Radiohead - Kid A / Amnesiac Poll

This is when I really began not giving a shit about Radiohead anymore, but "Everything In Its Right Place" is a standout.

Wait. Why.

EIIRP or GTFO

Which is the one about the trapdoors? I can never remember if that's Pulk/Push or "Pakt Like Sardeeeeeens".

The first one.

I must say, seeing all those lined up and remembering they all came from the same sessions (along w/ the sweet b-sides) makes it pretty clear this was their best era by a long shot.

I don't think I can narrow this down to one song

This would be an incredible single album:

Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box
Pyramid Song
Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors
Everything In Its Right Place
Morning Bell
Knives Out
I Might Be Wrong
Optimistic
In Limbo
Idioteque
Life In A Glasshouse

everytime i see 'i might be wrong' i think of 'you know you're right' and then i think of billy joel.

voted 'dollars and scents'.

xxxpost:

'Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors' is the one about the trapdoors.

Started this poll because I've been having a clear out over the last couple of days, and while going through my CD collection and considering which ones I wanted to get rid of and which ones I wanted to keep, I came across Kid A and Amnesiac and decided to listen to both back-to-back. Much has been said regarding these albums, but I was curious to see if these albums had actually been polled together on ILX before, but they don't seem to have done (I searched for a while too). Amnesiac has been polled on its own (started by crut, who managed to not post it on ILM), but it doesn't seem like Kid A has... unless its tucked out of the way somewhere!

torn between pyramid song and knives out. amnesiac is still by far their best album, i find. it is their most intimidating and frightening one as well, i think. so rich and at the same time so much of one piece. a milestone.

I thought it might be that one. (Pulk/Pull) I'm going to have to listen to them both again (quelle imposition!) just to make sure, but the lyrical imagery of that song, combined with all the crazy textural noises, it just hits my personal happy spot.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/noodle_vague/plate-spinning_3392074_GIFSoupcom_zps37c84d13.gif

in retrospect I sort of wish "Pulk" had been on Kid A in place of "How to Disappear" just to upset Nick Hornby et al even more, but it's obv a much better fit for Amnesiac.

I'm going to have to give serious thought to which track I choose here. There's a lot spread out over the course of these two albums that I really, really like. In a way, I kinda wish they'd never separated the tracks out into two albums and just thrown the lot together as a double extravaganza.

voted with the sardines of my heart

voted for The National Anthem

it sure would be nice to be able to listen to these like they weren't 'radiohead albums'

This is where Radiohead really started to lose the plot. Fair enough, it was very hard to follow up such a brilliant piece of work as OK Computer. But to screw up everything that they had achieved with that incredible record really took some doing.

uh

maybe I'm just a big weirdo but every Radiohead album from The Bends through Hail To The Thief is incredible

you stopped just before in rainbows!

(which is incredible)

individual songs on In Rainbows are great; as an album, I find it unlistenable

maybe i'm just a big weirdo but Amnesiac and HttT are my favorite ones.

ah, another radiohead thread.

Kid A > Amnesiac > IR > HTTT > TKOL

The four "desert island" Radiohead LP's for me are The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A and In Rainbows. While listening to Kid A and Amnesiac back-to-back tonight it occurred to me that I've seldom listened to Amnesiac on its own... it always tends to be after I've listened to Kid A. I don't think I've ever been able to view it as a standalone album or anything but an extension of Kid A, really.

Kid A's the only one I love.

I feel like at this point I can't have another conversation about how HTTT is my favourite album but In Rainbows is an overlong mess of songs that are fine individually but fail to work together, but because this is an ILM thread I feel compelled to inhabit some Donwood-esque hell where crying minotaurs force me to have that conversation... forever!

isn't IR like 10 songs in 40 min? but yeah, i wasn't crazy about it when it came out but over time i've come to love almost every song after hearing it out of context.

it is, though BB might be lumping in the "bonus" tracks as well.

it sure would be nice to be able to listen to these like they weren't 'radiohead albums'

― j., Wednesday, February 12, 2014 5:01 PM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

It just doesn't work for me, as an album. Then there's TKOL, which is like 25 long and I wouldn't change any if it, it grows more and more cohesive every time I listen to it.

still feel like "in rainbows" is the only radiohead album i have any time for nowadays.

these two are pretty good though, i can imagine a day when i can listen to these and regain some kind of enjoyment out of them. i was a HUGE radiohead stan from ages 17-25 but, i don't know, i just don't get any pleasure out of hearing them anymore

these two albums were the height of my radiohead fandom. can't say i listen to them that often anymore, but that's probably because i listened to them hundreds of times back in the day. i'm not sure which one to pick. Kid A (the song) only gets better and better with time.

I go through phases of listening to nothing but Radiohead intensely for a few months (these tend to be rather emotionally intense/transitional periods of my life) then not feeling the need to hear them at all for another year. It's like it's all or nothing saturation point with them.

xp yea, they were the peak of my fandom too even though nowadays i only want to hear in rainbows

I got off the Radiohead bus with Kid A. Bad songs! Nice production! Got back on the bus with In Rainbows. Great songs! Concise!

Voted for Motion Picture Soundtrack. When the harps come in is one of my favourite musical moments.

Overall In Rainbows is my favourite album of theirs. Love every song on there.

Voted for Kid A. Love the drums. Think King of Limbs is their best since Kid A. But the only one I really care about is Kid A. Kid A.

Frederik I think this is a tracks poll and iirc there are no drums on the title track of "Kid A" but there is some backwards singing and DX-7 bells

there's definitely a rhythmic pulse (especially a synth-BD kind of noise) though

ETIIRP or Pyramid Song.

ah, another radiohead thread.

― festival culture (Jordan), Wednesday, February 12, 2014

wait, there are more . . . ?

HTTT is my favourite album but In Rainbows is an overlong mess of songs that are fine individually but fail to work together

Completely agree with this, but the other way round.

Although the best songs on HttT are definitely better than 'fine', and they don't really fail to work together, but it is overlong. IR on the other hand is the most perfectly formed album they've done.

agree with that except i'd say OKC flowed even better. like melting buttah. so good. but i have a lot more time for IR these days

OKC computer is a moody teenager, IR a philosophical adult.

warm radiohead > icy, cold radiohead

HTTP: I loved the RAINDROPS! part, but couldn't care less about the rest, thought the "Drunken Punch-Up At A Wedding" song was bad-enough to sour the entire oeuvre, like "oh this is what Radiohead must sound like to people who hate Radiohead"

I listened to OK Computer a lot as a teen and never liked the mix, found it rarely transported me away from "men in a room", but the good songs are great enough for me not to care. I love Pablo Honey and The Bends, great albums!

I'm posting in this thread because somebody "accused" me of not liking Radiohead and I do like them, but not enough for some people

you must love them.

only ever heard these round someone else's house, what's the one with the plinky plonky keyboards, woozy vocoder and stop start drumming? i like that one.

No one ever likes Radiohead enough for "some people"! Apparently!

(I thought you told me you weren't a big fan?)

I'm not a big fan, yes, exactly

Drunken Punch-Up is incredible! The Bends is OK but for me very uninspiring compared to what was to follow. I think we want different things from this band.

what's the one with the plinky plonky keyboards, woozy vocoder and stop start drumming?

Sounds like the title track of Kid A

Drunken Punchup is great; We Suck Young Blood is the only thing I'd leave off HTTT, TBH.

I suppose we do want different things from this band. I read Tom's write-up on U2's "Discotheque" today and Alfred's response-- "this is the definition of rockism, white rockers occupying other genres"-- and immediately thought that "Kid A" was the same thing as "Pop". I couldn't really tell you who's a worse lyricist tbh.

BONO

Drunken Punchup has that amazing, lurching seasick bass. Colin G, man, now *him* I like. No shitty basslines there!

there there was "rock song of the decade"-level good.

Sounds like the title track of Kid A

checked it out on YouTube, correct! forgot about that icy keyboard bit at the end.

Backdrifts! Backdrifts is one of those songs I have like 3 different live versions of on iTunes and I don't even like liver versions!

Both U2 and Radiohead (and also Bowie, I sadly have to admit today after listening today to the bulk of his greatest hits in a coffee shop) are these "I'm a fan" bands that I was into when I was 15, I will always keep up with them, talk about them for years, but I don't feel there is any circumstance that I'd put them on for present-tense pleasure

Hm, I think this is "Idioteque" vs "Pyramid Song". Leaning toward the latter.

I love both of these but I must admit they are like a sound collage in my head and hard to connect titles with each song.

Kid A version of "Morning Bell" has always been my favorite off these

"Pyramid Song."

Only "There There" tops that one for me.

Yeah, "Pyramid Song" for me too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGW5jEIPDgU

unofficial vote submission from Kid A/Amnesiac-era for "Kinetic"

these two albums were the height of my radiohead fandom. can't say i listen to them that often anymore, but that's probably because i listened to them hundreds of times back in the day. i'm not sure which one to pick. Kid A (the song) only gets better and better with time.

― Karl Malone, Wednesday, February 12, 2014 4:34 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is me

kid a came out when i was a freshman in hs, in retrospect it was the most freshman in hs album ever made

nah just playin
i still get moved by the highs of radiohead for real, but i "get" ppl who find them dreary and dull because there are some of those songs, too.

like, first 3 traks on amnesiac im vibing and then 'you and whose army' comes on and im like NOPE straight to knives out

funny, when you say Radiohead can be dreary and dull "Knives Out" is the first song i think of

yeah, "Knives Out" should have been great but it feels like it has never 100% worked for me

it's just so listless and unpleasant

^^

"In Limbo" >>>>>>>>>>> "Knives Out"

tbf I remember reading a Smiths comparisons thrown out to "Knives Out" at the time so that was a helpful hand at never having to waste too much time listening to that band.

haha fair enough!

i think its got a rly pretty melody. i enjoy singing it.

I like Thom's vocals usually but something about the way he sings that one and the second version of "Morning Bell" really grates on me.

cool.

i put this album on. "like spinning plates" is still great.

In Limbo.

I agree completely w everyone in this thread who are meh about In Rainbows

radiohead were the prism through which i got into music as a hormonal youth. these albums were the momentous core of that fandom & i pretty much lived inside them for two years. as a result i haven't felt like revisiting them or even thinking about them for a decade in the same way i don't feel like casually looking round my primary school or dwelling on teenage crushes. they feel v much of the past. i ended up listening to amnesiac & then kid a last night, although i can pretty much play them in my head note for note. besides one sudden & unexpectedly potent ratatouille moment of reconnection w/ my adolescent ears listening to motion picture soundtrack, i felt predictably less immersed & more reflective, but i did feel fond of them.

this is obv helped by the amount of time i spent w/ these records, but more than any other music i've listened to, the production on these albums is lush & evocative & overwhelming to the extent that it creates a distinctive landscape & background that feels like the essence of each album (dovetails w/ the heady self-mythologizing of donwood&dr tchock). quite a lot of tracks either collapse into that signature ominous background clatter (a peculiar, inexplicably cohesive, kind of gorgeous mix of digital & acoustic sounds) or take place entirely in its shadow: how to disappear completely has those strings looming over thom's anaesthetised vocals for the whole song. the blips added to that sense of a landscape belonging to kid a that existed even the songs weren't taking place, giving you a glimpse of the half-lit icy forest of drones from idioteque when thom yorke wasn't around.

i think the vocals are generally strong, i enjoy lots of the processing esp on packt like sardines & the stupid blobby vocals on kid a, & there are numerous ridiculous/classic yorke fragments deployed v well - "i'd really like to help you man" / "yesterday i woke up sucking a lemon" / "i'm a reasonable man get off my case" - but they're all minor compared to him sleepily crooning HOOOO-LY ROOOOO-MAN EEEM-PIII-RRRE out of nowhere over airless ink spots harmonies & somehow making it seem unridiculous. idk, this was fun but i don't think i will listen for another decade.

feel like i shld say something about homogenic too but i don't want to listen to that either.

10-track edit of HTTF highlights >> 10-track combination of Kid A/Amnesiac highlights.

The Bends / OK Computer era Radiohead were my own hormonal youth soundtracks and by the time Kid A / Amnesiac came out, I was at university, obsessed with Autechre and Aphex Twin and making my own electronic music. I remember being seriously disappointed with Kid A when it came out - 'They're just shamelessly ripping Warp Records in a really sloppy way' was my first reaction. I still followed Radiohead, diligently buying each consecutive release as it came out. Never felt they topped OK Computer in terms of impact, but around 2009 I dug out Kid A again and found myself thoroughly enjoying it, especially the National Anthem which I'd previously overlooked. It's definitely more than just a Warp rip-off - I'd say Kid A is to Autechre as Remain in Light is to Fela Kuti - there's a marked influence but they're not at all the same beast.

I used to think Amnesiac was a bit slight compared to both Kid A and HTTT but I prefer it to the latter these days (although I still think the redone 'Morning Bell' is kind of a waste of time). HTTT is a great album but it could definitely lose a few tracks and I don't think it's sequenced particularly well - the mood gets a bit stifling towards the end. In Rainbows seemed effortless in comparison.

