Radiohead Redux, This One's Optimistic

[Arwen Undomiel]

It's time for another Radiohead thread, gang, who's up for it?

Post your thoughts on this seminal band here.

I'll start. I think Radiohead fans will agree that OK Computer is their finest work to date. But, what do you think their least finest album is? One catch - Pablo Honey doesn't count.

 

[nadroj1985]

Well done on the title, Arwen

Amnesiac's my pick for "least finest" ( ) album. It's not bad at all, but there's a few songs on it that really don't add much to the album ("Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors," "Dollars and Cents," "Hunting Bears"). It does include a couple masterpieces in "Like Spinning Plates" and "Life in a Glasshouse," but it's the weakest one overall. Close second is Hail to the Thief.

Oh, and I finished the rough draft of my King Lear/OKC essay today. After I see what my professor has to say about it, and fix it up, I'll show it to you guys.

 

[nadroj1985]

Oh, and Pablo Honey isn't all bad. "Blow Out" is a really cool song, and "Creep" is what turned me on to Radiohead in the first place. But yeah, it's still the worst by a good bit... hard to imagine the jump from that to The Bends.

 

[Arwen Undomiel]

I agree on Amnesiac. The only song on the album I can say I really like is "Knives Out." It's been a while since I've listened to it, so I think I'll give it another spin tonight or tomorrow.

Can't wait to read the paper, nadroj. When I was in college (back in the olden days ), I never had much chance to write any cool essays. About the only one I remember is comparing/contrasting The Police and The Sex Pistols.

I came across this Radiohead tribute album. I have to admit, I've only heard of maybe one or two of the artists on the thing, but what I have heard (Aleister Einstein covering "Creep") doesn't make me want to run out and buy it. Especially after reading the reviews.

 

[nadroj1985]

I agree on Amnesiac. The only song on the album I can say I really like is "Knives Out." It's been a while since I've listened to it, so I think I'll give it another spin tonight or tomorrow.

Meh. "Knives Out" is fair. I really like "You and Whose Army," though.

Can't wait to read the paper, nadroj. When I was in college (back in the olden days ), I never had much chance to write any cool essays. About the only one I remember is comparing/contrasting The Police and The Sex Pistols.

Sounds like fun... that must've been some sort of music history class, though, right? Be prepared to be depressed after mine (the topic is justice, so if you know anything about KL and OKC you know it ain't pretty), and refamiliarize yourself with "Karma Police" and "Paranoid Android."

Actually, I've gained quite a new respect for those two songs after analyzing them more thoroughly.

I came across this Radiohead tribute album. I have to admit, I've only heard of maybe one or two of the artists on the thing, but what I have heard (Aleister Einstein covering "Creep") doesn't make me want to run out and buy it. Especially after reading the reviews.

Yeah, I'm not a very big fan of tribute albums. AtEase did one not long ago, with just amateurs that loved Radiohead doing covers of some of the songs. They were fun to listen to, but nothing to write home about. Incidentally, AtEase is a great resource.

 

[Arwen Undomiel]

Meh. "Knives Out" is fair. I really like "You and Whose Army," though.

Eh, I forgot about that one. 'Tis good too.

Sounds like fun... that must've been some sort of music history class, though, right?

You're too kind. But alas, only half right.

Be prepared to be depressed after mine (the topic is justice, so if you know anything about KL and OKC you know it ain't pretty), and refamiliarize yourself with "Karma Police" and "Paranoid Android."

Very intriguing! Did you have that thought already, about Lear and OKC, or did you have to do a Shakespeare thing?

Yeah, I'm not a very big fan of tribute albums. AtEase did one not long ago, with just amateurs that loved Radiohead doing covers of some of the songs. They were fun to listen to, but nothing to write home about. Incidentally, AtEase is a great resource.

There was a decent Grateful Dead tribute album a few years back, including Jane's Addiction doing "Ripple." It really wasn't bad, but it's the only tribute album that stands out in my memory. Thanks for the link.

 

[nadroj1985]

You're too kind. But alas, only half right.

Just music, or just history? My guess is the former.

Very intriguing! Did you have that thought already, about Lear and OKC, or did you have to do a Shakespeare thing?

I had to compare something to King Lear, and I was really interested in the concept of justice in the play, and a few lines from Radiohead came to mind. So I ran with it, and I think it worked out fairly well.

 

[blackwasp]

I have the Bends and OK Computer, and the only other Radiohead I know is Creep, which is truely great. I think the Bends sometimes doesn't get the credit it deserves because Radiohead trumped it with OK Computer. Fake Plastic Trees has to be one of the prettiest/most emotional songs I have ever heard.

 

[Sign Of The Fish Burger]

I only have OK Computer, but I love it.
Actually I should pop it in

 

[theFijian]

Pablo Honey is indeed the worst album they did by a long shot, some of the stuff on it is diabolical.

The thing about Kid A was that it may have sounded original to a mainstream or rock audience but if you'd been listening to Aphex Twin and other Warp Records releases for the previous 5+ years (like my mates and I had) then you'd have been saying 'Hey wait that sounds like the Twin' and that sounds like some Boards of Canada. The first couple of time I heard Idioteque I genuinely thought it was an Aphex Twin track.

