Radiohead discussion continues

[cobl04]

Those of you claiming KoL is cold, detached, mechanistic, etc must be listening to a different album than I am. Just looking at the second half, you have Lotus Flower, which is as fluid and buoyant as anything they have done, the gentle pianos and sentiment of Codex, even a borderline folk song in Give up the Ghost. That run through Separator is more organic than a great deal of their catalogue. Lacking in humanity is one of the last phrases I would use in reference to that album.

Codex-Give up the Ghost-Separator can stand with their best trios in my opinion.

Does everyone include In Rainbows in the "cold sound"? In my mind In Rainbows is one of the warmest albums of the last decade. I've used it (with the exception of 15-Step and Bodysnatchers) as lullabies for all of my kids.

In Rainbows is not only my favourite Radiohead album, it would go close to being top five all-time. I will fight anyone who thinks it is cold or detached or part of this bullshit perceived downward spiral.

 

[gump]

Yeah, not sure how someone can listen to In Rainbows and think it's cold or detached.

I'd also argue it doesn't have the "signature songs" you found on OK Computer (Paranoid Android, Karma Police) and Kid A (Everything in Its Right Place, Idioteque).

I don't know about that. Reckoner is in the pantheon of Radiohead songs, and you could argue that Weird Fishes, All I Need and Nude are all signature songs.

 

[cobl04]

The only song in recorded human history that is better than Weird Fishes is Where the Streets Have No Name.

 

[BVS]

I agree that IR doesn't fit into that category. The only production issues I have with IR is it's muddy at times and the tinny percussion, i.e. Weird Fishes.


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[Lancemc]

I remember being blown away by Weird Fishes when it was debuted as Arpeggi and a thousand times better.

 

[lazarus]

Oh no, we're back to that again.


Post about the superior original version of Videotape in 5...4...3...

 

[cobl04]

Lance is nothing if not this forum's biggest wanker. Which takes some serious effort.

 

[cobl04]

we are so close to a HTTT discussion, I can't wait

 

[Kieran McConville]

I don't especially care for HTTT. Probably their worst album by a wide margin if you leave out their debut (and I do, as I do with The National). From the shitty cover art to the scattershot lack of direction, it just gives me the sense that they really had no idea what they wanted at the time. Thom apparently wrote most of the stuff in private and then brought it to the band, and I guess the feeling was, the more the merrier.

Just kicking the ball along here.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Lance is nothing if not this forum's biggest wanker. Which takes some serious effort.

Hahahaha. :thumbup:

 

[Lancemc]

I've put in lots of time and effort to achieve the things I've achieved here.

 

[u2popmofo]

This forum eats ass.

 

[phanan]

I've put in lots of time and effort to achieve the things I've achieved here.

That sounds like something Lance's Mom would say defending her turf.

 

[cobl04]

I will always defend Hail to the Thief. It is schizophrenic and incoherent and starts badly and is almost a complete mess, but holy fuck does it have some great songs on it. Where I End..., There There is top 10 Radiohead, Wolf at the Door... and one of my personal Radiohead faves, A Punchup at a Wedding. I fucking love that song.

 

[nielsgov]

I don't see how an album that opens with 2+2=5 can start badly.

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[LemonMelon]

HTTT is almost as boring to listen to as it is to talk about.

 

[namkcuR]

I will always defend Hail to the Thief. It is schizophrenic and incoherent and starts badly and is almost a complete mess, but holy fuck does it have some great songs on it. Where I End..., There There is top 10 Radiohead, Wolf at the Door... and one of my personal Radiohead faves, A Punchup at a Wedding. I fucking love that song.

Appreciate the defense of the record. I love HTTT. The tracks you mentioned plus Sail To The Moon, I Will, Scatterbrain, Myxamatosis are all great. I think the final run from There There to Wolf is as good a half-record as any they've made.

 

[cobl04]

I love Thom's vocals in Scatterbrain. "Somewhere I'm not, scaaaaaaaaatterbrain"

 

[martha]

HTTT is my second favorite.

 

[joyfulgirl]

This forum eats ass.

I don't see how an album that opens with 2+2=5 can start badly.

