Customer Reviews

Amnesiac (2-10" LPs) [Vinyl]

5 star:		(441)
4 star:		(197)
3 star:		(72)
2 star:		(53)
1 star:		(44)

 

 

I'll do a few things in this review. I'll give some facts about the album, go over the songs, and comment on the packaging (which is important on Radiohead albums and very important when it comes to the limited edition of this one).

The historical background: When they released Kid A in Oct 2000, Radiohead said they had recorded more than 20 songs and they weren't kidding. It is very tempting to consider these 2 different albums and critics have already labelled Amnesiac as a sort of reaction to Kid A and a return to more conventional Radiohead. The truth is that Radiohead had all those songs recorded, took 10 tracks to make Kid A, and have chosen 11 more for Amnesiac. I happen to be a big fan of those sessions and argue that they produced Radiohead's best work to date. Don't expect Kid B or a regression from Kid A and it doesn't matter if you haven't heard Kid A.

The songs:

- 1. Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box It's got a drum machine and electronic effects, follows in the tradition of Radiohead openers, and is an excellent song. Note that when played live, it's a rocker.

- 2. Pyramid Song A good representative of this period in the band's career. You've probably heard this one since it's the first release.

- 3. Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors It's totally electronic with computerized vocals and very strange. It's a love or hate song.

- 4. You and Whose Army This one is Thom on crooning one of his best vocal performances while playing piano. It's just him and the bass until the rest of the band come in at the climactic and anthemic ending.

- 5. I Might Be Wrong This one is a riff based rocker. It's one of the more radio friendly tunes on the album and might be released as a single.

- 6. Knives Out This is another riff based song and note that it features all of the members playing their "original" instruments. It has drums, bass, and 3 guitars along with a great vocal. This one will be released as a single next in August.

- 7. Morning Bell/Amnesiac This is a reprise of Morning Bell from Kid A. Thom's vocals are haunting and drive the track. It's a great song in both versions but the original is played live.

- 8. Dollars and Cents A very spooky song that is based on a bass riff and enhanced by a wonderful orchestra. One of the more moody pieces where Thom shines.

- 9. Hunting Bears An instrumental that has only guitar with some background noise. The guitar is reminiscent of the vocal in I Might Be Wrong but not enough so to be considered a reprise. Note that it's pretty short (one of the better aspects).

- 10. Like Spinning Plates Completely electronic with distorted vocals. However, it's not as hit or miss as Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors. It is an excellent instrumental and the vocals add to this to make it one of the most intense and haunting songs. It's said to be a reversed version of another unreleased instrumental track and in my opinion, the best instrumental track they've done. It is more conventional in it's original unreleased form but it's great whether backwards or fowards.

- 11. Life in a Glass House Follows in Radiohead's tradition of emotional closers and features a jazz band. The song is very emotional and builds to a climactic end.

The sleeve: The artwork is very strange and is pretty much hit or miss. It features computer manipulation of photographs, paintings, and drawings. The booklet has no lyrics. A very important note is that the artwork in the album and in the limited edition book is the same (with a few subtle differences in cropping and two more images in the book). The difference is that the book a library card from "Nosuch Library" with dates in the future where it holds the cd. For this reason I advise against purchasing both. I thought the book was cool, but had I known the cd's artwork was practically identical I might not have bought both.

The band: I'll close by saying I give 5 stars because I am a fan of the band. They consistently make great music and I gave all of their albums 5 stars (after Pablo Honey which I gave 3). The thing I love about them is that they continue to move foward with their music and manage to keep their identity and artistic integrity. They knew they couldn't follow up Ok Computer with Ok Computer Part II. Instead of feeling pressure to follow up their masterpiece record they moved on to produce some of the most groundbreaking music in recent times (Kid A and Amnesiac). Note that Ok Computer was the same: It was not a follow-up to their previous masterpiece, The Bends. They have made a career of putting out records that are impossible to follow up, then changing and keeping the incredible quality of their music. Radiohead definitely deserve a lot of respect for making music on their own terms.

Critics and fans alike haunt AMNESIAC, Radiohead's 2001 album, with accusations this record is little more than a KID B. Indeed, much of the controversy surrounding this album has to do with complex issues of album vs. single, and Radiohead's self-important reputation. It is rather funny how the actual music can get lost in all the shuffle.

In the early 1960s, rock music was a singles market, and people didn't think of albums as a piece of art. Through seminal releases from artists such as Dylan, The Beatles, The Who, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin and so on, albums became important mediums of art. Radiohead, with their three very self-contained albums (THE BENDS, OK COMPUTER, and KID A) fell in with this tradition.

