Radiohead are "a matter of weeks" away from completing their next studio release

MikeUpNorth said:
They opened with Bloom which they probably knew gimps like you wouldn't like for a start.
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Considering it's partially the reason they're releasing stuff this way anyway, so they can have complete freedom in what they do rather than have any commercial label interference, it's less brave and more, the point. Also it's hardly the first time they've done it, nor the first time anyone's done it. And they're hardly at the point in their career where doing this kind of thing matters to anyone. Kid A was that point. So considerably less brave than our Cheryl, gimps or no gimps.

But I was more referring to the use of birdsong and those kind of things which can sound so so cheesy if done wrong. Everyone knows Thom is an environmentalist and campaigns for Friends of the Earth and this album seems to me like he's wearing that on his sleeve more. What started as the environmental paranoia of Idioteque back on Kid A has been through The Eraser and seems much more contemplative now. That bit at the end of Codex where the distorted white noise sort of up-samples into birdsong is one of my favourite moments on the album. Sort of like nature growing from the mess of mankind in a way. Like a tree. Like an old tree. Like the King of Limbs.
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Dear God.

That's only half tongue in cheek.
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That's what worries me.
 
:lol:

In many ways it is to Radioheads credit that they create reactions like this from their listeners. Also, not many albums get quite the same sort of academic investigative treatment. So let's go all out for it, you could argue the lack of any true organic instruments represents Yorkes frustration with the abandonment of the natural in favour of the synthesized sounds which highlight industrialization, materialism, and urbanization which in turn reflects humanities conflict with nature which leads into the environmentalist debate.

Or of course Greenwood just can't be arsed playing the guitar anymore.
 
I think the album is pretty good. I actually think that Bloom is one the best tracks on it. Give up the ghost is very good as well. Made me go back and listen to Kid A and Amnesiac today (which is my personal favourite).
 
Album kind of washed over me, but the fact that Lotus Flower, which I was hearing for the second time, really stood out means that the album will probably take a good few listens. Got to agree with what I read here though, beats on the first couple of songs are definitely too busy.
 
I need to buy Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief to finish the Radiohead collection but I've only ever heard indifferent sorts of comments about them even from some pretty hardcore Radiohead fans that I know.
 
AdZzUtd said:
I need to buy Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief to finish the Radiohead collection but I've only ever heard indifferent sorts of comments about them even from some pretty hardcore Radiohead fans that I know.
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Yeah, as albums they're not as strong as OK Computer or Kid A (but then what is?)... but they still have some of their best songs on them. Pyramid Song and There There are probably my two favourite Radiohead tracks.
 
AdZzUtd said:
I need to buy Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief to finish the Radiohead collection but I've only ever heard indifferent sorts of comments about them even from some pretty hardcore Radiohead fans that I know.
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They are both good, and I personally think that they are two of the more underrated albums. Amnesiac is probably my favourite album. Pyramid song, Knives out and You and whose army? are amazing. I think Hail to the Thief is a underrated as well, 'I will' is awesome. Specially one of the live versions knocking around on youtube.
 
MikeUpNorth said:
Yeah, as albums they're not as strong as OK Computer or Kid A (but then what is?)... but they still have some of their best songs on them. Pyramid Song and There There are probably my two favourite Radiohead tracks.
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Yeah, I'm sure I read some where that one of them was virtually just the 'cuttings' from Kid A - can't remember which.

ashy7 said:
They are both good, and I personally think that they are two of the more underrated albums. Amnesiac is probably my favourite album. Pyramid song, Knives out and You and whose army? are amazing. I think Hail to the Thief is a underrated as well, 'I will' is awesome. Specially one of the live versions knocking around on youtube.
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I'll buy them I reckon simply because I want to have everything they've done and also because I feel I owe them something because of the sheer pleasure of listening through albums like OK Computer and In Rainbows.
 
ashy7 said:
They are both good, and I personally think that they are two of the more underrated albums. Amnesiac is probably my favourite album. Pyramid song, Knives out and You and whose army? are amazing. I think Hail to the Thief is a underrated as well, 'I will' is awesome. Specially one of the live versions knocking around on youtube.
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Agree on those songs from Amnesiac, but other than that it's pretty underwhelming.
 
