Radiohead - The King of Limbs

[mpolak21]

everyone who loves radiohead loves coldplay

 

Parachutes

Rush Of Blood

X&Y

Wilco the Album

Viva La Vida

[solace]

The Bends

OK Computer

In Rainbows

Kid A

Hail to the Thief

Pablo Honey

Amnesiac

King of Limbs

[jc4prez]

everyone who loves radiohead loves coldplay

 

ummmmmmmmmmmmmm......................NO

 

 

@solace

 

no wonder we feel so differently about this record:

 

Amnesiac

In Rainbows

Ok Computer

Kid A

King of Limbs

hail to the thief

the bends

pablo honey

[Moss]

The Bends

OK Computer

In Rainbows

Kid A

Hail to the Thief

Pablo Honey

Amnesiac

King of Limbs

 

I knew if I waited long enough someone would post the right order and I could just say "Ditto".

[augurus]

Kid A

Ok Computer

In Rainbows

The Bends

Amnesiac

The King Of Limbs

Hail To The Thief

 

Pablo Honey

 

Pablo Honey is clearly and by far the worst album in Radiohead's arsenal: no other Radiohead album has blandly and blatantly borrowed from the Pixies. Sure it was catchy, but it was pretty uninteresting too. I'm not quite sure you're allowed to like Radiohead if you don't rank Pablo Honey last, lol.

[cooperissup3r]

I'm not quite sure you're allowed to like Radiohead if you don't rank Pablo Honey last, lol.

 

let's not start that, how bout?

[stooka]

I listened to OK Computer, The Bends and King Of Limbs today.

 

The Bends all the way!!!

[bigideas]

The album time length and number of tracks game...let me present this to you:

 

Destroyer - Kaputt has 9 songs - one song is a edited single from 2009 (i think?) over 11 mins, which would put it as 8 songs and 39mins and change - haven't heard number of songs or length at all brought up in relation to this album.

 

If TKOL was the same album, but they added any of their non-album tracks from the past few years:

I Want None of This

Harry Patch

My Twisted Words

(any others?)

 

how would that change your opinion of the album?

 

If they had made one more ambient track 4 mins long, or have two more ambient tracks a la IR disc 2 and the running time was over 40 mins, what would you say then?

 

p.s. Weezer's Pinkerton is 34 mins and change/10 tracks.

[Shakespeare In The Alley]

Give me a short album that makes me want more over an album loaded with filler any day. You mention Pinkerton, which is obviously a great album, but how about Pink Moon? Not even 30 minutes. Yet it's one of the greatest albums ever recorded.

[explodo]

Kid A

OK Computer

The Bends

Hail to the Thief

 

And then an enormous gap that pretty much means I never need to hear any of it again:

 

Pablo Honey

The King of Limbs

In Rainbows

Amnesiac

 

I liked my first listen to tKOL but it's been all downhill from there. I'm tired of their direction, which admittedly is my own problem. I see in them a Wilco parallel - tepid but not awful first album, very interesting second album, then a streak of records that were each unique and excellent, the back to basics (i.e. it has a guitar) record (HttT), and then the return to 'experimental,' which ended up being In Rainbows. God help us all if the next Wilco record is as boring as King o' Limbs...

[jimmyjimmy]

I honestly don’t see TKOL as being all that terribly boring.

 

I know I’ve said it dozens of times, here and elsewhere, Amnesiac is my favorite Radiohead album.

So, there’s that, again. Because I agree this record is very reminiscent of that one I'm going to be biased toward it.

Somewhat.

 

I downloaded TKOL Friday (finally got around to it) and had it spinning in the background most of the weekend along w/Amnesiac and In Rainbows ( in the context of the comparison in the “what have you done for me lately” school of thought).

 

Here’s a few impressions.

 

“Bloom”

Staccato beats, marching feet on the ground. Right off the bat you see where all this reminiscing of Amnesiac/ the Eraser is coming from. Obligatory Yorke “glick” tracks. Expected. Out of the way early on.

 

“Morning Mr. Magpie”

Guitar, muted notes, moderate beat. Colin’s bass up front in the mix, driving now, propelling the track. Proves to be rather thematic to the record. Keeps my attention to what’s just under the surface. What’s hiding underneath. Can you dance? You can’t help but move. Steal the magic it falls apart.