When 2001 came around, Radiohead and their record company began promoting AMNESIAC as a whole new album, and all the heavy conceptual ideals that a new Radiohead album entails went along with this announcement. They also said that AMNESIAC would be the `real' sequel to OK COMPUTER, and there would be more guitars this time around. What did they give us? An album that doesn't sound much different than KID A, though a little more conventional and streamlined than its predecessor. Because KID A was designed to be a radical album, some of the simpler and more conventional tracks were left off it. Where did they go?

Why, AMNESIAC. And when AMNESIAC hit the market, people were more puzzled than they were with KID A, because they had been explicitly promised a return to the more guitar oriented sound of their pre-millennial work. Not only that, AMNESIAC was promoted very heavily an actual album, not as an outtakes album that got slapped together from KID A's cutting room floor. The band wanted AMNESIAC to be treated as a regular release, and it simply isn't. Every record, sans AMNESIAC, operates as a complete reappraisal and an evolution of where Radiohead has been and where they are going. Their projects are very well differentiated. PABLO HONEY and its B-sides are very different than THE BENDS and its B-SIDES. The same goes for OK COMPUTER and its B-Sides. KID A continues this pattern of artistic reinvention on Radiohead's part for every new album. But not so with AMNESIAC. AMNESIAC sounds like just what it is - songs cut during the KID A session but not released on that album.

Putting all this aside, the actual music of AMNESIAC is just as good, though a little more streamlined and simpler (which is not a bad thing, don't get me wrong), than the music found on KID A. As it is, AMNESIAC as more misfires than KID A does. I don't care much for the dead weight instrumental "Treefingers," which I think breaks KID A's momentum, and "Motion Picture" is a decent track, it never really has done much for me. AMNESIAC, on the other hand, has the "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors," "Morning Bell/Amnesiac," the reptitive "Like Spinning Plates," and the slight should-have-been-a-b-side-instrumental "Hunting Bears." Why have two versions of "Morning Bell"? "Morning Bell" is one of the closing highlights of KID A, but we didn't need this one. Especially when you look at the B-Sides that were left off AMNESIAC, which would have made it just strong as KID A. The rest of the songs on AMNESIAC as just as good as KID A, and had these two records been consolidated into one album, we would have a much more balanced piece of work with the more experimental songs and the more conventional songs playing side-by-side..

All of these factors lead up both critics and fans slighting this album and calling it little more than a clone of KID A, which is ironic because KID A is named after the first human clone. But I digress. Because of the aforementioned politics, people's perception of AMNESIAC is shaped by the band, by rock history, and by the explicit promised made to them by the record company. People approach this record not as a self-contained unit, but the second part of KID A. And in truth, they are right. This is the second part of KID A.

In my opinion, which doesn't count for much, instead of releasing two albums and adding all this confusion to people's minds, they should have either opted for a longer single album and left the rest for B-sides, or they should have released a double album and incorporated AMNESIAC's B-sides into the running order. There's enough strong material here between KID A and AMNESIAC and the assorted B-Sides ("Cuttooth," "Fog," "Kinetic," and "Worrywort" especially) for a first-class single album. The best moments of these sessions rival Radiohead's best work, though perhaps this material cannot reach the grandiose claustrophobia and suffocating world view of OK COMPUTER.

I personally would prefer to have seen them release this as a double album. While some of the material is not strong enough to merit inclusion, had the full two hours (counting the b-sides) of these sessions been officially released as a double LP we would have had a grand, new entry into the dizzying world of indulgent records. On double LPs, even the misfires are welcome, because they add to the character and intent of the band in the creative throes of crafting new music. George Martin was right when he said THE WHITE ALBUM should have been condensed into a single album. It would have been a stronger album. But it's that wild, messy, chaotic, scattershot effect that makes THE WHITE ALBUM such an effective and gripping listen. The same would be true of Radiohead's double album.

P. S. Here's a list of AMNESIAC's B-Sides. KID A had no singles or tour so it doesn't have B-Sides. The ones with astericks (*) should have been on either album, especially Cuttooth.

