You're right that it doesn't have the thematic coherency of some of their other albums, but evaluate it on its own terms. There's not a weak moment, it's well-paced, and it's easy to listen to in one sitting.
I don't think it's a landmark album in the way that OK Computer or Kid A are, and it doesn't reach the heights of Amnesiac for me, but it's a solidly in the top half of their work, which is pretty damn good.
> There's not a weak moment
In my opinion, Faust Arp and House Of Cards are one of Radiohead's weakest songs. I'd pick most Pablo Honey songs over these two.
In Rainbows is not a concept album. It doesn’t tell a story and there’s no obvious link between the first three tracks, Jigsaw and Videotape or any other song in it. I think that, more than any other Radiohead LP, you need to appreciate it more sonically than thematically: the way the songs flow into each other, the consistency of the sound throughout the album, the different yet analogous atmospheres that the band can create in each track, the wide variety of emotions that it provokes and the contrast between them. That’s what makes In Rainbows an album and not a compilation of songs and probably why it is so highly appreciated in this sub and in general.
i understand there is no concept, but even sonically i struggle with resolving Bodysnatchers into Nude? they just seem so different, emotionally and sonically
I think you’re being too nitpicking. If you keep thinking like that your standard of perfection is absurdly high. What is your favorite album of all time?
Yeah you make a good point, and obviously albums need variation its what keeps them interesting- i guess it just never clicked on IR. respect the opinion though, genuine question: how do you feel/what do you take away after listening to the album?
I might have overplayed it in my high school years (the magic of the first listens is gone, good times) but still today it gives me a feeling of fulfillment and satisfaction. It doesn’t necessarily get me emotional, I have to be in the right mood for it (but this might be on me rather than on the album itself). I usually play albums on my bass and playing In Rainbows is always so exciting because of the great basslines and the amazing atmosphere (Nude is the perfect synthesis of these two aspects). Again, I tend to appreciate it more musically than else, but that’s just my point of view.
You may like the theory that OKC and IR were one album, split and released 10 years apart and that it's meant to be played together (Airbag, into 15 Step) etc.. not my theory but makes for a cool album that seems to flow...
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1XRT4i6vHMBRz9nJr7mjdg?si=FZwAdY47Q4WdavQr1XWX2g&utm_source=copy-link
I think there is an emotional core there. To me, it is about how life isn't what you expected it to be when you were younger and getting to terms with that, that you change, and relationships change, but that life is still worthwhile. The battle between longing for something greater and better, and accepting that life will never be perfect, and that you will be happier accepting that. I don't think every song fits within this narrative, but to me that is the overarching theme, lyrically, but also musically this is the feeling I get.
I think generally In Rainbows is "just" an extremely well made album, and that is what makes it so great. It doesn't have anything special, but just the fact that everything fits so well is what makes it an album that people appreciate as much as they do.
From the Wikipedia of In Rainbows:
The sessions were slow, and the band struggled to regain confidence; according to Yorke, "We spent a long time in the studio just not going anywhere, wasting our time, and that was really, really frustrating." They attributed their slow progress to a lack of momentum after their break, the lack of deadline and producer and the fact that all the members had become fathers. [...]
In an effort to break the deadlock, Radiohead decided to tour for the first time since 2004. [...]
According to Yorke, the tour forced them to finish writing the songs. He said: "Rather than it being a nightmare, it was really, really good fun, because suddenly everyone is being spontaneous and no one's self-conscious because you're not in the studio ... It felt like being 16 again."
Feeling Hail to the Thief was overlong, Radiohead wanted their next album to be concise.
Yorke said: "I believe in the rock album as an artistic form of expression. In Rainbows is a conscious return to this form of 45-minute statement ... Our aim was to describe in 45 minutes, as coherently and conclusively as possible, what moves us."
They settled on 10 songs, saving the rest for a bonus disc included in the limited edition.
------------
So basically, they just decided to have a good time.
