RA D IOHE_AD IN/RAINBOWS" continuing discussion thread part V

[Utoo]

This is probably a really stupid question, but the first place I saw the My Little Pony album cover was here. Did one of you make that one? They've got it up on P'fork.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/46346-radioheads-in-rainbows-fan-reactions

I posted it here (don't know if someone posted earlier than me, though). I got it the day of IR's release from my brother-in-law.

 

[Utoo]

Maybe it's because it's the only song on the album besides maybe Fuast Arp that's doing something different, as well as featuring the only interesting acoustic percussion on the whole album.

Reckoner & Faust Arp are my top 2 songs on the album. To be honest, I've already gotten bored with the rest of it. If I want to hear standard Radiohead, I have other Radiohead albums. I like the novelty--and the quality--of Reckoner & Faust Arp, as well as House of Cards, more than the typical Radiohead sounds of 15 Step or Videotape.

 

[xaviMF22]

I posted it here (don't know if someone posted earlier than me, though). I got it the day of IR's release from my brother-in-law.

I posted it here first

and it was created by someone over atease.

 

[impy13]

Good to know. I figured it didn't originate from one of you guys, but I had to make sure.

 

[LMP]

There's an absolutely excellent version of R.E.M.'s "Leave" with Radiohead on Towering... I'm in love with it.

Most of the 24 CD set I either had, didn't need, or was terrible quality. Lift, however, sweet Jemimah...

 

[LemonMelon]

The more I listen to Kid A and In Rainbows, the more crushing it will be for me if they decide not to tour this record.

 

[thetitans2k]

They seem to like to tour before they release an album. Have they been known to tour after a release as well?

 

[Canadiens1131]

Reckoner is the best song on the album, for me. I just can't get enough of it.

 

[joyfulgirl]

As annoying as Pitchfork can be, they have some smart people who occasionally aren't annoying. I love what they said about Reckoner in their review:

...while the stunning "Reckoner" takes care of any lingering doubt about Radiohead's softer frame of mind: Once a violent rocker worthy of its title, this version finds Yorke's slinky, elongated falsetto backed by frosty, clanging percussion and a meandering guitar line, onto which the band pile a chorus of backing harmonies, pianos, and-- again-- swooping strings. It may not be the most immediate track on the album, but over the course of several listens, it reveals itself to be among the most woozily beautiful things the band has ever recorded.

 

[u2popmofo]

This is probably a really stupid question, but the first place I saw the My Little Pony album cover was here. Did one of you make that one? They've got it up on P'fork.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/46346-radioheads-in-rainbows-fan-reactions

I learned of it from Zedbetty.

 

[lazarus]

Here's the write-up in the Village Voice--the first couple paragraphs are more about the release method itself and its effect on the legacy of the album, but if you're in the All I Need=transcendent/Videotape=big letdown camp, you're going to agree with the two biggest points. Very well written.

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0742,harvilla,78082,22.html

 

[martha]

They seem to like to tour before they release an album. Have they been known to tour after a release as well?

Didn't I see them on the tour after HTTT was released?

 

[kakvox]

I thought Reckoner was my least favorite, but then I listened to it 12 times and it has shown its appeal to me LOOOOOOOVE this album. I can't even pick a favorite.

 

[joyfulgirl]

Here's the write-up in the Village Voice--the first couple paragraphs are more about the release method itself and its effect on the legacy of the album, but if you're in the All I Need=transcendent/Videotape=big letdown camp, you're going to agree with the two biggest points. Very well written.

