Radiohead: The King of Limbs, Continued

[lazarus]

Well one wonders how all these artists were able to put out great album after great album each year, and now you get 38 minutes after 3.5 years that sounds somewhat half-baked or undercooked.

 

[Dalton]

Well one wonders how all these artists were able to put out great album after great album each year, and now you get 38 minutes after 3.5 years that sounds somewhat half-baked or undercooked.

 

[Lancemc]

Well one wonders how all these artists were able to put out great album after great album each year, and now you get 38 minutes after 3.5 years that sounds somewhat half-baked or undercooked.

If this album were 50-60 minutes of "half-baked or undercooked" material would anyone be having this conversation?

 

[lazarus]

Well, if it was another mess like Hail To The Thief, maybe. But that had more good songs, which I prefer to the coherence and conciseness of KOL, because Feral is a total waste of time, and that's 1/8 of the album. Magpie mostly wastes another 1/8. That's 1/4 of the album already.

There's nothing on In Rainbows anywhere near that weak.

 

[Lancemc]

At least now you're talking about the music, which is fine. Obviously people are going to be disappointed or enthusiastic about these things in turn, and I just never saw the value is spinning the disappointment into trivial matters of length or frequency or output, since none of that really has a whole lot to do with the work itself.

 

[PhilsFan]

In Rainbows was 42 minutes. There's not much of a difference.

 

[lazarus]

At least now you're talking about the music, which is fine. Obviously people are going to be disappointed or enthusiastic about these things in turn, and I just never saw the value is spinning the disappointment into trivial matters of length or frequency or output, since none of that really has a whole lot to do with the work itself.

Well it's hard to wholly separate the two. Hail to the Thief is a mess in part because it is too long. If you removed the few lesser tracks it would probably still not be very focused, but the length contributes to it.

Conversely, KOL comes off as slight because some of the tracks don't feel very substantial, and the fact that there are only eight of them (and none very long), exacerbates this.

Something like Born to Run has only 8 songs, but it's far from slight. Sgt. Pepper's is also under 40 minutes, and doesn't feel that way either.

 

[lazarus]

In Rainbows was 42 minutes. There's not much of a difference.

I think that only serves to show how much richer an album it is.

It sure doesn't feel only 42 minutes, and I don't mean that in a bad way.

 

[Lancemc]

On the other hand, I could live without Nude, House of Cards and Videotape, which I find to all be varying degrees of terrible. And would be happier if it were just 7 songs long? Possibly. It goes both ways.

 

[Dalton]

there are only eight of them (and none very long), exacerbates this.

Get your mind out of the fucking gutter, man.

 

[martha]

Get your mind out of the fucking gutter, man.

You're soooo touchy about "length". tsk

 

[Dalton]

You're soooo touchy about "length". tsk

Normally, I wouldn't have any problem with anyone's head in the gutter, but he was wearing umbros. That's not pleasant for any of us.

 

[PhilsFan]

I think that only serves to show how much richer an album it is.

It sure doesn't feel only 42 minutes, and I don't mean that in a bad way.

In Rainbows is maybe my favorite album ever, so you won't get an argument from me.

I don't think length is the problem with King of Limbs. I just think it needs one track that peaks a little more. It's short one bigger track.

 

[PhilsFan]

On the other hand, I could live without Nude, House of Cards and Videotape, which I find to all be varying degrees of terrible. And would be happier if it were just 7 songs long? Possibly. It goes both ways.

House of Cards is the worst song on the album, just too long for such a meandering sound. I don't mind it, though.

Videotape is gorgeous, though, you shut your mouth.

 

[Imperor]

I still find "House of Cards" intoxicating. Beautiful sounds going on there. And I feel the exact opposite about "Videotape." That and "Jigsaw" make IR go out on a whimper.

 

[Jive Turkey]

Jigsaw is my favourite song on the album

 

[lazarus]

What Impy said. I love House of Cards.

And while Jigsaw is probably the weakest song on the album (I like all of them, FWIW), I've grown to appreciate Videotape more over time. A shame people got so hung up on the demo versions, because it's a very good piece of writing, even if it doesn't quite take off like the old live incarnation.

 

[PhilsFan]

Jigsaw and Reckoner are the two best songs on IR.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Have I tripped and fallen into 2007?

 

[u2popmofo]

Jigsaw is my favourite song on the album

Mine too. I don't know how many "list of all the tracks on the album in order of preference" I've seen with it at the end and wonder if people somehow downloaded a demo version of the song by mistake.

 

[Imperor]

I hope everyone who was speculating about the Pitchfork score is satisfied with the payoff. I know how much it meant to you guys.

 

[lazarus]

I'm speechless.

That's like a 3.1 adjusted for other bands. Consider also that it's only 1 full point higher than what they gave Shuttlecock for Atomic Serve.

Also, who called it that THE FORK! would spend three paragraphs talking about commerce before getting to the music?

 

[Imperor]

Thanks. Now I'm picturing Gaga singing a piano ballad about your reaction to a Pitchfork review. Time for another hiatus from this site.

For what it's worth, this pretty well articulates my feelings reading some of the reactions here:

A trawl through message boards and social networks leaves the impression that many disappointed fans are still struggling to make sense of the gap between the greatness of the thing they got and the genius of the thing they thought they might get. It's in that gap, when assessing the album overall, that it's easy to get tangled up.

 

[Jive Turkey]

It's incredibly weak that PF first assesses fan response on message boards before formulating their own review. Grow a pair

 

[lazarus]

Some choice adjectives and such:

crumbling
clattering
fizzing
dilapidated
mulched up
slinky
woozily
narcotized
slippery
ramshackle

 

[Imperor]

Many of those could apply to an evening with Lance's Mom. Specifically "slippery," "dilapidated," and "fizzing."

 

[PhilsFan]

For what it's work

I feel like I'm in the vast minority right now.

 

[Imperor]

I fixed it, so now it's a mute point anyway.

 

[PhilsFan]

No one on this board knows how to right.

 

[Lancemc]

Jigsaw and Reckoner are the two best songs on IR.

Agreed. Jigsaw features what might be my favorite Yorke vocal performance to date, among many other qualities.

Also, that's a hell of a PF score. Should have stuck to my guns originally with the very low 8s. Didn't expect them to drop below that though. Just browsed the text, as I have no real urge to read it all right now. I do think they're right in regards to this being their most divisive album, and will likely remain that way. Which in itself is fun.