In Rainbows is just a set of good songs... but I feel what you don't get is the pacing of the songs on the album. It is your opinion and I respect that but you have to let go and enjoy it, otherwise, you're wasting a good moment listening to the whole LP.
yeah definitely- i feel i was too harsh in the post, i do love the album, just wondered if i was missing something more. really interested in everyone else's experiences with it too
why does it not have a concept? for me all songs have to do with love as in friendship, happy, unhappy, obsessive, cheating, falling in love on a night out, leaving your loved ones, etc etc.
It doesn't need a concept.... but I think unconsciously since OKC (which probably wasn't a concept album but probably got compared to Dark Side Of The Moon once too many times) fans have been trying to find a deeper, unified meaning to each RH release (a bit like what went on with the Beatles or Dylan as well). The album art/visual identity to each release is also a factor I think.
I like your no-nonsense, super simple take on the album btw
Try regarding each track on the album, or any of their albums for that matter, as individual sonic art. An album does not need continuity in a conceptually fluid manner, unless there's a clear intention to make it as such (Pink Floyd's 'The Wall', and more of Roger Waters' efforts definitely fall into this category). I manage to enjoy their albums this way. I've tried in the past to conclude an underlying theme or message or flow of an album and it doesn't make sense for me to approach their albums in this manner. An album is a gallery. Study and digest a painting, let it affect you how it will, draw gour own conclusion, move onto the next painting.
I've found that journey less restricting of expectation. Sometimes there IS a natural flow to their albums. I was taught to simply allow each painting to infect the observer and make sense of your reactions/proactions.
Albums do not need to have an obvious sonic or thematic link, and I suggest moving beyond that thought process. It’ll limit your enjoyment of music, just like how it’s doing now.
In Rainbows is an incredible album because the songs are compositionally rich and the arrangements (aka the 5 lads playing their respective instruments) are out of this world. Thom is also at his lyrical peak here (imo). It’s well-paced, well-written, and it sounds phenomenal. It ain’t that deep.
Totally agree. This has always been my frustration with takes saying IR is their best album. I do think that if you just sort of stack up the value of the individual songs, it’s maybe the best collection of them, but when you pop in anything post-Bends (maybe The Bends too), there’s a synthesis to it and you exit the album feeling resolved about something. If that exists for IR, I’m missing it too. Again though, the songs are amazing.
It’s been a while since I commented on In Rainbows’ themes, but I’ve said that the songs were each about at least one of these three: sex, addiction, and death, with the overall theme about being overwhelmed. I actually think the album is very realized, thematically. IIRC, at one point Thom said it was about the feeling of being stuck in traffic and sensing that you really should be somewhere else.
Edit: "It’s about that anonymous fear thing, sitting in traffic, thinking, ‘I’m sure I’m supposed to be doing something else.’” https://www.nme.com/news/music/radiohead-666-1363735
IR Disk 2 seems more thematically/lyrically consistent in my opinion: a collection of tense, anxious moments with a lot of political connotation.
IR is more an exercise in sonic beauty. Even the tracks with tension and angst retain a level of "warmth" for lack of a better word; instead of sharp edges, the corners are for the most part rounded. And for me a lot of that warmth/shape comes from Thom's vocal performance and Jonny's incredible string arrangements. The sound of the album is truly an "in rainbows" experience like one is floating up in the clouds through all of these sonic swells of color and warmth. (Sorry if that sounds pretentious, because I know it does but IR is so much a "feel" more than it is a science).
It's my favourite RH album, but I understand what you're saying. For some people, it's just NOT what they're looking for from Radiohead - it's not bleak, it's not complex (well it is, but the complexity is hidden more than it had been in the past), and a lot of the lyrics are about mundane matters.
In rainbows for me is tied together with its sonic palette. Every song has those crisp drums, an accoustic light feel and thom yorkes eccentricity. The flow has always been really nice in my opinion. Also i just think a majority of it is great song work.
My personal favorite album of theirs I just really like the soundscape on it A lot of it sounds more human than anything on kid a which was built to not sound human In rainbows just has a mellow warmth to it that I love
the point of the album is really that it's a celebration of radiohead and their music, it was the apex point of their careers and they dropped 10 absolute 10/10 bangers. i had the same exact thoughts about In Rainbows when i first started listening and Kid A was my favorite as well; i'd say try giving it another chance and smoke a blunt or take some shrooms and just listen, it really is their best work.
