Kid A

[Dan]

So, I'm a huge Radiohead fan, and yet for some reason, I never listened to this album. I was sort of scared to, after all the reviews talked about how weird and inaccessible and whatnot it is.

So, I finally listened to it yesterday, and I'm shocked by how great, and accessible it is. With the occasional exception ("Tree Fingers" being the most obvious), everything on here is a typically structured song, though with an electronic twist.

I think of the majority of this album as being almost ambient. I can put it on and not really have to think too hard about what's going on and still get a cool vibe off of it. If OK Computer was about the human race turning into computers, this is the aftermath, a landscape made up of weird electronic noise. I just get this mental image of a post-apocalyptic, completely white, sanitized world.

Anyway, I like OK Computer better, but this album is definitely Radiohead's second-best. And the thing I've noticed about the lyrics is that I find I want to sing along to them, even though I can't really understand the majority of them.

So, does anyone want to discuss this album at all? I'm doubting it, but I figured I'd throw it out there.

 

[Zhukov]

I absolutely love this album.

When I first got it I listened to it, begining to end, repeatedly for maybe a month, month and a half. I listened to it at home. I brought it with me in the car. The whole thing works so well, blends so smoothly from one song to the next. Really an expertly done album.

I don't really know the names of any of the songs. I almost never looked at the names on the CD. I just put it in and pressed play.

But it is such an amazing album. Personally I do like it much better than OK Computer, tho OK is great.

Been awhile since I listened to it straight thru. I will this evening and comment on a few of my favorite parts afterwards.

I like Hail to the Thief as well, but I think Kid A is their best.



Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon.

 

[Dan]

Is Amnesiac any good? I heard they made Kid A and Amnesiac at the same time, is it the same kind of vibe?

 

[Zhukov]

Amnesiac is different.

Amnesiac is like a collection of formless interludes between other songs....

Like how you said a large part of Kid A is ambient? This is all ambient, and nothing but.

I have it, burnt it from someone, and don't think I've even listened to it as an album. It's just been in my rotation and every once in awhile a song will come up and I'll think to myself, "woah, who the hell was that", bring up the player see it was Radiohead from Amnesiac. That's happened twice in the last month.

Good call dan, after I listen to Kid A straight thru, I'll listen to Amnesiac straight thru and try to present a concise opinion on it as a whole album.

 

[Dan]

Cool, I'll probably check it out eventually, but I'm cool with Kid A right now.

Not to derail the convo or anything, but I think a large part of the reason that music hasn't been doing so well the past few years is because there's so little focus on putting together a good album. The average album you buy from a popular band will usually have about four good songs, then the rest will just be blahhhh. I think Kid A is rare in the fact that it is much better when listened to from beginning to end than just a song here and there.

Right now my favorite song might be "Idioteque". I also like "Motion Picture Soundtrack" a lot, too, but like you said, they're all good, and they all work together really well. I only knew the names of those particular songs by looking them up as I was typing this.

Now, if the Flaming Lips would hurry up and put out their new album, I'd be in music heaven.

 

[Zhukov]

Kid A


The National Anthem: This song is just incredible. From the bass line that opens it up and pervades throughout, to the climbing of top hat and crazy random background noise, to that wild horn at the end. No one makes music like this.


....and then after that mania it drifts quietly into...


How To Disappear Completely: Always really liked this song. Probably one of the ones you were talking about wanting to sing along too. It seems all the more relaxing after the previous song.



What I really like about this album is that each song is so different from the last, or the next, and yet it all fits together.

Optimistic: More mainstream song, but with that beat, really draws you back into it, specially after Treefingers.

to In Limbo, Idioteque (probably my favorite song on the album, with its crazy synthetics), and Morning Bell...

Rather than put all the crap in the back like some groups...well first of all there is no crap here, but Radiohead saves the best till the second half.

Talk about great B sides.

Great album.

On to Amnesiac....don't think I've even heard this first song, but sounds pretty cool so far....to be continued....

 

[Zhukov]

Talk about timing with those posts....


And yeah, Motion Picture Soundtrack is another great one to sing along to.

 

[William Joyce]

You guys seem convinced, but I tend to think Radiohead is WAAAAAAYYYY overrated by snobby music critics. But, I haven't listened to the albums, just the radio songs.

 

[Dan]

I agree that they are overrated. But, that said, The Bends and OK Computer are great guitar-driven albums. I guess it's a unique taste, certainly not everyone would like it. But, I guess I'd say give it a try, like Z and I have said in pretty much every post in this thread, their stuff usually works better as a whole album than as individual songs.

 

[Zhukov]

Well, even a blind dog finds a bone now and again.

Sometimes the critics are right, sometimes they are way off.

Music critics probably favor eclecticism more than actual musical talent. However, they get lucky when there comes a group that is eclectic and talented. That just happens to be the case with Radiohead.

Personally, I'm not sure which are their radio songs anymore.

I know their first was Creep, and I know both me and the lead singer hate that song, though for different reasons. He hates it because it got them so much unwanted (they are still flaky artists) attention; I hate it because it sucks.

Paranoid Android was released on radio I think (it was a video for sure), but it's a long song, so they probably didn't play it much, and if they did they invaraibly hacked it apart to make it shorter.

There was a song on Kid A released, don't remember which, but I liked it.

I'm not sure what they released off Hail to Thief.





Amnesiac.....well, there are some real keepers on this album. As I listened to this I was involved in a way in which I could not give it my undivided attention however there are really quite a few great songs here. I put it on repeat and never heard anything I didn't like.

There was one song that was just a weird beat and Thom talking with so much distortion you can't make out a word. Not even sure if you'd call that a song.

I'd say if you like Kid A check this out, you will like it.

 

[Dan]

I'll check out Amnesiac. I think the first single from Hail to the Thief was either 2+2=5 or We Suck Young Blood. I just remember being shocked to see it on MTV (this was at like 2:30 in the morning, too) and all of my friends hating it, and me liking it a lot. Such is my life.