Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool

[iron yuppie]

So I had my best listen to the album tonight. But I think I've worked out the reason why I'm just not connecting with it as much as I would have liked.

This is true for me as well. With a Radiohead record, I always appreciate the craft, but it is usually equaled or surpassed by a connection to the sentiments and music. That hasn't been the case with Moon Shaped Pool - yet.

Perhaps heresy to say this, but I actually prefer King of Limbs to AMSP at the moment; the second half of KoL captures the sentiment of AMSP more succinctly and more dynamically, I think. There's something of a meandering quality to AMSP that obscures the seriousness and integrity of the message and music, almost like the second season of Breaking Bad.

Regarding that Bart gif LM posted, I have had one of those recently - not romantic but in a broader social sense - and the album I keep going to for perspective on that is Carrie & Lowell rather than Moon Shaped Pool.

 

[u2popmofo]

To be honest, I'm not nearly as high on the new album as I was the first month or so. Still like it though.

 

[Kieran McConville]

So I had my best listen to the album tonight. But I think I've worked out the reason why I'm just not connecting with it as much as I would have liked.

It is so sad. So depressing. We all know Radiohead have trod this ground before; social isolation bleeds so strongly in OK Computer and Kid A.

But I think this is their (read, Thom Yorke's) most personal album. I think Burn the Witch and The Numbers are the only songs that aren't about relationship breakdown and loss. And I'm really struggling to relate to the sadness of all the other songs. By and large, they are really, really beautiful, but musically they're worms and lyrically I'm not in the same space.

But as I said, this was my best listen. Burn the Witch is brilliant. Daydreaming is one of their most beautiful songs. Desert Island Disk is Radiohead doing Nick Drake, who could hate that? Ful Stop fucking rules. Glass Eyes is incredibly, if darkly, gorgeous. Identikit contains some truly phenomenal and unique guitar work from Jonny. Present Tense is all In Rainbows, the shuffling drum line, the menacing folk guitar, Thom's moan and the guitar line that intertwines with the hi-hat drums. And then there's True Love Waits, which can be spoken of in the same sentence as Street Spirit, Motion Picture Soundtrack and Videotape.

I hope I'll get there. And I hope to get there without something bad happening.

My thoughts on your thoughts are that I mostly agree. There's a lot to like about this album, but there's an undertow there. Maybe it's that it is midwinter in this part of the world right now, and a fairly bleak one at that, but I'm more than a bit wary of swimming in that pool just at present.

Still, at arms' length? Definitely an admirable Radiohead album, if a bit long (says he about a record all of fifteen minutes longer than King of Limbs).

 

[joyfulgirl]

Thoughts on my thoughts?

I seem to remember you had trouble connecting with Carrie & Lowell at first for similar reasons.

 

[LemonMelon]

Carrie & Lowell I find that album connects with me on a broader existential level than AMSP's exploration of daily minutiae, so they serve different purposes in my rotation. 4th of July and Daydreaming provide the same heart-in-throat sensation, but connect to different parts of the human experience.

I find I enjoy King of Limbs less since the release of AMSP because it's obvious to my ears that the band has a greater sense of purpose on the latter. There's something very wandering and obligatory about the way KOL was constructed, whereas AMSP is very deliberate in its sequencing and message. The way it mines and repurposes old tracks to illustrate present struggles is quite brilliant. I could imagine the album being a great send-off for the band if they want to hang it up, though True Love Waits would be a real bummer way to go out, wouldn't it?

 

[cobl04]

It is really impressive that they've repurposed a heap of really old songs and managed to make them fit together cohesively.

This is true for me as well. With a Radiohead record, I always appreciate the craft, but it is usually equaled or surpassed by a connection to the sentiments and music. That hasn't been the case with Moon Shaped Pool - yet.

Perhaps heresy to say this, but I actually prefer King of Limbs to AMSP at the moment; the second half of KoL captures the sentiment of AMSP more succinctly and more dynamically, I think. There's something of a meandering quality to AMSP that obscures the seriousness and integrity of the message and music, almost like the second season of Breaking Bad.