'They're just shamelessly ripping Warp Records in a really sloppy way' was my first reaction.

Mine too and I was also wrong.

I also agree with whoever said upthread that it would be great to be able to hear these records outside of the context of Radiohead The Band. If some other band had simply released these two records and then disappeared, I wonder how I'd feel about them.

EIIRP, although if this were expanded to include 'I Might Be Wrong:Live Recordings' I'd vote for 'Like Spinning Plates'.

I kinda feel like HTTT is one of the great albums iof the decade. Like, for one thing, afaic it looks forward to, like, Silent Shout

It's a good album but it could have been trimmed and rearranged a bit. I always liked Punch Up At The Wedding, personally, but found the Gloaming a bit lacking and I don't like the way the album's got two intro tracks. Strangely I sometimes wish Radiohead were MORE conceptual with their releases in some way. Too often I find their post-Amnesiac work to be disjointed and directionless; just loose jumbles of disparate tracks. Considering the amount of time and care Yorke spent on sequencing OKC, the track orders on In Rainbows and HTTT are kind of unforgivable.

best track: Idioteque
worst track: The National Anthem

both are simple, repetitive, and claustrophobic; one of them works astonishingly well, the other flounders.

Great tracks which I feel may be overlooked: Optimistic, In Limbo, Dollars and Cents.

Optimistic is great. I can't remember much about In Limbo or Dollars and Cents.

Idioteque

Pyramid Song
Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors
Everything In Its Right Place
In Limbo
Idioteque

I can narrow it down to these five before I get stuck, so I hope these are the top 5 in the poll results

I can't help but mention how wonderful Kid A was for the teenage stoner. Treefingers seemed like an obvious invitation to pack another bowl, and then Optimistic would come on at juuuust the right time and kick off side 2.

Wow, I think the paranoia and dread of that album would have sent me round the bend personally. Kid A is def the iciest record they've made (In Rainbows is the warmest).

Can't believe Pyramid Song got to number 2 in the UK charts. That's like These New Puritans breaking the charts. I never could understand how they managed to remain quite so commercially successful.

The poll to end all polls!

How to disappear all the way. My favorite song on my favorite album of all time.

I remember all the accusations upon release of them ripping off other artists (autechre, miles, and can and the warp catalog in general were mentioned frequently), but I didn't really have an opinion since I wasn't deeply familiar with all of that stuff at the time. As others mentioned upthread, those criticisms seem totally bogus now.

The influences of Treefingers are more obvious because it stands apart as its own ambient track without integrating the influences into other radiohead sounds. Still love it though !

I can't help but mention how wonderful Kid A was for the teenage stoner. Treefingers seemed like an obvious invitation to pack another bowl, and then Optimistic would come on at juuuust the right time and kick off side 2.

― Karl Malone, Thursday, February 13, 2014 9:56 AM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha, totally. went on a snowboarding trip w/ a couple friends in high school and kind of just played this album on repeat and smoked bowl after bowl

Everything In Its Right Place was the perfect introduction to this new phase. I remember loving it the very first time I heard it and then losing faith when the title track slowed things down. I have a vendetta against momentum-killing second tracks (see also: Daft Punk's Game of Love).

Also, the title track sort of does sound like a pallid imitation of Warp whereas Everything is entirely its own entity, and joyous in a way. It's almost rave-like live.

also the national anthem is really pretty awesome, it wasn't my favorite at first but now it's one of the highlights of kid a for me, wish they explored those free jazz experiments a little more

Gigamesh unearthed the deep house track Radiohead was clearly trying to make here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HzTdmeSgjU

I was holding out for an Orbital remix at the time. Would have paid good money for a version with a boshing kickdrum.

My mate reckons the opening chords of EIIRP sound like slipping into a warm bath.

I have a vendetta against momentum-killing second tracks (see also: Daft Punk's Game of Love).

is OTM. A total sequencing faux-pas. Especially since it's usually track 2 I tend to skip to if I need to sample an album very very quickly.

The Gigamesh remix of Once in a Lifetime is amazing. Looking forward to hearing this.

Kid A is still my favorite radiohead song. The first half of the Kid A album is basically all the radiohead I really need, maybe throw in "There There" as a bonus track.

Kid A was a massive stoner album among my friends in college. I remember thinking of it back then as sort of a millenial update of Dark Side of the Moon

OTM in many ways

I never could understand how they managed to remain quite so commercially successful.

They are very good at hooks despite themselves.

just can't get my head around this being a stoner album, or even a "social environment" album. Don't think I can remember a time I ever listened to 'Kid A' in a social context. Tried to get my other half (who'd stopped listening to Radiohead in the 90s) to listen to Kid A with me once but she wasn't interested. Maybe Amnesiac...? I'm sure I listened to that with friends once... I did buy Amnesiac the same day I first tried berries though.

my stoner friends enjoyed amnesiac but found it much more alienating than kid a

They are very good at hooks despite themselves.

― I wish to incorporate disco into my small business (chap), Thursday, February 13, 2014 3:48 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Mmmmmmmmhhhhhh..... Don't really think that's a good enough explanation for me. Pyramid Song's not exactly a hook fest and I can't think of that much post-OKC stuff that would count as hummable in a commercial way. I might be wrong (pun intended)

"Jumped in the river what did I see" is a big hook imo. Don't think a band can get as big as they are without a significant element of catchiness.

friends who can get stoned to kid a and not be totally weird about it are the best friends imo

Pyramid Song's not exactly a hook fest

yes it is, actually

I'd say Kid A is to Autechre as Remain in Light is to Fela Kuti - there's a marked influence but they're not at all the same beast.

This is really OTM; I thought the "just copying Warp" criticism was lazy and just an old standby of the Radiohate crowd. I mean certainly there's some Ae influence but it's worth noting that Autechre themselves were onto things like Confield back then which is really freakin far away from what Kid A was doing...if anything it's aping bits of early Ae albums like Incunabula or Amber. I didn't know anything about Warp when I first heard Kid A - my initial impression is that it captured the despondent feeling of Kraftwerk's Radioactivity, which I've never heard another album quite get before.

I tend to agree with whoever it is around here that posits that Kid A's critical rep owes a lot to its sequencing. Skip the first two tracks and start with "The National Anthem" and I think a lot of the album's "strangeness" dissolves.

This thread is doing what I thought impossible; it makes me want to listen to Radiohead again

xP: I mean, the piano riff, the various vocal phrases, the wordless "Ooh" phrase that acts as a bridge, the bassline; the only reason the song wouldn't be considered "catchy" is because it's in a stately 12/8 meter which makes the rhythm sound more complicated and abstract than it actually is.

Rabbit in Your Headlights seems like the first Kid A song in some respects.

Talk Show Host a little bit too.

When Kid A came out all the major UK print titles gave it lukewarm reviews and then I noticed an alternative consensus - mostly online (this was around the time I discovered ILX and Pitchfork), possibly more US than UK — that saw it in Dark Side of the Moon terms: a serious, forward-thinking, gloomy-yet-comforting rock record that sounded good stoned. It was weird seeing its rep change from self-indulgent misfire to decade-defining classic, although to me it's always been somewhere in the middle.

I'd say "Meeting in the Aisle" predicts this era the clearest.

og morning bell

^^^ listen to this brad

I am surprised by all of the negativity around "Knives Out" upthread, I can't think of a single bad thing to say about that song.

Yeah it's the OKC b-sides like Melatonin and A Reminder which preceded this era and stopped Kid A feeling like such a huge jump into the unknown. It's kind of cool that in retrospect the b-sides can be seen as experiments that point to the future rather than throwaway lesser-songs that weren't considered good enough for the album.

I felt like they'd made Knives Out already. Always equated it as being part two of another song (Karma Police?). BTW Karma Police is probably my second or third favourite Radiohead song. Did we ever do a Radiohead tracks poll?

I felt like they'd made Knives Out already.

The chord structure and texture are somewhat similar to the first section of Paranoid Android.

Yeah, probably that.

It was weird seeing its rep change from self-indulgent misfire to decade-defining classic, although to me it's always been somewhere in the middle

That process you describe isn't its reputation changing though, since the initial consensus from the print titles (dud) remained. There are still plenty of people who (rightly, in my view) view it as a self-indulgent misfire. FWIW I would say that your description of "a serious, forward-thinking, gloomy-yet-comforting rock record" actually fits OK Computer much better than it fits Kid A.

i find OKC harsh and grating now

og morning bell

Yeah this song is really, really amazing

pyramid song easy

Did we ever do a Radiohead tracks poll?

I'm due to run one in about 10 polls time.

Voted for Knives Out here.

Really looking forward to that nate.

This was their peak for me. Particularly impressive was how the songs gained strength live; previously, ('97-'98) they were too concerned with matching the studio arrangements to really dig in. But on the '01 show I saw was brilliant; they loosened up, and everything swung mightily.

Voted "The National Anthem" for a number of reasons, but particularly for its distinctly Bill Dixon-esque trumpet solo.

I like "Everything in it's right place" best, because if I hear it, it's because I just put on Kid A to listen to

Pyramid Song

The Airbag EP (on which Meeting In The Aisle & all the pre-KidA b-sides were gathered) is still one of my favourite Radiohead releases.

Also, I love the deliberate "we're going to go away and do something else for a while" sequencing of Kid A, now, though at the time it was quite perplexing.

I was 17 years old and at college studying music when Kid A came out, and I distinctly remember the album being one of the most eagerly awaited releases of that year, if not the most eagerly awaited. On the day of release, I remember pretty much everyone including my tutors were waiting for lunchtime to arrive, so they could dash into town to pick up a copy. My first memory of hearing Kid A was in the room at college where the stereo was. Our tutor has came back with a copy from the nearest record store fairly quickly, and there must have been about 4 or 5 of us in total sat in this room desperate to hear what the album sounded like. Many others decided to stay out of earshot, because they wanted to prolong the excitement by waiting until they got home to play their copies.

I remember the reaction to Kid A being extremely mixed, with a wide variety of differing opinions. Our Recording Techniques tutor was a Warp Records fan, and loved it. On the other end of the spectrum, I remember one of my classmates, a U2/Muse/Smashing Pumpkins fan, absolutely loathed the record and found very little to enjoy. His reaction was "there's hardly any guitars on it, and not many 'proper' songs and the ones that are 'proper' songs aren't as good as the ones they've put out before", and I remember 'Treefingers' in particular being singled out for a lot of criticism ("it doesn't do anything, it's not even a song, it doesn't go anywhere").

For me, I didn't really have a problem with Kid A... I was going through a big prog rock phase at the time, and I'd kinda grown up on stuff like Kraftwerk and '80s synthpop, so I really didn't have a problem with the approach that Radiohead went for. I definitely wasn't scratching my head and cursing the band for "turning their back on rock" or anything, like a lot of people seemed to be doing at the time. I guess that during the Britpop era, the guitar was seen as having a stamp of authenticity to it ("Real rock, real music"), and I still think there was still a fair amount of this kind of attitude in the air when Kid A first hit the shelves.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that even with all this in mind, Kid A was not an immediate album for me. The album eventually clicked over the course of a few nights where I made it my bedtime listening album. Every night, I'd go to bed, turn of all the light, whack the headphones on, try not to analyse what was going on and just soak myself in the sound of it. Eventually, it clicked into place.

I'm reading a lot about the song sequencing of Kid A in this thread and how it may have been a barrier to people "gaining access" (for want of a better term) to the album. I definitely agree that putting the title track as the second song wasn't the greatest move (it's probably one of the least accessible tracks on the album and placing it as a second track does kill the momentum), and the fact that they backloaded the album with all of the more accessible tracks and frontloaded it with the more "challenging" ones might have been a barrier for some. However, I can't really think of any other way it possibly could have been sequenced. I've tried, over the years, as have many Radiohead fans, to sequence this album using a combo of Kid A and Amnesiac tracks and the album just loses a part of its identity as a result. Weird.

His reaction was "there's hardly any guitars on it, and not many 'proper' songs and the ones that are 'proper' songs aren't as good as the ones they've put out before", and I remember 'Treefingers' in particular being singled out for a lot of criticism ("it doesn't do anything, it's not even a song, it doesn't go anywhere").

Did he write for NME, Melody Maker, Q, Mojo or Select? Because that was definitely the vibe.

I do remember feeling like the guitar songs were overpraised because they were something to cling on to, and they're fine, but they pale next to Idioteque or Everything.

Also, prior to Kid A there'd been a few mid '90s bands that were using Pro Tools and samplers and trying to do something else to get out of Britpop/Britrock straitjacket: Blur had 13, which in spite of having hit singles, perplexed many, there was Mansun with Six, Super Furry Animals had made Guerrilla which was the most 'electronic' record they'd made up to that point... hell, even Suede had a go at branching out with Head Music. But still with even all of those albums in mind, I don't think many people were prepared for Kid A. I think most people were expecting them to take the template of OK Computer and do a New Jersey.

The OK Computer B-sides were more in keeping with that late 90s trend: dance remixes, trip hop influences, etc. Nobody else made a record as opaque as Kid A. Even 13 had Coffee & TV, Tender and the whole break-up narrative. I think Yorke's decision to stop writing obviously coherent lyrics was as bold (and, to some, alienating) as what they did musically.