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0742,harvilla,78082,22.html

That's a great review. It pretty much covered everything we've talked about in here. And I loved what he says about All I Need. In fact, it's worth quoting here:

On now to "All I Need." "All I Need" is the jam. Everyone has expectations for Radiohead now, things they no longer do that we wish they still did. For most, this is rock. They just don't rock out like ______ anymore. With every subsequent album, we are nostalgic for a younger previous highlight: We pined for "Creep," then for "Just," then (a longer period of mourning now) for "Paranoid Android." But "All I Need" is what's suddenly an even rarer beast: the smoldering, escalating ballad. The melancholy opening, the steady crescendo of desperation, and finally, the bombastic climax. "Pyramid Song" had it. "Fake Plastic Trees" commercialized it. "How to Disappear Completely" forever perfected it. But on In Rainbows, even amid an album fond of slower, subtler, more washed-out pageantry, only "All I Need" truly evokes it. The skeletal beat skips meekly. Two-note bass pulses push forward and pull back. Thom Yorke, his extraterrestrial melancholy as acute as ever, moans about being "an animal trapped in your hot car" and a stalker "in the middle of your picture, lying in the reeds." Two minutes in, pounding piano chords invade, drums and blaring sonics thrash about, a beautiful ascending keyboard melody floats above, and Thom moans what might be words ("control"? "Is all"?) and might not. It's the record's one moment of unadulterated melodrama, a rare instance of very explicit and very welcome arena-rock pandering.

Or, like I said earlier, one of the best crescendos ever recorded.

 

[joyfulgirl]

Didn't I see them on the tour after HTTT was released?

Yes. Well, I mean, I don't know when you saw them, and I'm not sure when their tour started, but it went on after HTTT was released. I remember that summer vividly for a lot of reasons, one of them being having tickets to see Radiohead and then not being able to go.

 

[kakvox]

Whisper-like dense rock songs. Not over-the-top. Did I mention the guitars? Abound in guitars, propelling the songs through to their climax and conclusion.

 

[Canadiens1131]

Free? Steal It Anyway

Andy Greenberg, 10.16.07, 6:00 AM ET
Forbes.com

Piracy, it seems, is about more than price.

That's one of the surprising discoveries to come out of an experiment by the British band Radiohead last week. On Thursday, the group made its latest album, In Rainbows, available for direct downloading from the Web at an unusual price: whatever fans feel like paying. Downloaders who want to pay nothing can enter "zero" in the site's price field and download the album for free.

But for hard-core music pirates, even free hasn’t been enough of a draw. According to music industry analysts, hundreds of thousands of Web users who frequent copyright-infringing file-sharing sites, including The Pirate Bay and TorrentSpy, have chosen to download In Rainbows illegally, distributing their contraband around the Internet just as they might with any other pirated album.

On the first day that Radiohead's latest became available, around 240,000 users downloaded the album from copyright-infringing peer-to-peer BitTorrent sources, according to Big Champagne, a Los-Angeles-based company that tracks illegal downloading on the Internet. Over the following days, the file was downloaded about 100,000 more times each day—adding up to more than 500,000 total illegal downloads.

That's less than the 1.2 million legitimate online sales of the album reported by the British Web site Gigwise.com. But Eric Garland, Big Champagne's chief executive, says illegal file-sharing is likely to overtake legal downloads in the coming weeks, given that many of those 1.2 million legitimate sales were pre-orders taken during the 10 days between when the band announced the album and its actual release last Thursday.

With popular album releases, illegal download volumes normally outstrip sales, says Garland. But more surprising is that fans chose to steal music they could legally download for any price they choose.

Garland argues that this kind of digital theft is more a matter of habit than of economics. "People don't know Radiohead's site. They do know their favorite BitTorrent site and they use it every day," he says. "It's quite simply easier for folks to get the illegal version than the legal version."

In Garland's experience, the store price of a new album plays little role in determining how often it will be pirated. Similarly irrelevant are the protective locks that recording companies put on files to try to stop pirates from copying and sharing file, so called digital rights management systems.

"Albums that are popular in retail are popular among pirates," Garland says. "In the big picture, if people want something, some will pay, and others will find a way to take it for free."

Despite the hundreds of thousands of illegal downloads, Radiohead's innovative online release could still be a smart fiscal strategy. By cutting out record companies, the band retains the full revenue stream of album sales, and monies from touring and merchandise sales.

 

[AtomicBono]

Here's the write-up in the Village Voice--the first couple paragraphs are more about the release method itself and its effect on the legacy of the album, but if you're in the All I Need=transcendent/Videotape=big letdown camp, you're going to agree with the two biggest points. Very well written.

