In the event that you were not here for the first half of this article, I am adding a little pathway in case you’d like to start at the beginning. Then again, some of the best stories are told non-linearly, so feel free to just jump right in.
RADIOHEAD For the Curious Newbie
We began by taking a look at some Radiohead albums, namely Pablo Honey through Kid A and Amnesiac. I gushed a lot. I am about to gush some more, so consider yourself warned.
The Albums: Part Two
Hail To The Thief was a curve in the road, perhaps because it was not an evolution in the direction the previous two albums might have pointed. Hail To the Thief has the complexity and wonder, but it also reaches back toward OK Computer and The Bends to pull some classic rock and roll elements. The result is an album that plants one foot in the surreal and the other in adventurous but straightforward radio friendly rock. It is a perfect balance. Go To Sleep found its way onto the hard rock radio stations where The Gloaming could never survive. With Hail To The Thief, Radiohead became accessible again, especially for anyone who had found Kid A and Amnesiac challenging to digest.
Although the album has more mainstream appeal, it doesn’t pander. This is not a Radiohead album about ice cream and puppy dogs or partying and getting wasted. In fact, A Punch Up at a Wedding maybe argues against the latter. It’s not an album of love songs. Well, maybe in a way it does have one. In Sail To The Moon, which Yorke wrote for his son, he wonders if his child could one day be president. This comes only a few moments after he informed us that “it’s the devil’s way now, there is no way out.”
We are invited to walk into the jaws of hell and we are accused of being accidents waiting to happen. Hail To The Thief is an uncensored, honest look at the ugliness of reality. There is no whitewashing. Even still, the album doesn’t feel as heavy as it is.
The songs unfold slowly. One will jump out, then after you’ve played it and played it, another one will start to echo in the back of your mind; it’ll hum through your throat as though you could no longer hide that little blue bird inside you. And so it goes as each song takes its turn with the replay button until the album is as familiar as your favorite pair of jeans. It keeps your interest with variety, from the maudlin We Suck Young Blood, which sounds like a hit from the street band in Halloween Town, to the Myxomatosis bass that scratches like the tongue-tied mongrel cat in the lyrics. The building storm in Sit Down, Stand Up perfectly juxtaposes the rolling waves in Scatterbrain. Have I mentioned how much I like this album yet?
One of Hail To The Thief’s tracks, Where I End and You Begin, shows up as a highlight in a must-see live release called From the Basement. It’s included in the setlist for the In Rainbows recording (there is also an edition of From the Basement from the King of Limbs era). I can’t watch the In Rainbows session enough, which makes sense because In Rainbows is effing phenomenal.
We endured a long four year wait for the next installment of Radiohead’s superb library of sound. It was difficult to predict which direction the band would head in next. The anticipation ended in 2007 when the glorious In Rainbows arrived. This might be my favorite Radiohead album of all time. So far. It takes the intangible, mysterious aspects of their music and layers on percussion and vocals with spectacular results. The songs are intricate and seem to fill spaces much larger than you’d think was possible.
In Rainbows opens with the rockers, rooted in tradition with a few colorful details to punch them in. Then Nude sweeps us right off that path; the album downshifts to the perfect speed for appreciating those colorful details that make In Rainbows so special. Listening to the album opens up a bright and sparkling soundscape. Soundscapes in the past were strange and dark, but this world is vivid and expansive with changing colors and exploding light. The album is vibrant and fun; its much lighter than the dense elements the band had sloughed off in earlier efforts. Not to imply that this is a lighthearted affair, it is just a bit lighter for Radiohead. In Rainbows is Radiohead decorated for Christmas. It is their Taylor Swift album in that it sounds pretty chirpy but there are still heavy lyrics hidden in plain sight.
This is going to sound crazy, but I must speak in baked goods. In this case it will be a perfect analogy, so I can’t help myself. I sometimes see each song like a croissant, with wispy layer upon crispy layer of scrumptiousness for those with a discerning ear. An ear that allows the music to linger, savoring every last flake of goodness as it melts.
Regardless of how one might choose to describe it, In Rainbows is just an album filled with great songs. The swelling conclusion of All I Need can bring tears to your eyes. The crisp precision resonating through waves of syrupy guitar, piano and vocals in Reckoner sounds exactly like splashing around in a rainbow. I know that sounds weird, but I’m struggling to find a better way to put it into words. Videotape sums it up well: “This is one for the good days, and I have it all here in red, blue, green, red, blue, green.”