1. Kinetic*
2. Trans-Atlantic Drawl
3. Fast Track (instrumental).
4. Amazing Sounds
5. Cuttooth*
6. Fog.*
7. Worrywort*
8. Life in a Glass House (Full version) (longer)

I'll be honest, I've loved everything Radiohead ever did. When I heard "OK Computer" I thought it was a masterstroke from these guys, and that they couldn't do any better. When "Kid A" was released, I purchased it immediately, and after spending a week with it, I disliked it so much I got rid of it. Still, the album didn't leave my consciousness for some time. These are smart musicians, crafty songwriters - why would they make an album like this? All the soulful despair that made "OK Computer" an emotional record about an emotionless world seemed to disappear on "Kid A". I was confused. Months later, I heard "Pyramid Song" from the "Amnesiac" album on the radio. This was more like it. Sure, it sounded as detached as any song on "Kid A", but I got it. It seemed to return to the eerily beautiful Radiohead construct I knew. I purchased both albums, and hearing both of them together lit the light bulb in my head. Ahhh, so this is what it is! In essence, both "Kid A" and "Amnesiac" travel the same end-of-an-already-dead-world frame of mind that the band investigated on "OK Computer". If you're disappointed with either of these albums and need a guide back into Radiohead-land, just study the still-haunting voice of Thom Yorke on either of these albums - it's still the same, only the frame of reference is different (the music, that is). Sure, crashing cymbals and crunchy guitar solos are replaced with blips and bleeps, and Yorke's dreamtime singing style is even more indecipherable lyrically, but it's got to be the most atmospheric sound I've heard in a long time. Both of these albums paint a picture of a world so cold and detached it's downright frightening. Yes! This is scary music. All those teenage afternoons Thom Yorke must of spent in his bedroom listening to the Smiths and the Cure must have gotten to him. I guess I'm reviewing both "Kid A" and "Amnesiac" together, and I think that's a helpful idea for anyone put off by either one of these albums. I needed to hear one album to understand the other, as they truly seem to be opposite sides of the same coin. Sure, the atmosphere and lyrics are even more doom-laden than "OK Computer" or your average Cure album, but it's still an album that, believe or not, furthers the Radiohead sound. They're a band who soulfully speaks about nothing, that nothing being a world whose people and trees are replaced by computers and antibiotics. Neither of these albums are a collection of songs, but rather, one continuous piece of music, like a classical suite or a jazz record. Gather your thoughts before you play either of these albums, because they're liable to vanquish once you hear them. They were brave for making this music, and it requires bravery to listen to it. It's the epitome of a nightmare - it's scary, but it's also very much a dream.

I'm a relatively "new" Radiohead fan, but I've quickly fallen in love with their music, starting with OK Computer. I haven't heard Kid A so I cannot judge Amnesiac against it, but I truly love this CD. Whatever you're expecting, you'll be surprised. Some people say that with the dehumanisation of Radiohead's lyrics (eg. not singing about that "special" girl from Creep anymore), it's hard to relate, but I find Amnesiac incredibly moving nonetheless. Listening to it in the dark, I was partly scared (Pull/Pulk Revolving Doors - the bit that goes, "But they are trapdoors that you can't come back from"), partly awed, partly elevated. Thom Yorke's vocals are simply perfect, they convey so much feeling... My favourites at the moment are "Pyramid Song" (which is one of the most beautiful, sombre pieces of music I've heard in a long time, sad but beautiful: "A moon full of stars and astral cars"), "You And Whose Army", with its heavenly crescendo which leaves you wanting more, "Dollars And Cents" ("we're going to crack your little souls"), and finally "Life In a Glasshouse" - bizarre, jazzy, and wildly inventive. In fact I like every track. I have to stop gushing, this isn't a totally perfect album, it takes a few listens before you're rewarded, and tracks like, "Hunting Bears" or "Like spinning plates" sometimes seem too obscure for their own good, but it's all so clever and addictive that I can't truly fault it. Sometimes I can't believe this is going on commercial release, displayed in music stores worldwide, millions of copies produced, because it's so honest and original and unlike anything I've ever heard. I don't know. But right now I'm really loving it. If you think you have the patience to give Amnesiac the chance it deserves, I strongly recommend you buy it.

I recently watched Grant Gee's stunning experimental documentary about Radiohead entitled, "Meeting People Is Easy," which provides a fascinating glimpse of Thom Yorke as a musician (and I don't use this term lightly) desperately trying to cling to his very real notions of artistic integrity. Yorke is clearly a man who does not feel comfortable with all of the trappings of fame and who is tortured by the increasingly formidable barriers that his band's popularity has erected between himself and his vision of where Radiohead's music should go.

Critics and fans like to easily categorize each of Radiohead's very distinct albums as merely being their attempt to throw people off and see what new things they can do as a band. However, Yorke himself has stated that their musical shifts have come more from a desperate need to keep the band together than from any whimsical desire to laugh in the face of expectations. What it comes down to is that Radiohead is a band that continues to make music because of their own essential need to do so, and not as some shallow, artificial reaction or answer to popular and critical success.

