I made a review of "In Rainbows" for the school newspaper. Not a huge deal maybe. But in case anyone is interested in my mediocre writing :P here it goes. I should have shared this when I wrote it initially, last month
feel free to ignore my banter :rolleyes:
Pots of Gold – In Rainbows
By: Eric Clay Horne
Radiohead recently announced Oct. 1, the coming out of the new album where fans choose the price they pay; the album is called “In Rainbows.” In Rainbows has been available for digital download at http://www.inrainbows.com since Oct. 10, and it appears that on the first night the band “sold” 1.2 million copies. So how is the album? Well, if you are so speculative that you can’t just download the album, even for your own optional set price (£0-£99), then why not waste your time reading a review?
In many ways, In Rainbows sounds much like a post-Eraser progression, with tweaks and improvements only the band could make. For anyone who is unaware, lead singer Thom Yorke had released the solo album, The Eraser, in the summer of 2006. The Eraser had a much more raw and simplistic feel than did previous albums Radiohead recorded. In Rainbows is a much better album than The Eraser, there is simply no comparison. It’s just that the opening of 15 Step really makes it feel that way.
The most rhythmically appealing songs on In Rainbows to me are Bodysnatchers and Reckoner. In Reckoner, Yorke still continues the beautiful haunting voice he used in The Eraser. Though I do believe Yorke still has a little punk left in him for Bodysnatchers. If Bodysnatchers isn’t punk—with lead guitarist, Jonny Greenwood’s twist—I don’t know what is. In both these songs, Radiohead brings that funky beat back to life like it had with songs such as Optimistic on the album, Kid A.
Of course, there’s one disadvantage to my comparison of these albums. I am comparing a CD version of the older albums to the 160 Kbps bitrate of the digitally downloaded, In Rainbows. I imagine that the CD release of In Rainbows will sound much better on a good stereo than the digital download. But still I think this album sounds musically like Kid A.
Lyrically, I found In Rainbows to be even creepier than The Eraser, particularly the last song, Videotape. Yorke sings about a scenario where he has died and sent videotape. Apparently the ancient demon, Mephistopheles reaches from underneath the ground to take the singer away into death. “Mephistopheles is just beneath / and he's reaching up to grab me.”
I can almost never decide on a Radiohead album which song is my favorite. It always depends on the mood. However, two of my top four favorites are Nude and All I Need. Songs like All I Need are the real reasons why I would never want to be in a dark room with Thom Yorke. It’s about the missing pieces of your life. And at one point All I Need is about the missing piece, person, perhaps thing “in the middle of your picture / lying in the reeds.” The feel of this song reminds me much of Morning Bell, off Kid A and Amnesiac. The literal theme is much different, but I feel in both cases it is about some weird thing missing in life.
There are quite a few songs on this album fans have been hearing for a long time on tour such as Nude. I tried to resist downloading songs that might be released in the future on an album for fear that it would bias my opinion too much. I have listened to it before a few times. But for those who haven’t, this song is a little like No Surprises off OK Computer. But Nude musically doesn’t leave you with a fake sense of happiness like No Surprises. The music and lyrics in Nude seem to accentuate that lonely helpless feeling that even if you “get any big ideas, / they’re not going to happen.”
Overall I gave six of the 10 songs on In Rainbows five out of five stars in my little Windows Media Player. In recap, those six songs are 15 Step, Bodysnatchers, Nude, All I Need, Reckoner, and Videotape. I’m sure fans will hate me for not being as obsessed with Weird Fishes/Arpeggi. To me it just felt forced. And Faust Arp is my least favorite, but that may only be because I like Radiohead as a mostly non-acoustic band. Reckoner, All I Need, Videotape and Nude are my four favorites.
If you don’t have the album yet, I hope it’s because you didn’t know it could be free. But if you’re a devoted fan like me, you will pay for it anyway. For anyone who won’t have either excuse, I’m sure there’s an institution for your looniness.