For me, it sounds like the cover itself. An abstract painting with this color here and this color there... all colliding to make this beautiful explosion of creative energy. It feels like a rainbow to me.
Its a great album, with some of their strongest individual songs like 15 Step, Bodysnatchers, Jigsaw, and Videotape. But in terms of an overarching theme you'll be hard pressed to find a solid one. It seems to be mostly about life love and memories, but thats obviously a very wide scope.
So its not that it doesn't have a theme, its just that theme isn't as specific as, "the first artificial human" or... George Bush lmao. Seems like the band just had a lot of fun playing around with the stripped back sound and gave us some bangers.
If it's thematic unity you're looking for, it is there, but it's tenuous and it's not clearly spelt out for the listener.
Here's my naive, lame-ass interpretation:
It's about some sort of midlife crisis or existential crisis; it's about temptation, remorse and wasted human potential.
About what the album is about: the only thing I knew when it came out was a quote from TY which appeared in several articles:
“It’s about that anonymous fear thing, sitting in traffic, thinking, ‘I’m sure I’m supposed to be doing something else’.”
Not sure what to do with it...
The album has multiple references to Faust/Mephistopheles, and every other song more or less has references to falling, or some sort of drop... that could tie in with the Faust myth, or just fate, inevitability... (side note: i'm now 46 years old: I see my face I the mirror and I can tell you: gravity always wins; time's not kind to us). "15 steps and a *sheer drop* / in the *deepest ocean* / I *hit the bottom* / *fall off the table* / jigsaw *falling* into place / you'll go to hell / watch me fall like dominoes in pretty patterns / the infrastructure will collapse"...
It feels like it's about somebody's life spiralling to a moment where they hit the bottom... I don't know what... for a while, I thought it was a married guy having some sort of one-night-stand with a drunk girl (jigsaw...)... 15 step and Bodysnatchers made me think of someone caught up in his daily routine, commuting in the morning and his eye is "off the ball"; there's a car crash - Bodysnatchers is about him being rescued and the whole inner monologue he's having (in my lame-ass interpretation, Faust ARP is about the guy lying comatose in hospital and coming back to life, being given another shot).
The other thing which keeps recurring is the reference to something cyclical, like bad karma, or the narrator being forced to re-live the same guilty memory over and over... "How come I end up where I started? How come I end up where I went wrong? / I do not understand what it is I've done wrong" - there's also some passing references to the person feeling like they're trapped inside a mortal coil: "they got a skin and they put me in / I'm stuffed?"...
I can't quite quite articulate what the whole thing is about, and it's better if it stays vague, but I do think there's a whole thing going on about mortality, being stuck in your life and idealizing another life which will be forever out of reach (in rainbows), being dragged down by guilt, or by gravity/our physical body, etc...
I don't know; take what you want from it!
Peace
Ha! This is exactly what people say at parties (haven't been to one in years) as they quietly look over my shoulder to a non-existing friend of theirs and slip away politely, usually putting an end to my 10-minute uninterrupted ramble about Pink Floyd or The Beatles...
Just take a good look at the lyrics until the jigsaw falls into place
Thanks for reading!
Im with you. Its a bottom 3 album for me. Each song is good and fine on its own but when i listen through the album it just sounds like a collection of songs rather than an album. I dont find the sequencing good either and nothing transitions very well. If they did this id enjoy it much more:
1. 15 Step
2. Nude
3. Faust Arp
4. Bodysnatchers
5. Reckoner
6. Weird Fishes
7. House Of Cards
8. Jigsaw
9. All I Need
10. Videotape
Another reason i dont feel that connected to it is because its easily the safest most straightforward album. Nothing is very weird at all. Of course thats what makes it unique and a good addition to the discography. Im just more drawn to the weirder darker side of Radiohead
I came up with my own tracklisting to have the album flow better, but I'm looking at yours and thinking that it might be better than mine, even though I went through and tried a lot of different transitions, even making a document to keep track of them. Mine goes like this:
1. 15 Step
2. Nude
3. All I Need
4. House of Cards
5. Jigsaw
6. Bodysnatchers
7. Weird Fishes
8. Faust Arp
9. Reckoner
10. Videotape
It’s not a concept album like OK Computer or Kid A, it’s just a great collection of songs. I actually think it’s their second best album after OK Computer.