I love 'I might be wrong' and 'Life in a glasshouse' too.
 
ashy7 said:
Yep. Like spinning plates is a great song as well. The whole album really!
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The version of Spinning Plates which Thom did with just him at the piano is one of my favourite Radiohead tracks of all time. Wish I could put the Youtube vid of it here but I'm having a bit of a brainfart about how to do it at the moment!
 
AdZzUtd said:
I need to buy Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief to finish the Radiohead collection but I've only ever heard indifferent sorts of comments about them even from some pretty hardcore Radiohead fans that I know.
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I like both of those albums. There's some crap on them but in amongst it are such nuggets as Scatterbrain, Sail To The Moon, Where I End and You Begin, There There, Wolf at the Door, Punchup at a Wedding, Pyramid Song, you and Whose Army, I Might be Wrong, Knives Out, Morning Bell and Like Spinning Plates.

Which is probably 75% of the two albums! :)
 
Listening to the album now and my mind is melting. Great stuff.

Not usually a fan. OK Computer is one of the biggest load of wank I've ever listened to.
 
First track, first listen. Pretty interesting, not sold on it but then i never am sold on anything after one listen. Anyone who can genuinely form an opinion about something as subjective as music after one listen always surprises me.

I need at least 3 full play throughs of an album before i can make my mind up.
 
This is actually very good after a few listens. Loving it now.
 
It's interesting having a quick glance at the comments on the last few pages about the good/bad songs radiohead have done.

I was/am a huge fan - put the / there as don't listen to them anywhere near as much as I used to (goes for music in general I guess).

The only album of theirs that I didn't listen to very heavily was In Rainbows though Jigsaw... stood out on that for me. Big Ideas would have but I'd had bootlegged copies of live versions for years and I prefer some of them in many ways. I also liked Videotape but thought it sounded a he'll of a lot like Neon Bible by Arcade Fire.

Anyway, what I thought was interesting was the range of tracks people liked and disliked - there's no definitive 'this is good' list from what I can see. Personally, I think The Bends & Ok Computer were the most consistent (with Ok... being my favourite album, by anyone, ever) but Kid A still rivals The Bends due to the atmosphere of the album - very dark/claustrophobic. Standouts on that for me were The National Anthem, HTDC, Idioteque & MPS (although I prefer the longer version that's a bootleg as think it works better being longer and love the lyrics).

Actually think Amnesiac was a more consistent album than Kid A but didn't have the same resonance at the time - I like push/pulk myself & I might be wrong, spinning plates & LIAGH are all excellent.

I saw someone mentioned scatterbrain & sail to the moon were favourites of theirs from HTTT but they were my least favourite I think - where I end & wolf at the door were my favourites off that.

D/loaded new album today & might go through that with In Rainbows again - as I said above, never really got to grips with that one when released. The range of their stuff though is fantastic and it's funny now thinking of the cold reception Kid A got upon release when, ten years on, it doesn't sound that strange an album at all and, generally, was seen as one of the albums of the 'noughties' (god I hate that term).

Anyway... bed!
 
This like gets worse on each listen actually. Probably have to drop it down to fifth on the Radiohead chart now.

Kid A - 11/10
OK Computer - 10.5/10
The Bend 10.25/10
In Rainbows - 8/10
King of Limbs - 7/10
Hail To The Thief - 7/10
Amnesiac - 6/10
Pablo Honey - 5/10 (and that's purely because of Thinking About You being amazing)
 
Right, I think, I've listened to it enough to say it's their worst album to date (it's still good, though). It's definitely more consistent than In Rainbows but not as good in terms of songwriting.

Shame.
 
Tumbling-Dice said:
I can't believe how much stick Pablo Honey is getting on here.
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Me neither, I liked it more than their experimental albums which weren't to my taste. It was a decent album, far from OK Computer or The Bends but decent nonetheless.
 
