IDM dudes please rate Radiohead albums

[joshuatxuk]

 

Amnesiac changed my life. It's not their best but it's my favorite by far.

 

In Rainbows (grew on me a lot)

Kid A

OK Computer

^(practically a tie)

Hail To The Thief

 

Hardly listen to:

 

King of Limbs

The Bends

Pablo Honey

 

Also TKOL Remixes & Thom Yorke's Eraser > King of Limbs and Atoms For Peace (which I need to give another good listen of tbh)

 

Props to you.

 

I agree with most of what you've said here. However, I think the Atoms for Peace record is really good, almost on par with the Eraser. TKOL RMX had some good mixes on it, but I really prefer the original album although it was very disappointing.

 

 

Yeah I need to give it a better listen, was irked by the production a bit (see below). I sat on Eraser a long time, and there are some remixes from that album I really liked as well.

 

- Atoms For Peace. Actually pretty solid tracks, but the production turns me off. The beats are a little too clicky clacky for my tastes. It's all so... one note.

 

- King of Limbs. 3 good/great tracks on a meager 8 track record... yeesh. Some of the b-sides (like Butcher and Staircase) are better than most of the album. Suffers from similar production issues to AFP. Thom has been listening to too much Fourtet.

 

Same here on the production, someone else said the percussion was so compressed it was ironically lacked punch and depth. But nonetheless I will give it another listen.

[Guest Roksen Creek]

Kid A

OK Computer

In Rainbows

Amnesiac

The Bends

King of Limbs

Hail to the Thief

The other one

[Braintree]

Amnesiac

Kid A

OK Computer

The Bends

In Rainbows

Pablo Honey

 

Haven't listened to the others enough to rate them accurately.

 

Also, I would put Thom Yorke's solo album on par with Kid A.

[flim]

also the cover for tkol is easily their worst

 

I'd say that title goes to Pablo Honey's "Baby in the Flower" cover.

 

I do like the back cover and inner images for TKOL.

[goDel]

"IDM dudes" eh.

 

I guess I'm a blind fan, because the every last Radiohead album I've heard is the best. Although I must say I'm not too fond of seeing Thom spazzing out on stage. At least on video. Have seen them only once live on Pinkpop ages ago. That was before OK computer so they basically played Creep for thirty minutes. Now they play music, while Thom still looks like a creep. Nice touch of consistency, though.

[flim]

"IDM dudes" eh.

 

I guess I'm a blind fan, because the every last Radiohead album I've heard is the best. Although I must say I'm not too fond of seeing Thom spazzing out on stage. At least on video. Have seen them only once live on Pinkpop ages ago. That was before OK computer so they basically played Creep for thirty minutes. Now they play music, while Thom still looks like a creep. Nice touch of consistency, though.

 

I need to see them again. I saw them in 2003 and I don't remember what anyone or anything looked like. I was so far away from the stage on the lawn, so they all looked so tiny. It was also raining, so that caused a visibility problem.... And I was there with a girl I was madly in love with who didn't feel the same about me, and I just kept hoping the show would somehow bring us closer. But that was impossible.

 

:(

[Guest anyaa]

Kid A and Amnesiac were the only ones i actually enjoyed. very nice vibe to both of them; i guess it's cause the overall style was a big change from their previous stuff and i do love a good breath of fresh air. didn't care for The Bends or OK Computer that much.

[ambermonk]

Just gonna list the albums with my fav trax on them

Amnesiac - Pyramid Song, Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors, You And Whose Army?
Kid A - The National Anthem, Idioteque
Hail to the Thief - Backdrifts
OK Computer - Karma Police

the rest is pretty much blank to me

[poblequadrat]

I feel like people are being overly dismissive as if to prove they are above people that like radiohead. cut it out. yes they get a shitton of praise and people go overboard just like everything great in life. radiohead are one of the few modern bands that I feel deserve all the praise they can get. and just to be devil's advocate, my favourite band is pavement.

 

I really like Kid A and Amnesiac but to me there's nothing special about OK Computer or The Bends, mainly because they're anthemic pop albums and there's a limit to that genre. In particular I'm pretty repelled by their tendency towards emotionalism (the melodies on Planet Telex or Let Down), as well as Thom Yorke's vocal athletics and general lack of sobriety.

 

I think that as a form of pop music, "electronic music" (which isn't really defined by its instruments: Wire or Joy Division might as well be electronic bands, while electronics are completely accessory to a good number of bands) has a better chance of being meaningful to "pop(ular) people" and offering a progressive aesthetic that is not inaccessible, instead of making people wallow in the A = A rhetoric of self-identification.