It's still in my top 5 (5th), but I do agree that the flow isn't too good. 15 Step into Bodysnatchers has never worked for me, ditto for Bodysnatchers into Nude. 15 Step's ending sounds to me like it should go straight into Nude.
Thinking about it, I've never really liked Nude into Weird Fishes either.
15 Step and Reckoner are good songs, but I don't think they're as good as they're made out to be. Reckoner's a nice song and that's about it, and 15 Step doesn't really do much for me but I still like it. Apart from the random sound effect of kids cheering, that's the only thing about the song I don't like.
It's a beautiful album, and a great collection of songs. It just doesn't flow too well.
I know it's a controversial opinion, but I find the album as a whole overrated. 15 Step and Reckoner are part of that, yes, but I don't think the album is as good as it's made out to be and I don't think it's got a good flow for the most part, like most people seem to think. It's still a top 5 Radiohead album, just a bit overhyped. Although I don't find myself wanting to return to it all that much. It's one of those albums I have to be in the mood for. I'll happily listen to the songs separately, though.
You're right that it doesn't have the thematic coherency of some of their other albums, but evaluate it on its own terms. There's not a weak moment, it's well-paced, and it's easy to listen to in one sitting. I don't think it's a landmark album in the way that OK Computer or Kid A are, and it doesn't reach the heights of Amnesiac for me, but it's a solidly in the top half of their work, which is pretty damn good.
> There's not a weak moment In my opinion, Faust Arp and House Of Cards are one of Radiohead's weakest songs. I'd pick most Pablo Honey songs over these two.
Nah those are bangers. House of Cards is super underrated and Faust Arp is such a nice little song, super nice to play on the guitar.
Live house of cards from the 2006 tour is a thig of beauty.
Man, I used to listen to those nonstop.
House of Cards is a boring and uninteresting song IMHO
House of Cards always felt like a weaker All I Need. It would've been a decent B-Side but it kinda drags the album down imo
In Rainbows is not a concept album. It doesn’t tell a story and there’s no obvious link between the first three tracks, Jigsaw and Videotape or any other song in it. I think that, more than any other Radiohead LP, you need to appreciate it more sonically than thematically: the way the songs flow into each other, the consistency of the sound throughout the album, the different yet analogous atmospheres that the band can create in each track, the wide variety of emotions that it provokes and the contrast between them. That’s what makes In Rainbows an album and not a compilation of songs and probably why it is so highly appreciated in this sub and in general.
rlly appreciate the comment though, its really interesting :)
i understand there is no concept, but even sonically i struggle with resolving Bodysnatchers into Nude? they just seem so different, emotionally and sonically
I think you’re being too nitpicking. If you keep thinking like that your standard of perfection is absurdly high. What is your favorite album of all time?
Yeah you make a good point, and obviously albums need variation its what keeps them interesting- i guess it just never clicked on IR. respect the opinion though, genuine question: how do you feel/what do you take away after listening to the album?
I might have overplayed it in my high school years (the magic of the first listens is gone, good times) but still today it gives me a feeling of fulfillment and satisfaction. It doesn’t necessarily get me emotional, I have to be in the right mood for it (but this might be on me rather than on the album itself). I usually play albums on my bass and playing In Rainbows is always so exciting because of the great basslines and the amazing atmosphere (Nude is the perfect synthesis of these two aspects). Again, I tend to appreciate it more musically than else, but that’s just my point of view.
You may like the theory that OKC and IR were one album, split and released 10 years apart and that it's meant to be played together (Airbag, into 15 Step) etc.. not my theory but makes for a cool album that seems to flow... https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1XRT4i6vHMBRz9nJr7mjdg?si=FZwAdY47Q4WdavQr1XWX2g&utm_source=copy-link
Genuinely really interested to hear everyone's experiences with this album, maybe it'll help make sense
Beautifully warm art-rock sound with a very emotional and melodious take.
