Radiohead - In Rainbows

I don't know why that didn't work.

So... Amnesiac

oh god marcello

Anyway:

My formal review for the OC Weekly

My acknowledgment of its inherent limitations. There's a lot there I'd already rewrite, but I think that about everything.

I really like how Arpeggi keeps that 3 over 4 hemiola or whatever going for the whole song, it's tricky but sounds natural.

"15 Step" finds drummer Phil Selway going off on acoustic and electronic beats that could easily have been hitting the charts in recent times (they'll surely be used on mixtapes before the year is out).

Ned, you know I love you, but there's not a lot of rap in 5, dude. :>

LET ME DREAM (however stupidly).

Actually that would be a great Radiohead B-side title from 1995.

which would be "bryter later". the weakest nick drake.

Totally wrong there of course

That's okay, I remember making a post after HttT came out, something about wanting to hear Ludacris on Backdrifts. :/

I may have missed the corresponding Billboard article, but is this album being tabulated like any other, i.e. will it show up on the album chart next week?

"reckoner" = radiohead's "new grass"?

Ned made this comparison in his review

I think

Not to the song specifically. "Ascension Day" is the other song I've heard so mentioned...

Aaah, Rainbows; I like those.

Alex very much OTM upthread there. I don't get the love.

They've never done anything as pretty as 'Nude'.

'Faust Arp' is a big fuck you to all those crap buskers who learnt to play 'Street Spirit' and thought they could impress people. Let's see you play these chords then!

At Ease sez that someone else sez 1.2 million "sales". I guess that's a combination of downloads from the sites and orders for the discbox.

Hmmm...that's 1.2 miilion without counting discboxes, whoops. "The band will cash in again when the payments clear for the ‘In Rainbows’ box set which are on sale for £40 a go"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CquDCsalbgA

First sentence of album review on Rolling Stone dot com:

These wily boys may have a secret album-title exchange program with Kelly Clarkson, but everything else about In Rainbows is typically hard-rocking Radiohead.

In reference to Rolling Stone review, from Idolator dot com:

BY CHRIS N. AT 10:54 AM
"None of it sounds like any other band on earth," yet "'House of Cards' is a fragile lovers-rock ballad closely resembling Dusty Springfield's (and the Byrds') 'Going Back.'"

i had never seen a shooting star before

Also of interest?...
One of the guys from Portishead speaks about In Rainbows, and its effects on the industry:

"so then.......music for free is it? well fuking great. so if you get our album for nothing or very little , does that mean i can get my boiler fixed for free... --------i could tell the plumber that its all for the love of sharing and its to combat the evil money grabbing corperation that is zanussi. ...............im sure he will understand. also im not having a pop at radiohead they are fuking good and clever with it. anyways im sure it will all become clear at some point"

Couldn't you also argue the opposite? Why should Bono get a million dollars for singing some shitty song and a plumber get much less for hammering away all day long?

Why would a plumber be hammering? Welding, more like.

I'm still not sure where the hell "free jazz" comes in on Kid A or Amnesiac.

lol xpost

HAY GUYS LOOK AT THIS AUCTION

http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/logos/logoCCHP_SV_260x45.gif

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=307&item=230180543839

They've never done anything as pretty effeminate as 'Nude'.

-- the next grozart, Friday, October 12, 2007 1:15 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Link

In Rainbows - is rated number 3 album on rateyourmusic.com for 2007 albums
-- djmartian, Thursday, October 11, 2007 10:14 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

Well to be fair, In Rainbows at #3 on RYM'07 isn't too crazy.
The rest of the top ten, however...

1 Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall 1971
2 CMX - Talvikuningas
3 Radiohead - In Rainbows
4 Between the Buried and Me - Colors
5 Pearl Jam - Live at the Gorge 05/06
6 Wolves in the Throne Room - Two Hunters
7 Ulver - Shadows of the Sun
8 Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet
9 Reverend Bizarre - III: So Long Suckers
10 Moonsorrow - Viides Luku - Hävitetty

WAU

Yeah, "House of cards" is like "Going back" I have to say, but it's still the most catchy tune on there.

Here's what I think of the songs, though. Honestly.

