You know what the best thing about having moved to the blog format? No freaking title character limits. Ahh, look at that long title. So nice.
So we're about to unveil The Arbitrarily Chosen 28 Best/Favorite/Most Respected Albums Of All Time (That We've Heard) (TAC28B/F/MRAoAT(TWH)). We'll be publishing them one post at a time over a period of 1-75 weeks in a back-and-forth kind of format between Daniel and me. It's going to be extremely boss*, or crappy, depending on your point-of-view. Mostly, Dan's pieces will be boss and filled with musical knowledge, and mine will be crappy and borderline incoherent. But either way, I'm excited. Anyway, number 28 on the list is Elston Gunn's** Bringing It All Back Home, so, get excited too!
So we're about to unveil The Arbitrarily Chosen 28 Best/Favorite/Most Respected Albums Of All Time (That We've Heard) (TAC28B/F/MRAoAT(TWH)). We'll be publishing them one post at a time over a period of 1-75 weeks in a back-and-forth kind of format between Daniel and me. It's going to be extremely boss*, or crappy, depending on your point-of-view. Mostly, Dan's pieces will be boss and filled with musical knowledge, and mine will be crappy and borderline incoherent. But either way, I'm excited. Anyway, number 28 on the list is Elston Gunn's** Bringing It All Back Home, so, get excited too!
*I love that people have started using this word again. I give Teddy Moller 100% of the credit.
**Bob's Wiki entry is really wonderful. I suggest you all read it, for fun facts like this one. Also, bonus fun fact: when I spell-checked this post, "Elston" did not come up as spelled wrong.
But until then, you'll have to make due with a review of Radiohead's In Rainbows.
But until then, you'll have to make due with a review of Radiohead's In Rainbows.
I'm not a Radiohead-head, but I have a hard time denying that they have the been the most consistently excellent band of the last 10-15 years along with Wilco. OK Computer is an absolute masterpiece, easily one of the 25 best albums I've ever heard (though because of Dan's miserliness, it did not make the TAC28B/F/MRAoAT(TWH)), and I haven't heard anything by them that I could call anything less than good. That said, I have not been a fan of their post-OK phase. Kid A and Hail to the Thief are fine, but I always thought they were a little bit stilted and the songs ran together a little too much (honestly, the only song I can name from Kid A is "Everything in Its Right Place"). I didn't even bother with Amnesiac. Now, everyone tells me I really should give Kid A another chance and Amnesiac a first one, and I promise I will.
But for now, In Rainbows is easily my favorite post OK album, and I may like it even a little more than The Bends. It can't touch OK of course, but it blends the things that I liked best about Kid A and HttT with the best things from The Bends. Namely, the album is extraordinarily coherent, sounding like a single piece of art, but also eminently listenable with much simpler sounds.
But for now, In Rainbows is easily my favorite post OK album, and I may like it even a little more than The Bends. It can't touch OK of course, but it blends the things that I liked best about Kid A and HttT with the best things from The Bends. Namely, the album is extraordinarily coherent, sounding like a single piece of art, but also eminently listenable with much simpler sounds.
I'm not going to do my standard song-by-song listing because I have a lot left to do tonight. "15 Step" is a fantastic opener, probably my favorite non-OK song by them. It's got a wonderful, driving beat combined with (somewhat) introspective, frustrated lyrics. I'm not sure how to explain this, but if someone asked me to define In Rainbows in one song, I would give them this one without hesitation. It's like "15 Step" sets the tone and everything else falls naturally out of it.
"Bodysnatchers" is a nice follow-up, another very catchy rocker that caught my attention and stayed with me from the first time I heard it. "Nude" is very, well, nude, that is, its sparse and soft. It does a very nice job of bringing the tone of the album down a notch without being jarring. "All I Need" was probably my favorite song on the album the first time I heard it, and while that's changed, it has a deep earnestness that can't be ignored. "House of Cards" is the simplest, sweetest song I've heard by Radiohead since...ever, I guess. I mean, isn't it a little shocking to not only have a light-sounding Radiohead song, but for it also to start with the lyrics "I don't want to be your friend, / I just want to be your lover?" Needless to say, I am pleased with this development. "Jigsaw Falling into Place" reminds me of "Electioneering" from OK (this is a very good thing), except that it takes more time to build. It's also a good reminder that even (especially?) great artists are just as insecure as we are.
