Radiohead: Classic or Dud?

Radiohead
Collectionanthropolopolisology
[ EMI Toshiba; 2004]
Rating: 10.0
Traveling through space at 293.37246 million billion miles per hour, traveling past star systems and glowing golden suns, comes Radiohead's latest offering. Discovering a new Radiohead release is like staring into the eyes of Jesus Christ and feeling the eternal stream of love and awe that flows from Him. I might be so bold as to claim that Radiohead is the Jesus Christ of music; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost combined into one small package featuring the limitless talent of Thom Yorke.

So how do I review such an inherently perfect, flawless recording? It would be unfair of me to simply state, "this CD is perfection in the literal sense of the word," as that would not give such a masterpiece the sufficient praise it deserves. Putting this disc into your stereo and listening to it is like having the saints pee liquid gold into your ears. A beautiful, flowing, melodic wall of sound embraces you like the mother you never had because she was a filthy whore.

Track 1, "Ale A Gator," opens up with a lush field of melodic vibraphones and marimbas trumpeting the arrival of Thom York's genius. A glassy string section envelopes the sound field and reminds me of the time I was doing heroin in the middle of Canterbury Park. Finally Yorke's angelic voice sweeps in, crooning the following incomprehensibly intelligent lyrics:

Ale A Gator, the world is your at your feet
With a gaping mouth and jagged teeth
Your eyes remind me of capitalism (the telephone is ringing)
And your love is love like loving eyes, I will be there for you

Ale A Gator
Ale A Gator
Dragging through your personal hell
Ale A Gator
Ale A Gator
Encrusted jewels and a kissing kill across your gentle forehead

Time for sleep
Time for sleep
Time for sleep
Time for sleep
Gentle Ale A Gator

Such raw, unrelenting beauty caressed my soul like fingertips running across my spine. The power, the genius, the immeasurable talent which escapes from this porous CD can easily overwhelm you without proper preparation. Teams of NASA scientists could spend hundreds of years attempting to discover the meaning behind Thom's words, but nobody is intelligent enough to properly do so except Thom himself and his alter-ego, Jesus Christ. Perhaps some day they will both do a duet together and we can finally see who's truly the Son of God.

As for tracks 2-9, I was unable to listen to them as I was so blown away by Radiohead's sheer power that I beat my CD player into pieces with a rake so it would never be defiled by another, inferior compact disc. I shall review the rest of the album once my dad flies back from the Hamptons and buys me a new SUV to play it in.

Class-fucking-ic.

even if they are good they suck, because loads of knobs like them.

― max r, Sunday, September 30, 2007 3:00 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

has anyone bought the new Remastered versions of their old albums yet? i would like to know if the sound is actually better.

today was the last day for BMG Music Club so i decided to order both The Bends and OK Computer. the three CD/DVD set only cost me $15 each...

Well then:

We're doing a show this Sunday (24th January) to raise funds for the relief effort in Haiti. The venue is The Music Box Theatre at The Fonda in Los Angeles, doors at 7pm. All proceeds are going to the Oxfam Haiti relief fund. We're trying to raise as much money as possible, so tickets will be sold by auction at this site.

Auction starts Thursday 21st January 08.00 pm PST
Auction ends Saturday 23rd January 11.00 am PST

http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/09004434FC1C86AC

We're in the middle of recording at the moment, so you'll be catching us on the fly.... but if you're up for it, then we are too.

When the past catches up to you.

U.S. tour wisely avoids northern cities in Feb and March:

02-27 Miami, FL - American Airlines Arena
02-29 Tampa, FL - St. Pete Times Forum
03-01 Atlanta, GA - Philips Arena
03-05 Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center
03-07 Austin, TX - Frank Erwin Center
03-09 St. Louis, MO - Scottrade Center
03-11 Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center
03-13 Broomfield, CO - 1st Bank Center
03-15 Glendale, AZ - Jobing.com Arena

But, on the plus side, with them shunning Chicago or anything close (not driving to St. Louis for these guys), means I keep my streak of 15 years of listening to Radiohead and not seeing them live intact.

Same. Have never seen them live in about 16-17 years :-(

Its really only a sore spot because I was supposed to go their big 2001 outdoor show at Hutchison Field in Chicago, but I was kept at work for a huge deadline.

how much was asking price for tix in the past? v surprised they're coming to denver (or at least 20 miles outside denver)

Strongly considering going to the Austin show.

broomfield is definitely the coolest place radiohead has ever played.
are radiohead good live?

