Official RADIOHEAD thread

[tpfkabi]

Kid A definitely flows better............cause it actually flows together a la Side B of Abbey Road.
Kid A was definitely made with vinyl in mind........Treefingers is the perfect meditative end to Side A, Optimistic is a rocking way to start Side B.

OK Computer is still my favorite album of all time though.
Someone will have to make something unfathomable for that to ever change for me.

[ono]

Sidenote: Fog was used on last week's episode of The OC.  A Radiohead track used on a TV show?  That's crazy, Mr. Chubbs!

BLASPHEMERS! 

Haha, I don't see how fact can be considered as such.

As for anything else, "you don't know good."   "Open your mind."  Blah.  Depressing.  P said it best, actually:

it's the opposite actually. the ppl who are listing OK Computer and the Bends at the top are only doing it cos they hav the emotional attachment of probably having discovered them at that time. whereas the ones listing Amnesiac/Kid A/HttT are actually ranking them based on what's good, not what they think makes them seem "more down".

This thread was pseudo-resurrected with comments as to OK Computer's relevance after almost 10 years (almost 9, actually).  So far, nothing much of substance has been said.  OK Computer seems to have this little curve which tapers off in this way:

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Meaning, first impressions for someone who's just encountered the album are not that great, but somewhere along the way, one track or another registers with you, and it all comes to light.  This is how most great albums are.  Problem is, staying power.  I won't deny the poignancy, the anger channeled through art, in some of their songs, but I think a couple reek of shallowness: ironic considering it's what they tried to attack.  And I criticize the album so much because it's constantly hailed as one of the greatest ever: a statement which makes no sense, as a bunch of good tracks on an album with a poignant concept make not the "best ever."

To put it into perspective, I'd rank them as so: 1) Hail to the Thief, 2) Kid A, Tied for 3: Amnesiac/OK Computer/The Bends, 6) Pablo Honey.

OK Computer's problem is it drifts off and meanders.  It wants to be this indictment of a society dependent too much on technology, loses its focus and attention-grabbing power of its first songs, and only scratches the surface of what could have been.  As a concept album, Kid Amnesiac works better.  Kid A being in the middle of disaster, Amnesiac after the fact, from a distance.

Airbag's tongue-in-cheek, solid (and for someone who likes OK Computer so much, mod, I can't see how you don't appreciate Myxomatosis more -- the buzzing guitars here and there are so similar).  Paranoid Android is one the best things they've ever done, ironic considering how they created the song, melding three songs and apeing The Beatles.  Subterranean Homesick Alien was supposed to ape Dylan, and a dream Yorke had, but failed in saying anything meaningful.  Exit Music wakes us up, and though I admire its brilliance, it's hard to ever completely accept a song as part of an album if it was created first for a film.  Let Down is a letdown -- just puts me to sleep.  Karma Police is solid, but much like Everything In Its Right Place, overrated (I compare the two as staples of Radiohead, much loved and lauded, trying to say something yet just falling short).  It indicts a shallowness that it's guilty of perpetuating -- the crimes called out aren't worth whinging about.  Maybe that's tongue-in-cheek, and if so, fine -- but that leaves us with a song that doesn't say much at all -- just mocks those who try.  Fitter Happier is a great experiment.  Electioneering is the last real rock song on here -- solid.  Climbing Up the Walls is creepy and spooky, yet irrelevant.  No Surprises is another solid yet overrated track.  Lucky is a great mirror for Airbag, and a song that's great in theory yet lacking in staying power and execution.  The Tourist lingers on for too long and is part of the problem with why this album seems to drag out for so long, though the ending instrumental is a nice punctuation.

I don't say any of this to antagonize, but to provoke thought.  I appreciate OK Computer.  Wouldn't write about it if I didn't.  But there's more to music than that, and Radiohead realized this a long time ago when they set to make Kid Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief.  And they're gonna do it again.  If you're receptive, you reap the rewards of that.  If not, then you're just stuck in 1997.

Fun fact: OK Computer is 53:21; Hail to the Thief is 56:30, three minutes, two songs longer, with perhaps only two songs expendable (but which two being subjective -- I'd lose Where I End and You Begin, and either Backdrifts or Scatterbrain).  How soon people forget.  Here's what I've never really understood, though: Why do people even complain that albums are "too long?"  Shouldn't they be happy that a good artist is giving them more?  Just like good movies are never too long, as it is with albums.  I guess that's why I enjoy all 56 minutes of Hail to the Thief so much, and lament that Amnesiac is so short by most standards.

