Post Ok Computer Radiohead

nyarlothothep

I was a diehard radiohead fan for years but in the last few years, since 2006, I've come to re-evaluate that position. I actually don't listen to Kid A or any of the albums after it that much. Kid A, Amnesiac, HTTT, IR, despite the nostalgia value of listening to songs like Pyramid Song or Optimistic, well, its just kinda boring in the respect that I don't think the music is as inspired as what is to be found on The Bends or Ok Computer. Also I can't stand Yorkes singing post Kid A. Curiously enough Yorkes solo album was pretty good although I don't really listen to it much now either. I guess its like TMV, great up till Frances the Mute, but I find much of the material after this to be lacklustre.

rcaz

Hang on... Kid A is "just kinda boring"??? IMO, Kid A and Amnesiac are the two albums that *really* set Radiohead apart. The Bends and OK Computer are both great, incredible albums, don't get me wrong, but The Bends is pretty straightforward angry rock music, and OK Computer is a straightforward angry rock band who discovered computers and started to evolve a bit. Evolve into the kind of band who can make albums like Kid A.

Now don't get me wrong - I absolutely love The Bends and OK Computer.

Kid A is filled with so many incredible songs. One of the things I really like about it is Everything In Its Right Place and Morning Bell, two songs are in 5/4 time and still feel completely natural. The chord progression in In Limbo always sounds so fresh to me. Motion Picture Soundtrack almost made me cry the first time I heard it. Idioteque is just ****ing animal. I could go on, but I bet it'd get boring.

And Pablo Honey was awful.

Radiohead are one of my favourites, and the only way to listen to them is to listen to ALL of their music - I don't think they're the sort of band to dip in and out of. To say Kid A, etc, are boring, is wildly inaccurate - they are albums of a band honestly trying to explore and experiment with music. Which is just not done very often in popular music. So, by default, can they really be boring at all?

nyarlothothep

Those are all good points, and I agree the 5/4 sig is completely natural and one which is addictive. With respect to many other bands they aren't boring but in comparison to their previous records and to bands which are equally adventurous I don't its as clear cut. Disagree about Pablo Honey, while its mediocre in places its is enjoyable fare, 6/10. There is something I find monotonous about Everything in its Right Place, its just the same spanish chord progression over and over again, even if it is in 5/4.

Thundercats Ho

In Rainbows is an incredible album.
If you're a waining Radiohead fan, or think they are on a downward spiral, give this album a few listens.
It will bring you around completely, i know it did with me, as i had similar opinions to yourself before i gave In Rainbows a good listen.

rcaz

nyarlothothep wrote: »

Those are all good points, and I agree the 5/4 sig is completely natural and one which is addictive. With respect to many other bands they aren't boring but in comparison to their previous records and to bands which are equally adventurous I don't its as clear cut. Disagree about Pablo Honey, while its mediocre in places its is enjoyable fare, 6/10. There is something I find monotonous about Everything in its Right Place, its just the same spanish chord progression over and over again, even if it is in 5/4.

Well I guess we just disagree :P

Yeah, it can be sorta repetitive and monotonous, but I think it works just as well as a sort of hypnotic/trancey thing. I've heard Radiohead are Krautrock fans, so I thought that's what they were going for.

In that film, Meeting People Is Easy, you can see Thom Yorke breaking down on the OK Computer tour. I guess their next albums were attempts to get away from all the fanfare and things of their previous work. So maybe that's what divides everyone so much.

nyarlothothep

Lol, breaking down with massive record sales, critical acclaim and a secure future. Now that is terrible. Maybe there is a weird element that having millions of people pay attention to you is head melting.

loveissucide

Considering Kid A is a natural progression from OK Computer I find all these criticisms of 00's Radiohead unfounded.

Radiohead had been pursuing an Aphex Twin/DJ Shadow influenced direction on OK Computer tracks like Airbag,Paranoid Android and Climbing Up The Walls. All Kid A did was bring those experimental elements to the fore.