 

“Little by Little”

A lot of “In Limbo” in this one. I keep thinking this could be on the soundtrack to a James Bond film.

Weakest track on the record.

 

“Feral”

Sometimes your just initially taken by this bands choice of sounds, instrumentation and arrangements.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. I love the breathy vox sounds. Reminds me of speaking while running. Maybe an animal on the run? Holy shit, a rabbit in the headlights? Lame. I like this song.

 

“Lotus Flower”

Has the effect of hand claps ever been used to greater…effect? Probably. But it’s really cool here. Sounds alive.

Refreshing as a Spring day. Terrific mix of acoustic and electric drum . Layers, layers layers. The concept of unfolding isn’t lost on me here.

 

“Codex”

I’ll make the association here right off the bat: Codex moves me in a way very similar to “Pyramid Song” It’s the pace and the timbre. What exactly are we hearing here, are these strings or keys? Chorused and flanged. God, what a great sound. Even that little truncated clip of Tom at the beginning, that ugly “aaaa” thing. A jusxtiposition of something disturbing against something beautiful ( yeah, thats right). That sound evokes the feeling of an inhalation/exhalation due to the onset of a stabbing chronic pain. Maybe that’s what Yorke is…a chronic pain to everyone who laments this band’s glorious run from the Bends through Kid A.

 

"Give up the ghost”

Does this song really remind me of Neil Young or is it the naked acoustic chords and the knowledge that Yorke is a huge fan boy of “After the Gold Rush”? Doesn’t matter. “Considered and thoughtful electric guitar” ( don’t we all just LONG for the epic heyday of Radiohead’s’ glorious wall of distorted guitars) and Colin Greenwood’s vocal-esque bass line.

 

“Separator”

If nothing else, this will be brilliant live. Or maybe my optimism is shining through. It’s light on its feet. I gave up trying to figure out who’s doing what a long time ago but whoever laid down the guitar track here (shit there are a lot of guitar tracks on the record!) did excellent work. God it’s “CHEERFUL sounding. Yorke’s lyrics have at times been utterly frank and others enigmatic at best. Often “soundbite-ish”. I have no idea what he’s on about here. Could be depressing as hell, I haven’t gotten past the guitar yet. He may be talking about blood and taxes and .50 caliber rounds, I’ve no idea. But it sounds reaffirming!

 

In the end, for now at least, I see this album as a collection of great riffs and ideas that never really coalesce in the way In Rainbows does.Of course THAT record was composed of some pretty old material ( Nude, Arpeggi, Reckoner...) that was refined over years. And honestly, for me it’s only been three days of exposure.I never feel the same way about a Radiohead album weeks and months after initially hearing it.

 

That’s what makes the fun?

[solace]

Pablo Honey is clearly and by far the worst album in Radiohead's arsenal: no other Radiohead album has blandly and blatantly borrowed from the Pixies. Sure it was catchy, but it was pretty uninteresting too. I'm not quite sure you're allowed to like Radiohead if you don't rank Pablo Honey last, lol.

just curious... when did you first hear Pablo?

 

 

i feel like for me at least it was pretty refreshing when it came out, esp. compared to the rest of the British music at the time. sure the production isn't great and sounds dated, but there's still 4-5 absolutely top notch guitar rock songs on there.

[virtualreason]

I side with you on Pablo, Solace. Anyone who's a fan of Radiohead's guitar assault should love a handful of songs on there. Above all, they should defend Blow Out to the death, because it is still one of the group's best guitar moments.

 

Is it the visionary Radiohead most of us love? No, but it solid given the atmosphere when it was released. Full disclosure: I wasn't even 7 when it came out.

[augurus]

just curious... when did you first hear Pablo?

 

 

i feel like for me at least it was pretty refreshing when it came out, esp. compared to the rest of the British music at the time. sure the production isn't great and sounds dated, but there's still 4-5 absolutely top notch guitar rock songs on there.

