Radiohead - Kid A / Amnesiac Poll

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what's the one with the plinky plonky keyboards, woozy vocoder and stop start drumming?

Sounds like the title track of Kid A

I wish to incorporate disco into my small business (chap), Thursday, 13 February 2014 00:57 (ten years ago) link

Drunken Punchup is great; We Suck Young Blood is the only thing I'd leave off HTTT, TBH.

"righteous indignation shit" (Branwell Bell), Thursday, 13 February 2014 01:01 (ten years ago) link

I suppose we do want different things from this band. I read Tom's write-up on U2's "Discotheque" today and Alfred's response-- "this is the definition of rockism, white rockers occupying other genres"-- and immediately thought that "Kid A" was the same thing as "Pop". I couldn't really tell you who's a worse lyricist tbh.

be worry, don't happy (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 13 February 2014 01:01 (ten years ago) link

BONO

Daniel, Esq 2, Thursday, 13 February 2014 01:02 (ten years ago) link

Drunken Punchup has that amazing, lurching seasick bass. Colin G, man, now *him* I like. No shitty basslines there!

"righteous indignation shit" (Branwell Bell), Thursday, 13 February 2014 01:02 (ten years ago) link

there there was "rock song of the decade"-level good.

Daniel, Esq 2, Thursday, 13 February 2014 01:02 (ten years ago) link

Sounds like the title track of Kid A

checked it out on YouTube, correct! forgot about that icy keyboard bit at the end.

( X '____' )/ (zappi), Thursday, 13 February 2014 01:03 (ten years ago) link

Backdrifts! Backdrifts is one of those songs I have like 3 different live versions of on iTunes and I don't even like liver versions!

"righteous indignation shit" (Branwell Bell), Thursday, 13 February 2014 01:04 (ten years ago) link

Both U2 and Radiohead (and also Bowie, I sadly have to admit today after listening today to the bulk of his greatest hits in a coffee shop) are these "I'm a fan" bands that I was into when I was 15, I will always keep up with them, talk about them for years, but I don't feel there is any circumstance that I'd put them on for present-tense pleasure

be worry, don't happy (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 13 February 2014 01:05 (ten years ago) link

Hm, I think this is "Idioteque" vs "Pyramid Song". Leaning toward the latter.

EveningStar (Sund4r), Thursday, 13 February 2014 01:11 (ten years ago) link

I love both of these but I must admit they are like a sound collage in my head and hard to connect titles with each song.

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 13 February 2014 01:55 (ten years ago) link

Kid A version of "Morning Bell" has always been my favorite off these

kadeem hardsonned (some dude), Thursday, 13 February 2014 02:13 (ten years ago) link

"Pyramid Song."

Only "There There" tops that one for me.

Davey D, Thursday, 13 February 2014 02:53 (ten years ago) link

Yeah, "Pyramid Song" for me too.

WilliamC, Thursday, 13 February 2014 03:08 (ten years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGW5jEIPDgU

unofficial vote submission from Kid A/Amnesiac-era for "Kinetic"

Western® with Bacon Flavor, Thursday, 13 February 2014 04:08 (ten years ago) link

these two albums were the height of my radiohead fandom. can't say i listen to them that often anymore, but that's probably because i listened to them hundreds of times back in the day. i'm not sure which one to pick. Kid A (the song) only gets better and better with time.

― Karl Malone, Wednesday, February 12, 2014 4:34 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is me

rhyme heals all goons (m bison), Thursday, 13 February 2014 04:12 (ten years ago) link

kid a came out when i was a freshman in hs, in retrospect it was the most freshman in hs album ever made

rhyme heals all goons (m bison), Thursday, 13 February 2014 04:12 (ten years ago) link

nah just playin
i still get moved by the highs of radiohead for real, but i "get" ppl who find them dreary and dull because there are some of those songs, too.

rhyme heals all goons (m bison), Thursday, 13 February 2014 04:13 (ten years ago) link

like, first 3 traks on amnesiac im vibing and then 'you and whose army' comes on and im like NOPE straight to knives out

rhyme heals all goons (m bison), Thursday, 13 February 2014 04:14 (ten years ago) link

funny, when you say Radiohead can be dreary and dull "Knives Out" is the first song i think of

kadeem hardsonned (some dude), Thursday, 13 February 2014 04:18 (ten years ago) link

yeah, "Knives Out" should have been great but it feels like it has never 100% worked for me

Simon H., Thursday, 13 February 2014 04:24 (ten years ago) link

it's just so listless and unpleasant

Simon H., Thursday, 13 February 2014 04:25 (ten years ago) link

^^

"In Limbo" >>>>>>>>>>> "Knives Out"

Western® with Bacon Flavor, Thursday, 13 February 2014 04:26 (ten years ago) link

tbf I remember reading a Smiths comparisons thrown out to "Knives Out" at the time so that was a helpful hand at never having to waste too much time listening to that band.

