5th June - Radiohead's Amnesiac

Artist – Album: Radiohead - Amnesiac

Released:  5^th June 2001

Sounds Like: Radiohead are pushing boundaries again

Although 1997’s OK Computer pointedly avoided being The Bends 2, it’s arty, paranoid moments were contra-ed effectively enough by classic rock influences to appease fans and music critics alike and it turned out to be a huge success. It was just too awesome to be ignored.

Follow up Kid A came from even further left field – introducing robotic squeaks and squawks and all but eschewing guitars altogether. Despite debuting at #1 in the album charts in both the UK and the US, the initial reaction was somewhat mixed, with some fans feeling alienated by the departure from indie rock and the experiments with the likes of Krautrock and jazz. Eventually though, the public were won over by the avante garde masterpieces and that album’s awesomeness also shone through.

Amnesiac, however, came close to being a weird turn too far. As much as the majority of people learned to love Kid A, there was the hope that the group would allow Johnny Greenwood to pick up his guitar again and, as Melody Maker had anticipated of Kid A, they would “return rock to us”. Instead, they were presented with woozy electronic experimentation that sounds like a Kid A hangover. It beeps and bumps and, having been recorded during the same sessions as its predecessor, some accused it of just being a collection of B-Sides.

The best moments here though are absolutely stunning – the dense geometry of ‘Pyramid Song’, the whiny ‘You and Whose Army?’ , the breakbeat of ‘I Might Be Wrong’, the ringing ‘Knives Out’ and the beautiful reimagining of ‘Morning Bell’. The drunken jazz of closer ‘Life in a Glasshouse’ is as imaginative and rewarding as anything on their more acclaimed records. Although it’s suffered a more indifferent response than its brothers, there’s still time for Amnesiac’s awesomeness to win you over.

Albumaday... rating: 7/10

1.       Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box – 4:00

2.       Pyramid Song – 4:49

3.       Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors – 4:07

4.       You and Whose Army? – 3:11

5.       I Might Be Wrong – 4:54

6.       Knives Out – 4:15

7.       Morning Bell/Amnesiac – 3:14

8.       Dollars and Cents – 4:52

9.       Hunting Bears – 2:01

10.   Like Spinning Plates – 3:57

11.   Life in a Glasshouse – 4:34

Listen to ‘Life in a Glasshouse’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upl_rxmsu6s

Also released on the 5^th June:

2009: Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

18th Feb - Radiohead's The King of Limbs

Artist – Album: Radiohead – The King of Limbs

Released:  18^th February 2011    

Sounds Like: It could slip your attention

Whisper it, but I get the feeling that Radiohead aren’t really bothered any more. I can’t say that I blame them; after all, over the last 20 years they’ve released consistently brilliant records, including a smattering that can be listed amongst the greatest of all time. They’ve had immensely successful singles without ever compromising their artful direction, and in doing so they’ve become worldwide superstars.

But listening to this, their eighth album, you don’t really get of any of that. You get more of the sense that Thom Yorke and co had been kicking around for a while, watching Friends repeats and drinking peppermint tea in their mansions, when they suddenly call from their record company demanding that they pull together a new album, like, now. Even the actual release was a bit slapdash, being that its arrival was only announced five days before it actually came out.

I mean, they’re still a great band and there’s plenty here to enjoy. They continue to craft wonderfully textured, electronic pieces and I was impressed with the beautiful melancholy of the final three tracks, particularly the haunting ‘Give Up the Ghost’. But too often it felt like they were just retreading old ground. Put together a few robotic bubble and squeaks, add a sparse backbeat and get Mr Yorke to warble over it indecipherably for four minutes. Repeat x 8. There’s not a lot more to it is there?

This one’s for the fans (Radiohead-heads?) and not the must-have record that pretty much everything else they’ve produced is.

Albumaday... rating: 6/10

1.       Bloom – 5:15

2.       Morning Mr Magpie – 4:41

3.       Little by Little – 4:27

4.       Feral – 3:13

5.       Lotus Flower – 5:01

6.       Codex – 4:47

7.       Give Up the Ghost – 4:50

8.       Separator – 5:20

Listen to ‘Give Up the Ghost’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41Yz5JtnNwM