Mockney said:
Missed this earlier



I don't strictly dislike it, I think the melody of the refrain is very nice (the crazy baby bit) but I don't like the pacing or instrumentation of it. I think the acoustic version is much better, but I still think it's a rather ordinary song with an ordinary verse not helped by the slightly depressive over bearing organ (the film score harply twinkly bits are a nice touch - "ey motion picture sound track ey? ey? my God that's so fecking clever!" - but don't rescue it's enjoyment for me). I could imagine a million other bands writing that song acousticly and Mike hating it...But then Thom Yorke could release an album of armpit squeeks and diarretic follow throughs (called Under armed up the Alley) and Mike and a bunch of other people would wet themselves over it...Plus the extended silence and then fade back in at the end is the most wanky thing anyone can possibly do in music. And it's almost utterly pointless.

IMO



The drum roll doesn't fit for me and the major-minor shift is something Radiohead do in about a 3rd of all their songs so again, nothing I find particularly amazing. It's a very ordinary song for me. Almost like a parody of a Radiohead song. But not a very good one. Again, as with a few on that album I don't think it's bad, on the contrary I can see the melodic and musical quality in it, but I don't enjoy it and don't find it at all affecting or interesting. It's another song that sounds a bit like a lot of Radiohead songs that sound a bit like that.



Indeed. I realise I'm very much a philistine when it comes to Kid A, hence why I said initially that it annoys me. I know it's worthy, and I know a lot of it is musically very good and I'd love to be wanky and say I love all the subtexture cos I love a lot of other Radiohead stuff, but I don't. I just find it wanky, and don't like listening to it.

In my opinion there's nothing on Kid A or King of Limbs that's as good as Nude or Reckoner (or even 15 Step or Faust for that matter). And certainly nothing as good as Street Spirit or Just (though they're not really comparable with them tbf)
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I almost agree with you on that

in rainbows i thought was the perfect blend of pragmatic radiohead and swooshy radiohead. and reckoner is absolutely majestic.

that album really blew me away.

I hate street spirit and just is meh.

i dont really like a lot of pre kid a radiohead, but then ive always liked electronica more, and if it is to be guitar based, it has to be grunge/shoegaze for me.

also, amnesiac has a few good songs on it too. pyramid song is so immersive.
 
How come In Rainbows is not held in the same regard as Kid A and OK Computer? I think it's a perfect album.
 
Some of the songs on In Rainbows are fantastic and some of their best work IMO. It's probably because it's newer as cina says, but I also think it's a combination of how it was released/marketed, when it was released and because it's bigger. None of the singles (or indeed the album) was really pushed whereas OK was heavily and Kid A was heralded as seminal whatever you thought of it...Plus possibly the best or most accessible single 'Nude' had been around for 10 years so it was anything but a "wow" song to the fans. Imagine it really being a brand new track to the ears and it'd be getting 10x the praise Codex is getting now..There's also generally a weird thing with big albums being slightly downgraded since there's inevitably more mush on it than if was streamlined. Like the White Album for example, which would be the best Beatles album if it didn't have a 3rd of the songs on it. That's my theory anyway...though considering it wasn't initially a big album and they just added stuff to it later, that's probably complete rubbish...eitherway I probably listen to In Rainbows more than I do OK Computer. It's their cheeriest album I reckon(er?)
 
This is interesting I agree on the "newer albums" get lower ratings front. I've been on RYM for a while and its evident.
 
Mockney said:
eitherway I probably listen to In Rainbows more than I do OK Computer. It's their cheeriest album I reckon(er?)
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Yeah I think it is too, though ok Computer is surprisingly cheerful too, maybe not instrumentally but lyrically through songs like Lucky, No Surprises and Airbag. Then again there's also Let Down and The Tourrist, but In Rainbows is certainly 'cheerier' throughout, more so.
 
Isn't that the one where he drowns himself in a space helmet?

Personally I think it's the other way round. It's cheery (ish) musically with the xylophone/Glokenspeil melody (and come on, xylophones are always cheery..you couldn't make a horror movie sound track with a xylophone) but the lyrics are depressing like Mike says.

Eitherway, it certainly doesn't go into up tempo Old School jungle at the end like 15 Step. And for that reason, I'm out.
 
:lol: 15 Steps is certainly a funny one.

Meh, I'm not a fan of No Surprises anyway, weakest song on Ok Computer for me, but I do find it cheerful for some odd reason.
 
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