Kid A is blowing my fucking mind!

[GibsonGirl]

Sorry, it's only a personal opinion, but Idiotheque is probably the worst song I've ever spent money on.

Ironically, that's one of my favourites from the album!

I know a lot of this boils down to personal taste, but I really have difficulty understanding why so many people hate HTTT. I can maybe understand people not liking Sail To The Moon, Backdrifts, We Suck Young Blood, and The Gloaming, but the rest is good stuff! Oh well.

 

[lazarus]

I can't remember another album that ends so strong: Myxamytosis, Scatterbrain, and Wolf at the Door. Unbelieveable. Those three show what this band is still capable of. The latter is like Beck rapping over Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, and the synths or strings behind the chorus just soar up into heaven.

fucking phenomenal.

 

[bsp77]

I can't remember another album that ends so strong: Myxamytosis, Scatterbrain, and Wolf at the Door. Unbelieveable. Those three show what this band is still capable of. The latter is like Beck rapping over Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, and the synths or strings behind the chorus just soar up into heaven.

fucking phenomenal.

Exactly, but I would add "Punch Up at a Wedding" to that list and make it the last 4 songs.

 

[Zoots]

The following is part of the 'allmusic' review for Amnesiac...

It would be easier to accept this if the record was better than it is. Where Kid A had shock on its side, along with an admirably dogged desire to not be conventional, Amnesiac often plays as a hodgepodge. True, it's a hodgepodge with amazing moments: the hypnotic sway of "Pyramid Song" and "You and Whose Army?," the swirling "I Might Be Wrong," "Knives Out," and the spectacular closer "Life in a Glasshouse," complete with a drunkenly swooning brass band. But, these are not moments that are markedly different than Kid A, which itself lost momentum as it sputtered to a close. And this is the main problem — though it's nice for an artist to be generous and release two albums, these two records clearly derive from the same source and have the same flaws, which clearly would have been corrected if they had been consolidated into one record. Instead of revealing why the two records were separated, the appearance of Amnesiac makes the separation seem arbitrary — there's no shift in tone, no shift in approach, and the division only makes the two records seem unfocused, even if the best of both records is quite stunning, proof positive that Radiohead are one of the best bands of their time.


I don't understand why the reviewer thinks that Kid A is a mixed bag with some brilliant moments! I like every single song on that album!

 

[lmjhitman]

Sail To The Moon

i was dropped from moonbeams
and sailed on shooting stars

maybe you'll
be president
but know right from wrong
or in the flood
you'll build an ark
and sail us to the moon

 

[angelordevil]

Does any one else see the Radiohead as the E. E. Cummings of music connection?

George Orwell me thinks...I see that connection. Radiohead fucks with the rules. The status quo of everything, including music, needs a kick in the arse more than ever...On Kid A, I see them being world-class arse-kickers.

And I haven't even listened to Amnesiac yet...

 

[Zoots]

No... I will control myself!!! I will not start an In Limbo appreciation thread!!! No....


In Limbo....

the ending.......

 

[GibsonGirl]

i was dropped from moonbeams
and sailed on shooting stars

maybe you'll
be president
but know right from wrong
or in the flood
you'll build an ark
and sail us to the moon

x 3

...



Sail To The Moon grew on me. Didn't like it all that much in the initial stages, but it became better with time. And that's the problem. Some people don't allow Radiohead "time," and automatically dismiss them. That sucks.

 

[GibsonGirl]

And I haven't even listened to Amnesiac yet...

Eh by', what's yer email address?

 

[Zoots]

Eh by', what's yer email address?

You will send the whole album?

 

[GibsonGirl]

You will send the whole album?

 

[Zoots]

I mean do you want my email too?... for 'normal' everyday correspondence?

 

[Zoots]

I'm on your side
Nowhere to hide
Trapdoors that open
I spiral down

You're living in a fantasy world

 

[GibsonGirl]

I mean do you want my email too?... for 'normal' everyday correspondence?

Of course. But only for normal everyday correspondance.

 

[Zoots]

Of course. But only for normal everyday correspondance.

muralee_s@hotmail.com

(just for regular everyday 'legal' correspondence)

 

[GibsonGirl]

muralee_s@hotmail.com

(just for regular everyday 'legal' correspondence)

Very good. Since I have to retire for the night, I will send you an email about cooking tomorrow evening. Squash his head, put him in the pot. I'm sure you will enjoy it!

 

[Zoots]

I don't get that reference right now but maybe I will tomorrow!

 

[martha]

Some people don't allow Radiohead "time," and automatically dismiss them.

HTTT was my first radiohead experience ever.

The first time I listened to it was:

The second time was:

By the end of the third time I was completely hooked, addicted, mainlining the shit.