Dud. I loathe this band. They were acceptable until Amnesiac, then they shot their wad and became the most overhyped group of twats in the biz.

yeah? i've never been a huge fan, but i think they're good and fairly consistent! in rainbows might be my fave record by them. but that's just me.

woah afriendlypioneer isn't afraid to speak his mind

Dud. I loathe this band. They were acceptable until Amnesiac, then they shot their wad and became the most overhyped group of twats in the biz.

― afriendlypioneer, Monday, 7 November 2011 16:29 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

A strange tipping point to choose - don't think they really changed outlook/style/priorities around this time?

are radiohead good live?

They tended to stick to the studio arrangements as closely as possible the times I saw them, so there were few instances of unexpected fireworks. Oddly, it was the mostly electronic songs -- particularly "Everything In Its Right Place" -- that strayed furthest from the album versions, and were the highlights of the last show of theirs I saw (which was 2001).

Thought they became unbearably cheesy w/ Amnesiac and the following albums were just bland-to-bad in my view. Sorry for speaking my mind. The thread's called "Classic or Dud," right? Just one man's opinion... doubt I'll affect their record sales.

never be sorry for speaking your mind, freedom of speech and all that

Escape Goat OTM. A lot of their more recent post-Kid A songs, especially the electronic ones, have had a tendency to sound half-finished on record. Live they really fill out and come into their own.

In Rainbows sounded fuller and fresher live, agreed. The band was fitter, happier, more productive.

Still dud though.

not contesting your POV afriendlypioneer, but how was Amnesiac and everything after it any more cheesy than Kid A (or OKC for that matter?). How is it "cheesy", even? Was it Yorke's increasing quasi-political remarks, or their earnestness to experiment?

that weirdo live album they did in 2001 was pretty neat, especially because I agree that they've sounded a little weak after Kid A. Still think "Hail to the Thief" is pretty underrated, "In Rainbows" is good, "The King of Lambs" is kind of a dud

I like my lamb cooked on the rare side.

Anyway, tylerw, they're wondrous live. Don't let the ~Taylor Swift is SO deep~ crowd lead you to think otherwise.

I like my lamb cooked on the rare side.

― Turangalila, Monday, November 7, 2011 11:10 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

If you can’t put a butterfly in a jar
If violence mars your final hour
If you make others feel like jam
Poured on a piece of charbroiled lamb

Anyway, tylerw, they're wondrous live. Don't let the ~Taylor Swift is SO deep~ crowd lead you to think otherwise.

Don't let the flat zings crowd deflate you.

feel like "Jump Then Fall" could be a Radiohead title.

Hmm, might try to go to the Atlanta show.

The shitty thing is this time around they're like, stadium-level shows. Which is a nightmare.

I saw them in Houston on the Amnesiac tour and at Coachella after Hail to the Thief and both shows were great. I'm sure this tour will be much more low-key, but the Frank Erwin Center is the perfect place for me to see them. It is very tiny for an arena, so these types of big rock concerts end up feeling much more intimate, which I think works well with the more quiet direction they've taken on the last couple albums.

The shitty thing is this time around they're like, stadium-level shows. Which is a nightmare.

They were playing huge places in 2001, too. The show I saw was at a horse racing track outside of Boston. 39,000 out of the 40,000 people present couldn't see shit.

They're great live, but yeah, yuck at Stadium shows. I was at the glorious 2001 chicago show (while jon was working overtime! sorry man, that's awful) and was one of those kids who showed up 12 hours early to get up really close. totally worth it. saw them on the Hail to the Thief tour a few times, in more stadium-esque locations, and it was a bit of a let down comparatively.

they don't improvise much live (although comments about them stretching out their electronic songs more otm) but they still have room to stretch their legs a bit on most of the songs, often via jonny's solos. this upcoming tour might be pretty awesome with two drummers - many of the songs could sound quite a bit different.

haven't been to the place they're playing in colorado but it's not huge, as far as i can tell. not intimate, but not a baseball stadium or anything. i think the roller derby happens there.

this upcoming tour might be pretty awesome with two drummers - many of the songs could sound quite a bit different.

Yeah, I was thinking that this could be a good reason why this tour could be worth catching. I'm hoping for another U.S. tour later in the summer or additional dates. Really be kinda surprised if they completely skip out on NYC/Chicago/L.A.

They're covering most of Speak Now, I read.

They should tour together specifically to cause critical agony.

Lex: "Can't...no...must...ARRRRRGGHHH!"

I wouldn't be against that. Maybe then she'd start experimenting with minor keys and dissonance and wouldn't sound like a pink fart.

they were awesome when i saw them at a stadium in 2001, i had pretty good seats, though.

how much! cuanto cuesto!