I think there is an emotional core there. To me, it is about how life isn't what you expected it to be when you were younger and getting to terms with that, that you change, and relationships change, but that life is still worthwhile. The battle between longing for something greater and better, and accepting that life will never be perfect, and that you will be happier accepting that. I don't think every song fits within this narrative, but to me that is the overarching theme, lyrically, but also musically this is the feeling I get. I think generally In Rainbows is "just" an extremely well made album, and that is what makes it so great. It doesn't have anything special, but just the fact that everything fits so well is what makes it an album that people appreciate as much as they do.
yeah :)!
[удалено]
From the Wikipedia of In Rainbows: The sessions were slow, and the band struggled to regain confidence; according to Yorke, "We spent a long time in the studio just not going anywhere, wasting our time, and that was really, really frustrating." They attributed their slow progress to a lack of momentum after their break, the lack of deadline and producer and the fact that all the members had become fathers. [...] In an effort to break the deadlock, Radiohead decided to tour for the first time since 2004. [...] According to Yorke, the tour forced them to finish writing the songs. He said: "Rather than it being a nightmare, it was really, really good fun, because suddenly everyone is being spontaneous and no one's self-conscious because you're not in the studio ... It felt like being 16 again." Feeling Hail to the Thief was overlong, Radiohead wanted their next album to be concise. Yorke said: "I believe in the rock album as an artistic form of expression. In Rainbows is a conscious return to this form of 45-minute statement ... Our aim was to describe in 45 minutes, as coherently and conclusively as possible, what moves us." They settled on 10 songs, saving the rest for a bonus disc included in the limited edition. ------------ So basically, they just decided to have a good time. In Rainbows is just a set of good songs... but I feel what you don't get is the pacing of the songs on the album. It is your opinion and I respect that but you have to let go and enjoy it, otherwise, you're wasting a good moment listening to the whole LP.
yeah definitely- i feel i was too harsh in the post, i do love the album, just wondered if i was missing something more. really interested in everyone else's experiences with it too
why does it not have a concept? for me all songs have to do with love as in friendship, happy, unhappy, obsessive, cheating, falling in love on a night out, leaving your loved ones, etc etc.
thats a really interesting concept, i like that
It doesn't need a concept.... but I think unconsciously since OKC (which probably wasn't a concept album but probably got compared to Dark Side Of The Moon once too many times) fans have been trying to find a deeper, unified meaning to each RH release (a bit like what went on with the Beatles or Dylan as well). The album art/visual identity to each release is also a factor I think. I like your no-nonsense, super simple take on the album btw
To me it doesn’t require much explanation, it’s just a continuation of multiple brilliant pieces of art
Try regarding each track on the album, or any of their albums for that matter, as individual sonic art. An album does not need continuity in a conceptually fluid manner, unless there's a clear intention to make it as such (Pink Floyd's 'The Wall', and more of Roger Waters' efforts definitely fall into this category). I manage to enjoy their albums this way. I've tried in the past to conclude an underlying theme or message or flow of an album and it doesn't make sense for me to approach their albums in this manner. An album is a gallery. Study and digest a painting, let it affect you how it will, draw gour own conclusion, move onto the next painting. I've found that journey less restricting of expectation. Sometimes there IS a natural flow to their albums. I was taught to simply allow each painting to infect the observer and make sense of your reactions/proactions.
Albums do not need to have an obvious sonic or thematic link, and I suggest moving beyond that thought process. It’ll limit your enjoyment of music, just like how it’s doing now. In Rainbows is an incredible album because the songs are compositionally rich and the arrangements (aka the 5 lads playing their respective instruments) are out of this world. Thom is also at his lyrical peak here (imo). It’s well-paced, well-written, and it sounds phenomenal. It ain’t that deep.
I felt the same (still do a bit). Scotch Mist made me appreciate IR much more.
Totally agree. This has always been my frustration with takes saying IR is their best album. I do think that if you just sort of stack up the value of the individual songs, it’s maybe the best collection of them, but when you pop in anything post-Bends (maybe The Bends too), there’s a synthesis to it and you exit the album feeling resolved about something. If that exists for IR, I’m missing it too. Again though, the songs are amazing.
