(no subject)
I somehow completely missed the boat on Radiohead the first (and 2nd-6th) time around. Then recently, after taking home OK Computer on a whim, I discovered that Radiohead was, in fact, completely awesome, but I still wasn't a card-carrying fan. (Had I listened to OKC in 1997, when I was 16 and thoroughly disillusioned with society, I feel certain that I would have been.) So I didn't find out about Radiohead's game-changing album release stunt until it was discussed in Time Magazine, that bastion of cutting edge music journalism.
But no matter. I decided that, having enjoyed OKC so much, I would be a part of this new experiment.
October 10 came, and went, and I completely forgot about how cool I was going to be if I downloaded In Rainbows on the day if its release.
So I got it a week later. I spent $5.
And I haven't stopped listening to it since. Or thinking about it. So, what follows is a song-by-song breakdown of my thoughts about In Rainbows:
Having watched live versions, I now can't listen to 15 Step without seeing Thom Yorke's spastic stage dance in my head. This is a good thing.
Bodysnatchers didn't grab me at first, but it's grown on me every successive listen. The second half of the song especially, with its urgency and desperation and hope and "I'm alive!" This one's well on its way to becoming my favorite track- it offers something new each time.
Nude makes the skin on the back of my neck tingle. Thom's voice is beautiful. The high note, where the rest of the sound fades out, kills me. I have to be careful listening to it when I'm driving- I always want to close my eyes. There's a live performance of this on Youtube, and at the end Thom remarks, "This song is a sweet song, but also a nasty song." Yes. Perfect.
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi is just fun, and funny. And then you realize what the song is saying.
All I Need: beautiful, and then... see above.
I haven't got much to say about Faust ARP; I need to listen to it more closely. It's short and sweet and over very quickly, but it has lots of words.
Reckoner is just gorgeous. I love the counterpoint of Thom's sweet falsetto and the light, clipped percussion and the strings with the somewhat menacing bass line underneath towards the end.
House of Cards is the one song that doesn't do it for me completely. I don't like the echo behind the vocals. I haven't skipped it as part of a full album listen, but if it comes up on my shuffle playlist, I probably will. Maybe.
Jigsaw Falling Into Place rocks. I like it but don't have much to say about it.
And Videotape. I think it's beautiful, and I love the stuttering drums. Actually, I love the drums on the whole album- they're very prominent and full of character. And this song is so simple and beautiful, with the drums and piano and voice. Perfect closer.