Getting ready for The King of Limbs: Listening through all of Radiohead’s albums

Pablo Honey

“What the hell am I doing here?   I don’t belong here…”

This has never been even close to my favorite.   I share with many of fans the sentiment that Pablo is an outlier when compared to their other albums, a more pure, 90’s grunge record with Thom’s airy vocals scattered over it.   I’m sorry Radiohead, but gritty music isn’t what you’re best at: leave it to Pearl Jam, thank you very much.   ‘Creep’ is still pretty good, but my favorite song off of this one is probably ‘Blow Out.’   To be honest, Pablo is decent as first album, but not really that great as a standalone record.

The Bends

“Everything is broken.   Everyone is broken…”

Right from the beginning of ‘Planet Telex,’ you can hear the change from Pablo.   This is the first real Radiohead-ass Radiohead album, if you know what I mean.   Loud songs and quiet songs coexist, both of which are excellent.   Sure, it’s a 90’s album through and through with electric guitar-based songs like ‘The Bends,’ ‘Just,’ and ‘My Iron Lung,’ but the mellower songs like ‘High and Dry,’ ‘Fake Plastic Trees,’ and ‘Bullet Proof… I Wish I Was’ are what really shine (personally).   It’s a definite departure from Pablo, but not as jarring as some of their later albums (more on that later).   The Bends is still awesome, especially considering that it’s the first album by Radiohead that I really listened to a whole lot.   It stands the test of time, if you will.

OK Computer

”God loves his children, God loves his children…”

Oh boy, where do I begin?   Dude, it’s goddamn OK Computer.    It’s quite literally the best thing since sliced bread, and although not personally my favorite Radiohead album, it completely makes sense why this was the album that rocketed the band into true stardom and popularity.   Radiohead embraces its softer side here, initially on ‘Subterranean Homesick Alien’ and ‘Exit Music (For A Film),’ and then again for the last few songs.   ‘Fitter Happier’ is way weirder than anything done before, and is only foreshadowing what is yet to come in the later albums.   However, Thom and the lads haven’t abandoned their rock roots, because ‘Electioneering’ is frigging fantastic.   ‘Airbag’ and ‘Karma Police’ may be good, but what really sold me on this album (listening through it for the first time) was ‘Paranoid Android.’   My thoughts on that one: holy shit.   Can’t sum it up much better than that.

Kid A

“This is really happening…”

Kid A is surreal.   It’s so far away from anything else that they had done previously that it doesn’t even seem like they are same band.   And yet, it’s oddly similar.   Kid A’s Radiohead is most certainly not The Bends’ Radiohead.   Electronic is the name of the game here, glitched-out soundscapes and subtle samples making a very, very cool album.   It’s quite possibly my favorite.  Besides ‘Idioteque,’   I have a hard time nailing down which other songs are great because they all blend so damn well.    The eponymous track is a final conclusion to OK’s ‘Fitter Happier,’   ‘The National Anthem’ grooves on the bass while blaring crazy horns on top, ‘Treefingers’ is a pure, open experience… the only thing on here that sounds like ye ol’ Radiohead is ‘Optimistic,’ but even that slides in with everything else.   And don’t even get me started on the vast amounts of dead-air in ‘Motion Picture Soundtrack.’   I think that Kid A is fantastic, but it’s certainly a divisive beast, so I don’t fault anyone for not liking it (however, if you don’t like it, you’re utterly and irrevocably wrong).

Amnesiac

“I’m a reasonable man, get off my case…”

Amnesiac could easily be dismissed as the B-sides to Kid A, when in reality it complements its predecessor rather than just adding to it.   It’s not my favorite album, but it does have plenty of cool moments, even though it’s exceptionally quiet and is never forceful.   ‘Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box’ has a rather catchy electronic vibe to it, and ‘Knives Out’ is top-notch songwriting, if a little slower and more melodic than their previous “big” songs.   ‘I Might Be Wrong’ is probably my favorite song off the album, but the background noises in ‘Like Spinning Plates’ always grabs my attention.   ‘Pyramid Song’ is exceedingly depressing, but it kind of sets the tone for everything else, or at least provides contrast.   I can’t this album is amazing, but neither can I say it’s bad per se;   it’s middling, but I really don’t know if I can consider it to be mediocre because I don’t really “get it.”

Hail to the Thief

“The raindrops, the raindrops, the raindrops, the raindrops…”

This album is more a reality-check than anything else.   Although there is still of ambient, electronic bullshit (good bullshit, mind you, but still bullshit) flying around, it’s married extremely well to the style of Radiohead before Kid A/Amnesiac.   There is some loud guitar rock in here (thank goodness), and the opening track ‘2 + 2 = 5’ (I am not going to type out all these alternative names, god dammit) sets the stage perfectly.   Drum loops fade into loud, kickass guitars, while the next song ‘Sit Down.   Stand Up’ does the exact opposite trick: mellow guitars to loud, kickass drum machine.   Hail is a fantastic album, but its problem is an identity crisis – what is the real goal of this album?   It feels a little scattered, a little inconsistent.   That being said, the actual music on it is great, so I can’t knock it too much for seeming to lack “vision.”   ‘Backdrifts’ and ‘Go to Sleep’ are absolutely phenomenal, but my favorite song here is ‘Myxomatosis,’ despite its dark weirdness.   Taking everything at face value on a song-by-song basis, this would be my favorite album, but Kid A just has that extra… I don’t know what, that puts it on the top shelf.

In Rainbows

“What’s the point of instruments?   Words are a sawed off shotgun.”

Ah finally, this big old puzzle that Radiohead has concocted is finally a ‘Jigsaw Falling Into Place’ (sorry).   Everything is clicking here, songs are rolling into one another nicely; there are not any jarring breaks.   The openers are what really set this thing on fire.   ’15 Step’ is like a roundhouse kick to the face with its bafflingly intricate, 5/4 drum line, and ‘Bodysnatchers’ is a flipping brilliant rock song, the likes of which the band had not created since OK Computer.   The middle of the album is little softer (picture it like a Reese’s cup), but still some of Radiohead’s best work.   ‘Weird Fishes/Arpeggi’ is unique with its flowing nature, ‘Faust Arp’ could fit right into Sgt. Pepper’s, and ‘Reckoner’ is a great moody rock song laced with a coating of tambourine-laden percussion.   ‘House of Cards’ and ‘Videotape’ are great too, and so is… well, I’ve named everything else…  ‘Nude’ and ‘All I Need’ are good as well.   Maybe this is actually my favorite Radiohead album.   I don’t know.   Shit.   All this listening and I still don’t know.   But dammit, Radiohead is a hell of a band.