[Jeremy Blackman]

Am I still alone in thinking that Amnesiac is better (leagues better, even) than Kid A?

[ono]

I wouldn't say better, just a different beast.  Apples and oranges.  It's a funny thing that happened to me with that one.  It and The Bends were the ones that took the longest for me to fully appreciate.  What I've found with Amnesiac that hurts it is its track structure.  All of its power is loaded on the back end, so there is no real flow from one song to the next like with Kid A.  But once Dollars & Cents kicks in, you know you're in for a treat, and the album actually closes out with its best track, Life In A Glass House.  Those four songs make a "mini-album," where all of the real power lies.  Hunting Bears is incredibly underrated, beautiful in its simplicity.  Like Spinning Plates loses a bit of respect for its obfuscation, but is redeemed in its live performance on I Might Be Wrong, making it one of the most simplistically beautiful things the band has done.

Knives Out used to be a favorite, but dwindled in favor once I caught on to the back end of what Amnesiac had to offer (though it's always got a place in my mind for what I think is an inspired video).  Don't get me wrong, the front has a lot to offer: Pyramid Song is hypnotically beautiful.  Packt Like Sardines In a Crushd Tin Box is so catchy.  But Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors is laughable (even if it can get caught in your head).  Morning Bell/Amnesiac is kinda bad, tolerable but there's so much that's better; a song Radiohead shouldn't have wasted time on during Kid A, let alone a second go-'round.  I Might Be Wrong is repetitive, and You And Whose Army? is poignant for all of its three minutes, but soon forgettable.  Bottom line, the more I hear Life In A Glass House, the more I get it, the more I appreciate what's come before, and I guess that's one thing Amnesiac's odd track order has going for it.

EDIT: Radiohead tour and album info is slowly coming to light: http://pitchforkmedia.com/news/06-04/11.shtml#radiohead  Nothing incredibly new, but still interesting.

[grand theft sparrow]

Sidenote: Fog was used on last week's episode of The OC.  A Radiohead track used on a TV show?  That's crazy, Mr. Chubbs!

BLASPHEMERS! 

Haha, I don't see how fact can be considered as such.

It can be when a show like the fucking OC uses one of my favorite Radiohead B-sides.

[ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ]

Am I still alone in thinking that Amnesiac is better (leagues better, even) than Kid A?

Kid A had some powerful tracks, Amnesiac was awesome nonstop.  Amnesiac is probably my favorite Radiohead album as of late.

[I Don't Believe in Beatles]

More tour dates:



06-01 Philadelphia, PA - Tower Theatre ON SALE MAY 6
06-02 Philadelphia, PA - Tower Theatre ON SALE MAY 6
06-04 Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion ON SALE MAY 6
06-05 Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion ON SALE MAY 6
06-07 Toronto, Ontario - Hummingbird Center ON SALE MAY 6
06-08 Toronto, Ontario - Hummingbird Center ON SALE MAY 6
06-10 Montreal, Quebec - Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts ON SALE MAY 5
06-11 Montreal, Quebec - Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts ON SALE MAY 5
06-13 New York, NY - The Theatre at Madison Square Garden ON SALE MAY 5
06-14 New York, NY - The Theatre at Madison Square Garden ON SALE MAY 5
06-19 Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theatre ON SALE MAY 6
06-20 Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theatre ON SALE MAY 6
06-23 Berkeley, CA - Greek Theater ON SALE MAY 14
06-24 Berkeley, CA - Greek Theater ON SALE MAY 14
06-26 San Diego, CA - Bayside ON SALE MAY 6
06-27 San Diego, CA - Bayside ON SALE MAY 6
06-29 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theater ON SALE MAY 25
06-30 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theater ON SALE MAY 25



How expensive are Radiohead tickets?  I'm considering buying tickets to one of the Berkeley shows but I don't know if I could afford it.

[MacGuffin]

06-29 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theater ON SALE MAY 25
06-30 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theater ON SALE MAY 25

Anyone planning on going?