If In Rainbows is bright and spacious, as the title implies, then King of Limbs is shadowy and chaotic in comparison. The album moves deeper into layering; the songs are complex and almost tangled at times. It is amazing the difference between this album, which could be considered an acquired taste, and the quite palatable Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows. King of Limbs requires focus to appreciate. At least for me it did; it was not effortless. I’m comfortable admitting that it might have been over my head at first. It still might be, in all honesty. I am fully aware that the album is a well made, intricate piece of art; however, I’m still thinking it might not be for everyone. Except for Codex. Codex is pure bliss, a perfect song.
The most recent album is A Moon Shaped Pool. For this one the band has taken the layered texture of percussion and vocals and softened them with a blanket of strings. I often wonder if their foray into creating a James Bond theme inspired this epic, orchestral surge. The song, Spectre, was never used in the movie but has all the grandiose drama that you’d expect from a Bond theme. The album has a sense of drama, it’s a story of jagged edges getting lost in billowy mist. It feels like it is about to burst at the seams, as though it has created an art out of containing something wild.
A Moon Shaped Pool veers in a direction I would not have anticipated. It is a sublime example of the sophistication and craftsmanship that nearly thirty years of musicianship can produce. It’s worlds away from the top shelf nineties rock that resides in the first couple albums and it isn’t quite like any other of their progressions either. It sounds like them, but it also sounds fresh. It is evidence that the band continues to evolve. They continue to surprise us. If anything, the release of an album this good at this point in their career is somewhat astounding; they seem to be impervious to the odds. They keep us wondering what they will be getting up to next.
Some Random Radiohead Stuff
I’ve mentioned Thom Yorke repeatedly, so must note that four other very talented musicians have each left their very unique imprint on the albums. Any solo efforts of band members seem to be missing the element that makes Radiohead the band they are. Radiohead is created by Thom Yorke, Jonny and Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, and Philip Selway. While plenty of side projects exist, the band has never altered this lineup. I’d like to think the lads are smart enough to protect and appreciate the chemistry that opened the wormhole to the Radiohead muse.
The sound that Radiohead pioneered has the echoes of their influences. A primary influence is eighties band extraordinaire, the Talking Heads. You can hear the brazen inventiveness and a fondness for unexpected, zany or quirky elements that were the signature of the Talking Heads in much of Radiohead’s music. The adventurous ability to unearth rare elements and build something from them, draw inspiration from them and mold them into something fresh and unique is a strength both bands possess. In fact, Radiohead honor the Talking Heads by snagging their name from them.
In the 1986 film True Stories, the Talking Heads’ whimsical and odd musical satire of American suburban life, you’ll discover the song that lent its name to the band. You’ll find many other things to appreciate as well, such as Pops Staples lending his buttery vocals on Papa Legba or John Goodman’s character informing viewers that he likes to maintain a consistent panda bear shape. There are plenty of reasons to watch the movie, which has aged considerably well, but I’ll give you one more: there is a character who is so rich she never has to get out of bed. Today it seems, especially in the post pandemic world, that many people have taken up her habit of never leaving home and having everything delivered. How amusing that something so unbelievable in the past is pretty much normal today. Funny how life can imitate art.
Speaking of art, it is worth mentioning that Radiohead and art have been entangled from the early days. A career long partnership with artist Stanley Donwood began with the My Iron Lung EP. The band was only beginning to chisel their unique soundscape which would guide Donwood’s vision through the years. The artists and their two mediums would grow together, intertwined and eventually nothing short of iconic.
There is much to explore if you are a Radiohead newbie, but ultimately, we are all “hear” for the music. While I wholeheartedly endorse checking out all the Radiohead albums we’ve covered, I am also a fan of mixing my favorite bands with other music in the form of a playlist. Just to see if I can find the flow, the ladders and slides that might connect other songs and bands to whichever band I’m focused on. In this case: Radiohead. Below is a compilation of Radiohead and worthy companions. By no means is this a list of favorites; this is simply a sample of some great Radiohead songs that highlight the variety within their catalog.
When I am not sure which of their albums to hear, I put this on and always seem to find it quite satisfying. I hope you enjoy it too!
Are you a huge fan of Radiohead? Which is your favorite album? Did you grow up with them or did you pop in somewhere along the way? Are you just now embarking on your Radiohead journey? What is it about them that has sucked you in? If you want to talk Radiohead, please do not hesitate!