Radiohead Downloads in Rainbows
A Review of the New Internet Only Album by UK Avant-Garde Rockers
Oct 11, 2007
Radiohead surprised fans with a special wake up call on October 1 – their long-awaited new album would be available for download sooner than expected. "Hello everyone,” guitarist Jonny Greenwood wrote that morning, “Well, the new album is finished, and it's coming out in 10 days."
Radiohead split with long-time label EMI in 2005, and had been aloof as to how the new album (if there was even going to be one), would be distributed. Buzz around the internet became so fierce, a mock site, RadioheadLP7.com, began a countdown to the new disc before it was discovered a hoax only two days before the official announcement was made.
Pay What You Want
“In Rainbows”, the new recording would be available first as a download on the official Radiohead website, on October 10 and as a double CD or vinyl issues complete with extra cuts and album work in early December.
No strangers to unique marketing, Radiohead asked fans to determine the price of the new downloaded recording – giving fans the power to determine how much they wanted to spend.
News of the follow up to 2003’s “Hail to the Thief” was so hotly anticipated that the Radiohead site crashed the very next day.
With all this buzz, the one question remains – How does this new digital only album stack up to recording milestones such as “OK Computer”, “The Bends”, and “Kid A”? or even Thom York’s solo disc, “The Eraser”, from last year?
In Rainbows Review
While the album continues along the same direction as Kid A and Amnesiac, the band’s progress is obvious. Though the tracklist is short, the quality of the music makes no room for filler.
- 15 Step -A loungey guitar and scratchy drum machine driven track filled with odd noises, schoolyard children and a great melody picking up where 'Hail to the Thief' left off.
- Bodysnachers - Gruff guitars, rock percussion and Thom belting, “I have no idea what I’m talking about”, – the most Radiohead have sounded like a rock band since The Bends. You can almost hear someone giving the finger.
- Nude - A cross between a swooping ballad, a seventies show theme and grocery store muzak – brilliant.
- Weird Fishes/Arpeggi – The most straightforward song Radiohead has done in a long time. The lyrics are comprehensible over the light guitar and down played drums. Not their best track but a great bridge to the rest of the album.
- All I need - Menacing synths open this dark and brooding track about a man in love, or a stalker – its unclear if they’re together or not.
- Faust Arp – A reminder of the "Kid A" days, swirling strings, rapid repetition of lyrics and acoustic guitar that all hone into a simmering mid tempo.
- Reckoner – Clanging noises, heavier sounds, funky guitar and an incomprehensible York singing “you are not to blame” - for what we have no idea.
- House of Cards – Guitar driven mid tempo burner accentuated with a wall of haunting strings.
- Jigsaw Falling into Place – Acoustic guitars, a regular drumbeat and a smooth vocal. All rock music should sound this great.
- Videotape – Child-like piano and a mechanically dubbed York bring this stand out track to life. Soon it is chaos and mayhem as instruments float into the atmosphere detached from one another, yet connected by the bizarreness of the whole track. Radiohead at their absolute best.
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