 

Electronic music also allows for a lesser degree of technique. By which I mean electronic music allows for a more conceptual approach without technique getting too much in the way. Still, this doesn't mean electronic music isn't technical: for example the "I just want to make tunes" attitude prevalent in most artists is a technician's attitude. Likewise, punk, which requires barely minimal technical expertise, is a very technical approach to pop music, because making punk songs is mostly a craft and that's what you look for when you decide whether a punk song is good or bad. Within "guitar pop" (which, again, isn't confined to guitars and might be 100% electronics) putting concept before technique often leads to wankery (and actually Radiohead are guilty of this sometimes). At the same time, the social significance of some basic traits of electronic music leaves more room for concept even when primarily following the technical approach.

 

tl;dr to me a song like "no surprises" is the opposite of what music should be like

[poblequadrat]

electronic music supremacy aside, I disagree with your classification of the bends and ok computer as merely amthemic pop albums existing in a frame of limitations. it seems a little closed minded to think that way. I still hear rock music that makes me think twice about being dismissive of the classic band format. maybe I'm just a dum dum

 

i'll admit i'm pretty dogmatic!

but if we bring it down to the level of individual taste, i feel embarrassed when listening to something like fake plastic trees. or to put it in another way it just isn't like me to listen to something like that, so maybe i'm not really qualified to rate their albums, since to me they've made maybe 3 albums worth of material and the rest is the kind of stuff i just don't pay attention to. i don't particularly hate the bends. it's just that it's like having an american who's used to basketball and baseball watch the champion's league, and then asking him whether he prefers messi or cristiano, if that makes any sense? the thing is such personal issues can't really be discussed, so i prefer to talk about dogma!

 

i think it's better to believe in something than to go by your tastes: for example the smiths made many songs i enjoy but i don't really want to live in a society where the predominant aesthetic is that one, actually i reckon i'd like a society where nobody would think about making something like that at all

 

but that kind of music exists because there are conditions that make it necessary. it'd be just too abstract and meaningless to pretend you can just do away with it just like that. it has its function.

 

ultimately it isn't that serious anyway, i'm not on a crusade or anything, it doesn't really matter that much

[KovalainenFanBoy]

Be careful poble Rulo lives near you and he'll mash ur fuckin head in if you keep talking bout Yorke like that

[auxien]

 

I feel like people are being overly dismissive as if to prove they are above people that like radiohead. cut it out. yes they get a shitton of praise and people go overboard just like everything great in life. radiohead are one of the few modern bands that I feel deserve all the praise they can get. and just to be devil's advocate, my favourite band is pavement.

 

I really like Kid A and Amnesiac but to me there's nothing special about OK Computer or The Bends, mainly because they're anthemic pop albums and there's a limit to that genre. In particular I'm pretty repelled by their tendency towards emotionalism (the melodies on Planet Telex or Let Down), as well as Thom Yorke's vocal athletics and general lack of sobriety.

 

I think that as a form of pop music, "electronic music" (which isn't really defined by its instruments: Wire or Joy Division might as well be electronic bands, while electronics are completely accessory to a good number of bands) has a better chance of being meaningful to "pop(ular) people" and offering a progressive aesthetic that is not inaccessible, instead of making people wallow in the A = A rhetoric of self-identification.

 

tl;dr to me a song like "no surprises" is the opposite of what music should be like

 

 

So, correct me if I'm wrong here, but you think that if music isn't challenging, it's not good?

[ambermonk]

Be careful poble Rulo lives near you and he'll mash ur fuckin head in if you keep talking bout Yorke like that

I think he's geographically closer to you than anyone else here. But Thom is an alright fellow by me.

[beerwolf]

 

electronic music supremacy aside, I disagree with your classification of the bends and ok computer as merely amthemic pop albums existing in a frame of limitations. it seems a little closed minded to think that way. I still hear rock music that makes me think twice about being dismissive of the classic band format. maybe I'm just a dum dum

 

i'll admit i'm pretty dogmatic!

but if we bring it down to the level of individual taste, i feel embarrassed when listening to something like fake plastic trees. or to put it in another way it just isn't like me to listen to something like that, so maybe i'm not really qualified to rate their albums, since to me they've made maybe 3 albums worth of material and the rest is the kind of stuff i just don't pay attention to. i don't particularly hate the bends. it's just that it's like having an american who's used to basketball and baseball watch the champion's league, and then asking him whether he prefers messi or cristiano, if that makes any sense? the thing is such personal issues can't really be discussed, so i prefer to talk about dogma!

 

i think it's better to believe in something than to go by your tastes: for example the smiths made many songs i enjoy but i don't really want to live in a society where the predominant aesthetic is that one, actually i reckon i'd like a society where nobody would think about making something like that at all

 

but that kind of music exists because there are conditions that make it necessary. it'd be just too abstract and meaningless to pretend you can just do away with it just like that. it has its function.