------

Brilliant: 15 Step, All I Need, Reckoner

Enjoyable: Bodysnatchers, Jigsaw Falling Into Place

Boring: Nude, House of Cards, Videotape

Utter crap: Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, Faust Arp

SOMEONE TELL ME JUST WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ILM
-- cutty, Thursday, October 11, 2007 9:24 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

9/11
-- Matt DC, Thursday, October 11, 2007 9:32 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

actual lols

downloading right now...

Best - Reckoner; Worst - Weird Fishes/Arpeggi.

^^^ Yeah.

Bummer, I loved the version of Arpeggi from 2 years ago.

xpost otm

Best - Reckoner; Worst - Weird Fishes/Arpeggi.

-- nate woolls, Friday, October 12, 2007 8:53 AM

^^^

mad rongs

pssh!

what is rite, then?

Don't get me wrong, no doubt they'll grow on me soon and my whole perception of the album will change. Bad songs will become good, good songs will dull slightly, etc. Always the way with Radiohead albums somehow. I hated Let Down and loved Electioneering when I first heard OK Computer.

Ned made this comparison in his review

Can I be the only one to compare the world-unites Radiohead chatter to the simultaneous "Doctor" shouts that freed David Tennant from his cage and made him a God?

Thanks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_WzTXp8Yvs

WAU

I hated Let Down and loved Electioneering when I first heard OK Computer.
-- nate woolls, Friday, October 12, 2007 9:32 AM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

sounds like you had it right the first time, bud.

hmmmmm on first listen this isn't exactly brilliant (or memorable), but doubtless it'll grow!

not related to http://e-design-it.com/avatars/rainbow5.gif but i swear, this cover version of "No Surprises" is more beautiful than anything on the new album:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pbOGNR4VlY

watch the whole thing and tell me i'm wrong.

this is kind of revelatory

Okay now that the album has set in a little bit, I can formulate a little better of a response that's not as much "OMG NEW RADIOHEAD!!! THIS IS AMAZING!!"

'15 step' is really great, even though I really, really don't like how Yorke sings the "how come I end up where I started/how come I end up where I went wrong/won't take my eyes off the ball again' lines.

'Jigsaw' is pretty boring, probably my least favorite song on here. "Beat goes round and round" ughh. I'm also not totally digging the upfront rock stuff of 'Bodysnatchers' either (though the song ends up a lot better than it started, right around the 2-minute mark it gets pretty cool)

I think "Nude" is great and one of the best songs on here, and I'm not sure if that bodes too well as this is an old song, right? It seems this is one a lot of people are ragging on (especially those who think 'Jigsaw' and 'Bodysnatchers' are the best two things on here), but I like the mopey, atmospheric Radiohead stuff. Yorke's voice just sounds fantastic on this, and hits pretty well on what I mentioned upthread about using his voice as just this gorgeous instrument. The snarling rock n' roll Yorke, with few exceptions, is kind of annoying and I don't really get into it. (I HATE 'Electioneering') I like it when his voice is either pretty, mopey, or weirdly processed.

'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi' I also really like, even if it's nothing remarkable. Just a good Radiohead song.

'All I need' won't hold much appeal once the newness of it fades away, I think.

'Faust Arp' is alright, I could take it or leave it.

I dig 'Reckoner' a lot, and I'm very glad they didn't do another rocker one for this as the early versions might have indicated. It does kinda remind me of U2, though, at least the kind of falsetto Bono hits sometimes.

Someone said it right upthread, the dub stuff is what makes 'House of Cards' work, as well as the atmospheric stuff going on in the background. The production on Yorke's voice is wonderful on this, too. I don't like the "I don't wanna be your friend line.' I'm not sure of the main guitar line either.

'Videotape' is alright, but I think they've done much, much better closers.

So all in all, it's a pretty good album with some holes. Doesn't flow as well as I thought it did upon first listen. It's solid enough Radiohead stuff as I mentioned before, but there's nothing on here that's as dynamic or as interesting as the Kid A/Amnesiac stuff.

Also:

I'm still not sure where the hell "free jazz" comes in on Kid A or Amnesiac.
lol xpost
-- BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 12 October 2007 07:15 (6 hours ago) Link

Yea you're right, it's pretty much just on the last part of "National Anthem" when all those horns start going crazy, and that is all. Sorry. I just wish Radiohead explored that stuff more.

that clip is pretty cool, btw, Melissa.

so pretty much you don't like bodysnatchers, all i need or jigsaw -- which i'd rank as 3 of the top 5 songs on the album (alongside 15 step and reckoner)...go figure.

xpost