Radiohead – In Rainbows
Never mind the fuss over the business model, this album just isn’t very good. I have all sorts of things to say about the way they are actually selling the record to the public, but I think I may have to digest a little before they become coherent enough to write down. I do, however, have to say that I have nothing but applause for their efforts to find Another Way. It appears bands are going to have to go it alone in this way in order to force the recording industry to actually address the 21st Century instead of just sticking their fingers in their ears and hoping it will go away. Radiohead are to be seriously applauded for this.
Unfortunately, the album itself represents no semblance of a return to form in the wake of horribly disappointing recent fare such as Hail to the Thief (soft) and Eraser (beige). In fact, this album is very much what you would get if you ground those two records together, stirred them up, and sprinkled ten new tracks out of the mix. The sound comes pretty clearly from these two records and, lamentably, so does the lack of spirit.
Radiohead used to have urgency, don’t you think? I mean, even the more downbeat electronica of Kid A and Amnesiac still had a direction. They were moving forward, at pace, straining slightly to go faster, twitching nervously at the reins. The last three albums, if you include Eraser, have been so lacking in any kind of nervous tension or drive that they seem to me to be lifeless, unengaging records that bring no emotion at all to the listening. It’s a shame really, but it seems churlish to complain about a group responsible for two or possibly three albums that I am pretty sure history will view as era-defining classics.
I paid £7.
Radiohead – Nude
Radiohead – Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
You and I are just never going to agree on the big albums are we? Doherty, Radiohead… oh dear!
I need to host a reader refutation. Tell me why it’s great – pick something I hate and you love – and I’ll make a post out of it. You deserve the right to tell me off properly!
I have never been so confused.
I have to say, I like this album a lot. Kid A is my favourite still, but i like this album because they seem to these ears to have found the balance between guitars and electronica that they’ve spent the best part of the last decade reaching for. And it’s way better than ‘Hail To The Thief’ a record I admire but never really liked and ‘all the bits that weren’t quite good enough for Kid A’ or ‘Amnesiac’ as it’s better known.
“Eraser (beige)” … amen to that. I like this one though. Bodysnatchers and Jigsaw are 2 excellent non-beige tracks. Still need another few listens to decide about Faust Arp or Reckoner.
I agree with everything you say in the last paragraph, only substitute positive adjectives.
What you call “urgency” in the older Radiohead albums I think of as a sense of paranoia and dread. That is definitely missing from the new one but I think that’s a good thing.
I agree with what Ed said above, that this album, to me, sounds they’ve refined their sound–not too electronic, like Kid A, and not too rockish, like HTTT. It’s a perfect integration of the two elements. That said, one man’s “refinement” is another man’s “treading water.”
At first, second, or third listen, I would agree that ‘Rainbows’ seems to meld into one long song or thought (or jam session), without direction.
However, after multiple listens, I find the tracks to be nothing but brute emotion/substance (aside from “jigsaw” which doesn’t seem to fit). My fave is “15 Step” which is eerily reminiscent of a song called “Kid A!”
Seriously…? I agree that Hail to the Thief was a bit of a disappointment, but I think that it may have had more to do with my expectations than the actual product. As for tension, 2+2=5 had as much twitchy, nervous energy as anything the boys have done, IMO.
I accept all these comments, I really do, and I will freely admit I haven’t tried nearly as hard with this album as I perhaps should have. I really, really did try with both Hail to the Thief and Eraser though, and really got nowhere.
And refining the sound is one thing – I don’t fault them for their smoother sound per se, but I find the tunes really do not stick and as such I was having to force myself to listen to it just because it was Radiohead. This isn’t a good sign, I don’t think.
I love In Rainbows, I loved Hail to the Thief and The Eraser too. I just can’t follow you down this road. I agree that Radiohead’s most recent fare doesn’t quite measure up to OK Computer or Kid A, but jeez, cut them some slack. Whose does? I consider In Rainbows to be far superior to Pablo Honey and The Bends, less impressive than OK Computer and Kid A, and on the same level as Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief. I have spoken.
Mmmm – The Bends! The Bends and OK Computer are my favourites, but then tense, angry guitar music has always been a weak spot.
amen to this. after several listens, this still fails to hold my attention after three or four tracks. i haven’t managed to find anybody with a convincing explanation of why it should.
i’m glad mister toad voiced his reservations – i was starting to feel like i was thick or something.
Me too actually – I’ve been slaughtered by every one of my regular readers and commenters – I was starting to feel like a bit of a leper myself.
What you say is exactly what I feared. That’s why I paid nothing for it. Now I’m getting to like it more all the time. Not my favourite album of the year by a long way, but still decent. Heck, I’ll probably buy it when it comes out on record.
Mr. M.,
I’m glad someone has stirred up this argument in the blogosphere because the blanket wank-filled man-sized tissue response to the thing has been tiring & embarrassing.