2002. I heard Kid A, then OK Computer, then Pablo Honey, then The Bends, then Amnesiac. Originally, I had dismissed Kid A as an electronic abstract mess/collage. I had shelved everything by Radiohead after listening to it. I only came back to it 2 years later to admire its beauty, and this was true for all of their albums up to that point except for Pablo Honey. I forced myself to listen to it numerous times, but by then I began to feel the same aversion Thom had for it.

[Kalle]

If you got the newspaper album you can now download The Butcher and Supercollider, their record store day 12".

 

Honestly, over the past month and a bit since the record came out I've come to really love it and I'd rank it up in my favourite Radiohead albums. I'm probably in the minority but I just really love that it is a concise album with a very definitive feel to it, and Supercollider especially is a nice welcome addition to the songs.

[virtualreason]

If you got the newspaper album you can now download The Butcher and Supercollider, their record store day 12".

 

Honestly, over the past month and a bit since the record came out I've come to really love it and I'd rank it up in my favourite Radiohead albums. I'm probably in the minority but I just really love that it is a concise album with a very definitive feel to it, and Supercollider especially is a nice welcome addition to the songs.

 

I was coming here to mention Supercollider. It has a great groove to it and Thom's voice sounds very strong. I haven't given The Butcher a fair shake yet, so I'll refrain from commenting on that right now.

 

TKOL is wonderful. Separator is climbing up the list of my top Radiohead songs. I do find it hard to believe that, with the latest 12" included, they only recorded 10 songs in the last 4 years. They recorded a TON more during every other album session; it seems weird they would stop doing that now. I don't know what's ahead, but I definitely feel more music coming between now and the end of the year.

[jimtweedy1977]

It will take days, maybe more, to let all the little bits of this one sink in. First impressions are fine, but let's give this record more than a few hours from its release to determine whether certain songs suck or not.

I had my doubts at first then heard it and found I liked it. While I'm not crazy about the first half either, I found the disc works very well on a late night drive. My favorite track is 'give up the ghost'

[jimtweedy1977]

I was coming here to mention Supercollider. It has a great groove to it and Thom's voice sounds very strong. I haven't given The Butcher a fair shake yet, so I'll refrain from commenting on that right now.

 

TKOL is wonderful. Separator is climbing up the list of my top Radiohead songs. I do find it hard to believe that, with

the latest 12" included, they only recorded 10 songs in the last 4 years. They recorded a TON more during every

other album session; it seems weird they would stop doing that now. I don't know what's ahead, but I definitely feel

more music coming between now and the end of the year.

 

I think you could include 'these are my twisted words' from last year; not only does it share artwork themes (abstract twisted tree limbs from download artwork for words appeared in cover art for king of limbs, but it shares a musical style with the rest of the album.

[theashtraysays]

I bought the mp3 download (not the newspaper version) when it came out, and I got an email today with a link to download the 2 new songs.

 

Overall, the record is definitely settling in for me. Not every track, but overall I like it a lot. Looking forward to these new ones.

[bigideas]

With the 2 b-sides, would anyone take a track off or add both tracks - in other words, with those 10 songs what album sequence would you make?

[Green River]

It sounds like they've really mastered the ability to blend their influences together. Whereas past albums had 'electronic' songs and 'rock' songs, the first half of this album really combines it all together so effectively that the songs can't be pinned down with ease. For example, "Morning Mr. Magpie" gives off the first impression of being just another computer-based Thom dance song, but after you gain some familiarity with it, it reveals itself to be a carefully constructed arrangement, complete with two to three separate guitar parts playing simultaneously.

[bigideas]

it reveals itself to be a carefully constructed arrangement, complete with two to three separate guitar parts playing simultaneously.

 

Knives Out has some of my favorite layered guitar playing.

[Green River]

Knives Out has some of my favorite layered guitar playing.

 

Yeah.

[remphish1]

This will be interesting to watch.

 

http://www.nme.com/news/radiohead/56441

 

Spastic dancing to follow from Thom!

[thejokeexplained]

 

[*]Many large sheets of artwork, 625 tiny pieces of artwork

 

 

looks like it could be 625 tiny pieces of LSD if Albert Hofmann would have been around to purchased the vinyl package.

 

Got mine the other day and i must say it is one nice and unique packaging idea. I still need to digest it all, especially the paper.... (the news paper)