I do remember feeling like the guitar songs were overpraised because they were something to cling on to, and they're fine, but they pale next to Idioteque or Everything.

― What is wrong with songs? Absolutely nothing. Songs are great. (DL), Thursday, February 13, 2014 9:01 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I have a memory of several people doing a u-turn on Kid A when the video to 'Idioteque' was being broadcast on MTV2, and people saw them performing the track live as a band. All of a sudden people were saying "hang on, this song may not be a guitar song but it's a good Radiohead song".

Then there was the other group of people, the ones who were holding out hope that Kid A was the "experimental" record and that Amnesiac would be the return of the Radiohead of The Bends and OK Computer. When this didn't prove to be the case, those who weren't thrilled with Radiohead's new sound knew that this is the direction in which the band would be going and jumped ship entirely.

I think Yorke's decision to stop writing obviously coherent lyrics was as bold (and, to some, alienating) as what they did musically.

― What is wrong with songs? Absolutely nothing. Songs are great. (DL), Thursday, February 13, 2014 9:10 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes, I truly agree with this. One of my first impressions of the album was "wow, these songs don't really have many lyrics to them". On OK Computer you had lyrics like 'Subterranean Homesick Alien', which is very much a "story" lyric. Kid A's lyrics (with the exception of 'Optimistic') are far more minimal, especially on tracks like 'Everything In Its Right Place' and 'The National Anthem'. The upshot of this approach, is that while there's a basic framework there, the listener is left to fill in the blanks.

By this I mean: is 'Everything In Its Right Place' about OCD? Is it about feeling great knowing that a shit day is behind you? Is it about sudden clarity of the mind after a period of uncertainty and muddled thinking? I suppose it depends on who is listening, and the mindset of the person listening.

I remember Kid A being the first album where I noticed that lots of people had listened to the leaked album before it was actually released.

yeah it's kinda simultaneously the last big pre-napster album and the first big post-napster album. i can remember wuxtry had a promo they would play and ppl would just hang out there listening to it, one of the last big midnight releases i can remember also. it's weird the different reactions - in the states it seems like it was embraced pretty much immediately, the only notable critical pocket of resistance i can remember was fucking hornby in the nyer (i remember sasha frere jones making fun of either this or amnesiac in some review, maybe spin?, but it was more from a 'lol these lyrics are terrible' than a 'why so difficult? why not play proper songs???' angle). hugely popular album that autumn, it and stankonia were nearly unavoidable.

Treefingers or hunting bears

Everything in it's right place

I remember 'Hunting Bears' getting a lot of scorn at the time too: "why is this great band who write great songs and have great interplay between three guitarists putting out a slight track that consists of one guitarist doodling on riff they could have written in their sleep backed with someone pissing about on a keyboard?"

Which reminds me of another criticism that some people had of Kid A and Amnesiac at the time: people were actually genuinely confused as to what certain band members were doing on certain tracks, and because they couldn't hear the whole band playing at once with their usual instruments on every track, it somehow made the music seem a bit inauthentic to them. Like "how can this possibly be called a Radiohead record? Where's the actual band at?" ... For some, it took until they actually saw the band performing the tracks live until they "got it", and weirdly I noticed The King Of Limbs had the same effect for some people.

Again, I think it comes back to this idea of guitar music having "authenticity" that was still a little bit in the air after Britpop.

hunting bears sounds like a computer trying to recreate the dead man soundtrack or something.

weirdly I noticed The King Of Limbs had the same effect for some people.

I much prefer the live versions of songs from KoL! I think they dropped the ball a bit production wise on that one, it's mainly a bit flat and listless. Bloom for example kind of drifts by inocuously on record, whereas live takes sound like the universe forming (particuarly the mighty From the Basement reading).

i agree, i was a bit let down by the record after having seen live clips + the live at abbey road thing

Then there was the other group of people, the ones who were holding out hope that Kid A was the "experimental" record and that Amnesiac would be the return of the Radiohead of The Bends and OK Computer. When this didn't prove to be the case, those who weren't thrilled with Radiohead's new sound knew that this is the direction in which the band would be going and jumped ship entirely.

I remember reading lazy* reviews that actually claimed that Amnesiac was a welcome return to more traditional guitar-based music after the crazed experimentation of Kid A.

*lazy, in as much as they obviously couldn't have been bothered to listen to it before writing the review

maybe they just heard "Knives Out" and made assumptions

The biggest grower for me, of all the tracks in this poll, was 'Dollars and Cents'. Took some time to get its claws in me, that one. At first, I just thought/felt it was just a kind of tarted-up studio jam they'd rescued from the bottom of the pile of stuff they'd amassed during the Kid A/Amnesiac sessions, but over time I just gradually found myself getting more and more drawn into it.

Yeah I love that one. The non album single 'These Are My Twisted Words' reminds me of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2ztWvuyXeU

the press during kid a had emphasized they'd recorded two albums during the sessions and the next one would be much more guitar focused (true enough) and friendly, the listen w/o prejudice vol 2 to kid a's listen w/o prejudice vol 1. that they would be making a video was a big deal also so it was pretty funny that when the video came out that radiohead's big 'you wanted a hit, well here's yr hit' was this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2VzLn6DMCE

the press during kid a had emphasized they'd recorded two albums during the sessions and the next one would be much more guitar focused (true enough)

Well, maybe a touch more guitar-focused... I mean the first three tracks on Amnesiac are an electropop song, a seasick piano ballad and four minutes of pounding beats and Thom talking about doors!

I mean, sure, 'Knives Out' is on there and 'You and Whose Army?', but those looking for the next 'No Surprises' or 'High and Dry' were pretty much going "this isn't what I was hoping for, this is just more Kid A" upon listening to the first couple of tracks of Amnesiac.

The first time I heard Kid A I thought my copy was deffective. Asides from Optimistic it didn't sound anything like them, it was very alienating. I forced myself to like the record with blunt repetition and suddenly around the 9th listen everything clicked in. It's one of the most satisfying album experiences I've had. Granted I was young and impressionable but I'm still amazed at how well it has aged, at least to my ears. OKC sounds very dated nowadays, i think kid a will still sound 'new' 10 years from now. The combination of sounds and influences makes it sound very different, it's also a hard style to copy so unlike OKC there's nothing quite like it.
Anyhoo here's how I rate them:

Unfuckwithable

Everything In Its Right Place
Kid A
The National Anthem
How To Disappear Completely
In Limbo
Idioteque
Morning Bell
Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box
Pyramid Song
Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors
I Might Be Wrong
Life In A Glasshouse

50/50
Optimistic
Motion Picture Soundtrack
You and Whose Army?
Dollars and Cents

Meh / the b-sides are way better

Treefingers
Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors
Knives Out
Morning Bell/Amnesiac
Hunting Bears
Like Spinning Plates

don't forget the sub self-parody/coldplay-esque/commercial-stab/relegated-to-bside track category

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPz2mBKlMWE

First time I heard Kid A, I thought my copy was defective. I took it back and exchanged it for another copy. It was.

True.

kid a the first radjohead i dug, still my favorite, closely followed by amnesiac. everything in its right place.

Then there was the other group of people, the ones who were holding out hope that Kid A was the "experimental" record and that Amnesiac would be the return of the Radiohead of The Bends and OK Computer. When this didn't prove to be the case, those who weren't thrilled with Radiohead's new sound knew that this is the direction in which the band would be going and jumped ship entirely

I was in this group.

Even when HTTF came out I remember some reviews going, "Seriously guys? Still with the weird shit?" Because There There and 2+2=5 seemed to promise "back to rock" (as did some of their interviews iirc) and of course it wasn't.

I think Yorke's rep in the UK press had a lot to do with it as well. The subtext of a lot of the early reviews was that Yorke was being an asshole by refusing to be a rock star, which seems silly now.

They were confused because Yorke was being more of a Rock Star than they could ever conceive of being - which is why he gets to be a rock star and they're... critics.

haha otm

its like...slight of frame depresso plays by his own rules and sticks to bleep bloops. what are ya gonna do, old man? *chucks guitar into trash heap*

What's HTTF?

I wonder how the 00's alt/rock/indie landscape would have been affected if Kid A/Amnesiac had never existed or if Radiohead had gone down a more traditional route?

hail to the thief, i'm guessing

x-post

hail to the fraud?

used to be fascinated at just how untraditional Amnesiac was. i mean that thing dicked with expectation, sequence, the whole shebang. it was almost weird in itself that reasonably conventional pieces such as Knives Out and You Might be Wrong were bedfellows to left-field, albeit successful, experiments like Revolving Doors and Like Spinning Plates.

In a way the track 'Kid A' was a manifesto - "You were expecting a rock album, you were WRONG!", except for me it was also the track that made the album scream "WARP RECORDS TRIBUTE!!" at the time and clouded my opinion.

hell, i'm gonna dig Amnesiac out for the first time in years.

am increasingly ambivalent to these guys, but i was a big fan for years, and i think it's important that i occasionally remind myself of that fact.

Has there ever been a studio outtakes / sessions / demos thing released from these albums, y'now for dorks? I wouldn't mind hearing some of these tracks disassembled.

The weird thing I remember was that quote from Yorke saying he'd become embarrassed by melody - both these albums are really melodic in places.

oh is that why he sings all drawn out and moany

The lyric thing too... At first the switch was described as 'gnomic', 'nonsensical', possibly even lazy on Yorke's part, but now listening to old Radiohead sing about car and plane accidents and alien visitations sounds way too transparent, blunt and trite.

He's a decent rather than brilliant lyricist (though he is sometimes a surprisingly funny one), but his oblique cut n paste style suits latter day Radiohead perfectly.

Then again, he was on the Jonathan Ross show, solo piano and singing, some old (pre-KidA) radiohead classic...

Even when HTTF came out I remember some reviews going, "Seriously guys? Still with the weird shit?" Because There There and 2+2=5 seemed to promise "back to rock" (as did some of their interviews iirc) and of course it wasn't.

I think Yorke's rep in the UK press had a lot to do with it as well. The subtext of a lot of the early reviews was that Yorke was being an asshole by refusing to be a rock star, which seems silly now.

Yeah, I recall a bit of this too. There seemed to be this sense that, while they had brought the guitars back and went for a more 'live band' approach on Hail To The Thief that some critics felt the band were still deliberately shying away from "anthemic" material and maybe resented that a little. It was kinda this feeling of "you had the world in the palm of your hands circa OK Computer, what do you mean you didn't want to take that further? are you fucking crazy? why do you not want to be the hugest band in the world!?"

I wonder how the 00's alt/rock/indie landscape would have been affected if Kid A/Amnesiac had never existed or if Radiohead had gone down a more traditional route?

― doglato dozzy (dog latin), Friday, February 14, 2014 12:39 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's difficult to truly say what would have happened if Radiohead had decided to try to make another OK Computer, but I think things definitely would have been different. A lot of people bought and heard Kid A, and I think those that found a lot to enjoy in the work were undoubtedly influenced by it. It's become a highly influential record in its own right. Those that weren't taken in with their new sound started listening to bands like Muse and Coldplay instead. Would Muse and Coldplay have become as big as they did if Radiohead hadn't changed their sound? It's hard to say.

Not that hard.

Kid A, just over Knives Out and Idioteque (obv gonna win)

If anyone hasn't read the hilarious Pitchfork review of 'Kid A':

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6656-kid-a/

Comparing this to other albums is like comparing an aquarium to blue construction paper.

Has there ever been a studio outtakes / sessions / demos thing released from these albums, y'now for dorks? I wouldn't mind hearing some of these tracks disassembled.

― doglato dozzy (dog latin), Friday, February 14, 2014 12:52 PM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Not a far as I know, but there's a couple of things on Amnesiac which give an insight into the recording process. If you play 'Like Spinning Plates' backwards, you get the backing track to a very early electronic version of 'I Will' (which eventually surfaced on Hail To The Thief). The version of 'Morning Bell' on Amnesiac was the first version recorded; the Kid A version being what the song eventually turned into.

There's a lot of material that they had during the Kid A and Amnesiac sessions that were worked on during the sessions and were junked, but later were attempted again for Hail To The Thief and In Rainbows.

Ed O'Brien kept an online diary for a short time during the recording of Kid A and Amnesiac and these are the songs mentioned:-

KID A tracks: 'Everything In Its Right Place', 'Kid A', 'The National Anthem' (working title: 'Everyone'), 'How To Disappear Completely' (working title: 'How To Disappear Completely and Never Be Found'), 'Optimistic', 'In Limbo' (working title: 'Lost At Sea'), 'Idioteque' (referred to as 'Thom & Johnny's Drum Thing'), 'Morning Bell'.

AMNESIAC tracks: 'Pyramid Song' (working title: 'Egyptian Song'), 'You and Whose Army?', 'I Might Be Wrong' (working title: 'Song With No Name'), 'Knives Out' and 'Dollars and Cents'.

