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"Amnesiac Review"

ok, got Radiohead's latest for my Bday in a limited edition book thing.
I thought I'd try something different and write what I was thinking/hearing as I listened to it the 1st time ever.
I'll relisten to it in a week and see if it changes, but for now:


PACKT LIKE SARDINES IN A CRUSHED TIN BOX
Metallic clanging start. Electronic beats again, very Kid A.
Computer beeps and pulsing
Voice treated. Very soft and peaceful.
“After years of waiting…nothing came…”
“I’m a reasonable man, get off my case…get off my case…”
Sounds like Aphex Twin.
Modem connecting sound.
Paranoid Android voice in background is back, buried in mix.
Not Radiohead at all, but one of the best things from them I’ve heard.

EGYPTIAN SONG
Piano intro
Minor key. Keening from Thom. Quiet laughter in background/crowd noise?
Drums start with off signature beat.
Vocals sound bored and mumbled
“Jumped in the river what did I see? Black eyed angel swam with meeeee”
“Nothing to fear…nothing to fear….”
Very whiny and ponderous. Sounds like someone trapped under ice.
Strings match melody line.

PULL/PULK REVOLVING DOORS
More electronica.
Music cuts in and out. Vocals totally chewed and processed through synth.
Like Stephen Hawkins telling a joke in a wind tunnel.
No real tune, just static.
Music box for about 2 seconds. “Secret Doors” is the only word I can make out.
Self-Indulgent to the extreme.

YOU AND WHOSE ARMY?
Actual guitar, simple strumming.
Thom sounds like he’s had a stroke. ”You and whose army? Come on…you think you drive me crazy…”
Boots in now, proper band sound. Thom singing almost normally. Sliding guitar, strings.

I MIGHT BE WRONG
Feedback/computer humming
Swampy blues guitar riff. Sounds like Dr John.
Fantastic beat. Vocals echo and distorted.
This rocks, very good…funk almost.
“I can’t help you…move on”
Radiohead do blues/funk with samples and mean bass riff.
“Let’s go down the waterfall….it’s nothing at all”
Cuts out. Riff on guitar.
Electronic beat once more. Thom making Thom noises again.
Guitar repeating sloppy, delta blues riff.

KNIVES OUT
Dire Straits “Sultan of Swing” comes to mind.
“I want you to know he’s not coming back….look into my eyes I’m not coming back…so knives out, catch the man…don’t look down shove it in your mouth”
1st song that actually sounds like Radiohead of old.
I like a lot.

MORNING BELL/AMNESIAC
Sounds like Danny Elfman music.
Church bells?
“Release me…you can keep the furniture, bump on the head…”
Same lyrics. Music reminds me of No Surprises but with bigger sound to it.


DOLLARS & CENTS
Bass and swimming guitar.
Lyrics indecipherable almost.
Echo everywhere. “Be constructive”
Music slows down, like tape running out but picks up again.
Nice vocals, crack occasionally.
Synth line. Very atmospheric.
Thom shrieking about “No escape”.
Double/upright bass.
Big band meets Kraftwerk.

HUNTING BEARS
Intro to “Paint it Black” by Stones comes to mind.
Cuts in at end of riff to repeat.
Sounds like music from Apocalypse Now, almost like The Doors “The End” for 1st few bars.
No lyrics.
A strange and wonderful piece of music.

LIKE SPINNING PLATES
Backwards. Sounds like spinning plates.
Low Hammond organ, backwards as well.
Lyrics backwards as well? Hard to tell.
Why the hell write a song backwards?
Very clever boys, but what’s the point?
“this just feels like spinning plates…I’m living in cloud cuckoo land”
Yep, sounds like it too with this one.
Experiment in self-gratification.

LIFE IN A GLASSHOUSE
More distortion/feedback from computer synth.
Piano.
Brass section
“I’m in trouble with my own friend, she is papering the windowpanes, she is putting on a smile”
Jazz, tuba and clarinet is there.
Sounds like the end of a night at Jazz Club.
Tom Waits has done this better with “Shore Leave” and “Black Rider”
Jazz…grrrrreat.


Do I like it?
Some of it.
It’s not that much of a change from Kid A.
I think it might grow on me except for a couple of tracks that are just for them to listen to and nod to as they remember how hard it was to get those sounds.

I love '....Glasshouse', and 'You and WHose Army' for they sound as if in the beginning that they are not heading anywhere. Yet both end on fantastic choruses.

Ah the wonder of Radiohead

May it live long and prosper

It's listed as "Egyptian Song" on my one.

Odd.
Maybe that's worth something

Isn't the song called Pyramid Song, not Egyptian Song? Funny, I seem to remember it being called Egyptian Song too.

Fair enough, just wondered why and you've explained it.

I think Radiohead are one of those bands you either like or don't, with no halfway.

Even for ardent fans, the last two albums have been hard work. Some tracks I like, some I think are experiments in self-congrats.

But then they do what they want to, and we buy it.

Jokes on us if anyone

Goatboy wrote:
> The topic heading is "Amnesiac Review".

I dont
> understand why, if you hate it, you'd bother to read it , much less
> reply to posts?

It's easy to explain - I skimmed through the review to see what the general opinion was of it and posted a reply to vioce my own opinion.

To be honest I read most of the Radiohead posts to try and understand why anyone finds any sort of appeal in their music.

Thom will cry if you dont like it.

He'll sulk and get moody...and then maybe...just maybe go back to writing songs that everyone likes.

With words and everything.

What an idea!

Go Thom, write proper songs again.

Amnesiac..it's ok, some songs are good, others are self-flickywristing

Quite frankly, I didn't like it. Kid A seemed like a much better album to me. I've only listened to it once, but I feel that it was lacking any real effort, no stand out songs and was best suited to the background, rather than being an album you put on to listen to, like their others.

Even the ones I've heard were supposed to be really good like Knives Out were disappointing, and Pyramid Song is probably the best song on there, although I did like the last song about Greenhouses or something.

That 'Hunting Bears' is a pile of rubbish, sorry. I could have done that in about 2 minutes. They are in danger of disappearing up their own backsides. The jury is still out however, I'll give it another listen tonight.

The topic heading is "Amnesiac Review".

I dont understand why, if you hate it, you'd bother to read it , much less reply to posts?

Who said I read it?

So dont listen to it, nobody's forcing you.

And dont read a review of an album you hate.

Doesnt make a lot of sense to me.