Having said all that though, I still think some of the Kid A/Amnesiac stuff is excellent, Spinning Plates is a piece of genius as is the baseline on National Anthem. I'll probably have to revisit them before I post anything else

 

[Nico]

ah, radiohead. one of my sincere true loves in music. what i find is that determining which album is "worst" for me is mood dependant. there are times when i'm really not in the mood for the bends and so that day i would say the bends is the worst, same goes for kid a, amnesiac, hail to the theif, and even on occasion ok computer. that probably sounds like a cop out answer, but that's the best way for me to sort it out

 

[nadroj1985]

I think the Bends sometimes doesn't get the credit it deserves because Radiohead trumped it with OK Computer. Fake Plastic Trees has to be one of the prettiest/most emotional songs I have ever heard.

Oh yeah, I agree. For one, as far as single songs go, I don't think Radiohead ever topped "Street Spirit [Fade Out]." The Bends, even though it's not the best Radiohead album, is still one of the best albums ever. I have a friend who insists that it's better than OK Computer, actually.

He's wrong, of course, but The Bends is wonderful.

 

[blackwasp]

Oh yeah, I agree. For one, as far as single songs go, I don't think Radiohead ever topped "Street Spirit [Fade Out]." The Bends, even though it's not the best Radiohead album, is still one of the best albums ever. I have a friend who insists that it's better than OK Computer, actually.

He's wrong, of course, but The Bends is wonderful.

I'd agree with that post. "Street Spirit" is one of the best songs of all time.

 

[nadroj1985]

"Street Spirit" is one of the best songs of all time.

Yes, indeedy. In fact, since this thread seems to be slowly dropping off the face of the Earth, as the other Radiohead threads seem to have done, I'll post the lyrics to "Street Spirit" and we can try to decipher it, because I'm bored. Anybody wanna help? Here she is:

Rows of houses, all bearing down on me
I can feel their blue hands touching me
All these things into position
All these things we'll one day swallow whole

And fade out again
And fade out

This machine will
Will not communicate these thoughts and this strain I am under
Be a world child form a circle before we all go under

And fade out again and fade out again

Cracked eggs dead birds scream as they fight for life
I can feel death can see its beady eyes

All these things into position
All these things we'll one day swallow whole
And fade out again and fade out again

Immerse your soul in love
Immerse your soul in love

 

[blackwasp]

Hmm...I'm very interested in finding out what it could be about. I especially like the line about the cracked eggs. I saw an interview with Thome York (sp?) in which he said that he was satisfied with "Street Spirit" because the "immerse your soul in love" line ended the album. Reminds me of the end of Abbey Road.

 

[theFijian]

Agreed, the "Immerse you soul in love" line at the end is beautiful.

 

[Arwen Undomiel]

In fact, since this thread seems to be slowly dropping off the face of the Earth...

I'm sorry, nadroj, I came down with the flu, or a bad cold, so I didn't do my part for the thread yesterday.

Ah, Street Spirit. In my cold medicine-induced thoughts, how about we take the title literally and say it's about a street, or roads. Houses bearing down and touching, this strain I'm under, cracked eggs dead birds, I can feel death - all things that could apply to a street. Or the never ending encroaching development. The only thing I can't reconcile on this thought is the last line.

 

[Nico]

this is only from a personal experience, but it just struck me as i was re-reading the lyrics; esp. the part about cracked eggs and birds screaming.

one day i was walking down the street and i saw a group of pigeons on the sidewalk. not all that uncommon, you'd think, since pigeons are punks w/no brains and love to "hang out" on street corners. anyway, i noticed this group of birds b/c they weren't just mindlessly hanging out, but rather all seemed a little agitated, or upset and were congregated around something and seemed as thought they were discussing it and/or mourning it. as i got closer, in the middle of the group was a crushed egg. it was all so bizarre, but they seemed to be some mourning the loss of this pigeon soul that ill-fatedly came to an end on a concrete slab.

anyway, the first lines about houses, etc. and the overall feel of the song in the way that thom york sings in a way that's on edge in some ways, makes me feel sometimes very clausterphobic--that the weight of the world, or a situation, or a person, or yourself just keeps bearing down on you; you try to run but can't get away from that ever present cloud that seems to swallow you.

so as you go through life, and things seem to bear down on you in a suffocating way, the only way that you can find the air to breathe is to immerse yourself in love

 

[nadroj1985]

I like Nico's idea of claustrophobia... that's what I get from "Rows of houses all bearing down on me/I can feel their blue hands touching me." It's more than claustrophobia, though. There's a sense of inevitability in the lines "All these things into position/All these things we'll one day swallow whole" and the fade out lines suggest a repetition of the same thing over again. So we have a feeling of fear and claustrophobia, that will be there inevitably, and be there over and over again. Things get more urgent and desparate as we go along, though... "This machine will not communicate these thoughts and the strain I am under" is one of my favorite Radiohead lines. The fear of the first verse is maybe coming from the fact that this world, which he calls a machine, can't understand what the narrator is going through, and won't allow him to express himself; being misunderstood is a recurring theme in Radiohead (see Subterranean Homesick Alien). "Be a world child, form a circle, before we all go under" gives a glimpse of the hope we see in the final lines, the hope that there's a way out of this vicious cycle of "fade outs." The "cracked eggs, dead birds" line is the full realization of the despair... the full recognition of death's inevitability, and now the "fade out again" takes on a new meaning... the world will remain as horrid as it is even after my death. The only way out, the only thing worth living for, is to "immerse your soul in love."

Hmmm... that was kinda fun. We should do this with more songs.

Edit: Poor Arwen Hope you feel better soon.

 

[Faranor]

I just want to ask something else: What is your least favorite song? I simply can't stand "Electioneering". I wish there could be an "OK Computer" without it!