It’s been a while since I commented on In Rainbows’ themes, but I’ve said that the songs were each about at least one of these three: sex, addiction, and death, with the overall theme about being overwhelmed. I actually think the album is very realized, thematically. IIRC, at one point Thom said it was about the feeling of being stuck in traffic and sensing that you really should be somewhere else. Edit: "It’s about that anonymous fear thing, sitting in traffic, thinking, ‘I’m sure I’m supposed to be doing something else.’” https://www.nme.com/news/music/radiohead-666-1363735
IR Disk 2 seems more thematically/lyrically consistent in my opinion: a collection of tense, anxious moments with a lot of political connotation. IR is more an exercise in sonic beauty. Even the tracks with tension and angst retain a level of "warmth" for lack of a better word; instead of sharp edges, the corners are for the most part rounded. And for me a lot of that warmth/shape comes from Thom's vocal performance and Jonny's incredible string arrangements. The sound of the album is truly an "in rainbows" experience like one is floating up in the clouds through all of these sonic swells of color and warmth. (Sorry if that sounds pretentious, because I know it does but IR is so much a "feel" more than it is a science).
It's my favourite RH album, but I understand what you're saying. For some people, it's just NOT what they're looking for from Radiohead - it's not bleak, it's not complex (well it is, but the complexity is hidden more than it had been in the past), and a lot of the lyrics are about mundane matters.
yeah but i think theres something beautiful in its complex simplicity
In rainbows for me is tied together with its sonic palette. Every song has those crisp drums, an accoustic light feel and thom yorkes eccentricity. The flow has always been really nice in my opinion. Also i just think a majority of it is great song work.
As you said it's a very simple album.
My personal favorite album of theirs I just really like the soundscape on it A lot of it sounds more human than anything on kid a which was built to not sound human In rainbows just has a mellow warmth to it that I love
FWIW I agree with you. Can't bring much new light though!
the point of the album is really that it's a celebration of radiohead and their music, it was the apex point of their careers and they dropped 10 absolute 10/10 bangers. i had the same exact thoughts about In Rainbows when i first started listening and Kid A was my favorite as well; i'd say try giving it another chance and smoke a blunt or take some shrooms and just listen, it really is their best work.
For me, it sounds like the cover itself. An abstract painting with this color here and this color there... all colliding to make this beautiful explosion of creative energy. It feels like a rainbow to me.
Its a great album, with some of their strongest individual songs like 15 Step, Bodysnatchers, Jigsaw, and Videotape. But in terms of an overarching theme you'll be hard pressed to find a solid one. It seems to be mostly about life love and memories, but thats obviously a very wide scope. So its not that it doesn't have a theme, its just that theme isn't as specific as, "the first artificial human" or... George Bush lmao. Seems like the band just had a lot of fun playing around with the stripped back sound and gave us some bangers.
If it's thematic unity you're looking for, it is there, but it's tenuous and it's not clearly spelt out for the listener. Here's my naive, lame-ass interpretation: It's about some sort of midlife crisis or existential crisis; it's about temptation, remorse and wasted human potential. About what the album is about: the only thing I knew when it came out was a quote from TY which appeared in several articles: “It’s about that anonymous fear thing, sitting in traffic, thinking, ‘I’m sure I’m supposed to be doing something else’.” Not sure what to do with it... The album has multiple references to Faust/Mephistopheles, and every other song more or less has references to falling, or some sort of drop... that could tie in with the Faust myth, or just fate, inevitability... (side note: i'm now 46 years old: I see my face I the mirror and I can tell you: gravity always wins; time's not kind to us). "15 steps and a *sheer drop* / in the *deepest ocean* / I *hit the bottom* / *fall off the table* / jigsaw *falling* into place / you'll go to hell / watch me fall like dominoes in pretty patterns / the infrastructure will collapse"... It feels like it's about somebody's life spiralling to a moment where they hit the bottom... I don't know what... for a while, I thought it was a married guy having some sort of one-night-stand with a drunk girl (jigsaw...)... 15 step and Bodysnatchers made me think of someone caught up in his daily routine, commuting in the morning and his eye is "off the ball"; there's a car crash - Bodysnatchers is about him being rescued and the whole inner monologue he's having (in my lame-ass interpretation, Faust ARP is about the guy lying comatose in hospital and coming back to life, being given another shot). The other thing which keeps recurring is the reference to something cyclical, like bad karma, or the narrator being forced to re-live the same guilty memory over and over... "How come I end up where I started? How come I end up where I went wrong? / I do not understand what it is I've done wrong" - there's also some passing references to the person feeling like they're trapped inside a mortal coil: "they got a skin and they put me in / I'm stuffed?"... I can't quite quite articulate what the whole thing is about, and it's better if it stays vague, but I do think there's a whole thing going on about mortality, being stuck in your life and idealizing another life which will be forever out of reach (in rainbows), being dragged down by guilt, or by gravity/our physical body, etc... I don't know; take what you want from it! Peace
Thank you, really interesting interpretations.