JerryHandbag

I have a lot of time for Radiohead and what they bring to music.....how do you follow possibly the best album of the late 20 century (OK Computer)??...you release Kid A, an album of jazz/electronica/krautrock/anything-but-90s-indie-guitar-music. Fair play to them, it took some balls. They probably hammered away massive chunks of their fanbase in doing so, but listening to that album at the time reminded me of a newspaper review of Pink Floyds "The Wall"...."I dont know if the album is brilliant or terrible....but one thing is for sure, its utterly compelling listening".

I was fascinated to hear an album that a guitar band brought out, that sounded so unlike a guitar band. They certainly cant be accused of bringing out the same old tripe every record. I was just listening to Amnesiac in the car tonight, grateful that it had more guitar solos/parts than Kid A I think they fell back in love with the guitar then.

I also like the last 2 records, HTTT and IR, sounding a bit like the previous albums all mixed together. Top band.

rcaz

JerryHandbag wrote: »

I have a lot of time for Radiohead and what they bring to music.....how do you follow possibly the best album of the late 20 century (OK Computer)??...you release Kid A, an album of jazz/electronica/krautrock/anything-but-90s-indie-guitar-music. Fair play to them, it took some balls. They probably hammered away massive chunks of their fanbase in doing so, but listening to that album at the time reminded me of a newspaper review of Pink Floyds "The Wall"...."I dont know if the album is brilliant or terrible....but one thing is for sure, its utterly compelling listening".

I was fascinated to hear an album that a guitar band brought out, that sounded so unlike a guitar band. They certainly cant be accused of bringing out the same old tripe every record. I was just listening to Amnesiac in the car tonight, grateful that it had more guitar solos/parts than Kid A I think they fell back in love with the guitar then.

I also like the last 2 records, HTTT and IR, sounding a bit like the previous albums all mixed together. Top band.

IIRC Kid A and Amnesiac were actually two records made from tracks from the same recording sessions. [Citation needed].

"Fair play to them, it took some balls."
The thing I like about Kid A so much is that it doesn't really sound like they did it with 'balls' - I think to them, it's all just music. Not enough bands think like this IMO. Radiohead don't seem, to my ears, to be concerned with thinking that any type of music is different to any other type.

K-Ren

I've never been a huge Radiohead fan, but I like all their albums (apart from Pablo Honey) and I think OK Computer and The Bends are two of the finest albums of the 90s. If you were a self-proclaimed die hard fan you probably just burned out on their music, it can happen with most bands. The Joshua Tree and Actung Baby by U2 aren't enjoyable for me anymore because I listened to them so much as a kid.

Time Magazine

loveissucide wrote: »

Kid A was a natural progression from OK Computer

No way.

loveissucide

Yes it was,they were moving in a more electronically minded direction throughout.

rcaz

The Economist wrote: »

No way.

Have you listened to OK Computer?

loveissucide

The Economist wrote: »

No way.

I've actually cited the OK Computer tracks which presage Kid A.The group were massive fans of electronica,and the b-sides from the OK Computer era were quite out-there at times,so Kid A was the logical next step.
And it isn't that weird,the big influence on Kid A was Talking Heads' Remain In Light-not any avant garde electronic musician.The songs are still perfectly accessible.

Time Magazine

loveissucide wrote: »

Yes it was,they were moving in a more electronically minded direction throughout.

Sure. Electronically-minded. Kid A? No.

Get rid of all your Radiohead sentiments and memories for a second. In Rainbows would sound like a much more natural progression from OK Computer (in terms of music, as opposed to thematically) than Kid A. OK Computer was mostly guitar-driven albeit with some toys in the background and IR is a bit like that but a bit of a progression away from guitar rock. Kid A is just weird. Now I love Kid A. It's probably my favourite Radiohead album as complete body of work (as opposed to OK Computer which I love mostly for the six minutes of bliss that are song 2) but calling it a "natural progression" is nonsense.

Do you not remember your reaction when you first heard it?!

lordgoat

The Economist wrote: »

Sure. Electronically-minded. Kid A? No.