Then I went to see them live and I've been pushing in the schoolyard ever since.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

 

[If you shout...]

It was after seeing the band during the tour in support of Hail To The Thief (for my money, one of the most important albums released since Bush came into power and Blair became his monkey-boy) that I realized I was watching the band most at the height of its powers since The Beatles during the mid-to-late-'60s.

U2 came pretty fucking close during the '90s, and I would say they finally equalled The Beatles. But during that show, Radiohead eclipsed them. When "FOREVER" started scrolling across the screen to end the show, I knew: Gods had touched the face of the earth. And they had made music. Glorious, glorious music...

It truly was one of the most cathartic experiences of my life, and if you know me, you know that I can't say something like that all too often. It was mind-gouging in all the best of ways. I wish only that you could've been there...!

 

[Zoots]

It was after seeing the band during the tour in support of Hail To The Thief (for my money, one of the most important albums released since Bush came into power and Blair became his monkey-boy) that I realized I was watching the band most at the height of its powers since The Beatles during the mid-to-late-'60s.

U2 came pretty fucking close during the '90s, and I would say they finally equalled The Beatles. But during that show, Radiohead eclipsed them. When "FOREVER" started scrolling across the screen to end the show, I knew: Gods had touched the face of the earth. And they had made music. Glorious, glorious music...

It truly was one of the most cathartic experiences of my life, and if you know me, you know that I can't say something like that all too often. It was mind-gouging in all the best of ways. I wish only that you could've been there...!

so are you saying that I should get Hail To The Thief as well?

 

[If you shout...]

so are you saying that I should get Hail To The Thief as well?

HELL MOTHERFUCKIN' YES!!!!!!!!!!!

I mean, I think you should...you know? It seems to me that as the years have ticked by following the album's release, it hasn't grown too much on people. For me, there was little growing-on involved or needed. By the time Thief leaked in early '03, I was so completely in-sync with what the band was turning out, that it was just a match made in heaven.

I think that "2+2=5" and "Sit Down. Stand Up." is among the top 15 sequences to open an album that I've ever heard (I sort of listen to a LOT of music). I think that "Backdrifts" is one of the best songs recorded so far, this century. I broke down and wept the first time I heard "A Wolf At The Door," because somebody finally verbalized (and melodicized) EXACTLY how I felt about the world at that time...and, really, still do. "There There" was like a jolt of lightning down my spine with the twin drumkits. "A Drunken Punch-Up At A Wedding," too, has insane relevance to the current geo-political climate; nobody in the world of either academia or rock criticism that I'm aware of has ever broached the issue, but I'd love to. "Where I End And You Begin" lived up to my expectations after reading the phrase in its inception during the band's whirlwind creativity during '00 and '01...and then it surpassed them to a ridiculous degree. I could go on about nearly every song on the album.

So it works for me. It also has faults (it doesn't work as well as a cohesive album as previous Radiohead efforts, as far as I'm concerned). It has moments of divine perfection along with moments of sometimes major imperfection. THIS is why it is the defining album of this historical moment. I cannot understand how the album is not considered an all-time classic or at least how it is not handled as though it will someday be one. I dunno. I'd say buy it. If nothing else, you will have experienced something so powerful as to be able to elicit the sort of response it does from me as well as the hateful diatribes of many others. That's the definition of deeply meaningful art, is it not...?

 

[Zoots]

I think that "Backdrifts" is one of the best songs recorded so far, this century.

Wow! That's a strong statement.

Lemme guess. You're reaaaallly disappointed with post 2000 U2!


Pop - U2
Kid A - Radiohead
Ultra - Depeche Mode

 

[If you shout...]

Of course I'm disappointed with them...! Actually, though...it's not that I "disagree" so much with this "kind" of music. After all, I love the so-called classic U2 soung--I LOVE U2!!! It's a given. What bothers me, quite simply, is the fact that there is no experimentation, anymore. I mean, I don't really give a shit how many self-deluded people on this board (kind and wonderful and dedicated people though they may be) insist that the band is still trying new things, because unless you're a fucking idiot, you know that they aren't. They're doing old things is slightly new ways..."slightly" meaning that you might need to break your neck stretching to see how. That said, I think that the limited work the band did for the MDH soundtrack was quite interesting; not the best work they've ever done, but that's not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for something new. I posted this somewhere else maybe a week ago (I paraphrase): "The style I want on the next U2 album doesn't matter. I just want an ideology: 'FUCK THE PAST'."

