Radiohead - In Rainbows

Didn't Kid A sell around that much its first week as well? From one noted pre-release leak to another...

i'd bet a lot of money that's about exactly how much they would have sold anyway.

the difference between the original mp3s and the CD is quite noticable the more you listen to it.

yes, absolutely. i noticed the difference as soon as the first listen, it was astonishing. the cd sounds gorgeous.

Until this album, every album they've released since 2000 has outsold the other in its first week, while debuting one position less.

At what point do sales figures mean jack shit anymore? (rhetorical)

..aside from obviously paying the band, I mean? I'm talking more about the chart ranking aspect.

Saying such-and-such album was NUMBER ONE ITS DEBUT WEEK in 2007 is going to be kinda laughable in the future history of music writing.

Actually, ignore me. Wrong thread. Apologies.

This album has turned me from a casual Radiohead fan in to quite a big one. It's also made me realise that one of the main reasons I've always liked them more than every other 'indie' act is that they are extremely thoughtful about the way they use percussion.

Hmmmm, SMACK! Hmmm, SMACK!

Some not-much-news news:

The tour will take place in two segments, one prior to and one following the recently announced summer tour of the UK and Europe.

The cities IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER are:

Atlanta
Boston
Charlotte
Chicago
Cleveland
Dallas
Houston
Indianapolis
Los Angeles
Miami
Montreal
New York
Philadelphia
San Diego
San Francisco
Santa Barbara
Seattle
St Louis
Tampa
Toronto
Vancouver
Washington DC

Exact dates and venues will be announced at a later date

Sales figures may not be the most important thing, but the fact that an album that has been available for downloading for almost three months goes straight into #1 brings some hope for those of us who prefer CDs to computer files.

i just picked up the vinyl today, looks nice.

picked up the CD last week, and i'll be going to definitely Houston, possibly Dallas as well, just depends on the details.

Boston + Montréal, s'il vous plaît.

It's also made me realise that one of the main reasons I've always liked them more than every other 'indie' act is that they are extremely thoughtful about the way they use percussion.

This is OTM. Except that In Rainbows has some of the more boring drum & percussion arrangements of their career (with some exceptions, like 15 Step and Reckoner).

woah i love the real minimal beats and just little touches of percussion that they use on in rainbows...minimal isn't necessarily boring, just like using tons of shit isn't necessarily creative...actually the snare/kick thing on "videotape" kinda kills me and it's just two hits repeated over and over.

"hello. so we have a tour coming up. you can buy tickets on our site. you can pay as much as you want. cheers"

Percussion is unimportant.

seriously?

no, really, are you serious?

Are YOU serious?

Yeah, I should've known better.

hows the vinyl sound? is it very loud? cos i had that problem with the arctic monkeys album on vinyl. sounded like it was from the cd master.

xpost

"Too much compression can be heard as musical clutter; on the Arctic Monkeys' debut, the band never seems to pause to catch its breath. By maintaining constant intensity, the album flattens out the emotional peaks that usually stand out in a song..." Source.

..."In Rainbows" (TBD/ATO)...sold 122,000 units in the United States...a dramatic downturn from 2003's "Hail to the Thief," which started at No. 3 with a career-best 300,000.

However, the comparison is somewhat unfair, as "In Rainbows" was available for several weeks in the fall as a "name your own price" download and a 2-disc, double-vinyl "discbox" exclusively from Radiohead.com...

Have sales figures for the discbox "experiment" been released?

I'm not suggesting that Radiohead shipped/sold 180K discboxes to U.S. customers (fewer than 3K? Less than even half that?), but wouldn't seem a reasonable guess that between the pre-01/01/08 name-your-price downloads and discboxes, together with the post-01/01/08 availability on iTunes, et al., together with those 122K units, that the number of "units" in US households is in the neighborhood of 300K? Perhaps even more?

I wish geir would die.

Although, as I've said once before upthread, is there not something audibly fishy betwixt 2:20 and 2:30 of "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi"?

It took me 3 or 4 listens to pick it out, but you're right, at 2:19 it definitely muffles. I would never have noticed it unless you'd said.

I'm not suggesting that Radiohead shipped/sold 180K discboxes to U.S. customers (fewer than 3K? Less than even half that?), but wouldn't seem a reasonable guess that between the pre-01/01/08 name-your-price downloads and discboxes, together with the post-01/01/08 availability on iTunes, et al., together with those 122K units, that the number of "units" in US households is in the neighborhood of 300K? Perhaps even more?

also i bought it on vinyl from a non-soundscan reporting indie store, and i'd imagine radiohead does way more business at those than your average "big time" alternative rock band.

i think the vinyl sounds nice, only listened to it once though.

Yeah, the vinyl sounds way nice. Not too loud.

I'm not going to be tempted to get mad at Geir on this thread.

I bought this and Shellac on vinyl, guess I'll have to buy a turntable one day.

let geir be geir

It took me 3 or 4 listens to pick it out, but you're right, at 2:19 it definitely muffles. I would never have noticed it unless you'd said.

Which begs the question: is this a (e.g., mastering) defect, or design?

Sounds like a mistake to me.

I'm not suggesting that Radiohead shipped/sold 180K discboxes to U.S. customers (fewer than 3K? Less than even half that?)

They've sold nearly 100,000 discboxes. But that's internationally, I'm not sure how many they've sold in the US alone.

They've sold nearly 100,000 discboxes. But that's internationally, I'm not sure how many they've sold in the US alone.

jesus christ that's way more than i thought.

Jesus Christ²

You're obviously well-informed (having got here first/kicked-off this thread, etc.), but have you a reliable source for this info?

"Too much compression can be heard as musical clutter; on the Arctic Monkeys' debut, the band never seems to pause to catch its breath. By maintaining constant intensity, the album flattens out the emotional peaks that usually stand out in a song..." Source.

-- dblcheeksneek, Thursday, 10 January 2008 13:54 (9 hours ago) Link

fuck dude. this is the exact same thing I was responding to when we had our back and forth in the best of 2007 thread a week back. I guess I used every word I could think of except "too much compression". :)

Were the mega-compressed pay-what-you-want (or free) MP3s your October 2007 review's In Rainbows reference point(s)? If so, that'd 'splain a ton.

You're obviously well-informed (having got here first/kicked-off this thread, etc.), but have you a reliable source for this info?

Interviews with the band.

Posted anywhere in particular? (My searches of the Interweb {e.g., Google News} have come up empty.)

This may interest those of you with time on your hands in London today...

http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/

(xpost) maybe she asked them?

I'd heard 80,000.

could they be any more fey?

I'm pretty sure the 80,000 figure was mentioned in the observer music monthly interview and at least one of the bbc radio interviews.

all you london based ILM'rs : http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/entertainment/7191556.stm

don't these fucks have jobs?

From The Observer, Sunday December 9, 2007,

"Caught in the flash" by moderator/interviewer, Craig McLean:

'Can you say something about the sales figures of In Rainbows, the average price paid only for the download and the number of ordered discboxes? In which countries the most discboxes?'

Ed: 'I think there's about 80,000 discboxes.'

Jonny: '60,000.'

Ed: 'It was 65,000 a week ago.'

Colin: 'It's 72,000.'

----

Again, that was almost a month ago. I reckon(er) they've hit 100K sold by now (or shortly before the Christmas).

And, for the record, I didn't doubt the veracity of Melissa W's info, I just wondered where she got/read/heard it.

xpost-

Thanks to leigh for the Observer lead; and seconding my own Jesus Christ² - 100K discboxes at $80 USD a pop!?!?! Wowowowowowow.

This album is great, you guys.