Western® with Bacon Flavor, Thursday, 13 February 2014 04:30 (ten years ago) link

haha fair enough!

rhyme heals all goons (m bison), Thursday, 13 February 2014 04:35 (ten years ago) link

i think its got a rly pretty melody. i enjoy singing it.

rhyme heals all goons (m bison), Thursday, 13 February 2014 04:35 (ten years ago) link

I like Thom's vocals usually but something about the way he sings that one and the second version of "Morning Bell" really grates on me.

Simon H., Thursday, 13 February 2014 04:42 (ten years ago) link

cool.

i put this album on. "like spinning plates" is still great.

rhyme heals all goons (m bison), Thursday, 13 February 2014 04:46 (ten years ago) link

In Limbo.

I agree completely w everyone in this thread who are meh about In Rainbows

Drugs A. Money, Thursday, 13 February 2014 04:57 (ten years ago) link

radiohead were the prism through which i got into music as a hormonal youth. these albums were the momentous core of that fandom & i pretty much lived inside them for two years. as a result i haven't felt like revisiting them or even thinking about them for a decade in the same way i don't feel like casually looking round my primary school or dwelling on teenage crushes. they feel v much of the past. i ended up listening to amnesiac & then kid a last night, although i can pretty much play them in my head note for note. besides one sudden & unexpectedly potent ratatouille moment of reconnection w/ my adolescent ears listening to motion picture soundtrack, i felt predictably less immersed & more reflective, but i did feel fond of them.

this is obv helped by the amount of time i spent w/ these records, but more than any other music i've listened to, the production on these albums is lush & evocative & overwhelming to the extent that it creates a distinctive landscape & background that feels like the essence of each album (dovetails w/ the heady self-mythologizing of donwood&dr tchock). quite a lot of tracks either collapse into that signature ominous background clatter (a peculiar, inexplicably cohesive, kind of gorgeous mix of digital & acoustic sounds) or take place entirely in its shadow: how to disappear completely has those strings looming over thom's anaesthetised vocals for the whole song. the blips added to that sense of a landscape belonging to kid a that existed even the songs weren't taking place, giving you a glimpse of the half-lit icy forest of drones from idioteque when thom yorke wasn't around.

i think the vocals are generally strong, i enjoy lots of the processing esp on packt like sardines & the stupid blobby vocals on kid a, & there are numerous ridiculous/classic yorke fragments deployed v well - "i'd really like to help you man" / "yesterday i woke up sucking a lemon" / "i'm a reasonable man get off my case" - but they're all minor compared to him sleepily crooning HOOOO-LY ROOOOO-MAN EEEM-PIII-RRRE out of nowhere over airless ink spots harmonies & somehow making it seem unridiculous. idk, this was fun but i don't think i will listen for another decade.

ogmor, Thursday, 13 February 2014 10:00 (ten years ago) link

feel like i shld say something about homogenic too but i don't want to listen to that either.

ogmor, Thursday, 13 February 2014 10:02 (ten years ago) link

10-track edit of HTTF highlights >> 10-track combination of Kid A/Amnesiac highlights.

What is wrong with songs? Absolutely nothing. Songs are great. (DL), Thursday, 13 February 2014 10:09 (ten years ago) link

The Bends / OK Computer era Radiohead were my own hormonal youth soundtracks and by the time Kid A / Amnesiac came out, I was at university, obsessed with Autechre and Aphex Twin and making my own electronic music. I remember being seriously disappointed with Kid A when it came out - 'They're just shamelessly ripping Warp Records in a really sloppy way' was my first reaction. I still followed Radiohead, diligently buying each consecutive release as it came out. Never felt they topped OK Computer in terms of impact, but around 2009 I dug out Kid A again and found myself thoroughly enjoying it, especially the National Anthem which I'd previously overlooked. It's definitely more than just a Warp rip-off - I'd say Kid A is to Autechre as Remain in Light is to Fela Kuti - there's a marked influence but they're not at all the same beast.

doglato dozzy (dog latin), Thursday, 13 February 2014 10:32 (ten years ago) link

I used to think Amnesiac was a bit slight compared to both Kid A and HTTT but I prefer it to the latter these days (although I still think the redone 'Morning Bell' is kind of a waste of time). HTTT is a great album but it could definitely lose a few tracks and I don't think it's sequenced particularly well - the mood gets a bit stifling towards the end. In Rainbows seemed effortless in comparison.