B-sides:: 'Fast-track', 'Kinetic', 'Cuttooth'.

early attempts at HAIL TO THE THIEF era tracks: 'I Will' (recorded in an electronic style, was then junked and the backing track flipped backwards to become 'Like Spinning Plates'), 'A Wolf At The Door' (working title: 'Keep The Wolf From The Door'), 'Gagging Order' (working title: 'Move Along').

early attempts at IN RAINBOWS era tracks: 'Up On The Ladder', '4 Minute Warning' (working title: 'Neil Young *9/Bombers').

other tracks mentioned: 'Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses' (working title: 'Reckoner', eventually released as a Thom solo single - has nothing in common with 'Reckoner' from In Rainbows), Follow Me Around (attempted, but junked), True Love Waits (attempted, but junked), Lift (not attempted but mentioned in the diary), Innocent Civilians (written during an "electronic only" session in early 2000 but junked), 'Say The Word' (working title: 'C Minor Song', attempted but junked and remains unreleased), 'Johnny's Scott Walker Song' (attempted but junked).

There was a period of time during Kid A/Amnesiac's recording where they worked on electronic stuff only, which yielded the unreleased 'Innocent Civilians' (as mentioned above), the rhythm track to Backdrifts (which would later appear on Hail To The Thief, Colin and Johnny programmed the first version of 'The Gloaming' (working title: '33.3 Recurring') during this time too.

Stuff they had, but not attempted or mentioned in Ed's Diary: 'Nude' (working title: 'Big Ideas (Don't Get Any)'), of course... played live on the OK Computer but eventually surfaced on In Rainbows.

So yeah, lots of stuff. Very prolific period for the band. Who knows what else they were working on?

Oh god, yeah, and some of the lyrics from 'Cuttooth' appeared in 'Myxomatosis'... It seemed like they had a massive burst of ideas around this time and took a few years to work through them all.

The experience and emotions tied to listening to Kid A are like witnessing the stillborn birth of a child while simultaneously having the opportunity to see her play in the afterlife on Imax.

Jesus christ, that review is just ludicrous.

When the headphones peel off, and it occurs that six men (Nigel Godrich included) created this, it's clear that Radiohead must be the greatest band alive, if not the best since you know who.

who are 'you know who'?

Oh wait, he mentions the white album in the previous paragraph, so he means the Beatles

I guess they probably mean the Beatles, but considering this is circa 2000 pitchfork it might just be Pavement

"Word down Oxford Mensa is that "Kid A" is the result of studio sessions in Gloucestershire where about 60 songs were started that no one had a bloody clue how to finish. Frankly it shows." -(1.5/5, Mark Beaumont, Melody Maker)

Wilson and Alroy's review was also bizarre:

Kid A (2000) *1/2
A cruel trick, Radiohead's Lumpy Gravy. Electronica at its least entertaining, with a few endlessly repeated "atmospheric" samples and synth lines per song ("Everything In Its Right Place"), and almost no guitar or vocals. When Yorke is audible, he's extremely subdued, except on the robotic drum machine-based "Idioteque." There are a couple of songs with rock instrumentation, but they're as dull as the rest ("The National Anthem," in which a sluggish vamp is first augmented and then overwhelmed by amateurish horns). Thirty-some years ago, this might have been avant garde - the attention it's getting today is due solely to the band's rep. I mean, "Treefingers" and the dreary pseudo-classical title track sound like outtakes from Tubular Bells - what's inventive or moving or exciting about that? I never dreamed the band would release such a bland, simpleminded, just plain insipid piece of work. Grammy winner for "Best Alternative Album," whatever that means. (DBW)

As someone that's heard Kid A, Tubular Bells, and Lumpy Gravy dozens of times I cannot for the life of me draw a connection between them

I guess they probably mean the Beatles, but considering this is circa 2000 pitchfork it might just be Pavement

― silverfish, Friday, February 14, 2014 2:27 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol

From Select Magazine:

"We will, by now, know that 'Ok Computer' Version 2.0 was never on the cards. But that realisation doesn't quite do justice to how frustrating this LP actually is. Like an aggravating adolescent, 'Kid A' has all the answers to your criticisms. There aren't many songs here. "So?" It doesn't 'say' very much. "Not meant to!"

Like its most obvious forebear, David Bowie's 'Low', what's not present is as important as what's actually here. The main absentees, then, are choruses, coherent lyrics, crescendos and guitars: the very stuffing of 'OK Computer'.

The brilliantly pounding 'National Anthem' underlines how sapped this music is of communality. "Everyone around here/everyone is so near," warbles an untouchable Thom - plastic coating well in place - over a funk-rock brass cacophony.

Tellingly, the other highpoint also comes rock band-shaped. The almost psychedelic gumbo groover 'Optimistic' surveys the capitalist whirl with supreme distance - the perpetrators and victims are even portrayed as other species, as dinosaurs, pigs and fish. Great, too, is the masterfully antiseptic opener 'Everything In Its Right Place', the point where a new musical approach - think To Rococo Rot plus rock intensity - makes most sense.

But while an elliptical masterpiece is within sight, 'Kid A' is finally dragged earthbound by some unfortunate delusions. Ambient electro soundscapes like 'Idioteque' are fine enough. But, really, what do you want for sounding like Aphex Twin circa 1993? A medal?

The knowledge that better stuff is deliberately being held back adds to the frustration. Live performances of 'Knives Out' and 'Egyptian Song' raised expectations to a height that isn't reached here. A couple more 'big' songs and it would have been far easier to herald 'Kid A' as a bona fide Major Work. But Radiohead didn't want that. They've done that. Too much information.

Taken alone, 'Kid A' is a cohesive, resonably successful, sometimes excellent new album which points Radiohead in all sorts of wrong directions.

3/5, Steve Lowe.

I just thought "cool, these guys listen to mille plateaux and autechre" except there's no signature or magic going on here for the 'out' tracks, they just sound like stuff from a c90 'radioheads first electronic jams".

it's amazing, listening back to these again today, how SLOW national anthem and i might be wrong sound compared to their live versions!

yea, that's true. also anyone hear that live album they put out shortly after kid a/amnesiac? i think it was titled "i might be wrong." anyways, i thought it was terrible. ha, i don't even know why brought this up.

the crowd on the version of idioteque on that album is p lovable

I quite liked 'I Might Be Wrong'. More than Hail to the Thief, anyway. The live version of Like Spinning Plates was beautiful. Hm, I think I'll put it on right now, in fact.

i felt like the sound quality was terrible on it, the crowd seemed really loud for professional recording, everything echoed way too much.

Listening to it now, you might be right... I was very young and impressionable when it was released...

I must admit, I do prefer the stripped down Thom'n'piano version of 'Like Spinning Plates' on I Might Be Wrong to the album version, but realise that the song wouldn't have existed in the first place if they hadn't written and recorded it the way they had, by taking a backing track of an early version of 'I Will', flipping it backwards, and working on the song from there.

what other songs do that (the reverse thing)? stone roses "don't stop" i know. Maybe there's a thread for it.

There's been loads! The Stone Roses did a lot of them, but I think only 'Don't Stop' had lyrics to it. There's an album by The Skids where the closing track is the opening track reversed, and The Stranglers had a B-side called 'Yellowcake UF6', which was a track that they were working on which didn't work out called 'Wasting Time' (aka 'Social Secs') which they slowed down and reversed to create a backwards instrumental.

My perfect album, which if call "Kid Amnesiac":

Everything in its right place
Pyramid song
National anthem
You and whose army
How to disappear
Optimistic
In limbo
Idioteque
Dollars and sense
Morning bell
Like spinning plates
Life in a glass house

relistening to 'amnesiac' and remembering how much i liked it at the time. i'd never noticed before, but talk talk must've been a big influence on these guys -- espec. 'laughing stock.'

xposts, and there's that crazy teenage filmstars album that was written backwards and recorded forwards and then reversed post-recording.

or something like that... the whole recording is in reverse, the melodies themselves are not.

i don't really get why anyone would want to remove anything from Kid A.

I was at the public premiere of Kid A. It was at a movie theater in NYC and a label rep from Capitol Records was there to introduce the album to us. The music was accompanied by 3D footage of fish (the label rep said the band had nothing to do with the film). As for the initial impressions of the music, I remember being very surprised by it and kind of waiting for more of a "Radiohead sound" to kick in, but I ended up being completely blown away by it. On the way out, I passed some guy who was asked by a reporter for his opinion and I remember him complaining that there weren't any guitars...

i felt like the sound quality was terrible on it, the crowd seemed really loud for professional recording, everything echoed way too much.

Yeah, this is sadly otm. MTV broadcast some live footage around this time which didn't sound amazing, but was revelatory compared to I Might Be Wrong. A huge missed opportunity.

Just having a late night listen to Amnesiac right now, and I love how the rimshots on 'Dollars and Cents' have so much reverb on them. In fact, I love how the whole track sounds like a bunch of very paranoid people covering 'Lowrider'.

The b-sides and non-album tracks from this era were also terrific. I must have listened to the full-band live version of "true love waits" (with the glockenspiel?) hundreds of times. I think it was my first napster download.

Yeah if the b-sides had been thrown in I'd have a hard time. "Worrywort," "Fog," "Kinetic," "Amazing Sounds of Orgy" all great, and the others are fun too. I even like "Cuttooth."

I love that they crammed all the "trademark" Jonny guitar fuckery into one half of a three-minute b-side.

The experience and emotions tied to listening to Kid A are like witnessing the stillborn birth of a child while simultaneously having the opportunity to see her play in the afterlife on Imax.

I've written before about how Amnesiac became, for me, the soundtrack to having to terminate a pregnancy due to health reasons, so this review is both laughably, horrendously terrible, but also, weirdly OTM for deeply personal reasons no one else would ever guess at.

It took a very long time to be able to listen to Amnesiac without it being a visceral, emotional one-way ticket back to that period of my life. But oddly, despite or because of that experience, I do prefer it of the twins.

Radiohead miscellany from the Kid A/Amnesiac era:

A+ "True Love Waits" -- probably the best bootleg they never recorded in studio; simply heartbreaking
A "Rabbit in your Headlights" -- as someone said upthread, precursor to Kid/Amnesiac electronica; best song not on either album
A- "Like Spinning Plates" (live piano version) -- this wouldn't have fit well on the album, but sounds like a revelation
A- "El Presidente" -- Thom's duet with Drugstore, whom I have never heard of before or since
A- "Follow Me Around" -- been floating around live performances since The Bends, I believe; simple guitar melody
B+ "This Miss We're In" -- Thom's duet with PJ Harvey; spooky and meandering, as are most things PJ Harvey
B+ "Lift" -- guitar-driven Bends-era-sounding live performance about being trapped in an elevator; never ended up anywhere
B+ "Fog" -- aka "Alligators in New York Sewers" and reworked later as "Fog (Again)"; simple, sad melody that defines this era for me
B+ "Worrywort" -- moderately haunting, pleasant electronica gurgle
B "Cuttooth" -- the most "rock"-sounding track of the era, but for some reason never made the leap from "good" to "great" for me
B "Amazing Sounds of Orgy" -- decent groove; atmospheric production; sounds like a B-side
B "Kinetic" -- decent groove; atmospheric production; sounds like a B-side
C+ "I've Seen It All" -- Thom's duet with Bjork from Dancer in the Dark; great collab on paper, but no hook

"I've Seen It All" is better than anything Radiohead ever did.

Probably because Radiohead didn't do it.

hahaha owned

"Idioteque"

Voted "Hunting Bears" because it's the shortest song option and the less Radiohead anyone has to hear is a good thing.

Wrote this in a thread elsewhere:

Amnesiac

The Kid A / Amnesiac era has such amazing b-sides. You could argue Amnesiac was a b-side album and in parts it definitely feels like it. This one is in serious need of a rearrangement imho and the b-sides from the era definitely allow it.

There is actually a Stylus 'playing god' article about this album already! - http://stylusmagazine.com/articles/playing_god/radiohead-amnesiac.htm - and I agree with it for the most part. At the time thAT article was published Nude was still unreleased, and he picked a live version of Spinning Plates too. The live version of Spinning Plates would, in fact, been a much better addition than its final form but it feels a little bit like cheating picking up unreleased or live versions when playing god.

I actually love having the final 'playing god' playlist in my itunes and it breaks the mood completely to have a live track in there. Also he left out 'Fog' which is one of the best b-sides of the era next to Worrywort. So from that article I picked the same tracklist with two slight changes; 'fog' instead of 'nude' (which coincidentally share a similar mood so it doesn't ruin the flow) and I decided to remove Spinning Plates completely.

1. Packt Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box
2. Pyramid Song
3. You and Whose Army
4. I Might Be Wrong
5. Fog
6. Cutooth
7. Worrywort
8. The Amazing Sounds of Orgy
9. Kinetic
10. Life in a Glasshouse

'Life In A Glasshouse' was the only song that they recorded after Kid A had been released, wasn't it? (Even though they apparently had the bare bones of the song during the time of OK Computer)

That "Playing God" article is awesome!!

testament to the enormous psychic pull radiohead have on their fanbase that anyone likes those terrible b-sides. amazing sounds of orgy is pleasantly unremarkable & transatlantic drawl is worth hearing once mb. yorke crooning on el presidente/ive seen it all/rabbit in yr headlights is awful, altho I believe I gave the latter I pass when I was still orbiting the rh star. airbag ep was great tho & talk show host, which was spiritually similar.

