Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool

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

^^^

turrican will feel vindicated to hear my mom loves this record, which made me happy

i like the giant piano notes in this "true love waits", like big melting blocks of ice

Turrican has been scrambled all day.

as crap as No Jacket Required is

lol have you heard NJR? There's some spiky, unsettling moments.

and when were Radiohead revolutionary? They were a decent rock band with cool arrangements.

a tradition that persists on the new record

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

― The bald Phil Collins impersonator cash grab (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Monday, August 15, 2016 2:50 AM (53 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm only saying what the record is.

lol have you heard NJR? There's some spiky, unsettling moments.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, August 15, 2016 3:13 AM (31 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes I have, and it's shit. Some music really does deserve to stay in the '80s.

shifting into second geir

http://d2zvpytoa1rk5g.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/pantera-nocomp.jpg

and when were Radiohead revolutionary? They were a decent rock band with cool arrangements.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

don't recall anybody listening to "kid a" and saying "wow, radiohead sure are a decent rock band with cool arrangements"

though mind you "decent rock band with cool arrangements" is a pretty good description of sgt. pepper

People be damning each other with faint praise for a band.

I did!

xpost

wow, alfred, your ennui sure was ahead of its time :)

on consideration i don't think that "a moon shaped pool" is adult contemporary, but only because radiohead aren't interested in marketing themselves as such. if they wanted to sell themselves on the adult contemporary market, people would buy it without their having to change anything.

You can see "Daydreaming" or "Identikit" fitting in here without their having to change anything?

shifting into second geir

― droit au butt (Euler), Monday, August 15, 2016 4:53 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

A+

xpost A++

errr - that was meant to A++ JCLC's A+

fuck I somehow missed the "geir," that's amazing

'Daydreaming' is one of the most painfully obvious adult contemporary tracks on the record.

As for Geir, as annoying and frustrating as he could be, even he was occasionally OTM.

It is, however, amusing on some level that some people can't handle the idea of their old favourites being on the skids that they'll circle jerk each other into a frenzy over a shit pun.

it would definitely fit in snugly with a person's Coldplay or David Gray records

This would indeed represent a rapid departure from all those other Radiohead albums.

It's the same shape as those other records.

http://hw-img.datpiff.com/m736491d/Rick_Ross_1-900-too-real_Pt_2-front-large.jpg

"adult contemporary" doesn't have to sound like that song from "robin hood: prince of thieves".

Wild Times by Jeff Lynne?

imo it's a real stretch to call a six minute long song without a chorus and that ends with a kind of sinister swarm of strings "adult contemporary" but of course your opinion wasn't produced by listening critically to the record but by wanting to position yourself as superior to radiohead fans, which is why every comparison you make to other music is only in a pejorative sense, without respect to what those records actually sound like or the idioms the artists actually work in. the scales have fallen from your eyes, etc. iirc this is how a lot of people reacted to kid a

your opinion wasn't produced by listening critically to the record but by wanting to position yourself as superior to radiohead fans

Like you would know the precise calculation/formula that leads to any of my opinions being "produced", so do be quiet. But oh, look! It's the "if you don't like anything Radiohead do, then you must be some kind of musical snob" line, so often hammered into the ground over the years by the hardcore fans. "It's textbook!" as they, again, say in the business. But listen, I did buy my first Radiohead record in 1995, and continued to buy each album, including this one, as they were released. Why? Because I may not be one of those uber-hardcore Radiohead fans who think that everything they shit out is a work of genius, but I have enjoyed their music over the years. D'you know what you call a person who likes the music of a certain band and keeps buying the records, Brad? It's called a fan, but you're a bright spark and I shouldn't really be having to tell you that. Therefore, the main point I glean is that I'm trying to "position (myself)" as being superior to "(myself)" in which case: LOL.

I'm not sure how many people on here are uber-hardcore Radiohead fans who think that everything they shit out is a work of genius. I think it's probably a lot less than you think. King of Limbs got a pretty cool reaction on here didn't it? A Moon Shaped Pool is a big improvement and a good album but it's not a work of genius. That seems to be a pretty common opinion.