The album then ends with the gorgeous "Videotape," which is probably the sparsest song I've ever heard by Thom Yorke and company--most of the song is just a single piano and Yorke's voice, and then a simple drumbeat comes in later. It also has some beautiful lyrics: "When I am at the pearly gates / This will be on videotape." Well, actually that doesn't give a sense of them...this is really one of those songs that you have to listen to appreciate the beauty of the lyrics, but they seem very earnest and profound to me.
Overall 8.5/10: In Rainbows reminded me why I loved Radiohead in the first place, and it has inspired me to return to those old albums that I may not have given a fair shake. I know Radiohead have become one of the most respected bands in the world by also being one of the most ambitious, but it's refreshing to hear a simpler, easier to listen to Radiohead. Do I hope the next album is like this one? I don't know, but I am glad that In Rainbows is the way it is.
6 comments:
Can you still download this for free? Also, Luke and I met an adorable puppy named Boss last week on the main green. He was so boss.
re: downloading it for free. I don't think so. I didn't at least. You should devote yourself to OK Computer first anyway.
re: Boss. boss.
One thing I noticed with In Rainbows with all the songs is that it was recorded and mastered at an incredibly higher quality than any other album I've ever listened to. When I listen to an album I don't even pay attention to it, but it jumped out at me, how clean and precise the sounds were in instruments like the drums than in almost any other song I've ever heard. I think this is partially due to the fact that Radiohead recorded, mixed, and distributed the album completely on their own
And Dan, here's download links through megaupload for In Rainbows, and the B-Sides that came out with the box set
In Rainbows:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BGEKHIIN
B-Sides:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=X3Y4MVT7
Dan - If you do have a conscience for things like this (I do not), then remember that Radiohead allowed fans to download the album itself, but NOT the B-sides. That, of course, didn't stop me from getting Disc 2 the free way. If it's any consolation, I ended up buying the actual album for $12 at Starbucks because I sure as shit was not going to spend a gift card on coffee.
Sam - I'm pretty sure that you and I are in the minority with "15 Step" being our favorite - usually it's "Bodysnatchers" or "Weird Fishes/Arpeggio". I fucking love that song, and it really does bring a certain feeling to the rest of an album, as if it is a set of directions on how to listen to In Rainbows.
Also, I love how they've used technology so much with the album, both in its release, the aftermath, and in the music itself. Partnering with iTunes with the Nude Remix contest was awesome, and as good as it sounds in the studio, In Rainbows sounds even better in the Scotch Mist versions, which are basically one-cut versions. No editing. No layering. No audience. Just performing live for a camera. Thom Yorke goes absolutely nuts on "15 Step".
It is curious, however, how they can take this album so far and avoid that "selling out" label that society is so eager to dish out to any artist who makes any extra effort that could be misconstrued as showy. It's probably because despite all this hype, they just don't appeal to the masses anymore.
I don't know about them not appealing to the masses--even after releasing it for free download, it still hit number 1 in the US and UK. I think they're just perceived in a way that leaves them sort of immune to that kind of criticism.
Every once in a while, at least for me, an album comes out that I can just listen to straight through and many times in a row. In Rainbows is certainly one of the few that fits this category.
Nude and Reckoner are my two favorites: Nude for its simple beauty and Reckoner for it's drum line.
15 Step and Bodysnatchers are my two least favorite, but that isn't saying much for an album as great as this.
Sam - Completely agree with you about Hail to the Thief and Kid A. I think you should give Amnesiac a shot. I personally see a lot of parallels between it and In Rainbows.
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