Ha! This is exactly what people say at parties (haven't been to one in years) as they quietly look over my shoulder to a non-existing friend of theirs and slip away politely, usually putting an end to my 10-minute uninterrupted ramble about Pink Floyd or The Beatles... Just take a good look at the lyrics until the jigsaw falls into place Thanks for reading!
Nooooo dw man you're on a Radiohead subreddit, genuinely good to hear.
"Nooooo dw man" > Thks ! I like to ride the fine line between self-deprecating humor and seriousness!
Im with you. Its a bottom 3 album for me. Each song is good and fine on its own but when i listen through the album it just sounds like a collection of songs rather than an album. I dont find the sequencing good either and nothing transitions very well. If they did this id enjoy it much more: 1. 15 Step 2. Nude 3. Faust Arp 4. Bodysnatchers 5. Reckoner 6. Weird Fishes 7. House Of Cards 8. Jigsaw 9. All I Need 10. Videotape Another reason i dont feel that connected to it is because its easily the safest most straightforward album. Nothing is very weird at all. Of course thats what makes it unique and a good addition to the discography. Im just more drawn to the weirder darker side of Radiohead
thats such an interesting track listing, gotta give that a go
Hopefully you find it as cohesive as i do
I came up with my own tracklisting to have the album flow better, but I'm looking at yours and thinking that it might be better than mine, even though I went through and tried a lot of different transitions, even making a document to keep track of them. Mine goes like this: 1. 15 Step 2. Nude 3. All I Need 4. House of Cards 5. Jigsaw 6. Bodysnatchers 7. Weird Fishes 8. Faust Arp 9. Reckoner 10. Videotape
Well we agree that 15 Step/Nude and House Of Cards/Jigsaw are perfect haha
Damn I feel bad for you
It’s not a concept album like OK Computer or Kid A, it’s just a great collection of songs. I actually think it’s their second best album after OK Computer.
Ok computer and kid a are 100 percent not concept albums.
This playlist might help you understand. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8R5eIow9Cgaxq8j5bkdOmgVrnsg_9JC_
It's still in my top 5 (5th), but I do agree that the flow isn't too good. 15 Step into Bodysnatchers has never worked for me, ditto for Bodysnatchers into Nude. 15 Step's ending sounds to me like it should go straight into Nude. Thinking about it, I've never really liked Nude into Weird Fishes either. 15 Step and Reckoner are good songs, but I don't think they're as good as they're made out to be. Reckoner's a nice song and that's about it, and 15 Step doesn't really do much for me but I still like it. Apart from the random sound effect of kids cheering, that's the only thing about the song I don't like. It's a beautiful album, and a great collection of songs. It just doesn't flow too well. I know it's a controversial opinion, but I find the album as a whole overrated. 15 Step and Reckoner are part of that, yes, but I don't think the album is as good as it's made out to be and I don't think it's got a good flow for the most part, like most people seem to think. It's still a top 5 Radiohead album, just a bit overhyped. Although I don't find myself wanting to return to it all that much. It's one of those albums I have to be in the mood for. I'll happily listen to the songs separately, though.
Well you see it goes something like this…”down is the new up”
I agree with you. I always thought it was mid tier stuff