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Radiohead Week: Kid A


MrMagpie

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Hello, my name is Briggins. And this is my kid. What is his name you ask? Well actually it might be a her. Not sure. Nonetheless, their name is Kid A. Born in 2000. A Millennium Baby. This Kid carries the messages of an uncertain time. The new millennium was a time of uncertainty and unpredicatability. Ok, would all our computers crash? Would we run out of water? Was everything coming to an end? Or was everything in its right place?

Right on the heals of OK Computer you might expect another album of critically acclaimed rock songs with good lyrics, good guitar hooks, and a shot to the top of the book of Rock n' Roll legends!

 

What was that you tried to say? Has Jonny Greenwood left the band? What is this first song? What is happening? Radiohead and songs without guitars? What happened to Thom Yorke's voice? Is this some mean joke? I can't even make out half of what he is saying! And how does one wake up sucking a lemon?

 

Ah, next we have Kid A, the song. Title track, must be the best. Gonna be a big rocker right? Wrong. We've got heads on sticks. Sounds morbid. But some cool drum and bass stuff building up. I sort of feel like dancing. This song is leading to something.

 

Bass. Straight up bad ass bass. Amazing buildup. All kinds of scattered noises here and there. A great drum line. Is there a Wocket in my Pocket, is this the Cat and the Hat? To me it sounds like some scary Dr. Seuss dream. I can't take it anymore! So good.

 

Now the most beautiful thing ever is beating on my eardrums. Well not really beating. More of a massage. So haunting. So beautiful. In a little while I'll be gone. The ending, the Ondes Martanot. Blows my mind.

 

Is this even music? Well if you listen to the whole album straight through like you are supposed to you will. This reminds me of swimming underwater...Super Mario 64 or something like that.

 

A rock song. I was Optimistic that if I held out long enough a rock song would show up. Although this one isn't talking about sex, drugs and rock and roll. Rather dinasours roaming the earth.

 

10 seconds in. Start slowly moving your head from left to right with eyes closed. What do you see? Is it the Irish Sea? You're living in a fantasy world. This far into the album I must agree.

 

Get off your ass and dance, dance, dance. Although its not really a happy dance. Its like the dance before the anticipation of your worst nightmare. It might come, it might not.

 

Walking walking walking walking walking walking. Release me! These words are stuck in my head.

 

 

Mmmm, organs. I've just finished a journey. It was beautiful. It was scary. It was dark. There was light in the darkness. But now cheap sex and sad films will have to help me get back where I belong. Let the angles take me away into this dream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tracklist:

» Everything in its Right Place

» Kid A

» The National Anthem

» How to Disappear Completely

» Treefingers

» Optimistic

» In Limbo

» Idioteque

» Morning Bell

» Motion Picture Soundtrack

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Nicely worded briggs! I like how you talk of the album as being what a first time listener would imagine the album being like.

 

I feel the way you described it was very similar to how I first listened to Kid A. I remember it being the last Radiohead album that I was able to get into because it was the most different of all of them. Songs like Kid A, Idioteque, Treefingers, Everything In It's Right Place were really difficult to get into I remember because I had never been listening to music that was that kind of experimental. 1/2 the songs right there pretty much, that was new uncharted territory of my musical tastes.

 

Kid A is one of those albums that's definitely a grower. The more you listen to it, the more it feels right and works together as a unit. Kid A I feel was Radiohead's Sgt. Pepper, because if you look at the two albums they are very similar in some sense. In the 60's The Beatles were recording pop music that when Sgt. Pepper came out people were uncertain, scared, and excited as to how and where music could travel to. Kid A is very similar in the sense that you think of most bands sticking to their guns of making music that they feel is in their comfort zone, staying within comfortable boundaries in fear of having a flop. Both Sgt. Pepper and Kid A were like this because it passed what people expected. Lastly Looking at the two albums there were no singles released officially and rightly so. If you listen to Kid A, there are not any songs on it that I can say can be pulled out as a single.

 

Although it took as long as it did for me to get into the album I feel that it was definitely worth the wait, and trying to listen to the album more and more.

 

Overall looking back on the album I can honestly say that there is not one song that I feel should either be added or taken off the album. It just works so well as one piece, that now when I listen to the album I feel that the band knew exactly what they were doing.

 

To me Kid A is the reason why many of us are excited to see new Radiohead music because looking at their career from PH to Kid A, the jump from OK Computer to Kid A was the biggest jump. It just goes to show that the band is not afraid to experiment and go into territory that people have not explored.

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If I had to narrow it down, I could pick two that I suppose I could listen to detached from the album, all the others I hear and I must listen to the whole thing. Those are "How To Disappear" and "Idioteque", but how the hell can you choose between those two?

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I may vote for Treefingers" simply because it is so brilliant yet will most likely not get a single vote otherwise. :confused:

 

Treefingers I feel is one of the most underrated and overlooked Radiohead songs. It's so good! It works well on it's own, but especially great directly after HTDC

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Treefingers I feel is one of the most underrated and overlooked Radiohead songs. It's so good! It works well on it's own, but especially great directly after HTDC

I feel the same. Most people overlook it simply because it is a simple, non-standout instrumental, but it really brings the whole album together and provides such a great transition. And if you listen to it for some reason it sounds like the type of music you'd hear in some IMAX movie showing underwater life or something.

 

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Favorite song – HTDC

Least favorite song – Motion Picture Soundtrack

Most listened to song (iTunes/last.fm) -

Least listened to song (iTunes/last.fm) -

Favorite song musically - HTDC

Favorite song lyrically – HTDC

Favorite line of the album - "I'm not here. This isn't happening"

Most overrated song - The National Anthem

Most underrated song - In Limbo

Current favorite - HTDC

Favorite when you first listened to the song - Idioteque

 

What song best exemplifies each of the members off the album

Thom - HTDC

Jonny - In Limbo

Ed - Idioteque (vocals and egg shakers ftw!)

Phil - The National Anthem

Colin – The National Anthem

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Favorite song – HTDC/Idioteque

Least favorite song – Tree Fingers

Most listened to song (iTunes/last.fm) -

Least listened to song (iTunes/last.fm) -

Favorite song musically - How to dissappear completely

Favorite song lyrically – Motion Picture Soundtrack

Favorite line of the album - I'm not here. This isn't happening

Most overrated song - -

Most underrated song - In Limbo

Current favorite - National Anthem

Favorite when you first listened to the song - Optimistic

 

What song best exemplifies each of the members off the album

Thom - HTDC

Jonny - In Limbo

Ed - Idioteque

Phil - Kid A

Colin – The National Anthem

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