Get rid of all your Radiohead sentiments and memories for a second. In Rainbows would sound like a much more natural progression from OK Computer (in terms of music, as opposed to thematically) than Kid A. OK Computer was mostly guitar-driven albeit with some toys in the background and IR is a bit like that but a bit of a progression away from guitar rock. Kid A is just weird. Now I love Kid A. It's probably my favourite Radiohead album as complete body of work (as opposed to OK Computer which I love mostly for the six minutes of bliss that are song 2) but calling it a "natural progression" is nonsense.

Do you not remember your reaction when you first heard it?!

After listening to it first my reaction was - it's a natural progression from Ok computer. That still stands. From seeing them live after Ok computer and how the songs were sounding maybe this was more obvious.

Original post: I find the earlier albums the ones i listen to least. I was never really a fan of them until Ok comp. But i knew the albums. At the moment Kid A just shades In Rainbows as to my favourite.

rcaz

The Economist wrote: »

Sure. Electronically-minded. Kid A? No.

Get rid of all your Radiohead sentiments and memories for a second. In Rainbows would sound like a much more natural progression from OK Computer (in terms of music, as opposed to thematically) than Kid A. OK Computer was mostly guitar-driven albeit with some toys in the background and IR is a bit like that but a bit of a progression away from guitar rock. Kid A is just weird. Now I love Kid A. It's probably my favourite Radiohead album as complete body of work (as opposed to OK Computer which I love mostly for the six minutes of bliss that are song 2) but calling it a "natural progression" is nonsense.

Do you not remember your reaction when you first heard it?!

Er, what about the likes of Airbag? The drums are all sampled from 15 minutes of Phil Selway jamming, cut up, and re-sequenced, the band stating DJ Shadow as a direct influence.

Time Magazine

lordgoat wrote: »

After listening to it first my reaction was - it's a natural progression from Ok computer. That still stands.

Granted I was about 13 at the time, but I was dumbstruck.

Sure, retrospectively we can see that Radiohead were headed in that direction, but to call it "natural" I think is really pushing it and it's really doing a dis-service to Kid A. It was not so much a natural progression as it was jumping down the experimental rabbit hole head first. The phrase "to do a Kid A" doesn't mean "to continue on a natural progression."

Original post: I find the earlier albums the ones i listen to least. I was never really a fan of them until Ok comp. But i knew the albums.

+1

At the moment Kid A just shades In Rainbows as to my favourite.

+1/2

El Pr0n wrote: »

Er, what about the likes of Airbag? The drums are all sampled from 15 minutes of Phil Selway jamming, cut up, and re-sequenced, the band stating DJ Shadow as a direct influence.

The Economist wrote: »

Sure. Electronically-minded. Kid A? No.

.

Sure there are songs like that. But there aren't any guitars at all for half an hour on Kid A. Airbag starts with a durty riff.

loveissucide

I was weirded out,but then I'd only really listened to The Bends at that point,so after listening to OK COmputer and other electronic music,in particular Portishead and Aphex Twin, the album made a lot more sense. I was just shocked by the new.

Kid V

I think the Radiohead of the 00s is much more complete than the 90s version.

Pablo Honey is an average album. A few good songs and a few bad ones. The Bends is magical, emotive and very engaging and enjoyable. Everybody knows how good OK Computer is.

Kid A is in my opinion their best album. It never disappoints. I love it for its mystery. Thoms vocals are clouded, the music is quite inaccessible with strange background noises and even the cover art alludes to another world. It has so much going on. I never grow weary of it.

Amnesiac isnt as good but for the most part it maintains the class of Kid A.

Hail To The Thief is very frustrating. Brilliant in parts and average, repetitive and self indulgent in others.

In Rainbows is a masterpiece. I was shocked by how good it was. I really thought they'd produce another inconsistent album.

And thats my summary of Radiohead

MikeHoncho

Ive had this debate so many times with people. The conclusion is usually that they are simply the best band of our generation and everything they did (bar a few bits and bobs) is too good to be worrying about which album is better than the others. You can have your personal favourites but I dont think its possible to state what is actually the best Radiohead album.

If someone who had never heard any Radiohead asked me for the 1 album which sums them up the best I would say listen to In Rainbows. It is the complete natural progression of everything that happened before. Just brilliant.