 

ultimately it isn't that serious anyway, i'm not on a crusade or anything, it doesn't really matter that much

 

 

heh, cool post (a bit over my head lol). I have a mate who (sincerely) believes Pablo Honey is their best album and everything after that is 'fucking gay' and 'well fucking poncey'. I'm not joking. And I know what you're thinking 'yeah Beerwolf's mate is a a dustman or a bricklayer'. He's a CAD engineer in the marine industry. He also has a tendency to lie about music to project some sort of individual image. The classic example being how for years he proclaimed how much he hated Metallica and how lame they were (compared to mmm say Godflesh or Carcass). Then one day in his car, what do I find under his car seat? A cd wallet with Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, The Black album and Load. Hahahahhahhah. Gotcha

 

 

[Klopjob]

1. Amnesiac

2. King Of Limbs

3. OK Computer

4. The Bends

5. In Rainbows

6. Kid A

7. Hail To The Thief

8. Pablo Honey (not heard it either)

 

[poblequadrat]

@ amber: lol, rulo is always near you, waiting in the shadows, ready to make you "listen 2 this song right now"

 

@ auxien: that's a way of putting it. I think "progressive" is a better word than "challenging", because for example Kraftwerk tracks are a mixture of German folk melodies and do-re-mi exercices (with a couple of exceptions), but still they made a different, imo truer, pop aesthetic possible. Also, "good" here means socially good: as I said on the Death Grips thread I think personal taste isn't really something there can be much discussion about, while everybody can participate in a discussion on the social/philosophical merits of music.

 

@ beerwolf: lol, he was slagging them off but then liked even Load! Lol, actually I think I'd like to have a mate like that.

[Candiru]

In my opinion, The Bends and OK Computer had a certain dynamic, with all 5 members of the band playing in a rock format, that was so well orchestrated. One of their real strengths as a band. While they abandoned that and showed what other strengths they had, they were such a force to be reckoned with, that 3 guitar attack that it makes me wonder if they'll realize this ever.

[ambermonk]

God damn, I can't stop listening to The National Anthem.

[Guest]

In Rainbows

Amnesiac

HTTT

 

Still not into the Limbs. But I listen to Little by Little, Lotus Flower and Codex sometimes. In Rainbows is fantastic and Nude/Reckoner are standouts. RECKONER oh yeah! On Amnesiac its the Pyramid Song. Spinning Plates, haha. Even better is the Piano version on the "I might be wrong" live album.

I love when he goes insane on Ideoteque.

 

But on top of all: "The Eraser" album from Thom Yorke alone. I love all tracks on it. Analyse and Harrowdown Hill most. Goes all well with a mood I was that days.

 

I came to Radiohead when I couldnt sleep at night, went into living room, turned on television, they broadcasted Radiohead "From the basement" on 3sat german channel... with all that "In Rainbows" stuff, it was a groundbreaking experience I only have every couple of years.

 

And I really really hope Thom Yorke will make another album at Eraser quality.

[AnalogueCreamPie]

OK Computer

Kid A/In Rainbows

Amnesiac

The Bends

Hail To the Thief

King of Limbs

Pablo Honey

[Guest Rulohead32]

1. In Rainbows

1. OK Computer

1. Kid A

1. Hail to the Thief

1. The King of Limbs

1. Amnesiac

1. The Bends

8. Pablo Honey

[cloud capture]

Pablo Honey was a pretty distinct album for 1993. It was one of the first few CD's I owned, and that time spent with it will always remain a fond memory in my mind. Didn't listen to radiohead again until In Rainbows. I listen to In Rainbows at least once a week while working.

[Silent Member]

1.amnesiac

2.kid a

3.hail to the thief/ok computer

 

don't really care about/for the rest

[beerwolf]

1. Amnesiac

2. In Rainbows

3. OK Computer

4. Kid A

5. Hail To The Thief

6. The Bends

7. The King Of Limbs

8. Pablo Honey

 

Radiohead is still the best band ever imo. Even though these albums are ranked, I still think they are all amazing. So there.

 

Amnesiac at number 1? interesting. Tbh I should go back and have another peak at that album, I'd probably be more into it nowadays. I remember it being really dark and claustrophobic.

[fizzkinz]

I have to say I'm really happy to see so many people rank Amnesiac so highly

Granted I rate it below Kid A, but so often I see people dismiss Amnesiac (collection of bsides not good enough for kid a, calling it kid b, saying there is no flow)

It seems consistently shit on

 

And while the "popular opinion" probably means very little, it's very nice to see so many here praise it

I could see after the magnum opus that is Kid A, anything after would seem less, but amnesiac is outstanding and constantly shakes me to my core