1.Reckoner
2.All I Need
3.Bodysnatchers
4.15 Step
5.Nude/Jigsaw
6.Faust Arp
7.Videotape
8.Arpeggi
9.House Of Cards
I am disappointed in Videotape. People made it out to be this incredible song. It's ok, sorta nice, nothing special, kind of boring actually. Motion Picture Soundtrack pwns Videotape.
I think All I Need and Reckoner are the only real classics here...both are truly great songs. They are, imo, the only true brilliance on this record. All I Need is dark and brooding while somehow simultaniously catchy as hell. Reckoner is basically one melody sung over and over again but that melody is so utterly fucking earth-shatteringly gorgeous and so fucking catchy that it doesn't matter. I could sing it all night long.
Thom's vocal in Bodysnatchers does nothing for me but GODDAMN the guitar riffs/chords/solo in this song are OFF THE FUCKING HOOK. Easily the greatest guitar-related thing RH have done since...jeez, maybe since The Bends(the record).
15 Step is a good opener...it is energetic, and I love the jazzy feel to it. The riff is catchy, and Thom's vocal has a real theatric vibe to it. Great opener.
I can sort of see the appeal of Nude - there are parts of it that are gorgeous, but as whole, there just isn't enough there for me. The most overrated track already.
Faust Arp is good...the melody and harmony of the instrumental is quite enjoyable, but I feel that Thom adds little to this song. The vocal melody is boring and sort of detracts from the experience of the instrumental melody/harmony, imo. As for the person that compared this to I Will...that's not really a good comparison. I Will is far more intense and, imo, far better.
Jigsaw, I think, is one of the more interesting tracks here, and I haven't really fully digested it yet. Not brilliant, maybe not even great, but not at all meh the way Videotape and House Of Cards are(imo).
Arpeggi was also disappointing. I just didn't feel like there was much there in comparison to what was expected.
House Of Cards does nothing for me as of now.
Overall, I could use a good deal more intensity...it just feels like they're meandering through some of these songs. Also, I miss Thom's non-falsetto voice. We heard very little of his lower register on this record, and we need to hear it more.
I guess I just don't hear/feel enough ambition here. Maybe it's just because I've been listening to Kid A and Amnesiac and OKC a lot the last few days and was expecting something that would match that ambition and intensity and other-worldly-ness. Half of this record is really very good, two songs being bonafide classics already, and the other half is, as Lance said, meh.
1.Kid A
2.OK Computer
3.Amnesiac
4.The Bends/Hail To The Thief
5.In Rainbows
6.Pablo Honey