Regarding that Bart gif LM posted, I have had one of those recently - not romantic but in a broader social sense - and the album I keep going to for perspective on that is Carrie & Lowell rather than Moon Shaped Pool.

Glad I'm not alone. And I think you're really on the mark about the meandering quality to AMSP; a lack of connection with the lyrics wouldn't matter so much if the songs really jumped out at you but after Burn the Witch that doesn't really happen.

On King of Limbs, I think AMSP is the better album but I certainly connect more with KoL. At this point.

I seem to remember you had trouble connecting with Carrie & Lowell at first for similar reasons.

Yeah I did. But I think Sufjan's lyrics on that are so eviscerating and so specific that even though I don't personally connect with nearly all of them they're still so fascinating and interesting. It's like reading a gripping novel. Whereas AMSP's lyrics feature plenty of Thom's trademark esotericism and metaphor.

 

[cobl04]

I've come around to Decks Dark. It's like the hopeless sequel to Subterranean Homesick Alien.

 

[nielsgov]

The songs on AMSP aren't that old really. True Love Waits is the only one they've played lives for a long time. No-one had ever heard Burn the Witch. Present Tense is post In Rainbows so it could have been on TKOL (I'm glad it wasn't). All the other songs are post-TKOL. I don't know why but it bothers me that people are saying the songs are old. They aren't any older than the songs on In Rainbows.

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[LemonMelon]

Many of the songs aren't "old" per se (though True Love Waits is over 20 years old and Burn the Witch is about 15), but salvaged from previous sessions. It would be like U2 repurposing their 2006 work with Rick Rubin for No Line and somehow making it fit perfectly alongside new material, as well as an Unforgettable Fire leftover tacked on the end and an Achtung Baby era track for an opener.

 

[u2popmofo]

The songs on AMSP aren't that old really. True Love Waits is the only one they've played lives for a long time. No-one had ever heard Burn the Witch. Present Tense is post In Rainbows so it could have been on TKOL (I'm glad it wasn't). All the other songs are post-TKOL. I don't know why but it bothers me that people are saying the songs are old. They aren't any older than the songs on In Rainbows.

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I've found this strange as well.

 

[cobl04]

Classic Interference. Attack people for their semantics

(I don't care, I think it's funny)

 

[u2popmofo]

In Rainbows contained as many, if not more, legitimate "old" songs.

 

[Kieran McConville]

U2 were known for this sort of thing too, but never anywhere to the extent Radiohead are. Wake Up Dead Man dating back to the Zooropa era, that sort of thing.

 

[cobl04]

In Rainbows contained as many, if not more, legitimate "old" songs.

I just used a word. I really did not mean to be taken literally

 

[LemonMelon]

In Rainbows contained as many, if not more, legitimate "old" songs.

True, but In Rainbows isn't as thematically unified as AMSP. The cool part is that these songs from various sessions/years/decades feel like they're telling the same story.

For example, the way True Love Waits seems to be saying something completely different than it used to without changing any of the lyrics is really impressive. They nailed that new arrangement. The context it's in helps too.

 

[cobl04]

In Rainbows doesn't have a song as incongruous as Burn the Witch.

 

[cobl04]

The cool part is that these songs from various sessions/years/decades feel like they're telling the same story.

Which was literally my entire point.

 

[LemonMelon]

In Rainbows doesn't have a song as incongruous as Burn the Witch.

I know we're all used to it by now, but Bodysnatchers is comparable. The album's only instance of guitar distortion, unless I'm forgetting something.

Both albums flow like a dream though.

 

[joyfulgirl]

This morning "don't leave" has a new layer of grief.

 

[joyfulgirl]

Yeah I did. But I think Sufjan's lyrics on that are so eviscerating and so specific that even though I don't personally connect with nearly all of them they're still so fascinating and interesting. It's like reading a gripping novel. Whereas AMSP's lyrics feature plenty of Thom's trademark esotericism and metaphor.

I can see that. I can relate to both but C&L means a lot more to me. I don't think I have to be able to relate to lyrics in the moment in a specific way to be able to connect with them overall.

