Radiohead - In Rainbows

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

ha, yea pretty much. Though like I mentioned "bodysnatchers' ends up working well. I'm glad it's on the album.

Jigsaw is fantastic - part of the reason I like it is that, Thom aside, you could put it on Forever Changes and no one would notice.

Bodysnatchers is simply enjoyable, not too crazy great or anything. Here's how i rate everything:

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
-- stephen, Friday, October 12, 2007 3:45 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Link

i guess you could say i don't like quiet/sensitive/emo Radiohead, in general. had the same problem with Hail to the Thief.

Having listened to this something like 10 times now, I can say it's fast becoming my favourite album of theirs since OK Computer.

i don't like it nearly as much as well, anything except Pablo Honey. boo!

Can someone explain what's going on in Melissa's clip? I R at work and I can't listen :-/

It's the first time they've managed to get the rock/electronica balance right. Kid A through HTTF, it's always felt like they're forcing somebody else's sound over their own. The electronic influences were really obvious and compared with this album they stuck out like a sore thumb. In Rainbows is a very guitar-orientated album, although you wouldn't notice it at first. Johnny's guitar works with Thom's voice as one, as if you're strapped to the roof of a cathedral, listening to the band rehearse down below you. I love it. It takes a while for it to sink in, in fact I'm still letting it do that, but on the whole I think it's their greatest achievement.

I think the fact that the album *is* quiet/emo Radiohead is what intrigues me the most. It wasn't what people were expecting, so.

Meantime, now I'm wondering what the second disc will be like.

^^^ yes, I can't wait to hear the second disc.

Though I won't be doing the discbox. Wonder if you'll be able to get a regular release of the second disc, or if it's discbox exclusive?

melissa where did that come from?

It's very guitary driven.

It's not necessarily overdriven though.

Ned I just opened the link to your Om review -- I too nearly forgot about this release in the Radiohead craze, which prior to 10/10 I listened to quite a bit. I think I'll put it on today.

back to Radiohead. from Charlie Wilmoth's Dusted Review:

They've dedicated a lot of their time the past seven years to making bleeps and bloops and space noises, which is fine except, again, that's not what they're good at.

hardy-har-har. ughh.

In any case, I can't shake the feeling that In Rainbows is like watching a great movie on an amazing flat-screen TV that I'm only allowed to watch while wearing glasses with the wrong prescription. (Which almost sounds like a the subject of a Radiohead song, come to think of it.)

I don't understand this at all.

also from the Dusted review:

In Rainbows is pretty much exactly what we'd expect - not quite as strange as Kid A, not quite as rock-based as 2003's Hail to the Thief, and not quite as paranoid as Yorke's 2006 solo album The Eraser.

and highly OTM. this album is missing its identity.

the best parallel i can draw: it's most similar (out of Radiohead's back catalog) to Amnesiac, cause it feels like a handful of good songs scattered among nearly a full album's worth of b-sides.

melissa where did that come from?

It's from the middle of Reckoner with the central channel cut out so that you can hear Thom singing "in rainbows in rainbows in rainbows".

xxpost really? i'd almost HTTT had less of an identity. IR seems to be a lot more cohesive, even if it doesn't flow as well as I thought it did on first listen.

^ exposes Reckoner as the album's thematic centerpiece?

xpost

this album is missing its identity.

I don't sense this at all, honestly. I think it very cleverly suggests one tone at the start with the opening two songs, then shifts into the predominant one from there on in. And I like that.

Mark - for one, i think Nude and Videotape both sound *very* similar, mood-wise to Pyramid Song, like throwaways that were discarded in favor of Pyramid Song at the time, then used for this album later. Nude in particular, maybe there's a reason it's been around for years and never been recorded for an album...

I watched that studio clip on the dvd where they're working on it, it sounds like a totally different song.

I think it very cleverly suggests one tone at the start with the opening two songs, then shifts into the predominant one from there on in. And I like that.

so which is the album's true identity, the one presented in the first two songs? or the one suggested thereafter? i'll admit i too see the distinction in mood/tone between the 2nd and 3rd songs, but it seems disjointed to me -- as opposed to say, Kid A, which very effectively maintains the *same* mood from start to finish.

which is the album's true identity

Does it need one?

