Radiohead discussion continues

[Kieran McConville]

Honestly I like "The Eraser" (the album) nearly just as much as some Radiohead albums. It's very, very solid. "Analyze" is easily in my top... whatever... of things any of them have ever done.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

The Clock is my jam

 

[lazarus]

Apparently Yorke's more consumer-friendly delivery method didn't garner him much sympathy over at Pitchfork.

They didn't rate The Eraser very highly, either, so maybe this shouldn't be such a surprise.

 

[u2popmofo]

This is probably a messed up opinion to have, but after listening to both the new Thom Yorke and old Phil Selway albums over the same period of time....I prefer Phil Selway's.

 

[mikal]

This is probably a messed up opinion to have, but after listening to both the new Thom Yorke and old Phil Selway albums over the same period of time....I prefer Phil Selway's.

Where are you hearing the new album? I see it doesn't come out until next week.


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[u2popmofo]

y u no reed gud?

 

[mikal]

Oh duh.


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[u2popmofo]

Oh duh.


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i prolly no splain gud

 

[mikal]

I'm pretty excited to hear some of the alt versions like There Is No Ketchup (For My Burger).


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[Musikwala]

The Clock is my jam

Same here. The Eraser was really good! Memories of 2006.

So I take it that Thom has released a new album eh? It seems so under the radar that even AllMusic hasn't listed it yet.

 

[LemonMelon]

Maybe it's because Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, Amok and King of Limbs were all relatively disappointing, but re-listening to The Eraser was a revelation. I really like that album. Lots of charming melodies in there that are dried by the production to the point of cracking and while there are a couple of songs I'm not wild about, the quality is consistently quite high. The last three tracks in particular are very striking. I would say the middle three hurt the album somewhat, but they're not a dealbreaker.

 

[youarenotimmune]

Maybe it's because Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, Amok and King of Limbs were all relatively disappointing, but re-listening to The Eraser was a revelation. I really like that album. Lots of charming melodies in there that are dried by the production to the point of cracking and while there are a couple of songs I'm not wild about, the quality is consistently quite high. The last three tracks in particular are very striking. I would say the middle three hurt the album somewhat, but they're not a dealbreaker.

Eraser is a great record, but I can't get behind that statement about those other three records being "relatively disappointing". I mean, Bloom, Little by Little, Lotus Flower, Codex, Separator, Before Your Very Eyes, Default, Ingenue, Unless, Amok, Truth Ray and Nose Grows Some are all outstanding tracks ... a few of these are as good as anything Radiohead/Yorke/Atoms for Peace have ever done. I don't understand how anyone who's a fan of this band's music this millennium can be even a little disappointed by these three records.

But to each his own I guess.

 

[LemonMelon]

Yeah, I'm not going to get into a huge argument over it, to each his own, I've just found recent Thom Yorke-related projects very, how can I describe it...grey. Dry, IDM-infused beats, a lack of interesting band interaction (I hated this about Amok, which may as well have been a solo album) and sonic claustrophobia. Nude, All I Need, Reckoner...those were sweeping, beautiful songs and Thom seems to be totally over that.

Can't wait for the next Radiohead project, nonetheless.

 

[PhilsFan]

I don't understand the appeal of the King of Limbs at all. I like a couple songs but it's just got nothing to hang its hat on. No soul, no hooks, not many great grooves either. I haven't listened to it in a while and don't really want to.

 

[youarenotimmune]

Yeah, I'm not going to get into a huge argument over it, to each his own, I've just found recent Thom Yorke-related projects very, how can I describe it...grey. Dry, IDM-infused beats, a lack of interesting band interaction (I hated this about Amok, which may as well have been a solo album) and sonic claustrophobia. All I Need, Faust ARP, Reckoner...those were sweeping, beautiful songs and Thom seems to be totally over that. I'm not.

I get where you're coming from, but that dreary, claustrophobic, dissonant sonic landscape you hated actually resonated really strongly with me.

Can't wait for the next Radiohead project, nonetheless.

This is something I can agree with completely.

 

[LemonMelon]

I may not have been over the moon about King of the Limbs (though I vastly prefer it to Amok and Tomorrow's Modern Boxes), but Radiohead still has an immaculate discography (hell, I like Pablo Honey a lot) and any album they put out as a group is an event, something to be savored. They've definitely earned the benefit of the doubt from me.

