out -- awesome track, and a huge black eye for the Broccoli's for not making it the theme song in the 007 movie of the same name. Thing is, it lyric is perfectly matched to content of the film - FAR superior than the pablum they used from Sam Smith.

Radiohead: A Moon Shaped POLL

So, I'm listening to A Moon Shaped Pool for the first time in weeks and I guess my initial responses to this record have turned out to be little more than a bunch of red herrings. Upon first listen, this album did sound quite beautiful in places and seemed to have the potential to grow even more to become one of their more satisfying works, but listening to it now it seems that the criticisms I've heard and read about this album being meandering, mostly turgid and a little on the bland and boring side are actually, sadly, completely and totally OTM.

Now, Radiohead fans being the kind of special breed that they are, would have you believe that this record is a deep, rich and intense emotional experience lovingly delivered by "the most forward-thinking band in popular music(tm)" but, truth be told, it isn't. Firstly, this must be one of the least "forward-thinking" releases in Radiohead's catalogue - which isn't a bad thing in itself, but what it does mean is that, in the absence of much fancy window dressing/sonics, the listener focuses upon the quality of the songwriting, and a lot of the compositions meander and aren't particularly melodically interesting. Radiohead have got around this problem in the past by dressing up songs that are barely there with sonically interesting arrangements. Here, the sound is mostly monochrome and a touch on the bland side - and the string arrangements, as just about competent as they are, aren't enough to carry a lot of these songs. Also, 'True Love Waits' had a hell of a lot of potential, and it was hard to imagine them fucking it up - except that's precisely what they did. A beautiful song turned into a whiny, dull mess.

One of the main criticisms of Radiohead's output over the years is that they're depressing, a criticism that I don't quite agree with and never have really agreed with. However, what is depressing is that Radiohead, this time around, have delivered their equivalent of an adult contemporary record, a la Coldplay or David Gray - albeit one that is distinguished by Thom Yorke's melodic sense and compositions that avoid the traditional verse-chorus-verse-chorus-mid 8-chorus structure - and hardly anyone has seemed to notice this. The songs mostly operate in the mid-tempo range and plod and meander from beginning to end and Thom Yorke does his high pitched "ooooooohs" a lot like we haven't heard it all a million fucking times before. Nigel Godrich's production too, gives the whole album that "once-aurally-exciting-16-years-ago-but-now-is-actually-quite-fucking-boring-learn-some-new-tricks-goddamn-it-you-cunt" Godrich sheen that makes everything sound so flat and samey. The sound of a band with dick-all left to say and not particularly arsed about finding something to say, knowing that idiots will lap whatever they do up anyway.

Highlights: Burn The Witch, Decks Dark, Ful Stop, Identikit, The Numbers.
Destroy everything else, and search for the live version of 'True Love Waits' on I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings.

thought this was OK, tho much prefer the new leak

Agree to disagree Turrican.

Agree to disagree as well. Holds up for me still and is the first Radiohead album in years I've stuck with past the initial excitement.

I've stuck with past the initial excitement because it's a beautiful piece of work.

it's absolutely an adult contemporary record, or "sophisti-pop", or whatever. nobody fucking needs fifty-something revolutionaries. it's certainly reasonable to think that the strength of the compositions and arrangements isn't enough to overcome the mid-tempo lope of all the songs (mid-tempo lope is exactly my problem with the sex pistols). personally i'm irritated that radiohead is still mastering their albums for jogging or top 40 rotation, which means i have a difficult time listening to it straight through.

however, the songs are still better than whatever that "lotus blossom" stuff they were doing for their last album was. i'd put them on a par with, say, "hail to the thief". radiohead aren't bowie, they can't reinvent themselves with every album, but they've done a good job of consolidating their sound.

Well, I don't think particularly highly of The King of Limbs either, which has always struck me as being mostly a collection of underwritten songs at their core - although I'll concede that 'Codex' is better than pretty much anything on A Moon Shaped Pool.

