Radiohead - In Rainbows

There's probably another thread for this - this one's going to be long enough without us compiling fantasy tracklistings for an album that came out four years ago.

My opinion my change, In Rainbows is less bombastic, far more subtle than any other Radiohead album. HTTT was pretty blunt in the way it approached you.

(Still, anyone removing I Will = mentalism. But that might be because it still sends shivers down my spine thinking about Thom playing it solo, at the start of the Earl's Court encore, in the week Bush was in London).

Go to Sleep is a groove, We Suck Young Blood has cool claps but it just makes me want to listen to "Freedom", and the out-of-nowhere heavy part is kinda silly.

Anyway I love HTTT and I think it's probably going to stick with me more, but In Rainbows is new!

xpost

who cares which is better

^^

Wow, on the fifth listen to "15 Step" today, I heard the kids cheering for the first time; my own kids have been making so much noise around the house today that I mistook the sound on the record for my kids each time so far.

I think many of us have our own versions of HTTT that would make it a much stronger, shorter, and altogether more consistent album. I've been meaning to cut it down and make another copy since 2003. But as was said, let's leave it to another thread.

I know I like IR, as I like just about all Radiohead minus PH. But I can't help but wish that they really went "out there", and maybe did more of the Mingus-Eno-free jazz-New Orleans funeral-mixed with Warp-stuff of Kid A/Amnesiac. It seems like a stupid criticism, because what they did was just give us a really strong "solid Radiohead album" but something inside me wishes that they gave us an album that we really had to sit with, and take a long time to get into it and see what they're doing. Oh well, I guess Radiohead has never been the place to go to for the really weird challenging stuff, even if they've flirted with experimentation with much success before. I guess I'll just be the stereotype that wishes they'd do more Kid A/Amnesiac stuff. But this one will maybe grow on me a lot more.

Also, I'm glad someone posted this, as I thought the same thing (or at least I think it's the same, as I don't have my tracklist handy and
I don't yet know the song number):

Plus, the bass line from All I Need is 100% BoC

Another thing: anyone remember that Sasha Frere-Jones New Yorker article he did on Radiohead a while back? I happened to just read it recently, and hearing the new album made me think about some of his comments. One thing he mentioned (I think he did, at least, if my memory's right) is that Yorke's voice works best when it's used as just another instrument in the band, and I think that's true. I find his lyrics a little silly sometimes (and this is coming from someone who normally doesn't care much about lyrics), and I think the crystal clear production of his vocals on IR (as well as the Eraser) kind of reveal the not-so-great lyrics, to some detriment. Which is another reason I like Kid A/Amnesiac so much, the vocal processing 1.) sounds really fuckin cool and 2.) obscures Yorke's silly lyrics and 3.) really does the effect SFJ was talking about in terms of making Yorke's voice another instrument in the band rather than the upfront focus.

people seem to remember Kid A and Amnesiac as being a lot weirder than they really are...i hadn't listened to Kid A in years and i did recently and was struck by how much of a regular record it sounded like to me...a good one, but not this crazed ass noisey clatter i'd built it up to be in my head.

people seem to remember Kid A and Amnesiac as being a lot weirder than they really are

i'm probably guilty of this, especially since I first heard it in high school and, apart from some Aphex Twin, hadn't really heard any of the weirder influences that Radiohead took from in making those two records.

also, someone upthread said how proggy IR seems at times, I def. agree on that one. though I don't think it's a bad thing at all. it's pretty cool how a lot of these songs start in one place and totally change course and wind up in this atmospheric gloop.

i think his lyrics are top notch

i'm kinda glad i didn't pay for this. 'warm' Radiohead isn't doing it for me.

people seem to remember Kid A and Amnesiac as being a lot weirder than they really are

in relation to what they were doing prior, they're still pretty damn weird.

"I am a moth
who just wants to share your light
I'm just an insect
trying to get out of the night

I only stick with you
because there are no others"

That's great.

Other highlights: when Thom finally shifts into the upper register in "Jigsaw Falling into Place", during the "The beat goes round and round" part.

Can we talk about the fucking awesome production sometime soon?

i would take about six songs off httt; i'd take one off this.

Reckoner - I guess they're going for a Motown thing here, the drums are panned hard right and there is some great tambourine on the left.