 

[cobl04]

I don't understand the appeal of the King of Limbs at all. I like a couple songs but it's just got nothing to hang its hat on. No soul, no hooks, not many great grooves either. I haven't listened to it in a while and don't really want to.

Bloom has a great groove, and the dissonant drumming follows on nicely from Videotape. Feral and Lotus Flower also have really good grooves. There aren't many hooks, I'll pay you that, but I don't know how you can say Codex, Give Up the Ghost and Separator don't have soul. They are all tremendous songs in my view. Admittedly I don't rate the album all that highly and never really listen to it, but clearly I still love parts of it.

 

[LemonMelon]

The second half of KOL >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> the first

 

[lazarus]

Well yes.

But Bloom is as good as any of those songs.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

I think Lotus flower is one of their grooviest songs. I like KOL but yeah, wouldn't rate it above pretty much anything else they have made other than Pablo Honey but that's more a testament to how good their catalogue is.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

I still think Lotus Flower is terrific, the rest I have no real feelings about.

 

[djerdap]

I don't like Lotus Flower (apart from the beginning). But I like the album, especially Bloom and Separator. Not that I have the will to listen to the record a lot, although the live versions were great. Even something like Little by Little was perfectly listenable (Magpie is inexcusable in any incarnation - apart from the early acoustic one), and Feral was a monster live. From the Basement is the definitive document of this period in my mind.

 

[u2popmofo]

I use, "If this was anyone other than Radiohead / Thom Yorke, would I still like it?" to judge these, as it's often hard to be critical of bands you rate so highly. For the majority of King of Limbs and this new Yorke album, I'd say the answer would definitely be no.

For whatever reason I enjoyed Amok, but considering my feelings to the other two recent albums, I completely understand why others may not like it.

I know I've said it before, and I really am not just saying it for shock value, I truly think Pablo Honey is a better album than King of Limbs (and definitely better than this new Yorke album). While I understand that people used to think it was it was considerably "less" than the rest of their catalog (and I used to agree on that), considering their recent output, I don't think that's the case at all any longer. I think far too many people just remember it being worse than it is, because I have a hard timing thinking that anyone who actually listened to it recently would think it was a lesser quality to anything else they've done in recent years. The songs are far more fleshed out than the vast majority of King of Limbs and the entirety of the new solo album.

 

[cobl04]

Yeah that's a good point, bringing up From the Basement. THere's not much point listening to the album when that exists, particularly as you get The Daily Mail and Staircase as well, both of which are fucking great.

Who saw the last tour? Anyone who did can back me up in saying that Give Up the Ghost was just something else. I still find myself occasionally reminiscing about it, some two years on.

I remember walking out of that first show holding hands with the girl I was in love with, just one of the absolute best nights of my life, and then the following night I got to hear Kid A and Weird Fishes. Those gigs are the only concerts which have come close to knocking the first time I saw U2 off the top of the perch.

 

[u2popmofo]

Bloom and Give Up the Ghost have been my two least favorite songs from the album pretty much since the first time I heard it. I'm always surprised to hear so many people bring them up as examples of what's great about the album. In my opinion they're perfect examples of what's wrong with it. Decent song ideas, that would have resulted in GREAT songs from the band in the past. The mess of production and ideas on both of these songs pretty much ruin what's good about them for me, I can't get past the broken and sloppy nature of both.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

I really like Give up the Ghost but then I'm a sucker for a simple acoustic guitar once and a while. There is something about the way it just sort of floats along that appeals to me, its very haunting if you'll pardon the pun.

 

[Kieran McConville]

My main (well, one of my main) problem with the King of Limbs, and arguably recent Yorke in general, is the dilution of the lyricism. Most of King of Limbs just came off as vaguely empty new-agey fluff, to me. "Separator" actively irritates the crap out of me, in this regard. They've never sounded more disconnected from pretty much anything, and while I get that, the appeal of that, and sometimes it can work... not with these guys.

 

[djerdap]

Pablo Honey is messy as an album, but You, Lurgee and Blow Out are top-tier Radiohead. All of them are among my favorites.

As far as Yorke's songwriting goes, it started to get very monotonous and repetitive. This band was a master of build-up and of song crescendos that were just stunning - Climbing Up the Walls, How To Disappear, Fake Plastic Trees, All I Need etc. King of Limbs just plods. I hope he gets more ambitious like that again.

 

[cobl04]

y'all suck. I'm gonna make myself another drink, play my In Rainbows vinyl and cry for the next two hours.

 

[Kieran McConville]