In 2011 Radiohead fans are as likely to sport a couple of Swift tunes on an iPod as Swift fans are with Radiohead tunes.

xxp lol idk maybe I'm too misanthropic & agoraphobic & terrible for the whole stadium/sports arena thing. I'll hope & wait for dates in smaller venues (perhaps in Europe?) to be announced.

i think it made more sense (the arena thing) when they were still playing songs from The Bends and stuff. there's a lot of ~ dynamics ~ in their newer stuff that probably wouldn't translate well to xtra large spaces.

Equally classic and equally dud.

I think 'Pablo Honey' = half-dud, half-good. It's a much better record than people give it credit for. Yes, it has more than its fair share of flaws, and sure, it's not the best collection of songs the band would ever make, but its highlights are truly wonderful, IMO: 'You', 'Creep', 'Stop Whispering', 'I Can't...', 'Blow Out'. Yes, there are stinkers like 'How Do You?', but filter out all the lesser songs and you've still got a decent EP/mini-album in there. The way I've seen some people talk about this record on the internet, you'd think it had absolutely zero redeeming features at all. This is certainly not the case.

'The Bends' = classic. I bought this album simply on the strength of hearing it play from start-to-finish in my local record store in early 1996, and played the hell out of it at the time. The album is full of beautiful melodies and very strong songwriting, IMO. It's somewhat galling to see the "newer" breed of Radiohead fans criticise the likes of 'High And Dry' because it doesn't have synth bleeps on it and Thom Yorke doesn't sound like he's singing in a cave (with the vocal track removed and the reverb left on). So what? It's a beautiful song, and shut up.

'OK Computer' = also classic. In hindsight, the 'Paranoid Android' single was a bit of a red herring for this album, because once you get past the first couple of tracks on the album, it reveals itself to be mostly mellow, save for 'Electioneering' which to me could have fit on 'The Bends', but also doesn't come close to most tracks on that album quality-wise. Plenty of fine moments on this record. The chiming guitars on 'Let Down', the fuzz bass on the outro to 'Exit Music (For A Film)' (which sounds like a template for Muse), the way the outro to 'Karma Police' takes the track somewhere else entirely. I could go on, I won't...

'Kid A' = classic. A lot has been made of Radiohead's "change in sound" on this album, but strip away all of the production and you're still mostly left with a bunch of typical Radiohead songs - and mostly good ones for that matter. Factor the production back into the equation, and you've got a bunch of typical Radiohead songs enriched with a different, possibly even deeper production treatment than what they'd attempted before. The song-sequencing is spot on on this record, and there's some good stuff here: 'Everything In Its Right Place', 'How To Disappear Completely', 'The National Anthem', 'Optimistic', 'Idioteque', 'Motion Picture Soundtrack'. So much emphasis has been placed on the "change in sound" aspect of this album, that I think people overlook the strength of the songwriting. The only dud for me on the record is the title track, which I don't think even compares to the Warp Records stuff that is a clear influence on it.

'Amnesiac' = dud. While it's admirable that Radiohead attempted to construct what is essentially an album of off-cuts as a standalone album in its own right, I really have never come across anybody who views it as such. There's an easy EP of superb material here: 'Packt Like Sardines', 'Pyramid Song', 'You And Whose Army?', 'Knives Out'. The rest of the album is dull as dishwater, IMO, and full of very unsuccessful experiments.

'Hail To The Thief' = dud. Like 'Amnesiac', there's a solid EP in this album. '2+2=5', 'Where I End And You Begin', 'There There' and 'A Wolf At The Door' being notable highlights for me. However, I find the rest of the record incredibly tedious and very going-through-the-motions-like. 'Sail To The Moon', 'Scatterbrain' and 'A Punchup At A Wedding' are all crippling borefests. 'Go To Sleep' is a great riff, but that's all it is.

'In Rainbows' = classic. This was easily the first record Radiohead had put out since 'Kid A' that I could get on board with as a complete work, and easily their strongest collection of material since then.

'The King Of Limbs' = crippling fucking dud. All style and no substance. I've written about this record before and why I feel that way about it elsewhere on these boards, but I won't bother re-typing it out completely - but in a nutshell, I think this record at its core is the most mediocre collection of material Radiohead have ever put out, and no amount of sonics and studio trickery to reel in the hipster kids can disguise that for me. I've heard this record being compared to 'Kid A', but... no. 'Kid A' is a far, far stronger and memorable record than this effort.

"sail to the moon" is one of their best songs. kid a and amnesiac may as well not have been released, so boring

I honestly couldn't agree that 'Sail To The Moon' is one of Radiohead's best songs. No way.

I love "A Punchup At A Wedding" to an almost unreasonable degree.

I am also a huge fan of "The Gloaming", "I Will", "Myxomatosis" and "We Suck Young Blood"

You are a man of taste, then. <3