This is why the whole album sounds so good on headphones, and Reckoner doesn't. It wasn't until my third listen (first on speakers) that I really enjoyed Reckoner.

one of the things that shocks me most about this record is how much the more tepid live songs have improved. "bodysnatchers" is a monster, especially after it opens up in the second half, and "open pick" (which was always kind of non-descript live) is awesome as the requisite breathless rant moment (see: idioteque, wolf at the door, etc)

track times, anyone?

i'm gonna d/l this real soon, jut wanna know a few details first.

why does it matter?

wikipedia is your friend. at least for now.

cutty: yeah, i know it doesn't matter, i'm just anal like that.

mark: cheers!

you need to know track times before you listen to the album? what the fuck is wrong with you. close your eyes and listen to it.

is it weird that i've been almost more excited for the bonus disc than for the album?

xpost you just asked louis jagger what is wrong with him. lol

cutty: i'm just interested! wanted to see whether they'd done any real long-form pieces. answer, alas, is no.

lol indeed.

you are a real long form piece of turd

is the BoC track bits of "roygbiv" ?

any other questions you need to ask us?

My own 2c is that this record is fine, but lacks some emotional punch. maybe it'll sink in. it's a nice mood piece, and i'm happy to file it next to httt (which means I like the idea of it more often than I actually put it on). i also think that this is as good as they can be, which is pretty good.

what makes a lot of people here think that they're capable of something out of this world? it's not like they're a band with potential anymore. they're good, and good at what they do, and they'll do this stuff from here on out, I assume.

any other questions you need to ask us?

yeah, why do you and cutty feel the need to keep zinging when there's clearly no fuel left in the tank?

i don't usually zing you, you know that, i just thought your question was ridiculous.

yeah ok it was ridiculous, but i'm a bit drunk, i've just got back from a gig, i feel a bit guilty for not having acquired the album, and i just wanted to know a bit more about what i'd be getting. i know it sounds stupid, but you can sometimes determine quite a lot from track-times.

like, for example, how long the songs are

After a really terrible, stressful, headache-inducing day, "Nude" sounds like musical aspirin. I love this album.

well, if there were, like, three 8-minute tracks on that wikipedia list, i would currently be slavering at the chops, eyes agog, probably trying to d/l the record right fucking now.

that is what track-times can do for folks like me.

you have no idea how interesting it is to hear you talk this

you have no idea how interesting it is to hear you talk ABOUT this

you have no idea

why are long songs better than short songs?

that doesn't make sense. i have no idea? what, about how you should or shouldn't approach a record? under the autocratic leadership of mark p, will it become illegal to pleasantly request information regarding an album's track-times? it really isn't that weird.

matt: long songs aren't necessarily better, but i've long said that i'd be incredibly interested in hearing Radiohead attempt something more drawn-out, more free-form, dare i say more 'progressive'.

mind you, their best disc IMO was the airbag EP, and that was, like, 26 minutes long, with only two tracks over 4 minutes in length. maybe it's for the best.

More seconds, overall, in general.
xpost

ts: person pitch/strawberry jam vs. the eraser/in rainbows

love the first track. what sort of music is like this and 'everything in it's right place'? i know everyone always says AUTECHRE but zzzz. what else though?

It was always more Aphex b-side and BoC than Autechre, by a long way.

Actually, I think my least favorite parts of the album may be the bookends: the first part of "15 Step", before the band starts to kick in, and "Videotape", pretty much as a whole. The rest I couldn't be more delighted with.

Thom speaks:

hope you are enjoying listening to the download of In Rainbows.
its a relief to us all that finally its out there.
its been a mad couple of weeks.. as i'm sure you can imagine...

"I love pop music to death..... Most great composers rely on folk music. I rely on pop music.
I'm not saying I'm a great composer or that pop music is folk music. There's a whole endless thing going on out there.
You make your little pond but if your pond isn't connected to the river, which isn't connected to an ocean,
it's just going to dry up. It's just a little piss pool. I've lived too long to be happy in a pond."

I found this in WIRE magazine over a pint in the pub last night.. its Robert Wyatt

Thom

i'd be incredibly interested in hearing Radiohead attempt something more drawn-out, more free-form, dare i say more 'progressive'.

I can't wait until Louis graduates college.

Funny Yorke should mention Wyatt. Listening to this after spending most of yesterday afternoon absorbing Comicopera, I'm struck by how much Yorke's new tone resembles Wyatt's -- singing slightly behind the beat, allowing himself to sound woozy while textures swell and ebb.

i've been busting 'moon in june' over the past couple of days...wyatt is as good a role model as any. even if his politics are a tad extreme.

the ride accents in reckoner are wonderful, give the drummer some

Can't...Stop...Listening. I'm on number 5 in a row now.

Generally, I'm preferring the first half to the second, slightly. It isn't that Faust Arp to the end isn't good, it's that the first five songs are all pretty much perfect.

Already though, I'm wishing "Nude" were the closing song, and [insert standout track from bonus disc] was in the #3 slot instead.

My speakers distort a few times during this album. Looks like I'm not the only one.
Here's Bodysnatchers:
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g6/Coldacre/Bodysnatchers.png
and House of Cards:
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g6/Coldacre/Houseofcards.png

I'm not sure if that's because of the mastering, or what, but hopefully the final, physical copy will be a bit better sounding.