Faced with a deliberately difficult deviation into "experimentation," Radiohead and their record label promoted Kid A as just that -- a brave experiment, and that the next album, which was just around the corner, really, would be the "real" record, the one to satiate fans looking for the next OK Computer, or at least guitars. At the time, people bought the myth, especially since live favorites like "Knives Out" and "You and Whose Army?" were nowhere to be seen on Kid A. That, however, ignores a salient point -- Amnesiac, as the album came to be known, consists of recordings made during the Kid A sessions, so it essentially sounds the same. Since Radiohead designed Kid A as a self-consciously epochal, genre-shattering record, the songs that didn't make the cut were a little simpler, so it shouldn't be a surprise that Amnesiac plays like a streamlined version of Kid A, complete with blatant electronica moves and production that sacrifices songs for atmosphere. This, inevitably, will disappoint the legions awaiting another guitar-based record (that is, after all, what they were explicitly promised), but what were they expecting? This is an album recorded at the same time and Radiohead have a certain reputation to uphold. It would be easier to accept this if the record was better than it is. Where Kid A had shock on its side, along with an admirably dogged desire to not be conventional, Amnesiac often plays as a hodgepodge. True, it's a hodgepodge with amazing moments: the hypnotic sway of "Pyramid Song" and "You and Whose Army?," the swirling "I Might Be Wrong," "Knives Out," and the spectacular closer "Life in a Glasshouse," complete with a drunkenly swooning brass band. But, these are not moments that are markedly different than Kid A, which itself lost momentum as it sputtered to a close. And this is the main problem -- though it's nice for an artist to be generous and release two albums, these two records clearly derive from the same source and have the same flaws, which clearly would have been corrected if they had been consolidated into one record. Instead of revealing why the two records were separated, the appearance of Amnesiac makes the separation seem arbitrary -- there's no shift in tone, no shift in approach, and the division only makes the two records seem unfocused, even if the best of both records is quite stunning, proof positive that Radiohead are one of the best bands of their time.
amnesiac. id say thats who the drawing on the cover is of. apparently sad, depressed, crying. im willing to put money on the idea that radiohead knew that this album, even though its one of the sickest albums ever, would be terribly overlooked and discarded too quickly. much unlike its 1 year older, dare i say introverted, twin. if you havent listened to amnesiac in a while, or even at all, the...
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No matter how much radiohead evolves, this song shows what a solid band this is and their skill at creating ambient soundscapes.
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Since its release, I've heard gripes about the playorder of Radiohead's Amnesiac, probably the most popular being "Pyramid Song" curiously jammed between "Packt..." and "Pulk/Pull" as the second track.Amnesiac is probably my favorite Radiohead album (yeah, I know...there aren't many of us) - it's brooding and defeatist in a lot of ways that the other albums aren't, but makes me feel empowered r...
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We must have more bluegrass on the MOG!I can only do my part. Here is the undisputed bluegrass banjo master, Bela Fleck, and a recent disciple, Nickelback's Chris Thile on the mandolin, doing a nice job with a Radiohead tune.
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Ever wonder what instruments your favorite bands are playing onstage? After seeing numerous live Radiohead shows and watching them mirror the same sound onstage as their studio albums, I had to find out for myself and see what they were playing with to get that unique sound. I did a bit of digging and found an entry from Graham, Radiohead's stage manager explaining one of my favorite bands in...
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Radiohead's Knives Out is the next song in Treblezine's Murder Ballad feature.http://treblezine.com/features/171.htmlRadiohead "Knives Out" from Amnesiac "Knives Out" is one of the most traditional sounding songs on Amnesiac, and the structure of Ed O'Brien's chords was heavily influenced by the guitar stylings of Johnny Marr of The Smiths. Yet, Thom Yorke's lyrics were a little more unconvent...
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I stay up late, and you win! I present the first video I saw late last night that was awesome. Directed by Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep), it's Radiohead's "Knives Out" from their album Amnesiac. More later
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while driving back to work from lunch, i was listening to cassadaga. _it starts to melt around 1:47.__yes, that's thom. he's just smiling_
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"NME":http://www.nme.com/news/radiohead/24125 has a piece regarding Thom Yorke being interviewed on Tom Robinson's Evening Sequence on BBC 6Music.According to the article, Bonnaroo was Yorke's "favourite gig for years and years and years". There is no release date, other than what Yorke says. Haven't heard the interview but I'll be scouring "BBC 6":http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/.Didn't get to ...
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amnesiac. id say thats who the drawing on the cover is of. apparently sad, depressed, crying. im willing to put money on the idea that radiohead knew that this album, even though its one of the sickest albums ever, would be terribly overlooked and discarded too quickly. much unlike its 1 year older, dare i say introverted, twin. if you havent listened to amnesiac in a while, or even at all, the...
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">It's all very exciting having a big old honkin' music festival in one's backyard. Now if only we could uninvite Jack Johnson...
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Anyone noticed that the chord progression for Radiohead’s I Might Be Wrong is the same as Thom Yorke’s Black Swan? The words seem to be the only thing that is different.
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Since its release, I've heard gripes about the playorder of Radiohead's Amnesiac, probably the most popular being "Pyramid Song" curiously jammed between "Packt..." and "Pulk/Pull" as the second track.Amnesiac is probably my favorite Radiohead album (yeah, I know...there aren't many of us) - it's brooding and defeatist in a lot of ways that the other albums aren't, but makes me feel empowered r...
More >
No matter how much radiohead evolves, this song shows what a solid band this is and their skill at creating ambient soundscapes.
More >
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 "Amnesiac")