Yeah it's fair enough Turrican not liking the album/thinking it sounds like Phil Collins or whatever, but accusing everyone here who's into it even a bit of having bad faith opinions is pretty obnoxious.

imo it's a real stretch to call a six minute long song without a chorus and that ends with a kind of sinister swarm of strings "adult contemporary"

Yeah, if we're operating by some snowflakey definition where Hejira typifies the roots of AC, maybe I could see it, but basically anything I've ever heard on AC radio features subservient arrangements accompanying big front-and-centre voices singing sentimental hooky choruses. "Daydreaming" is pretty much the opposite of this.

xpost:

People are forgetting that I've said that I actually like five songs on this record, and are focusing on getting butthurt about comments I've made about the soft, unbearably middle-aged and unexciting sound of the album (true) and hardcore Radiohead fans' tendency to overrate pretty much everything they do (also true). Clearly, 'tis the season.

nobody's "butthurt" and only children use the term anyway, you tiresome boor

Thanks, dad. Rock on!

you got owned. a chance for growth. think harder.

just want to step in here and ask everyone to please escalate, this topic is more important than any of you know

my considered contribution to this epoch-defining debate is that it's a boring album, sure, but 'tinker tailor...' is one of the best things on it. have at THAT!

see, knew that'd end it

Well, obviously our choices of what the best song is on this album don't match, but I'm glad that you can see it.

sorry for being rude Turr. nb i haven't even heard this

ah, but Turrican, I don't think this album is boring because it is AOR rock. I think it is boring because I think it doesn't do enough with its textures and song development to make up for its lack of compelling melodic and harmonic ideas. it's pretty clearly art-rock, as above, just not very successful art-rock (first two tracks and 'tinker tailor' aside, imo)

n.b. I'm currently relistening to Autechre's latest release, which is a bit unfair on poor old Radiohead, especially when trying to remember what their songs actually sound like

ITT: edgelords

You can see "Daydreaming" or "Identikit" fitting in here without their having to change anything?

― Hi! I'm twice-coloured! (Sund4r)

yeah maybe they're a little ugly and old for that chart... i can't keep too much track of genres because they keep shifting. what i'm trying to say is that what turrican's saying in a pejorative sense i think is true in a non-pejorative sense: the general public will put up with more "weirdness" than we sometimes think, popular music today is full of stuff that is "strange", and while something like "ful stop" has zero crossover appeal, "present tense" could appeal to people outside of the (very large) existing radiohead fanbase, because it has a strong melody and pretty acoustic guitar and massed vocals. that some of those vocals are backwards is of less importance than some might think.

I had a similar change of heart about this album, where when I first heard it the "sophisti-pop" angle was right up my alley but at this point am finding it mostly boring. Recently I've been trying to figure out why. There are certain compositional flourishes or segments that are "typical Radiohead" sounding to me, so that doesn't help, though there are plenty of segments I still find moving or well executed. However I think I realized that the stalest element for me is definitely the vocals. Some of Thom's vocal melodies almost sound identical to older songs (not just True Love Waits for obvious reasons) and I found myself turned off as soon as he emerges. I perk up with the instrumentation then get bored quick when the melody defaults to typical sounding Radiohead progressions and especially typical vocal executions.

And I think the adult contemporary vibes probably come from the band resisting climactic moments in favor of the aforementioned "sophistication" achieved by perhaps stubborn resistance to obvious rock song structuring. So that results in an overall conservative feeling even if the details are a bit more innovative.

I think it is boring because I think it doesn't do enough with its textures and song development to make up for its lack of compelling melodic and harmonic ideas.

Well yeah, I totally agree with this, and it was actually one of my points! It's actually the biggest reason why this album mostly doesn't work for me. As I said...

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.

Having said that, I did also say...

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

So, I guess you can make up your mind about people's comprehension skills ITT. Particularly Brad's.

yeah maybe they're a little ugly and old for that chart... i can't keep too much track of genres because they keep shifting. what i'm trying to say is that what turrican's saying in a pejorative sense i think is true in a non-pejorative sense: the general public will put up with more "weirdness" than we sometimes think, popular music today is full of stuff that is "strange"

― a confederacy of lampreys (rushomancy), Monday, August 15, 2016 3:58 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The "general public" has always been able to put up with more "weirdness" than we sometimes think. Let's not forget that 'O Superman' and Japan's 'Ghosts' were Top 10 hits in an era where you really had to sell a lot of records to chart.

"o superman" was a hit for the same reason "convoy" was.

Kris Kristofferson movie?

chip davis.

my only objection here's that it seems a bit churlish to complain of "mid-tempo plod" during oasis poll month; get in the spirit imo