I’m in entire agreement with you – said so a few weeks back on t’show + also on this week’s. The album just isn’t doing it for me at all. The nearest it gets the goosebumps tickling is when they sound like an old B-Side (Palo Alto, anyone?)and who ever thought R’head could/would be accused of being derivative of R’head?
I don’t think this is progressive (or impressive)music just because it blips & bloops & skitters along at a multi-footed, cack-handed pace with Thomas huffing & haah-ing all over it like an asthmatic Gareth Gates. The amalgamation of crunching guitars (minus the actual melodies, I have to say), bland finger plucked notes (with no actual tune direction except “repeat”), analogue & digi-tronics + the now trademark tuneless nasal stylings of Mr. Yorke do not a pleasurable/invigorating listen make.
This isnt, also, a question of listening & giving up after one go. I’ve had this thing on in the background, on the mp3 player, specifically sitting down to listen to it, etc. but it still annoys & frustrates rather than entertains & marvels.
I applaud the method by which they are disseminating their product; they are opening up the possibilities again whilst maintaining a market integrity & making a shocking amount of money into the bargain. Clever boys (a la Jurassic Park).
But. Yes. Yawn. Again. Musically it sucks. Christ, they’re even beginning to make Coldplay’s last effort look lively & exciting. & I HATE Coldplay.
Eraser WAS beige. You are absolutely correct in saying so. I’d go so far as to say it was biscuit, but that implies too much substance & I do not believe it deserves that healthy a critique nor a 3D quality it was pretty much bereft of.
Still, let’s face it, if Thomas shat into a milk bottle and smashed it over a Marshall Amp millions of people would buy the recording of it & scour Ebay for the Mongolia-only release UNKLE remix.
Hail to the Thieves, indeed.
DC
Well I really tried as well, but it became such a chore to listen to and prevent myself drifting off I eventually gave up.
It’s unfair to accuse them of being cynical and milking folk though. I just think they ran out of artistic juice with Amnesiac. They may rediscover their mojo, but it is rare with more established groups. Once they lose it it tends to be gone.
O, I don’t by any means believe they’re milking anyone; the downpour of money is just a by-product, I’d say. But I think they’re just not really letting themselves relax at all – this sounds like a really uptight record to have produced & Thomas’ well documented perfectionism & fear of repitition (hang on, Amnesiac… Kid A… Hail To The Theif… Eraser… same petri dish, no?) probably knuckle buggered most of the tracks when they were at the interesting stage.
You’re absolutely right, though. Once the big uns lose it, lose it they do. In R’head’s case I think it’s the blippy bloppy cack Thomas insists on beating his chest about that has proven to be their Yoko.
DC
Oh yeah!? Well, plthhht! That was me sticking out my tongue and blowing. I still love In Rainbows, and you can all cram it.
you know, it just depends what you’re looking for. i go to radiohead for beautiful melodies, like classical music (my background). i hated Hail when i first heard it; and it wasnt until i moved through all the other albums that i appreciated the newer stuff. but now i love it all. what ive heard of ‘in rainbows’ is every bit as gorgeous and textured and heartbreaking as its analogues in Hail, Amnesiac, and even parts of Eraser… and the earlier albums… the gorgeous melodies in ‘planet telex’, ‘fake plastic trees’, ‘no surprises’…. its all subjective here, and i like this kind of music. they do it well.
I think that is generally the consesus, C&B. The readers have spoken and I shall have to sulk with DC in the curmudgeons corner on this one.
And yes, Skye, we can argue round in circles all we want but ultimately we’re all just saying ‘we like’ or ‘we don’t like’ in increasingly long sentences. You never know why you like things, I don’t think, you just do.
what the fuck are you talking about ..seriously?
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£7? For a fairly low bitrate MP3 album? That’s extremely generous. Isn’t that what a CD should cost?
I never liked Radiohead. Never had much time for them. I’m a 3 chordie. I like my rock angular, edgy and singable.
Then, about 2 weeks before In rainbows was announced, I happened to read an article that reminded me that I have all their stuff in various forms, gifts, downloads, purchases and never gave them the time.
I did. One weekend changed my Radiohead perspective and they became one of my favorite bands of all time.
Then In Rainbows hit. I see your points but I have to say, some of it is incredibly beautiful. Is it the best album ever? no. Is it better than Hail? Yes. Is it better than most of the shite that is out there. Hell yes. And it was definitely worth the $10 I spent.
£7 is a lot I know. It was that sort of reverse blackmail that I succumbed to, I think.
Allen – It is better than Hail, certainly. I’m just still not engaging with it for some reason. And to me it really sounds like they have ceased to innovate, but maybe that’s because the music world has moved on a bit and I expect something different from the term ‘innovation’, and just because they are working in a slightly different area I am too blinkered to see it.
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just stumbled across this post and wanted to let you know that I’m with you on all that.
I’m shocked at your opening sentence. Not very good?! This album is amazing! And The Eraser wasn’t “beige” either! grrr…