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0742,harvilla,78082,22.html

Complaining about the bit rate of your free Radiohead album is grounds for immediate execution.

Yes.

I think the review underrated the album a bit (though of course I agree with their analysis of All I Need), but I guess time will tell if it's considered a classic or if it's remembered more for the release methods rather than the music itself.

 

[intedomine]

The power of words is amazing to me. You just erased any credibility you had with one little phrase.

Amazing.

True though, the b-sides from the Bends-era are better than any of the tunes on the album, with the exception of maybe Bones and the title-track.

Hardly a classic, and sounds positively boring when you consider how exciting Kid A, Hail To The Thief, In Rainbows and Ok Computer are.

 

[LMP]

True though, the b-sides from the Bends-era are better than any of the tunes on the album, with the exception of maybe Bones and the title-track.

Hardly a classic, and sounds positively boring when you consider how exciting Kid A, Hail To The Thief, In Rainbows and Ok Computer are.

Just?
Nice Dream?
Black Star?
Fake Plastic Trees?

 

[u2popmofo]

True though, the b-sides from the Bends-era are better than any of the tunes on the album, with the exception of maybe Bones and the title-track.

Hardly a classic, and sounds positively boring when you consider how exciting Kid A, Hail To The Thief, In Rainbows and Ok Computer are.

You did this to yourself, that's why it really hurts.

 

[angelordevil]

Reckoner is the best song on the album, for me. I just can't get enough of it.

It's definitely up there for me. It actually starting playing in my head this morning while I was looking for the soap in the shower.

The more I listen to Kid A and In Rainbows, the more crushing it will be for me if they decide not to tour this record.

They WILL tour, or I will be the saddest man on earth. I think the tour would be absolutely amazing. Whether the album is a 'classic' or not, it's definitely a beautiful chunk of art that would blend effortlessly into a setlist of their best songs. I can just imagine the transitions. I have to say, however, I did have a moment today while walking, where I said to myself, "This is the most interesting thing they've ever done." I then heard another voice that said, "You are completely right!" (Okay, I didn't hear the second voice.)

I definitely love it, however, and it's getting better and better with each listen. There's an element to the material, like on All I Need and House of Cards, that's very adult, almost in an uncomfortable/yet challenging kind of way. It's got me wondering if I've got the maturity to match it, because it is so profound. I think great albums ask great questions, so, by that reasoning, that must mean this album is really, really great.

edit: i carnt spelll!

 

[intedomine]

Just? A good tune, but nothing more. Only sounds exceptional because it's next to the utterly ghastly My Iron Lung.

Nice Dream? Pleasent enough but unremarkable

Black Star? Good after the first few listens but then it just grates.

Fake Plastic Trees? A lightweight bore.

 

[Lancemc]

Fake Plastic Trees a lightweight bore? Wow, you're really swinging for the fences aren't ya?

You were the one who didn't like Gagging Order either right? Just for clarification.

 

[intedomine]

Fake Plastic Trees a lightweight bore? Wow, you're really swinging for the fences aren't ya?

You were the one who didn't like Gagging Order either right? Just for clarification.

Yup

 

[lazarus]

Fake Plastic Trees > everything else

 

[AtomicBono]

You were the one who didn't like Gagging Order either right? Just for clarification.

to be fair i didn't see the big deal about Gagging Order 'til I realized what it was about, then it hit me and I listened to it on repeat. so simple and beautiful. thom yorke fucking gets it, thats all i have to say.

also according to last.fm I listened to Radiohead 300 times last week

i still love this album

and to say The Bends is a bad album is lol.

 

[impy13]

I'd never call The Bends a bad album, but in the scheme of their catalog, it doesn't do much for me either. I know I'm in the minority here, but the only Radiohead album I don't enjoy more than The Bends is, obviously, Pablo Honey.

I'm not saying there aren't great tunes on it. I love Planet Telex, High and Dry, and many others. I just think the album sounds dated. While every other one (Pablo Honey excluded) has aged exceptionally well, The Bends sounds like 1995 to me and I really can't get past it.

 

[djerdap]

The Bends rule.

 

[phanan]

Amen to that.