I listened to AMSP on a road trip over the weekend for the first time in a few weeks and I still loved it enough to put it on repeat for 2-3 times. But how it will settle in long term I don't know.

 

[nielsgov]

Classic Interference. Attack people for their semantics

(I don't care, I think it's funny)

I wasn't 'attacking' you specifically. It's just something I've seen many people mention and it's strange as Radiohead do this with all their albums.

LeMel's point about TLW is fair however. It's amazing how they've completely changed the meaning of the song.

 

[iron yuppie]

In Rainbows doesn't have a song as incongruous as Burn the Witch.

I think you could interpret it as the way friends, family, etc will vilify one of the partners when a relationship is on the rocks or breaking up, the whole "how could you do this to the kids?!" sort of thing.

 

[cobl04]

I know we're all used to it by now, but Bodysnatchers is comparable. The album's only instance of guitar distortion, unless I'm forgetting something.

Both albums flow like a dream though.

I've always felt that it flows wonderfully out of 15 Step's manic drums and clipped Thom moans, and it has all the hallmarks of In Rainbows, even if it is far more upbeat than the other 10 songs. The anxious, incessant hi-hat drums and then the guitar line that melts into the rhythm section about halfway through which turns the song completely on its head.

I take your point, but to me it has always very much felt a part of the album (not that you are insinuating that it isn't). Its status as an energetic lone child live staple certainly helps your argument though.

This morning "don't leave" has a new layer of grief.

Doesn't it.

I wasn't 'attacking' you specifically. It's just something I've seen many people mention and it's strange as Radiohead do this with all their albums.

LeMel's point about TLW is fair however. It's amazing how they've completely changed the meaning of the song.

Oh man, I wasn't accusing you of that either. I seriously just had a half-a-second chuckle. I picked the wrong word in 'old'.

I saw Ful Stop and Identikit live in what turned out to be the last two shows of the KoL tour. I should go back and revisit.

I think you could interpret it as the way friends, family, etc will vilify one of the partners when a relationship is on the rocks or breaking up, the whole "how could you do this to the kids?!" sort of thing.

For sure - but it is a massive red herring musically. I love the song absolutely but I kind of wish it had been a non-album single at this point. From the start of Daydreaming onwards everything is so, so tight.

 

[cobl04]

I can see that. I can relate to both but C&L means a lot more to me. I don't think I have to be able to relate to lyrics in the moment in a specific way to be able to connect with them overall.

I listened to AMSP on a road trip over the weekend for the first time in a few weeks and I still loved it enough to put it on repeat for 2-3 times. But how it will settle in long term I don't know.

I do recall you mentioning that you had a very strong personal connection to C&L. And you're right - I mean, it was my second fav 2015 album behind To Pimp a Butterfly and I saw his show four times. I'm just word vomiting.

I had AMSP in my head all day today, played it two or three times at work, and I'm listening to it right now. So, progress

 

[cobl04]

The dark piano that comes in towards the end of Decks Dark is so good.

 

[Dalton]

I haven't had a time to jump on and say this, but I fuckin' hate when bands break and album into 2 records. I want side A and side B. I don't want to have to switch every few minutes. It ruins the experience for me.

 

[lazarus]

Agreed. The downside of the modern vinyl/audiophile fetish.

 

[david]

Well, an LP when mastered right, can hold up to 20-25 minutes of music on each side. Anything more, say 30-35 minutes will result in a loss of fidelity. Tracks towards the inner part of the lp will suffer. I don't mind when an lp that's around the 55 minute mark is broken up into two LPS.


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[gump]

What I find unforgivable is the Reflektor LP release, in which the tracklist was changed in order to better fit the sides of the vinyl (Reflektor>Flashbulb Eyes>Here Comes the Night Time; We Existed was shifted from Track 2 to Track 4. This is just wrong).

 

[Mack_Again]

I watched the Radiohead's performance of Karma Police (i think it was from 2003 Glastonbury, and it was on Youtube. Hate me, Thom. hate me) and I almost cried. what is wrong with me