Radiohead: An Introductory Odyssey

[thehenderson]

I hope they start wearing capes and maybe do a performance on an ice rink.

Hahaha! Radiohead on ice would sell out in a snap! :p

After spouting all that crap about innovation, my favourite Radiohead song is still one of their most basic, straight forward arrangements.

Here's Mark Ronson's cheesey cover of it, haha so naughty:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIcCAmh1lro[/youtube]

[badmotor]

Heh. That version made me laugh.

[Clarky]

I love Radiohead and have every album, and I belive In Rainbows (1 & 2) is a work of art. Thom's solo stuff is unworldly, and I'm sure that soon his head will fall off. (Check out some of the recent YouTube stuff!)

What I'm really enjoying though, is everyone's comments in this thread. Good solid musical discussion chaps!

[Jenesis]

Latest listenage - "In Rainbows".



I've had this one playing on a loop for the last two days, but for whatever reason it won't sink into my brain properly. As I found with "The Bends" there are some stonking tracks here and some (a lot) that leave me cold, with a couple epitomising the depressing dirge style that had me avoiding the band like the plague for lo these many years.

Again in similar fashion to "The Bends", "In Rainbows" starts off with a couple of grabbers in the form of "15 Step" (Photek-y beats, airy synths and jazzy guitar) and the cracking "Bodysnatchers" which feels like it should be backing music to chavs running from the old bill down grimy London alleys. Or something. "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" is in the stylee of the opening track, sort of a post-rock take on those sped-up Photek beats again. "All I Need" is a dark, downbeat ballad which has the bad-ass one-two-punch appeal of vibraphone and oscillating delay, but after that atmospheric track the rest of the album is a run of songs which just didn't grab me at all, except for the pacy "Jigsaw Falling Into Place".

So is this one of their more experimental albums, or is it a combo/mixture of their old school song styles and recent progressive/art leanings? Because to me it sounded like fairly standard stuff for the most part other than a couple of goof-off effects moments here and there. As I said, this has been on a loop for the last cuppla days and I've listened to it all the way through at least eight times. The fact that most of the album still hasn't sunk in or seem to have any appeal to me after that monstrous amount of play leads me to believe it's not gonna be one of my favourites in the ye olde Radiohead catalogue.

Rating - 6/10

[te_chris]

To me, it's the pinacle of their career. Obviously others disagree, but I think In Rainbows represents the distilling of their previous sounds into a f'n awesome package, but i love all their albums ('cept pablo honey) evenly.

[thehenderson]

In Rainbows is way too jazzy for me, the lead single is good though

[Jenesis]

Felt to me that there were too many floating, nothingy songs on there.

[jimi]

Its the only Radiohead album that I havent got in my CD collection, though I did give them 5 squid for the download when it was released. Only listened to it once. It sorta struck me like they'd taken the cool guitar stuff from the 1st 3 albums and the quirky electro stuff from the next three, thrown all that away and what you have left is In Rainbows.

Rates a Meh from me, but Im sure it will grow on me if I give it another listen.

[Clarky]

Its the only Radiohead album that I havent got in my CD collection, though I did give them 5 squid for the download when it was released. Only listened to it once. It sorta struck me like they'd taken the cool guitar stuff from the 1st 3 albums and the quirky electro stuff from the next three, thrown all that away and what you have left is In Rainbows.

Rates a Meh from me, but Im sure it will grow on me if I give it another listen.

Necessary ingredients: A warm room. A single malt. A leather recliner. A great stereo. No interruptions. Soak into the art!

[badmotor]

Yeah man, the best ones you have to give time.

It's like the first time I heard Pink Floyd as a youngster - I thought "What a load of wishy-washy drugged-out bollocks". But of course, it is actually brilliant - I just wasn't hearing it yet.

[telefiend]

In Rainbows took a while to grow on me too. It's definitely a favourite now though.

Reckoner is an intensely awesome track

[Pakehendrix]

I think stop listening to it and come back to it. I find that most albums don't withstand constant playing, especially when you're TRYING to "hear" it.Leave it, come back to it, listen to it very loud while doing something relaxing (a long boring drive is good, too) and soak it up. It's just like a good Mainland cheddar...