On the whole, though, for at least the last 9 years or so, the gulf between the actual quality of Radiohead's music and what the hardcore fans say it is could not be more apparent.

the hardcore fans, sure, but once i got off the bus i started liking their music a lot more.

However, what is depressing is that Radiohead, this time around, have delivered their equivalent of an adult contemporary record, a la Coldplay or David Gray

wtf what album are you listening to

like I only like this record but still

it's absolutely an adult contemporary record, or "sophisti-pop", or whatever

y'all are talking nonsense. I would die for an adult contemporary radiohead record. this album sounds like art pop

it's closer to a late talk talk record than bryan ferry or phil collins

When I read your post Turrican, all I could think about is how much you love that latest Suede album. A lot of the things you describe about A Moon Shaped Pool could be applied to Night Thoughts for me.

The songs mostly operate in the mid-tempo range and plod and meander from beginning to end and Brett Anderson does his high pitched "ooooooohs" a lot like we haven't heard it all a million fucking times before. Ed Buller's production too, gives the whole album that "once-aurally-exciting-16-years-ago-but-now-is-actually-quite-fucking-boring-learn-some-new-tricks-goddamn-it-you-cunt" Buller sheen that makes everything sound so flat and samey. The sound of a band with dick-all left to say and not particularly arsed about finding something to say, knowing that idiots will lap whatever they do up anyway.

Night Thoughts doesn't have 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Needlessly Long Title' on it, a song that seriously ought to come free with a flask of coffee and a sleeping bag. With the Radiohead bear on it of course.

wtf what album are you listening to

― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Sunday, August 14, 2016 10:59 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

A Moon Shaped Pool, the ninth album by popular British combo Radiohead.

Godrich's production on this has more in common with the productions he did on Chaos and Creation in the Backyard and Travis' The Man Who than Kid A or OK Computer.

This is totally an adult contemporary record, albeit an adult contemporary record targeted at the Radiohead fans that are now approaching, or are, middle aged.

oh no radiohead isnt cool anymore?

adult contempo is an actual genre with an actual set of sonic features to distinguish it from other genres and...this is not adult contempo.

Godrich's production on this has more in common with the productions he did on Chaos and Creation in the Backyard and Travis' The Man Who than Kid A or OK Computer.

here are some other records this guy produced, for lamer bands or artists in lamer ages of their career

While it may not be a Bon Jovi or a Celine Dion record, it would definitely fit in snugly with a person's Coldplay or David Gray records. Acoustic, soft rock, piano ballads, songs about divorce. It has it all. It's Radiohead's Ghost Stories, or... ahahaha... their No Jacket Required!

Maybe Thom Yorke should go the whole hog and shave his head. Go for the "full Collins" ... but as crap as No Jacket Required is, at least Collins remembered to fucking emote on it.

it's closer to a late talk talk record than bryan ferry or phil collins

― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson)

it's close to neither. "adult contemporary" doesn't have to sound like that song from "robin hood: prince of thieves". we're talking about a genre that got its start with joni mitchell and fleetwood mac.

yeah robin hood prince of thieves is the spectrum I'm describing with "bryan ferry" and "phil collins"

it would definitely fit in snugly with a person's Coldplay or David Gray records. Acoustic, soft rock, piano ballads, songs about divorce

they talk about the same things and use some similar instruments! same!

pretty sure no jacket required isn't about divorce and doesn't have many acoustic guitars and piano ballads

I'm pretty sure there is a song about divorce on that record written by a middle aged guy.

"adult contemporary" doesn't have to sound like that song from "robin hood: prince of thieves". we're talking about a genre that got its start with joni mitchell and fleetwood mac.

― a confederacy of lampreys (rushomancy), Sunday, August 14, 2016 11:40 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OTM.

While it may not be a Bon Jovi or a Celine Dion record, it would definitely fit in snugly with a person's Coldplay or David Gray records. Acoustic, soft rock, piano ballads, songs about divorce. It has it all. It's Radiohead's Ghost Stories, or... ahahaha... their No Jacket Required!

this is such hackneyed criticism though. "oh no, the normals might like it, it's not daring enough!" -- I thought we were kind of over this line of thinking