Seriously. What is wrong with you people.

I don't get not loving HTTT.

 

[mikal]

Yep. HTTT is fantastic. In addition to the other songs mentioned, Backdrifts is so good. One of my favorite songs of all time.

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[Lancemc]

Myxomatosis is a top 10 for me.

 

[Zoomerang96]

Yep. HTTT is fantastic. In addition to the other songs mentioned, Backdrifts is so good. One of my favorite songs of all time.

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Backdrifts live is a beast. 2+2=5 is also glorious, not sure what people are on about.

 

[martha]

In addition to the other songs mentioned, Backdrifts is so good. One of my favorite songs of all time.

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Oh yeah. That one and Go to Sleep.

Nice and loud.


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[namkcuR]

I'm heartened to see so many HTTT defenders. They haven't done anything nearly as direct or accessible since.

On the subject of IR...I've always felt that Bodysnatchers was out of place. Not saying anything about the quality of the song itself, just that it didn't fit the rest of the record. I think Down Is The New Up would've fit better.

1. 15 Step
2. Down Is The New Up
3. Nude
4. Weird Fishes
5. All I Need
6. Faust Arp
7. Reckoner
8. House Of Cards
9. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
10. Videotape

 

[lazarus]

Yeah, I wanted to applaud Cobbler's defense but he had to throw that in.

I'm also a big fan of Punchup At A Wedding, which I still maintain sounds like The Who's Eminence Front.

Also love Scatterbrain, Backdrafts, Myxomatosis, and Sit Down Stand Up.

Definitely some filler, though. We Suck Young Blood and I Will should have been b-sides, or just smothered in the crib outright.

Go To Sleep is generic Radiohead on autopilot. It's not bad, but totally redundant, especially when it rips off part of the Paranoid Android guitar solo.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Generic Radiohead on autopilot wouldn't be a bad summation of how I feel about a number of songs on that album, and which is why it's not a favourite.

It is true that it also contains Punchup at a Wedding, Myxomatosis, Wolf at The Door and several others that I absolutely think are some of their stronger material. So it's a mixed bag. A very, very long mixed bag. But hey, it's Radiohead. By default it is not bad, but something has to come last if I'm making a mental list.

I just think of it as a period of transition for them; their first resurfacing after the Kid A/Amnesiac era, maybe a sense of not knowing where they quite wanted to go.

Some of the production isn't that great either, and I'm not the only one to have thought that way at the time, I know that much.

 

[cobl04]

Yeah, I wanted to applaud Cobbler's defense but he had to throw that in.

What are you referring to?

 

[Lancemc]

Hail to the Thief, for me, contains some of my absolute favorite and least favorite Radiohead songs (kind of like In Rainbows and OK Computer, though I know that's heresy).

Myxomatosis
There There
Sit Down, Stand Up
Backdrifts
Wolf at the Door
Scatterbrain

All amazing.

2+2=5
We Suck the Young Blood
I Will
Sail to the Moon
The Gloaming (though surprisingly kickass live)

All horseshit.

The rest is somewhere in between.

 

[LemonMelon]

2 + 2 = 5 - unspectacular, but I really dig the ending
Sit Down. Stand Up. - as above, just solid for the most part but really knocks me out at the end
Sail To The Moon - very pretty, somewhat aimless
Backdrifts - wish I could get into this one, but nope
Go to Sleep - very enjoyable track, builds up to something rather nice by the end
Where I End and You Begin - DAT BASS OH FUCK give Colin a medal
We Suck Young Blood - absolute garbage, it comes to life for about 10 seconds somewhere in the middle
The Gloaming - live or GTFO
There There - all-time classic, top 10 Radiohead, A+ percussion
I Will - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it exists
A Punchup At A Wedding - yawn
Myxomatosis - love that fuzz bass, some interesting lyrical content in here too, yeah I like it
Scatterbrain - great
A Wolf At The Door - even greater

So yeah, mixed bag. Let it not be said that I don't love anything on this album; There There, Scatterbrain and A Wolf at the Door are killer. It's tracks 7-11 being such a slog (with There There thrown in there to save the day) that sinks the album for me.