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Radiohead - In Rainbows
Author Malcolm Gladwell defined the tipping point as ‘the levels at which momentum for change becomes unstoppable’. My own personal Radiohead tipping point came relatively late – around the time when I first saw the Paranoid Android video. Sure, I had liked ‘Creep’, unlike the band it seems, and the singles off ‘The Bends’ had sounded pretty good, but this was the moment it happened for me.
Since then I never really looked back, except to buy everything they had done up to that point in time.
My fascination reached the level that I was even making unreasonable demands on my friends, asking one guitar-playing mate to play ‘Paranoid Android’. “There’s about 4 guitars playing at the same time there, mouth” he replied. To be honest, I think he was just shit at guitar.
As a Radiohead follower, I have now watched them in a field (Glasto), in a tent (Warrington), in the Empress Ballroom (say no more) and sadly also in an Ice Arena, in Newcastle, which was memorable only for the quote of the night from a gent called Geordie Rich, “27 poond 50 for a ticket and they didn’t even play High and Fuckin Dry man.”
It’s hard to understand people who don’t like Radiohead, but funnily enough folk are reaching their tipping point every day – you still meet them. Very lucky people.
Enough of them, on to the new album ‘In Rainbows’. This album was of course made famous by the fact that we were invited to download it, for ‘free’, and didn’t this cause a bit of bother in the music industry? No less a luminary than Lily Allen, accused the band of being ‘arrogant’ for giving the album away for free. ‘You don’t choose how to pay for eggs’ she said, ‘why should it be different for music.’ Stick to making songs about your brother getting stoned in his bedroom flower, although I’m sure we’d all do the same with a ‘skin blister’ like that.
Unlike other recent Radiohead album releases, there seems to have been a positive vibe about this from the very start. Early reviews have been affirmative, many considering In Rainbows to be their best effort since the hugely acclaimed ‘OK Computer’. The first thing to notice almost immediately is that this album is far more accessible than their other, more cryptic albums.
Even the title sounds a little cheerier, and the artwork looks brighter. Looking back at the last 3 albums, even the most ardent fans would have to admit that one or two tracks were so obscure and dark that they were rendered a bit rubbish. And it’s not fun trying to defend something in the face of compelling evidence, let’s just say they were the Juan Sebastian Veron of Radiohead tracks and leave it there. In Rainbows has no such own goals.
The opening track ‘15 Step’ is an upbeat start, bit of a clap along number really, with a little bit of the Kid-A (or kidda as I hope we all called it) about it. This promising start is capitalised upon by the beefy guitars, which hail the arrival of Bodysnatchers. This the sort of song Radiohead keep making in their maturity, and a quality of track that 99.9% of other bands can only dream about. A great, crashing crescendo ending is a rare treat too, definitely a tune to listen out for when they tour.
Starting off hauntingly, ‘Nude’ just gets more and more evocative as it goes along. Thom Yorke’s vocal range really comes into its own here, and it’s a thing of real beauty from a bloke who clearly is not. Tortured soul he does better than anyone else by miles.
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, as far as odd song titles go, is right up there with ‘Joy Division Oven Gloves’ and ‘Hips don’t Lie’. To be honest I had it down early as one of the poorer tracks on the album, but this is a real grower, featuring confusing lyrics like ‘I follow to the edge of the earth and fall off’. Right……OK.
- Radiohead
- In Rainbows (2007)
- Category: Album
- Label: XL Recordings
- Reviewed by: Graham Cookson
- Published on: 13 Jan 2008
- Comments: 0
- Beat Surrender Rating:
Weblinks
Add to favouritesFor a while many Radiohead fans have clamoured (fans clamour, sounds a bit like an Austrian skier) for more up tempo tunes but I have to admit that the two early standout tracks on ‘In Rainbows’ are both slow numbers. The first is ‘All I Need’, which really sounds like the lads are getting stuck into relationships and stuff. This shows off the deeper end of Thom’s vocals and is just serene.
It appears the subject matter on the whole album smacks of a slight change in emphasis from the band. Less of ‘don’t leave your telly on standby the planet is dying’ and more of ‘we ain’t gonna save the world of our own so let’s marvel at the stuff what’s in it.’
Next up is ‘Faust Arp’, which is catchy and tuneful meanders along gracefully, and has an orchestral feel about it, probably a track which would stand out on most albums, but just blends in cosily on this one.
Reckoner kind of passes by innocuously but is still an intricate stop/start affair which sounds in part like ‘We suck young blood’ from ‘Hail to the Thief’. It serves as a mere hors-deuvres for the feast that is ‘House of Cards’. This is the other slow track that immediately grabs the attention, and then turns out to be just heavenly – my favourite track on the album (this will change over time.)
‘House of Cards’ seems to be about infidelity ‘Throw your keys in the bowl’ but also goes a bit heavy when Thom croons ‘The infrastructure will collapse from high voltage’. I gave up trying to understand Radiohead songs ages ago. In the end it really doesn’t matter, this song is a beautiful on the ears as seeing Mikel Arteta skin yet another hapless defender is on the eyes. This track is a serious triumph – a simple song but pure tranquillity.
Then comes ‘Jigsaw Falling into Place’, a powerful acoustic track which seamlessly gathers pace and is also the first single from this album. Have you seen the video? The lads are all wearing helmet cams (leave it) and the result is a visual merry-go-round that doesn’t quite come off. I liken it to Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer, very cleverly done but leaves you feeling a little nauseous. The song itself is just a polished Radiohead classic, a track that makes you feel all’s well in the band once again maybe – confident, tuneful and again a chance for Thom Yorke to bring to bear the full force of his vocal flexibility.
The final track on what looks like being a legendary album is ‘Videotape’ which gives the lads a chance to be sentimental, maybe a little morbid but most importantly romantic. A poetic, piano based ending, in keeping with the rest of the album, flawless.
So there we have it, 10 tracks, not a dodgy one amongst them. But then I suppose I would say that. Buy it now, that’s if you haven’t already got it for nowt.
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