Radiohead - Kid A / Amnesiac Poll

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!

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

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

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.

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

"Pyramid Song."

Only "There There" tops that one for me.

Yeah, "Pyramid Song" for me too.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

it's just so listless and unpleasant

^^

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

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.

haha fair enough!

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

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.

cool.

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

In Limbo.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

Mine too and I was also wrong.

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.

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

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

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.

best track: Idioteque
worst track: The National Anthem

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

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

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

Idioteque

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

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.

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).

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.

The poll to end all polls!

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

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 !

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, February 13, 2014 9:56 AM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha, totally. went on a snowboarding trip w/ a couple friends in high school and kind of just played this album on repeat and smoked bowl after bowl

Everything In Its Right Place was the perfect introduction to this new phase. I remember loving it the very first time I heard it and then losing faith when the title track slowed things down. I have a vendetta against momentum-killing second tracks (see also: Daft Punk's Game of Love).

Also, the title track sort of does sound like a pallid imitation of Warp whereas Everything is entirely its own entity, and joyous in a way. It's almost rave-like live.

also the national anthem is really pretty awesome, it wasn't my favorite at first but now it's one of the highlights of kid a for me, wish they explored those free jazz experiments a little more

Gigamesh unearthed the deep house track Radiohead was clearly trying to make here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HzTdmeSgjU

I was holding out for an Orbital remix at the time. Would have paid good money for a version with a boshing kickdrum.

My mate reckons the opening chords of EIIRP sound like slipping into a warm bath.

I have a vendetta against momentum-killing second tracks (see also: Daft Punk's Game of Love).

is OTM. A total sequencing faux-pas. Especially since it's usually track 2 I tend to skip to if I need to sample an album very very quickly.

The Gigamesh remix of Once in a Lifetime is amazing. Looking forward to hearing this.