Look, I understand that Radiohead and Radiohead fans getting a kicking on any ILM Radiohead thread is all par for the course, but STFU ABOUT DRUGSTORE, DRUGSTORE IS AMAZING AND ALWAYS HAVE BEEN, ISABEL MONTEIRO COULD TAKE ALL OF YOU WITH ONE HAND TIED BEHIND HER BACK. The end.

the drugstore collab was way before the kid a/amnesiac era anyway, right? early 1998?

Yeah, it might have been earlier (I will have to check that Drugstore record) because I have a funny feeling that Thom was still ginger?

(c)1997/1998 according to the disc, which is bloody hard to read.

Isabel's blog about having to blackmail her bandmates into doing the track in the first place is pretty funny, though. She's such a wonderful character. A real original. I love her to bits!

I remember the video to that coming up on The Box quite a lot. No other knowledge of Drugstore.

Look, if this thread does nothing else, people, *please* go and check out more Drugstore that isn't El Presidente. (Which is a great song, sure, but when the duet with Thom Yorke is actually the least interesting song on the album...) They've recently had a big retrospective reissued on Rocket Girl recently, plus a new album last year (erm, the year before, now). If memory serves, the best of, at least should be on Spotify?

This Wednesday, for one night in Detroit, chef Kyle Hanley is presenting "A Night With Kid A", Huffington Post reports. It's a pop-up restaurant offering a 10-course meal based entirely on Radiohead's classic 2000 album. Check out the full menu below.

01 Everything in Its Right Place: Pan-seared diver scallop, yuzu fluid gel, fried cellophane noodle, lemongrass ponzu, chili oil. With Pfalz Riesling.
02 Kid A: Black caprese. With Alto Adige Kerner.
03 The National Anthem: Pan-seared lamb chops, crispy pig ear, blood orange reduction. With 100 percent Mourvedre.
04 How to Disappear Completely: Oil-poached monkfish, white asparagus, white balsamic vinaigrette, daikon sprouts. With Leelanau Good Harbour Golden Ale.
05 Treefingers: Tomato granita. With cilantro-infused gin, jalapeño syrup, fresh lime, sea salt, chili oil.
06 Optimistic: Maple sugar-seared duck breast, pink peppercorn gastrique, orange juniper pearls, shredded confit. With Anderson Valley Knez Pinot Noir.
07 In Limbo: Shades of Bouillabaisse. With Cava VallDolina.
08 Idioteque: Arugula salad, sous-vide egg, lardo croutons, manchego crisps, crispy pancetta, smoked sherry vinaigrette, meyer lemon foam, caper dust. With Mezcal Chartruese sour, dash of Ango.
09 Morning Bell: Meyer lemon sorbet. With gin and tonic.
10 Motion Picture Soundtrack: Mousse dou with blackberry pâte de fruit Niepoort LBV port.

testament to the enormous psychic pull radiohead have on their fanbase that anyone likes those terrible b-sides. amazing sounds of orgy is pleasantly unremarkable & transatlantic drawl is worth hearing once mb. yorke crooning on el presidente/ive seen it all/rabbit in yr headlights is awful, altho I believe I gave the latter I pass when I was still orbiting the rh star. airbag ep was great tho & talk show host, which was spiritually similar.

― ogmor, Saturday, February 15, 2014 8:05 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I really like both 'Fog' and 'Cuttooth', but ultimately I don't think the could have improved on the tracks they chose for Amnesiac. After they put together Kid A, Amnesiac really was the best of what they had left.

*the band

my two penn'orth: this basically boils down to a fight between 4 or 5 Amnesiac tracks. Kid A is their weakest album other than the first two and In Rainbows. TKOL is hideously underrated. HTTT their best. Airbag EP also their best. winner of this poll, after deliberation: Dollars & Cents

*winner of my vote, even, lol

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmjyUce7kSU

my two penn'orth: this basically boils down to a fight between 4 or 5 Amnesiac tracks. Kid A is their weakest album other than the first two and In Rainbows. TKOL is hideously underrated. HTTT their best. Airbag EP also their best. winner of this poll, after deliberation: Dollars & Cents

― Know Scot! Free Getaway: Glen, Handa Island, Rua Reidh (imago)

I completely disagree with Kid A being their weakest album (also with D&C being the highlight song from the era) but I've never understood the hate towards TKOL either. I think it's one of their best albums and I kind of hope they continue exploring on this path but it seems unlikely at this point since noone seemed to give a shit.

always thought Amnesiac was a bit of a mess. Kid A was the first Radiohead album I bought as a kid and had a serious WTF reaction to it initially, but it became my favorite album of theirs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmH1403IJdg

^^^ First time "How to Disappear Completely" was played live. 1998 I think? This is my favorite version of any Radiohead song ever.

I think everything the 'head have done since 2001 has been 'a bit of a mess'. that's not to say i don't enjoy them, but pretty much every album they've done Kid A onwards has had an awkwardness, or is badly sequenced, or has an obtrusive element that doesn't quite make any of their releases feel as complete and satisfying as did OKC or even the Bends.

I'd agree with that except for In Rainbows, which flows as well as any record they've ever made, getting the anomalously noisy songs out of the way early and then settling into a nocturnal groove.

In Rainbows comes close to having a lovely sustained flow, but still it feels lopsided to me and that's mostly down to the 2 noisy songs / 8 mellow songs format. Feels more like a mini album with a 2-track single stuck on the front. Too often I skip straight to Nude when I put it on (despite quite liking 15 Step and Bodysnatchers).

I'd agree with that except for In Rainbows, which flows as well as any record they've ever made, getting the anomalously noisy songs out of the way early and then settling into a nocturnal groove.

This is exactly why every time I try to listen to In Rainbows as a complete album, I feel like it lasts for five thousand years.

I loved both of these albums so, so, much as an early 00s teenager. I mean, I would listen to Kid A literally every day. Amnesiac I didn't respond to as much then--I used to agree with the consensus that it's a poorly-sequenced hodgepodge compared to Kid A, but this thread prompted me to give it a re-listen, and though it isn't sonically homogeneous as Kid A, it still does have a coherent vibe/flow. It *works* as an album much more than people have given it credit for.

Anyway, my vote is for "Life in a Glasshouse." Sometimes, when I actually hear people say "well of course I'd like to stay around and chat," I'm tempted to chime in with "but someone's listening in." Thankfully I never do.

Aw, I should have voted for Glasshouse. I remember Thom playing a DJ session on Radio 1 where he opened witht he Louis Armstrong song that inspired it before mixing it into some messed up Brothomstates craziness.

it isn't sonically homogeneous as Kid A

Totally agree -- that's why it's always been down a notch for me. By the way, that "How to Disappear" live cut is also my favorite version of my favorite Radiohead song.

Here's the early early "Life in a Glass House" from Meeting People is Easy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ojzq2tWSMo

Aw, I should have voted for Glasshouse. I remember Thom playing a DJ session on Radio 1 where he opened witht he Louis Armstrong song that inspired it before mixing it into some messed up Brothomstates craziness.

― doglato dozzy (dog latin), martes 18 de febrero de 2014 14:17 (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

St. James Infirmary? That's the one it reminds me of.

I'm torn between Life in a Glasshouse and How to Disappear. The former might be one of their best songs but the later has one of my favorite string arrangements of all time.

I have listened to HTTT and IR so many times, and I can hardly remember anything about them. Raindrops and things that aren't there from HTTT, absolutely nothing from IR. And I'm a Radiohead fan. I don't get it.

Cosigned on HTTT being the best Radiohead album. Most variety, widest scope, more songs, bombass album artwork

I completely disagree with Kid A being their weakest album (also with D&C being the highlight song from the era) but I've never understood the hate towards TKOL either. I think it's one of their best albums and I kind of hope they continue exploring on this path but it seems unlikely at this point since noone seemed to give a shit.

― Moka, Tuesday, 18 February 2014 04:35 (16 hours ago) Permalink

Yeah, I could never agree with anyone that says Kid A is their weakest album. For me, it's one of their four best. The King of Limbs is a completely different story for me: I read a lot of criticism from fans that the album was too short, but in all honesty that's the very last criticism I'd level at the record. If anything, I generally think the material at its core isn't any great shakes, no matter how sonically interesting they attempted to make the arrangements.

I said Kid A was their fourth-weakest, if you read my post properly :P

In Rainbows is Radiohead-lite drudgery for the most part IMO - keep the first two and Reckoner, absolutely zero interest in the rest. TKOL much more spry & exciting by comparison (especially in terms of rhythm), even if Codex is kinda obviated by Pyramid Song

I think everything the 'head have done since 2001 has been 'a bit of a mess'. that's not to say i don't enjoy them, but pretty much every album they've done Kid A onwards has had an awkwardness, or is badly sequenced, or has an obtrusive element that doesn't quite make any of their releases feel as complete and satisfying as did OKC or even the Bends.

― doglato dozzy (dog latin), Tuesday, February 18, 2014 10:11 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'd agree with that except for In Rainbows, which flows as well as any record they've ever made, getting the anomalously noisy songs out of the way early and then settling into a nocturnal groove.

― What is wrong with songs? Absolutely nothing. Songs are great. (DL), Tuesday, February 18, 2014 10:32 AM (10 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Again, I do think Amnesiac couldn't have been any better given what tracks they had left over to work with. After picking out the 10 tracks for Kid A, they had all of this stuff they had to put together as best as they could in order to make another album from it, and I think they did the best job they possibly could have done. Indeed, it's still a mess, but it could have easily been so much messier.

Hail To The Thief just could do with a prune and an order re-shuffle, really. I've never really been too keen on 'Sail To The Moon' being the third track on the album, and I've personally never really thought much of 'We Suck Young Blood' or 'A Punchup At A Wedding'. I tried listening to Hail To The Thief in full the other day and found my interest beginning to fade in exactly the same place it has done since the album came out, which is around 'I Will'/'A Punchup At A Wedding'.

I can't fault the sequencing of In Rainbows at all.

TKOL much more spry & exciting by comparison (especially in terms of rhythm), even if Codex is kinda obviated by Pyramid Song

― Know Scot! Free Getaway: Glen, Handa Island, Rua Reidh (imago), Tuesday, February 18, 2014 9:34 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The King of Limbs is only more "exciting" in the rhythm department. Take the rhythms and the sonics away and what you're left with a bunch of songs that are more lo-calorie Radiohead than anything on In Rainbows.

It's not really surprising that taking away the thing that makes the songs interesting makes them less interesting.

take the guitar out of the jimi hendrix experience

lol xp

It's not really surprising that taking away the thing that makes the songs interesting makes them less interesting.

― sent as gassed to onto rt dominance (DJP), Tuesday, February 18, 2014 9:43 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Absolutely, and this is the ultimate flaw of the record for me. The material just isn't good enough, as far as I'm concerned. If 'Morning Mr Magpie' had been attempted for In Rainbows, it would have been shown up for what it is: a mere scrap of a song with not a lot going for it.

you can say the exact same thing about "Hunting Bears" or "Like Spinning Plates", though; the arrangement is actually important to convey the song's intended effect

dude you can't separate different elements of such an integrated composition so cavalierly. morning mr magpie wouldn't have been WRITTEN for in rainbows, or at least sounded anything like that, because believe it or not it was the result of a writing process that synthesised its various elements to fit a single vision, each of which depended on the rest for support. you're being a bit ridiculous tbh

take the guitar out of the jimi hendrix experience

― Know Scot! Free Getaway: Glen, Handa Island, Rua Reidh (imago), Tuesday, February 18, 2014 9:44 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Indeed, strip the guitar away from 'The Wind Cries Mary', and leave the bass and drums and the song would still shine through, because it's that strong. You'd still be able to hear just how well-written that song actually is, even without the guitar.

dude you can't separate different elements of such an integrated composition so cavalierly. morning mr magpie wouldn't have been WRITTEN for in rainbows, or at least sounded anything like that, because believe it or not it was the result of a writing process that synthesised its various elements to fit a single vision, each of which depended on the rest for support. you're being a bit ridiculous tbh

― Know Scot! Free Getaway: Glen, Handa Island, Rua Reidh (imago), Tuesday, February 18, 2014 9:51 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

'Morning Mr Magpie' was written around the time of Hail To The Thief.

well, it wasn't on that album was it? clearly they weren't happy with it until its TKOL iteration - when it finally fit the vision. perhaps I should have said that it wouldn't have been RECORDED for IR because they weren't quite in the right place to make it work then (and too right, they were more concerned with making drippy indie ballads lol)

you can say the exact same thing about "Hunting Bears" or "Like Spinning Plates", though; the arrangement is actually important to convey the song's intended effect

― sent as gassed to onto rt dominance (DJP), Tuesday, February 18, 2014 9:49 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Even though 'Like Spinning Plates' was the product of its arrangement, it still stands up incredibly well when removed from the shackles of its arrangement, as the solo piano version on I Might Be Wrong clearly displays; there is a song there, and a very good one.

