I recently downloaded the new Radiohead album (it's on their site and you can pay whatever you want, I paid $1 out of pure guilt). The new album, "In Rainbows", is outstanding and probably their best since "Kid A".
Album-by-album rankings (scale: 1 worst to 5 best)
"Pablo Honey" - 3 1/2. Definitely a 90s British version of the grunge rock scene. "Creep" is an obvious classic. It's got some good songs but it doesn't really foretell the band's eventual genius albums.
"The Bends" - 4. You're welcome, Coldplay, Travis and others. Lots of people still claim this is the best Radiohead album. I disagree but it is the one with the most "classic" arrangement of guitar, bass and drums. "Fake Plastic Trees", "High and Dry" and the title track stand out. Good collection of songs and had an obvious influence on bands yet to come.
"OK Computer" - 4 1/2. A masterpiece. "Karma Police" has one of the best hooks in alternative rock history. "Paranoid Android", "Airbag", "No Surprises", "Lucky" and "Climbing up the Walls" are other highlights. One of the best albums ever.
"Kid A" - 5. This is their best and would probably be included in my top 5-6 albums of all-time. "Everything in its Right Place" pulls you in and doesn't let you go for about an hour. Listening to it from beginning to end is like watching a great movie you can't figure out but is intriguing enough to watch repeatedly. It's like listening to a rock band function like an orchestra. There are voicebox distortions, other-worldly keyboards and drum machines, bass lines that stick and they're still able to make it sound like a rock record with good guitar arrangements...heartbreaking melodies. I still listen to this one from time to time.
"Amnesiac" - 4 1/2. "Kid A"'s little sister. What "Zooropa" was to "Achtung Baby" for U2, so is "Amnesiac" to "Kid A". You can tell a lot of the songs were from the same sessions. In fact, they have a revised version of "Morning Bell" from Kid A that works better. "Like Spinning Plates" takes a melody from what sounds like a backmasking track and it's one of their best. "Pyramid Song", "I Might Be Wrong" and "Knives Out" are other highlights.
"I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings" - 4 1/2. Mostly live performances of stuff from Kid A and Amnesiac. "National Anthem" from Kid A goes over extremely well live...one of the best bass lines ever in that song. It ends with an acoustic ballad, "True Love Waits". "Idioteque", another Kid A track, is a foot-stomper.
"Hail to the Thief" - 4. This one didn't have a great impression on me but it's hard to top their previous 3. Still some good songs with "There There" and "Go to Sleep". More back to their "The Bends"/"OK Computer" era and Thom Yorke seems angrier in his lyrics at America...see the album title as a variation of Hail to the Chief. Not a big Bush fan. "2+2=5" is an obvious swing at the administration. "We Suck Young Blood" is a nice comment about the "American Idol"-culture, too. Lovely piece.
"In Rainbows" - 4 1/2. After a couple listens, it really sticks. 10 good tracks. I'd say the production is similar to "Kid A" but there's more of the guitar players showing their muscle with some pretty sharp riffs. A couple "How to Disappear Completely"-like (Kid A) acoustic songs with Yorke's vocals echoing like an opera singer over it also. "Bodysnatchers", "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi", "Reckoner", "House of Cards" and "Videotape" are the highlights.
Subject: RADIOHEAD 
Wed Nov 07, 2007 8:15 pm