As for Ultra, I still see it as less of an album and more of a very mixed batch of songs. Some are great, and I think some are REALLY terrible. For my money, the last amazing album DM released was Songs of Faith and Devotion; the last masterpiece was Violator (in fact, I might argue that it's their only "masterpiece"); everything since then has been at least decent, at times nauseating, and at times startlingly brilliant.

But, uhhhhh....Kid A....yeah. It's fucking perfect. My Radiohead "masterpieces," then (in order of greatness):

Kid A
Hail To The Thief
OK Computer
The Bends

That's a lot of masterpieces for so young a band (Pablo Honey, for example, is only 11 years old), and that's why I think they're so shockingly great. Also, so as to avoid being raped via prose, I should stress that for all practical intents and purposes, my love for my "last" three masterpieces is just about equal. If I had to rank 'em, that's how it'd play out; in reality, though, I listen to spots 2-4 all just about equally...

...Which isn't actually all that often. That, I think, is one measure of a masterpiece--years after release, you still can listen to the album over and over and over again, but you don't have to; in spite of these frequent lapses in attention paid to the record, you can still think of it immediately as one of your all-time faves or one of the all-time greats. I can readily cite several U2 albums which match this particular criterion. Such as their magnum opus, POP.

 

[Zoots]

We're definitely of a similar thread, buddy!

Kid A is the kind of album U2 were apparently too afraid to make after Pop. What a fucking shame! Oh well, I've grown to like ATYCLB for whatever it's worth.

Speaking of Ultra, I haven't really listened to the rest of the album. Just know Barrel Of A Gun, It's No Good and Home... all three unbelievably mind-blowing tracks!!! That's probably my favorite sound right there! What U2 did with Pop... and what DM did with Ultra and even Songs Of F&D (Walking In My Shoes! ) dark... danceable rock!

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

The transition to In Limbo from Optimistic is one of my all time favorites. I can listen to that segment over and over and never grow tired of it. In Limbo is one of my favorite Radiohead songs.

Kid A is also good album for me to listen to while I study.

 

[yimou]

Amnesiac is fucking awesome ( so is Kid A )

Packt Like Sardines In A Crushed Tin Box My number 1 iPod song.

 

[lazarus]

Kid A is the kind of album U2 were apparently too afraid to make after Pop. What a fucking shame!

U2 did make their Kid A, when it was called ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACKS ONE.

I know the songs on Kid A are largely better (though Your Blue Room and United Colors can go toe to toe with anything on there), but U2 took their GIGANTIC left turn 5 years before Radiohead did, and no one bothered to give them credit. I'd argue that it's still more experimental, and it pisses me off to no end that U2 does not get indie or critical props for it.

You'd probably be less impressed with either, and Amnesiac as well, after hearing Brian Eno/David Byrne's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts from 1981, which paved the way for those albums as well as many others.

I'll go back to what I said before, which really invalidates that "review" of Anmesiac that was posted above. The albums are two sides of the same coin; one inside, and one detatched and looking in. The tones are COMPLETELY different, and only an idiot would fail to recognize that, let alone publish the opposite in print. Amnesiac is more direct and emotional to me, and that's why I prefer it. Ask yourself if the albums were released in the opposite order, which one would be considered the groundbreaking, superior work? Put those songs head to head and it's not such an easy decision. Packt Like Sardines, Pyramid Song, I Might Be Wrong, You and Whose Army, Knives Out, Dollars and Cents, Life in a Glasshouse. All fantastic tracks, and I still feel Amnesiac's uplifting version of Morning Bell trumps its Kid A sibling. The ending of the album with Thom saying "There's someone listening in" is like the music equivalent of metafiction and it just blows my fucking mind.

As for Hail to the Thief, I'll second If You Shout's huzzas; possibly the best album I've heard since the millenium has started in terms of total creative output. It's not cohesive like their other efforts, but since when is that a requirement for a great recording? Last time I checked The White Album was a pretty towering achievement, same with Exile on Main Steet, or other albums that seem to go all over the place. For me it's the ambition and eclectic nature of the material that always impresses me the most.

And that's why Radiohead is STILL the most vital band in music right now. No one else is trying that many things, dancing on the edge of the razor.

Fuck all haters.

 

[bsp77]

If you shout and Lazarus are my new heros here. I am so sick of people dismissing Hail to the Thief. I admit it is not the greatest album in terms of cohesivess, it is simply a fantastic collection of songs, which is the same way I feel about The Bends.

I can't wait to see what they do next (hopefully early '06), I really want it to be something radically different. The last time they took 3 years off we got Kid A.

 

[bsp77]

If you shout - forgot to mention that I assume the concert you are talking about is the Alpine Valley one from Aug '03. I was there and it was a fantastic concert. I also really enjoyed the Grant Park concert from Aug '01.