I'm not sure about the b-sides description of Amnesiac (partly because there are so many incredible songs on it) It is a kind of fragmented album, in a sense, but I think that makes it for a much more dynamic narrative. The instrumental bits, the interludes, the choppiness of a lot of it, it just works so well for Amnesiac. Those parts also give a sense of spaciousness to the album that I don't really think HTTT or IR really have, apart from a few songs.

xxxpost (to Stephen) -- hmm I can see where you're coming from in regards to those two songs.

(regarding Nude/Videotape)

I actually hadn't realized people still considered Amnesiac a B-side/throwaway collection! Wow. That actually kinda surprises me. (Then again I hadn't realized people still called Kid A 'cold' so who knows.)

Yea it always baffled me because I've always thought Amnesiac is their best album.

They've actually been playing Nude live in various guises since 1997. I think they've been sitting on that song in search of the right arrangement for ages, it used to have a big loud Fake Plastic Trees guitar bit in the final third. I like it more than Pyramid Song, not that they actually sound very similar at all.

(I think Amnesiac is their worst album that just happens to contain a couple of their best songs)

That's a good take!

it would've made more sense of IR came out after Amnesiac, HtTT really does feel out of place in between those two.

*if

All we need now is for them to record Lift, Big Boots and Follow Me Around.

I've got a ropey old mp3 of Lift, 128kbps, and it's fantastic. One of their top 5 songs I think. I'd love to hear a "proper" version of it.

While hearing the Talk Talk reference, Reckoner sounds to me like a John Frusciante song with good vocals (Fall out of Love rhythm, Scar Tissue / Smile is a Rifle guitar). Obvi not meaning it's an influence, but others hear this? Same Frusciante guitar sound on House of Cards...

all this stuff about IR not being thematically consistent or whatever is mind-boggling. Why can't they just make a record that's just a strong collection of songs like any other artist? It's the same problem that I had with HTTT when it came out, people were so eager to read into it some sort of political statement or commentary on the state of the world. and if it wasn't that, they wanted the music itself to represent some kind of overarching feeling of unease, that sound that says "we're all doomed".

you could argue that the band asked for it after OK Computer/Kid A but it just seems kind of unfair at this point. even for a band like Radiohead. Sometimes Thom just wants to sing about a thwarted hook-up (I just looked up the lyrics to "Jigsaw" and haha.. if it's not a "Creep" for a new generation).

people caring about thematic content of an album = no music fans

ha frusciante

Haha I noticed the Scar Tissue but have been trying to ignore it.

As have I.

Does it need one?
-- Ned Raggett, Friday, October 12, 2007 9:50 AM (1 hour ago)

not necessarily - but that's part of the distinction (for me) between a good radiohead album and a great radiohead album. pablo honey, amnesiac, hail to the thief = no overarching mood/theme = good radiohead albums. the bends, ok computer, kid a = distinct moods, themes, lyrical structures through entire albums = great radiohead albums. so i would file In Rainbows with the first set.

I actually hadn't realized people still considered Amnesiac a B-side/throwaway collection! Wow. That actually kinda surprises me. (Then again I hadn't realized people still called Kid A 'cold' so who knows.)
-- Ned Raggett, Friday, October 12, 2007 9:55 AM (1 hour ago)

I wouldn't call Amnesiac a b-sides collection per se. it's a collection of about 4-5 fucking excellent songs, a few really good songs and then about 3 more that are just throwaways. it's a pretty good album but not consistent re: mood/sound. as for Kid A, i'd say it's pretty warm with Idioteque being the one *clear* exception - right down to the "ice age coming" lyrics.

(I think Amnesiac is their worst album that just happens to contain a couple of their best songs)
-- Matt DC, Friday, October 12, 2007 10:00 AM (1 hour ago)

OTM!

Why can't they just make a record that's just a strong collection of songs like any other artist?
-- Roz, Friday, October 12, 2007 10:36 AM (32 minutes ago)

i never said they can't do exactly that - it just won't result in their best work, cause they've already set a pretty ridiculously high precedent for cohesive album-length statements.

people caring about thematic content of an album = no music fans
-- rizzx, Friday, October 12, 2007 10:41 AM (27 minutes ago)

okay, ignoring the thematic content for a moment - the music behind Nude, Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, Faust Arp, House of Cards and Videotape just doesn't work well for me, honestly. i wouldn't feel like these songs were throwaways (some to greater degrees than others) if they were woven into the record a little better thematically.

if you're going with that distinction, three out of seven ain't bad!

how does The Bends have more "distinct moods, themes, lyrical structures through entire albums than Pablo Honey or HTTT? I'm having trouble accepting your criteria for good vs great Radiohead.