'shackles of its arrangement' is some insane form vs content madness that I cannot endorse, sorry. you're right that the live version of LSP is amazing but as far as I'm concerned it's a completely different song

oh and fyi Punchup At A Wedding is one of Radiohead's best songs ever. my takeaway from this is that we look for very different things in our Radiohead

When it comes to the crunch: a turd is a turd, no matter how wonderfully it's polished.

what is the 'song' that is subsequently 'polished' by its 'arrangement'? is not the 'song' the sum total of its recording, including arrangement?

c'mon, what is the original song - is it the lead instrument melody + the lyrics? the bassline? enlighten me

To my understanding, the song itself is the composition--the chords, melody (bass and treble) and lyrics that provide the backbone of the recording. The arrangement is the dressing--the strings or the synthesizer or the sound effects that flesh out the recording of the song. In the case of "Like Spinning Plates," the solo piano version represents the basest form of the song, which I imagine was the "original" version that Yorke showed to the band in the recording sessions.

nah but LSP was 'discovered' by reversing an I Will demo so like

accept that 'arrangement' can be a euphemistic term for any melodic gussying-up, but it certainly doesn't cover the rhythm section. 'composition' is really the whole thing imo

Voodoo chili is mostly OTM: generally the core of a song is a melody (or melodies) fitted to a chord progression (or series of chord progressions). This could be a melody played on a 'lead instrument' (if it's an instrumental), or it could a vocal melody (or top-line, fitted with a lyric or not, in the case of Pink Floyd's 'The Great Gig In The Sky'). Then you take the core of the song and work out an arrangement.

Yes, while the arrangement can contain hooks in themselves which embellish the core of the song: rhythmic hooks, bass hooks etc. In the case of 'Morning Mr Magpie', it's that clipped guitar riff that runs throughout the song. But if you ain't got a great core there, you have the equivalent of a well-wrapped gift containing nothing but air.

nah but LSP was 'discovered' by reversing an I Will demo so like

accept that 'arrangement' can be a euphemistic term for any melodic gussying-up, but it certainly doesn't cover the rhythm section. 'composition' is really the whole thing imo

― Know Scot! Free Getaway: Glen, Handa Island, Rua Reidh (imago), Tuesday, February 18, 2014 10:32 PM (56 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Indeed, but by reversing the early version of 'I Will', it gave Thom Yorke a chord progression to write a top-line to, which isn't an unusual starting point for any song; it's only unusual in the sense that the backing track was already recorded. The decision to have the vocals forwards-but-backwards was an arrangement decision, borne out of the fact that the track was running backwards. He could have easily have sung the song forwards without tampering with it and the song still would have stood up. If Thom hadn't found a worthy top-line to go with the chord progression, the song would have sucked.

er, feels like you guys are treading dangerously close to Geir territory here.

here's a nice li'l homework assignment for ya Turrican: http://open.spotify.com/track/16S7qpNWHl3714n94oZnHT

^^^ostensibly indie-rock guitar band. wonder what you make of it. I happen to think it's fucking amazing

(Electrelane - Business Or Otherwise, for those without Spotify)

protest vote for none of this shit

er, feels like you guys are treading dangerously close to Geir territory here.

― Karl Malone, Tuesday, February 18, 2014 10:42 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

God, no. Absolutely not, and I'd hate for anyone to think that that was the case. Geir deeply hated Kid A for a start, and I don't.

In fact, this is reminding me of what I found so confounding about the general reaction to Kid A "back in the day"... because looking at the tracklisting, every track on the album has a strong core to it. It's a well-produced and superbly arranged album, but it isn't lacking in strong songs or pieces of music that have a strong core to them. Even 'Treefingers' has a structured chord progression.

'Morning Bell' is a case in point: on both Kid A and Amnesiac, it's attempted in two different ways. On Kid A, it's in 5/4 and has the "drum riff" in a more of a "band" type of arrangement, whereas on Amnesiac it's in 4/4 and more mournful. Of course, I prefer the version on Kid A, but the core of the song is so strong that it works either way.

since when has deems obtained to that wide-eyed experimental sensibility that geir was famous for

i am curious about the outcome of this poll. it will surely be a landslide victory for "pyramid song", no?

I have absolutely no idea how this poll is going to go, tbh! I expect 'Pyramid Song' to be up there, though... not sure about a landslide victory.

Strictly speaking, the "song" is the lead melody and the lyrics. Everything else, including the chord progression, falls under arrangement (which is partially why organists will often do alternate harmonizations for the final verse of a hymn that the congregation and choir are singing in unison).

Certain melodies lend themselves to certain chord progressions, often to the point where distinguishing between them is unreasonable, but if you want to boil a song down to it's essence you only really need to care about the melody. Part of why this type of essentialism doesn't work for me is one of my favorite songs is Depeche Mode's "Never Let Me Down Again", which is two alternating notes that gain color and interest based on the chord progression it sits on top of and how the melodic note plays a different function in each chord of the arrangement. Saying that NLMDA doesn't work without the chord progression misses the huge point that the entire piece was built around the chord progression and the overall gestalt is what makes it so powerful musically.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Oh, well I assumed Idioteque was going to win.

wau everything got voted for!

Wow, everything got at least one vote! Very surprised to see 'Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors' higher than 'Motion Picture Soundtrack', 'You and Whose Army?' and 'Optimistic' though!

Generally speaking, songs with cores are really boring! Rhizomatic music all the way.

xpost:

and 'Packt Like Sardines', for that matter!

'pakt like...' is the perfect balance of weird sounds + spare arrangement + hooky writing for me, i loved it from the first time i heard it.

my vote ('kid a') did pretty well!

as for the song = melody/lyrics thing, i guess that's a formal music education definition, which is fine. my first thought is "what about drone music? those aren't 'songs'?" but i suppose i'm taking you guys too literally. the geir thing came in because iirc when pressed on issues like that he'd stick to his guns and be like "no, rap songs are NOT songs. melody is everything. genesis is the greatest band of all time"

ok who was the other In Limbovoter so I can high five them

"what about drone music? those aren't 'songs'?"

If you're talking about instrumental drone music, then no, they aren't, except by the iTunes definition of "songs".

right, which i get. i guess the way i roll is that that i that i DO think of them as songs! and i think that's how most people think of "songs"! but again, i'm not taking a music 101 quiz or anything, so i realize that's not the strict definition.

is that that i that i is that that i that i is that that i that i is that that i that i is that that i that i is that that i that i is that that i that i is that that i that i

god DAMMIT sorry

*whips out camcorder and films plastic bag in the wind*

but actually I agree with Karl here

jazz covers of radiohead is a whole thing unto itself, but they can be cool for highlighting parts that might have gotten obscured by the instrumentation for some people. i hadn't seen this before, i like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSw7TXt3DZE

Interesting that the biggest "hit" on either of these albums came in last

Hi fives to Simon H

xpost - huh? I thought Idioteque and Pyramid Song were the 'hits'

"Optimistic" was pushed out to US radio and semi-inescapable on alternative/modern rock stations for a hot minute

I agree that "Pyramid Song" and "Idioteque" ended up being bigger impact songs, though

Fair dos. Yeah, I think if I were to name a third 'hit' it would have been 'How To Disappear' whihc got played on Radio 1 a bit before the album came out.

IIRC they also released "Knives Out" and "I Might Be Wrong"

I'd say 'Idioteque' got the most airplay of the Kid A tracks in the UK. Can't recall 'Optimistic' getting much, if any exposure here.

Amnesiac to me is where they lost the plot. I get that it's similar in a sense to Kid A, but that one's cohesive in a way this isn't. "Pyramid Song" is amazing but otherwise it's total garb

just thought of this cuz I think of Radiohead whenever Coldplay drops a new album for some strange reason

lol didn't see someone already said "lose the plot" way up there

Kid A is my favorite Radiohead though so I can't agree with the plot-losage there

Do you like the post-amnesiac stuff?

I like about half of Yorke's solo album.

My basic problem with their material post-Amnesiac is that they tried to reintroduce guitars into their sound while still retaining the more "experimental" electronic streak of that album/Kid A and to my ears it's not meshed well. Theoretically it could and since Kid A's my favorite I'm not someone clamoring for a return to The Bends/OK Computer or whatnot, but yeah.

Amnesiac b-sides are mostly a waste of time, but man, how great is 'Fog'?

Relistened to Amnesiac recently and was reminded of how much I love "Dollars and Cents". Krautrock RH = Best RH.

Amnesiac b-sides are mostly a waste of time, but man, how great is 'Fog'?

would be their best set of bsides for "fog" and "cuttooth" alone, but also "kinetic" and "worrywort"!

concur as "kinetic" is probably the only track from that era i ever go back to. i remember "the amazing sounds of orgy" having a really great haunting groove.

i would love a long sprawling instrumental radiohead album full of fucked up fragmented shit like "pulk/pull" and "hunting bears"

Lol at t4 votes for pulk/pull and troll votes for hunting bears and treefingers.

LOL at 'Optimistic' only getting one vote

I think 'Treefingers' is great, and absolutely perfect as an interlude between the first and second halves of Kid A. 'Hunting Bears' feels like filler in comparison.

Agreed. I love that 'Treefingers' is supposedly all effected guitar, no synths.

They're good interludes but they're interludes. Picking them on top of the rest of their respective albums is vexing.

Treefingers is amazing, interlude or no. I don't think it's a troll vote at all (though I didn't vote for it). I wish I were like eight minutes long.

I also wish IT was eight minutes long

I wish Like Spinning Plates was 9 hours, like an Andy Warhol movie.

Taste is subjective. I love treefingers but I wouldn't choose it over any of the other songs in Kid A. Even the hidden track after MPS sounds better to me. To each its own. If you think treefingers is the best song on Kid A, then go listen to one of Eno's ambient albums and prepare to have your mind blown.

I hate the 'Like Spinning Plates' version on Amnesiac always end up skipping it. It's cool how it was made but I prefer the piano version on IMBW. Would prefer if they had made something more similar to that on the studio. It sounded interesting 15 years ago but it's one of their experiments that hasn't aged that good imho.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqZM71MXNfs

live Fog; even better!

most of the second side of Amnesiac (save Glass House) leaves me cold. It's like a warm up for TKOL or something.

Dollars and Cents is a real hidden gem though.

agree w/ dog latin

first half is great though, pyramid song one of the best

It's all over the place it really feels like the b-sides to Kid A. Lots of gems but wouldn't fit in Kid A.

'Dollars and Cents' is one of those tracks that grew on me a great deal. When I heard Amnesiac the first few times it didn't make much of an impression, but nowadays it's a favourite. I particularly love the way the drums are treated in the mix, alternating between heavy reverb and a more drier approach.

Reading back through the studio diary Ed was keeping at the time of recording, it's amazing how much stuff they've put out since that either had its genesis during these sessions or was written earlier, didn't work out, but found a version that worked later on. For all the talk of writers block and all that stuff, it turned out to be an incredibly productive period that you can still feel echoes of in their work even now. They really don't throw anything away, do they!?

*they

I think I've only made it through the whole of Treefingers maybe twice... I like the concept of an ambient interlude at that point in the album, but it's fearsomely dull to actually listen to.

I don't think it's that difficult to get a handle on 'Treefingers', really... it's not formless at all, it has a structure and a chord progression and everything!

Doesn't mean I have to like it.

I've nothing against beatless textural ambient numbers, but I don't think Treefingers is a particularly interesting one.

I've always preferred Amnesiac to Kid A. Kid A has more real songs but they're both mood pieces, basically, and Amnesiac does sustained mood better IMO.

Is there a thread for ppl to discuss their personal kid amnesiac mixes? Bc that's a thing I've done

x-post:

I dunno, I think Kid A works well as a start-to-finish thing, whereas Amnesiac is frontloaded... I would have loved for them to have found a way of putting tracks like 'Fog' and 'Cuttooth' on there.

Both of these albums must have been a pain in the backside to sequence though. I guess they knew they had enough for a couple of albums when it came to compiling Kid A, but they had so much stuff that there must have been some strong debates about what eventually went onto Kid A and in what order. The fact that it came after OK Computer, too... they must have really agonised over it. Then with Kid A done, the approach for Amnesiac must have been "how do we make a decent record up out of the remainder of the tracks?"

Ed's diary of the recording sessions is fine, but doesn't really tell the full story... I'd really love to read a book on the sessions from these records from start to finish.

like both well enough as front-to-back listens that i've never considered stripping them down for parts. do agree that amnesiac lists a bit after "knives out". "treefingers" is perfect tho.

I found Dollars & Cents really dull at the time - same with Knives Out and I Might Be Wrong and most of the middle section of Amnesiac. As someone who was underwhelmed by much of Kid A but was glad they made it, I didn't want them to be making any kind of rock music any more, I wanted them to be better at making electronic music.

I wonder if D&C would sound better in light of the new album though. It seems to be closer to AMSP than anything else from that era.

Ed's diary of the recording sessions is fine, but doesn't really tell the full story... I'd really love to read a book on the sessions from these records from start to finish.