Gavin, Leeds, Thursday, 13 February 2014 10:42 (ten years ago) link

'They're just shamelessly ripping Warp Records in a really sloppy way' was my first reaction.

Mine too and I was also wrong.

What is wrong with songs? Absolutely nothing. Songs are great. (DL), Thursday, 13 February 2014 10:52 (ten years ago) link

I also agree with whoever said upthread that it would be great to be able to hear these records outside of the context of Radiohead The Band. If some other band had simply released these two records and then disappeared, I wonder how I'd feel about them.

doglato dozzy (dog latin), Thursday, 13 February 2014 11:08 (ten years ago) link

EIIRP, although if this were expanded to include 'I Might Be Wrong:Live Recordings' I'd vote for 'Like Spinning Plates'.

pandemic, Thursday, 13 February 2014 11:31 (ten years ago) link

I kinda feel like HTTT is one of the great albums iof the decade. Like, for one thing, afaic it looks forward to, like, Silent Shout

Drugs A. Money, Thursday, 13 February 2014 12:13 (ten years ago) link

It's a good album but it could have been trimmed and rearranged a bit. I always liked Punch Up At The Wedding, personally, but found the Gloaming a bit lacking and I don't like the way the album's got two intro tracks. Strangely I sometimes wish Radiohead were MORE conceptual with their releases in some way. Too often I find their post-Amnesiac work to be disjointed and directionless; just loose jumbles of disparate tracks. Considering the amount of time and care Yorke spent on sequencing OKC, the track orders on In Rainbows and HTTT are kind of unforgivable.

doglato dozzy (dog latin), Thursday, 13 February 2014 12:36 (ten years ago) link

best track: Idioteque
worst track: The National Anthem

charlie h, Thursday, 13 February 2014 12:42 (ten years ago) link

both are simple, repetitive, and claustrophobic; one of them works astonishingly well, the other flounders.

charlie h, Thursday, 13 February 2014 12:43 (ten years ago) link

Great tracks which I feel may be overlooked: Optimistic, In Limbo, Dollars and Cents.

I wish to incorporate disco into my small business (chap), Thursday, 13 February 2014 12:58 (ten years ago) link

Optimistic is great. I can't remember much about In Limbo or Dollars and Cents.

doglato dozzy (dog latin), Thursday, 13 February 2014 13:00 (ten years ago) link

Idioteque

kornrulez6969, Thursday, 13 February 2014 13:03 (ten years ago) link

Pyramid Song
Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors
Everything In Its Right Place
In Limbo
Idioteque

I can narrow it down to these five before I get stuck, so I hope these are the top 5 in the poll results

Fight the Powers that Be with this Powerful Les Paul! (DJP), Thursday, 13 February 2014 14:35 (ten years ago) link

I can't help but mention how wonderful Kid A was for the teenage stoner. Treefingers seemed like an obvious invitation to pack another bowl, and then Optimistic would come on at juuuust the right time and kick off side 2.

Karl Malone, Thursday, 13 February 2014 14:56 (ten years ago) link

Wow, I think the paranoia and dread of that album would have sent me round the bend personally. Kid A is def the iciest record they've made (In Rainbows is the warmest).

doglato dozzy (dog latin), Thursday, 13 February 2014 15:01 (ten years ago) link

Can't believe Pyramid Song got to number 2 in the UK charts. That's like These New Puritans breaking the charts. I never could understand how they managed to remain quite so commercially successful.

doglato dozzy (dog latin), Thursday, 13 February 2014 15:02 (ten years ago) link

The poll to end all polls!

How to disappear all the way. My favorite song on my favorite album of all time.

LimbsKing, Thursday, 13 February 2014 15:08 (ten years ago) link

I remember all the accusations upon release of them ripping off other artists (autechre, miles, and can and the warp catalog in general were mentioned frequently), but I didn't really have an opinion since I wasn't deeply familiar with all of that stuff at the time. As others mentioned upthread, those criticisms seem totally bogus now.

The influences of Treefingers are more obvious because it stands apart as its own ambient track without integrating the influences into other radiohead sounds. Still love it though !

Karl Malone, Thursday, 13 February 2014 15:09 (ten years ago) link


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