Radiohead Line Up Summer Tour To Road-Test New Music
Band will play string of theater dates across North America in June. Source: MTV   

Throughout their decade-plus career, Radiohead have always done things their own way. So despite the fact they don't have a studio album to promote, they're still hitting the road this summer for a string of theater dates across North America.

The tour is slated to begin June 1 at the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, and will make two-night stands in cities including Boston, Montreal, New York and Chicago before wrapping on June 30 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. Tickets for some of the theater shows go on sale Friday through Radiohead.com. In addition to the theater gigs, Radiohead will also headline one night of the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, to be held in Manchester, Tennessee, June 16-18.

According to a spokesperson for the band, Radiohead will be using the summer dates to road-test material for their still-untitled seventh studio album, which they've been working on with producer Mark "Spike" Stent since August. (Despite the tour, Radiohead have no plans to release an album in 2006.)

Frontman Thom Yorke has been documenting the recording process on the band's official blog, Dead Air Space, and posted several photos of the band rehearsing for their upcoming tour last week.

[matt35mm]

06-29 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theater ON SALE MAY 25
06-30 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theater ON SALE MAY 25

Anyone planning on going?

Either one of those or one of the San Diego ones.

I promised myself I'd go to the very next Radiohead tour, still having never seen them live.  But I have to admit to indimidation--those Radiohead concerts must be gigantic mobfests!  It may ultimately depend on if I can get some friends to come with me.  I mostly like to do shit alone, but like I said, I'm intimidated.

[noyes]

More tour dates:



06-01 Philadelphia, PA - Tower Theatre ON SALE MAY 6
06-02 Philadelphia, PA - Tower Theatre ON SALE MAY 6
06-04 Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion ON SALE MAY 6
06-05 Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion ON SALE MAY 6
06-07 Toronto, Ontario - Hummingbird Center ON SALE MAY 6
06-08 Toronto, Ontario - Hummingbird Center ON SALE MAY 6
06-10 Montreal, Quebec - Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts ON SALE MAY 5
06-11 Montreal, Quebec - Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts ON SALE MAY 5
06-13 New York, NY - The Theatre at Madison Square Garden ON SALE MAY 5
06-14 New York, NY - The Theatre at Madison Square Garden ON SALE MAY 5
06-19 Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theatre ON SALE MAY 6
06-20 Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theatre ON SALE MAY 6
06-23 Berkeley, CA - Greek Theater ON SALE MAY 14
06-24 Berkeley, CA - Greek Theater ON SALE MAY 14
06-26 San Diego, CA - Bayside ON SALE MAY 6
06-27 San Diego, CA - Bayside ON SALE MAY 6
06-29 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theater ON SALE MAY 25
06-30 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theater ON SALE MAY 25



How expensive are Radiohead tickets?  I'm considering buying tickets to one of the Berkeley shows but I don't know if I could afford it.

tickets are sold out for nyc, according to http://tickets.waste.uk.com/Store/DisplayItems.html
must be a certain amount. i'll try to get on ticketmaster at 10 sharp friday morning. totally gotta go.

[grand theft sparrow]

tickets are sold out for nyc, according to http://tickets.waste.uk.com/Store/DisplayItems.html

no... NO... That's not true... THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!!

[Pozer]

06-29 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theater ON SALE MAY 25
06-30 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theater ON SALE MAY 25

Anyone planning on going?

Oh I am there.  Radiohead at the Greek is the best concert I've ever been to.  Right behind Radiohead at The Hollywood Bowl. 

[I Don't Believe in Beatles]

How expensive are Radiohead tickets?  I'm considering buying tickets to one of the Berkeley shows but I don't know if I could afford it.

This site lists tickets for the Berkeley shows as being $43.00, General Admission.  Opening act: Deerhoof.  I'm going, for sure (on Friday).

Thanks. 

[tpfkabi]

i guess the WASTE tickets are already sold out?

if you're not signed up with WASTE, you need to be, because they usually hold back tickets that are usually really good seats.

unfortunately, none of these shows are close enough for me. i'll just have to be content with downloading the boots.

[noyes]

really really hoping ticketmaster will pull through friday morning.
and i really hope there are still general admission tickets available.
although seats wouldn't be so bad.. the msg theater is a fairly small place.
hence..