They appear to be so fearsomely passive aggressive and closed off I wonder if anybody knows the full story of their tortured, album making sagas.

i love how Cuttooth got mentioned the most in the diary by far and it ended up being a b side

the weak points of Amnesiac are Knives Out (quite a dull song), Morning Bell/Amnesiac, Pulk/Pull (nothing really wrong with it but doesn't work in context) and Hunting Bears

would have much prefer Cuttoth, Fog, Kinetic & Worrywort on it over those, Cuttooth and Fog especially are among their very best. i don't know why they hate the recording of Fog so much

I think they were originally trying to make fog sound like morr electropop a la worrywort. More synth based and melodic... Early demos were more in that style and then they made an even better piano based version.

the weak points of Amnesiac are Knives Out (quite a dull song), Morning Bell/Amnesiac, Pulk/Pull (nothing really wrong with it but doesn't work in context) and Hunting Bears

would have much prefer Cuttoth, Fog, Kinetic & Worrywort on it over those, Cuttooth and Fog especially are among their very best. i don't know why they hate the recording of Fog so much

― ufo

Upthread:

Amnesiac

The Kid A / Amnesiac era has such amazing b-sides. You could argue Amnesiac was a b-side album and in parts it definitely feels like it. This one is in serious need of a rearrangement imho and the b-sides from the era definitely allow it.

There is actually a Stylus 'playing god' article about this album already! - http://stylusmagazine.com/articles/playing_god/radiohead-amnesiac.htm - and I agree with it for the most part. At the time thAT article was published Nude was still unreleased, and he picked a live version of Spinning Plates too. The live version of Spinning Plates would, in fact, been a much better addition than its final form but it feels a little bit like cheating picking up unreleased or live versions when playing god.

I actually love having the final 'playing god' playlist in my itunes and it breaks the mood completely to have a live track in there. Also he left out 'Fog' which is one of the best b-sides of the era next to Worrywort. So from that article I picked the same tracklist with two slight changes; 'fog' instead of 'nude' (which coincidentally share a similar mood so it doesn't ruin the flow) and I decided to remove Spinning Plates completely.

1. Packt Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box
2. Pyramid Song
3. You and Whose Army
4. I Might Be Wrong
5. Fog
6. Cutooth
7. Worrywort
8. The Amazing Sounds of Orgy
9. Kinetic
10. Life in a Glasshouse

― Moka, Saturday, February 15, 2014 5:49 PM (2 years ago)

this is how I have it on itunes and it really improves the album:

http://i.imgur.com/WCgJV5N.png

Maybe nowadays I'd add Dollars & Cents or change it for Orgy or Kinetic. I found it very meandering at first but it has grown on me.

Here's my kid amnesiac playlist:

1) everything in its right place
2) kid a
3) national anthem
4) transatlantic drawl
5) pyramid song
6) pulk/pull revolving doors
7) optimistic
8) in limbo
9) cuttooth
10) worrywort
11) packt like sardines in a crusht tin box
12) idioteque
13) like spinning plates
14) treefingers

There were certain sequences of songs I wanted to preserve, and certain tracks segue p well stylistically. I think I'm the only one who favors transatlantic drawl, it seems, but I like its trashiness followed by warbly boards of canada kinda synths

You left out HTDC

See what he did there?

Haw

Love the orchestration of HTDC, but the song doesn't go anywhere for me

There's something about 'Treefingers' that reminds me of the intro to 'Pearl's Girl' by Underworld.

20th Anniversary announcements today!

New / unreleased song on spotify.

Artwork looks super lazy.

a bit more is coming

https://t.co/sMZGB0eE7V
We humbly submit KID A MNESIA to you.
It's a coming of age for Kid A & Amnesiac and it's joined by a new album, Kid Amnesiae, a memory palace of half-remembered, half-forgotten sessions & unreleased material.
All three come out together on November 5th. pic.twitter.com/V5Ms5iRUKl

— Radiohead (@radiohead) September 7, 2021

New/old track is good!

Tacit admission they should have been a double album?

300 page book looks super tasty.

Oh, it does.

I have quickly shifted from "Well, that's a stupid idea" to "Yeah, probably need both the books and the CD of extras".

The sleeve for Amnesiac is good but I really have no fondness for anything I've seen of Donwood's art, it's very bad.

Sprang for the 3CD set; don't need the book.

I've got a lot of time for Donwood - his Holloway book and the London Views prints, in particular. His There Will Be No Quiet book is very good. Actually, he was posting pencil drawings (on Twitter) at some point during the pandemic that were incredible.

i ordered the big book/vinyl thing because I'm a sucker

Not including the original b-sides in that strikes me as misstep.

that's for the 40th anniversary. finally, then it will all be available in one deluxe package

I can't see any difference in track listings between the various formats.

I was glad of that, I was half expecting some dick move, like putting a collage of unreleased music on a cassette.

(I might not be fully paying attention, mind).

I agree with Maresn3st. Never really helped with any of the Radiohead artwork

The only format that has b-sides is the cassette version. It's missing half of them, though.

It's the only one that describes having b-sides but aren't all the actual track listings the same?

it has the 3 LP/CDs of the others on a cassette side each... and then oddly not all of the Amnesiac b-sides although they could've fit them all.

His There Will Be No Quiet book is very good.

Reminded me to pick this up. I'll wait and see on this new stuff!

the photo of the cassette version doesn't include any of the old b-sides

https://store-us.kida-mnesia.com/products/kid-amnesiette-special-edition-cassette-book-kaa

it kind of looks like it, because with the formatting it says

FOG
(AGAIN AGAIN VERSION)

but that's just "Fog (again again version)" the same as on the other formats

Look way down bottom right of the cassette box back, bro

sorry to belabor it, but i don't see any of the old b-sides? i see versions of them, remixes or other versions or whatever, but none of the originals

that's based on clicking the "buy" button on https://kida-mnesia.com/ and zooming in on the tracklists in the photos

Look way down bottom right of the cassette box back, bro

― maf you one two (maffew12),

ooooooooh

well, there's always the 40th anniversary box

The new single is nice. Also the tweet above I think is "Untitled V1" since the runtime matches the iTunes listing. So I guess those are just little blendy bits

LMAO @ that cassette being $90...but I want it :[

only 5000 cassettes so you could definitely hoard a few and resell in a couple of years.

looks like the most collectible piece out of all of these. It's also the one with the most unique artwork. Wish they would have attempted something similar for the vinyl and cd versions.

definitely a shame they didn't include the amnesiac b-sides with how strong those are (other than some on the cassette) but a full disc of outtakes should be nice. the new outtakes disc is around 35 minutes long, and the b-sides are 33 minutes total, so they could have fit them on the cd at least

"if you say the word" is exactly like you'd expect an outtake from these sessions to sound really, the same really distinctive sound but the song just isn't quite as strong as most of the released material. i'd probably take it over a few tracks on amnesiac though

This is what I wanted from the vinyl version:

https://m.imgur.com/a/a3vzPic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNUzGew1EN4

lol this is such a late 90s/early 00s move

wait wut is that fake? xp

it's a fan mock-up yeah

Yeah, sorry I should have specified. I made that mockup based on the cassette design.

Curious to hear what the arrangement of Follow Me Around might sound like.

Still waiting for Kid A on a 12 inch vinyl with half of the record on side A and the other half on side B.

I suppose the reissue will somewhat fulfill this.

Moka your version is soooooo good!

xp It is really weird how these short albums have only been double 10" or 12" so far and this is the first time they're going on one slab each (would normally be the opposite for these deluxe things?). What can even explain that? They couldn't do whatever fancy half speed cut before?

Also they're not remastered (OK Computer was) but that's whatever.

Really nice interpretation, Moka.

From the pics, the actual version looks a bit lazy.

Thank you! It’s pretty much a reinterpretation of the cassette version. Don’t understand why they didn’t try to make them match, because I really like the design for the cassette and it’s not the most difficult design to recreate in the vinyl and cd versions. I spend 30 mins at most copying the style and they had at least a full year to really put some extra effort into it.

It’s particularly head-scratching to me considering how well done OKNOTOK was presented and sold. With that one it felt like that was truly the “definitive” OKC version. You got a tape with hours of content, a diary, a hardbook, a sketchbook, 4 new songs and all the b-sides from the era. And the whole original album was remastered. Also a unique album design meant to emulate a blackbox I think?

This one doesn’t feel like a definitive collection of what could have been. Nothing has been remastered (not necessarily a bad thing), you don’t get the b-sides, you don’t get any sort of tape with experiments and demos - and there’s probably hours of those that could have been interesting to hear -, the album cover looks like it was arranged in 10 minutes. If you want books of additional content you have to pay for them…. I mean, yeah I was expecting something way better considering how important this era is in their discography and the amount of content they could have put out.

If you ask my wallet, though, I suck at voting with it.

Many xps to ufo: that makes it feel all the more appropriate! It's like blips 2.0

I've not really thought through the ethics of this but the books are on sale at hive.co.uk (and presumably other places) at discounted prices.

I'm possibly being unfair but I figure that I'd like the local book shop to get a cut, even if this is at expense of Thom.

I suppose if I were being properly decent, I'd order the books direct from the local book shop but hey ... Hive will do.

They're listed on a Canadian bookstore site too, with a November 30 release date. I don't think there's anything limited about the books.

I thought the revive was about the new video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnhKaCjCIqM

felt that too much to talk about

new video does a good job of approximating what the video would have been like back then

great video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrxWiU_v9Qs

a little disappointed that there's not some more complete arrangement they just weren't happy with at the time, just a demo of the same acoustic version with a weird vocal effect added

cool video

the pulk/pull version of "true love waits" on this is wonderful, it's still not quite there but my favourite of the many many arrangements we've heard them try

the "like spinning plates" version has early lyrics & splits the difference between the final studio version & the live piano version but is less compelling than both, just a curiosity

"fog (again again)" is interesting, not as good as the other two versions but definitely worth hearing

& it's hard to understand how "if you say the word" didn't get released at the time

but pretty diminishing returns beyond these

Does this mean that the origin of pulk/pull was a failed 'true love waits' experiment?

Listening to these alternate versions of "pulk/pull" and "Like Spinning Plates" it makes me think I'd probably like Amnesiac as much as I like Kid A - you'll never convince me it isn't a collection of b-sides, as good as some of its songs might be - if they had spent more time refining these sort of experiments and simmering the album in general.

This version of Like Spinning Plates in particular sounds like it could have been a great number... specially towards the end when that 'organ/choral' synth comes on I can easily imagine it would have soared as one of the best songs of the sessions with some of those really cool string arrangements Johnny was doing elsewhere. It's still not there though, I agree with ufo that it is somehow not as compelling as the live nor the studio version... for me the electronic texture is a bit distracting and doesn't really fit in this piano version. However the potential is definitely there and they were close to nailing something better than what we got in the end.

Also this version of Fog when paired with something like Worrywort makes me think there was the possibility of a way lighter album somewhere. It sounds like indietronica from the early 00's... something from idk... the Morr label. It could even be the demo of a Coldplay song tbh. The style doesn't fit at all with the rest of Amnesiac or Kid A, as much as I love Worrywort it's kind of a good thing they didn't really pursue this style.

"How to dissapear into strings" is great imo. I know it's just the isolated strings from the studio version but it makes you really appreciate the beauty how they're arranged.

Does this mean that the origin of pulk/pull was a failed 'true love waits' experiment?

yeah that's been known for a while, i think they talked about it in an interview at the time, & people noted the direct connection to some of the ok computer sessions "true love waits" attempts that came out more recently.

the "how to disappear" strings are indeed wonderful to hear isolated like that

amnesiac definitely does have the leftovers collection feeling with its chaotic sequencing & some pretty big quality disparities - some of it is fantastic but a lot is also very forgettable.

might have worked better if they'd leaned into that and included all the b-sides from the era & sequencing it as a sprawling double album? or even there are alternate single disc sequences that i'd enjoy much more too

i am waiting until tomorrow

It's actually released today 9PM pacific. I think this is available already in some countries.

My copy of the 3CD set has been dispatched, but I have no idea when it will actually show up (and purchasing it doesn't entitle me to a download, I don't think).

I feel rather underwhelmed by Disc 3.

Considering the amount of time and fuckery involved in making the records, a few songs and a bunch of fragments and string stems (as beautiful as they are) is a bit half hearted.

"if you say the word" and "true love waits" are the real gems here but the rest is pretty underwhelming yeah.

some cool stuff from the vaults that we know exists to some degree that would have been cooler to hear than like fragments of early versions of "morning bell" and "fast-track":
-early "a wolf at the door" (a "heavy metal version that sounded like the darkness")
-early "i will" ("dodgy kraftwerk version")
-early "up on the ladder"
-early "4 minute warning"
-early "feeling pulled apart by horses"
-any sort of more complete/interesting "follow me around"

There’s also this “where i end and you begin” demo from 2001 :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYVMCKfFqbE

Not really Kid A / Amnesiac sessions anymore but it does share an obvious aesthetic proximity compared to what they did with it later.

Song was pretty much laid out and an unheard demo previous to this one does exist from the sessions but they decided to keep it in the vault amongst all these you mention.

It is very disappointing compared to what they released for OKNOTOK and how complete it felt. Plenty of stuff we didn’t get in the end. Copying from a reddit comment:

We know via the mid session webcasts and Ed’s diary the following songs were worked on during the Kid A sessions.
There There (webcast)
I Will
Wolf At The Door
Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses
Gagging Order
4 Minute Warning
Backdrifts
Up On A Ladder
Skating On The Surface
True Love Waits
Burn The Witch
Along with countless versions of Cuttooth, Knives Out, Optimistic, etc.
Now I’m gonna assume the HTTT stuff will be held back for some sort of revisit in 2023.

even oknotok left a ton of stuff on the vaults as the minidiscs revealed but it was still pretty revelatory while this is more minor

i didn't know anything about skirting in the surface dating back to kid a though, all i can find about that is that thom had written some of the lyrics then, but that's not really historically indicative of its musical history

Yeah I haven’t double checked if that comment is accurate. Having early lyrics doesn’t mean there’s a song demo. Thom has notoriously been lifting completely new lyrics from old ideas from this era.

That said ed’s diary does describe some songs which we already know what they are - eg: “bombers” and “neil young 9” being the early names for “4 minute warning” - and that they definitely had several early demos of.

Oh and there’s still some mysterious song titles which we have no clue what they are.

picked this off the shelf yesterday, found the extras record solid and substantial considering it's just 35 minutes. Wonder if they could've tightened up the OKNOTOK new 3 songs with strong outtakes to make a similar record on that set. I liked going through the cassette and minidiscs exactly once. Great for what they were.

I could just be really jazzed from visiting a big city for the first time in a couple years

It's a pretty disappointing release unless you're buying these albums for the first time (or at least for the first time on a different format). At this point, given the bonuses they're willing to release for sale, I wish they'd put them out as their on own album rather than package them as deluxe set extras - a lot of it may be forgettable but at least it would be more reasonably priced.

true, if i was a really big vinyl guy I'd (try) to be having none of this. i never had Amnesiac and that has some of my fave songs (pyramid song, spinning plates, glasshouse). Hopefully i can sell my Kid A 2x10" reissue sometime.

Also from what I've listened to so far these are fine as single LPs.. and why in the heck were they ever doubles??

If they were cut in 45 or they wanted to cut bigger grooves, the double LP could be a noticeable improvement...but you can say that about any album, and when it inflates the cost, you have to weigh whether it's excessive.

under 50min over 1LP is practically aerobics

figured the 2x10" thing was just to be different, no reason why they couldn't fit onto a single LP. in fact Kid A makes so much sense with that Side A/Side B split, I don't get it at all. maybe it's just "weird album = weird packaging", I dunno

maybe for a different thread but I hate when bands split up albums less than 45 minutes onto 2 albums. I get that in theory they sound better but I never notice any real distortion until they get to like, 25+ minutes a side (lookin' at you, TODD)

yeah. of course this normally goes in the other direction to juice fans at anniversary times (new, better than ever!). Paul's Boutique 30th anniversary on 2 LPs... the 20th anniversary 1LP is one of my best sounding records!

My biggest gripe with this release - and I think I already wrote it upthread - is the complete lack of b-sides on vinyl. I would have 100% preferred to have the b-sides on vinyl than these extras which don’t really feel like a record I’ll be playing much if at all.

Takes on disc 3:

True Love Pulks sounds like a dodgy mashup to me.
I share ufo's disappointment that FMA isn't a full-band version.
If You Say The Word is clearly the best thing here.

I already forgot what the rest of it sounded like.

Still holding out for the follow-up to AMSP, whenever that will be.

the pulk/pull version of "true love waits" on this is wonderful, it's still not quite there but my favourite of the many many arrangements we've heard them try

― ufo, Wednesday, November 3, 2021 10:40 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Agree, I love this one. It doesn't have the emotional impact of the Moon Shaped Pool version, but I think it works a whole lot better than the Amnesiac "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors"

yeah. of course this normally goes in the other direction to juice fans at anniversary times (new, better than ever!). Paul's Boutique 30th anniversary on 2 LPs... the 20th anniversary 1LP is one of my best sounding records!

it's 53 minutes long so I get putting it on 2 LPs but yeah I have heard the 20th and it's great (the 30th sounds incredible too, of course). idk how exactly they did it but I have heard a good, knowledgeable engineer can make those 25+ minute sides work

Oh and there’s still some mysterious song titles which we have no clue what they are.

everything is actually known these days except the "jonny scott walker song", "if you say the word" was the last titled track we'd never actually heard anything of before

Citizen Insane stopped updating but “if you say the word” was actually several times in ed’s diary. First referred as “c minor song” and then “say the word”:

https://citizeninsane.eu/music/pile/saytheword.html

oh yeah i mean the last one named in ed's diary we'd never heard any music from before

Innocent Civilians is another unknown track iirc (speculation that it was “sit down stand up” but no confirmation yet) and Rachel’s song which is also speculated it ended up being “optimistic”.

I guess the “scott walker” song is also out there by now or it was just a riff that never went anywhere.

I always wondered if 'Scott Walker Song' was 'How To Disappear...', listen to the start of Sleepwalker's Woman, nearly identical hovering string notes, RH's one a little more dissonant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op4055-AuGQ

xxxxxp Yeah they were really aa skirting the.. limits of how much could fit on the surface with that one.

"The Scott Walker one" was how they referred to "Creep" after they recorded it, leading one engineer to remark "The only decent song they have, and it's a cover!"

“How to Disappear into Strings” is just incredible. Would love to hear more of just the string arrangements for their other songs.

though i am very annoyed that they are repackaging these albums yet again, i did enjoy the outtakes. at times, it feels less like outtakes and more like a "remix + rarities" album. i certainly don't have any complaints, even if it is a bit inconsistent. it's good for a super fan of the era and i expectedly really like the ambient / sound collage / harp / orchestral stuff that takes up most of the second half. feels like a very fitting coda to the period. wonder if the following albums will get similar treatment(s). i'm far from a bootleg-seeking tier fan, but i would love a similar `highlights` type disc from the in rainbows period.

Today I did not enjoy to listen to the mid-period stab at “True Love Waits”— I loved that this song existed for the “officially released tracks only” listener that I am as a live version and then as a eulogy. Hearing it paired with Pulk/Pull weakened both tracks for me

While chatting about the experience with a friend tho he tipped me off to what he claims is his favourite RH song, “Worrywort”, which is so lovely, and then I enjoyed the rest of the Amnesiac b-sides, so yeah I agree w you Moka

Also I love that the song “Kid A” ranked so highly in this poll!

I like Idioteque because it really does mangle Thomas Yorke's irritating oxford drawl. Just needs to be mixed into some bass heavy silicon scally electro to truly come alive.

I was laughing at the thought of them swapping the original “Pull/Pulk” with the “True Love Waits” version for the final Amnesiac release and how irate their diehard fans would’ve been with TLW getting officially put out like that.

i actually really like this version of "true love waits" — familiar, yet not, simultaneously.

also agree that this era of b-sides is pretty delicious. in terms of b-side material, i think i prefer only the ok computer era.

“Worrywort” is probably a top 5 song in their discography for me. I don’t think it fits in any of their albums though.

“Kinetic” was always my favorite b-side from that era. Felt completely difficult to pin down compared to the others during those sessions.

my favourites are "cuttooth" and "fog"

While chatting about the experience with a friend tho he tipped me off to what he claims is his favourite RH song, “Worrywort”, which is so lovely, and then I enjoyed the rest of the Amnesiac b-sides, so yeah I agree w you Moka

― flamboyant goon tie included, Friday, November 5, 2021 8:25 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

i put this, "transatlantic drawl", and "cuttooth" on my personal kid amnesiac playlist

hearing this early version of "kid a" with piano and live drums opened up this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-oHjLIcPMU

“How to Disappear into Strings” is just incredible. Would love to hear more of just the string arrangements for their other songs.

Jonny Greenwood albums imo

xp that's not actually an "early" version. it's established that it was one of the first tracks finished for the album (by november 1999), but this version is from their summer 2000 tour, not too long before kid a was released. it's just a fairly different arrangement to how they started playing it from the httt tour onwards (though they've tweaked the live arrangement quite a few more times since then). they never played it between kid a's release & the httt tour, so they presumably weren't happy with this particular arrangement at the time.

i think pretty much everything from kid a/amnesiac was finished by the time they went on tour in june 2000, except "life in a glasshouse"

i stand corrected chronologically but i maintain i was otm about it fuckin slapping

yeah it's a great version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZhnUWCDuo4

this one's a soundboard recording from that tour, much better quality

thats great!

early “Kid A” live versions were great- think this one is soundboard as well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aJQcw2GcCM

In context it’s admirable that they were out of their comfort zone not only on record but adapting it to a live setting.

re the Pulk/Pull TLW, what a weird one. Prefer the released versions of both, but I'm fascinated by the history of TLW as a parallel to the song's subject and its final release on what was basically a divorce record, lyrically.

Man I just listened through to the whole reissue and Amnesiac sounds amazing, even Hunting Bears sounds amazing

hot take: hunting bears has always sounded amazing.

(but yes, this new remaster absolutely rewards headphone listening for longtime fans of the material.)

Pull/Pulk sounded a lot less opaque too. Like, I could hear Thom was saying actual words and not just mumbling through an FX unit

Huh? I thought it was confirmed that these weren’t remastered at all? I think the only change is in the half speed vinyl cut?

maybe i'm just listening more intently this time around? i just assumed these were newly spit-shined or whatever. however the case, these albums have always sounded fantastic and always will.

The radiohead subreddit kind of confirms it:

https://www.reddit.com/r/radiohead/comments/qpwmrs/psa_on_kid_amnesia_neither_kid_a_nor_amnesiac_are/

There’s been dozen of threads confirming it’s the same release. It should sound better in vinyl format either way.

XP ah right I was wondering if it was a remaster or if my ears are just working differently now

Don’t fix what’s not broken imho. The originals still sound great to my ears. There’s very little things I’d change.

I’d definitely remaster Hail to the Thief if they release a 20th anniversary thing for that one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xUC-FYazdU

^^^^ This is the very first-ever performance of “How to Disappear Completely” (back when it was known as “How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found”). I far prefer it to the album version.

it took years of listening to kid a before the album version started to seem like the "real" one

that performance truly was a benefit for the bootleggers, lol!

Ummm... I don't hear how that fuzzy live bootleg is really any better or all that different from the studio version?

must agree, sounds at that point like an ok computer outtake. still quite good, but.

and again: much as i love them, i'm not really at the level of fandom that merits appreciating bootlegs with radiohead.

contradiction: the live performances of the king of limbs era material is the definitive way to hear that stuff, but that's probably the consensus by this point.

it's not about the quality or the composition, it's that it was a very early circulated radiohead bootleg, the highest quality one of an unreleased song. everyone listened to it for years and years before the studio version was released

i think i was afraid that would happen to me with "pyramid song" bc i listened to the bootleg from the tibetan freedom concert that's just thom on piano like, over and over again for a solid year before amnesiac came out. the studio version was better though

The KID A MNESIA exhibition / game is astounding. Makes up for how mildly disappointing the physical release for the anniversary was.

it's pretty good yeah

people are currently working on extracting all the audio from it, there's a lot of interesting stuff found already. looking forward to digging through that

there's a 7 minute "pulk/pull" with the chords from the "true love waits" version but the "pulk/pull" vocals

where do i see / hear / experience this exactly?

https://kida-mnesia.com/
https://www.epicgames.com/store/p/kid-a-mnesia-exhibition

& someone's dumping some of the stems & oddities as they go through them here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10FpF2mwKf9ESb8F0OIXOjUplKkOJa49q

but it's very incomplete at the moment, there should be a better collection up within a few days. some of this stuff isn't anywhere (that i could tell anyway) to be found in the exhibition either

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12lJ23Bobg6qt00Z35vbxf1Fwo3Ez48T-

oh this is apparently all the audio files but there's hundreds of them & they're unlabelled

nice!

this was the hope. Sweet. Can't wait to get into this.

Mailed my vinyl back to Toronto. Kid A was a mess!

I find it hard to listen to scuzzy bootlegs of *any* artist tbh.
But bootleg audio aside, that version is pretty uninteresting compared to the album version. No cross-rhythm with the bassline, boring strummy guitar, no strings. Meh.

The most interesting ones I heard were the vocals from pulk/pull without fx that makes Thom sound like a soulless salesman and an 8 bit optimistic.

the "8 bit optimistic" was just an organ track that must have been absolutely buried in the original version or something

I don't know what I expected but this is all surprisingly expensive imho - https://merch.kida-mnesia.com/

It is. It's cute that QR codes leading to products are scattered around the game... when i exited a place there were bears holding up a sign with a code... leading to their cookies. The bears are aggressive salesmen. 25 quid though, and probably as much again in postage...nuh uh.

The free game is great though.

Kudos to the @LandsEnd designer who got this past corporate. pic.twitter.com/2shIx5fMT5

— Sam Van Hallgren (@samvanhallgren) December 10, 2021

Reminds me of this all-time great ILM thread:

Photoshop/MS Paint Nike and other evil corporations ruining famous album covers

Sadly, most of them are gone forever.