Amnesiac, the band's fifth album, is strewn with Yorke's increasingly numb, pained voice and ambiguous lyrics as he delves into issues such as midlife crisis (Packt like sardines in a crushd tin box), suicide (Pyramid song), divorce (Amnesiac/Morning bell), and avarice (Dollars & cents). As typical of Radiohead, they tackle these heady issues with raw emotional honesty, subtlety and grace, and in a very undidactic manner.

It is obvious to anyone who listens carefully to each of their five albums that Yorke's voice progressively changes with the sound of the band; the clarity of the lyrics and statements in Pablo Honey sound nothing like the barely coherent, faintly comprehensible crooning that we get in Amnesiac. In a recent interview, Yorke hinted that the changes in the band's music have been a reflection of his gradual disinterest in the sounds afforded by standard guitars and drums. Getting the rest of the band to agree to the new "electronic" direction that Radiohead has been taking was no small feat for Yorke, but once everything fell into place, the end result was nothing less than brilliance. Critical reviews of Kid A and Amnesiac have placed far too much emphasis on lyrics. Sure, Radiohead has something to say, but it is becoming more and more clear that they want to say it through their elaborately constructed soundscapes rather than through words. They are not content with simply telling a story; they want to create a whole new world, a world that their listeners can immerse themselves in and allow themselves to dissolve into. Indeed, as quite evident in Amnesiac, Yorke's voice has all but disintegrated into these vast and gloomy musical vistas; essentially, his voice has become another instrument -- another invention borne from the genius of Radiohead.

Reading through the various reviews here, I'm not surprised to find that Amnesiac is not everyone's cup of tea. If anything, it's more difficult to adjust to than Kid A was. Upon first hearing, I was thinking that some of the tracks were filler from the Kid A sessions. Upon further listens, the album stands on equal ground to OKC and Kid A.

The thing that I love about Radiohead is the visceral qualities of the band's music. Up to and including OKC, this was done with Thom's vocals and epic guitar playing. Well, Thom's voice is still there, but it's just another instrument in the mix now. The guitars show up, but without the bombast. It used to be the anthemic qualities which made the band stand out, but now it's much more about creating and reflecting a thematic environment. For example: On Paranoid Android from OKC, the lyrics were what encapsulated the titular Paranoia. Now compare it to Like Spinning Plates off Amnesiac. What lyrics which can be understood still sound pretty paranoid, but now it's the entire sound of the song which conveys paranoia. This is environmental music, meant to reflect the world, (or one person's view of it), rather than try to stand out in it as something special.

I saw one review which suggests that Amnesiac is a load of duff the band put out just to make more money. I see it as just the opposite. This is the sound of a band who is making exactly what they want, and caring very little whether it's bought or not. I don't think the band is looking to alienate their fans, nor do I think they are trying to shrug off the supergroup status. They are simply creating something they love. There's countless bands with succesful formulas out there. I think it's wonderful to see a band which is brave enough to chuck the formula and stretch out. Change is scary. Radiohead is brave. Listen if you like.

I'm writing this in response to the poor reviews some people have given Amnesiac. They seem to all hail "The Bends" and "OK Computer" and seem to want the band to make carbon copies of those albums for the rest of their career. I admit that they are great albums, but I for one am extreamly grateful that Radiohead are evolving and constatnly challenging me as a listener.

Still, even you you can't wrap your head around the newer Radiohead material, don't fault them for not playing the same style of music you used to make out to in college. They've matured, and I would suggest you do the same.

Last, I have to say that Radiohead with all their albums, Amnesiac included, are the only band - other than say Pink Floyd or The Beatles - that makes albums I can listen to 50, 100, 500 (a lot!) times and still love every minute of it. That wouldn't be the case if they were fomulaic and predictable.

All this stuff about "Listen to Radiohead more and you'll get it!!" is only partially true. Yes, there is an element to their music that needs to be... drawn out.

However, the main thing about Radiohead is the mood. This isn't the kind of CD you'd want to have as background music at a barbecue, or while you're driving around in the early afternoon. What is being misunderstood, though, is that it's not TRYING to be that music. This album, like all Radiohead albums (and Kid A especially), has an air of aggression mixed with an overwhelming depression. If you go into this CD looking for something to headbang to, you're going to be disappointed. Maybe there is something elitist about that, but somebody who walks into Schindler's List looking for an action movie is isn't going to be happy either.

Saying that Radiohead should have stayed a "guitar-rock band" is the same as wishing that the Beatles should have stayed a "pop-rock band". When the White Album came out, people said they were too experimental and had lost their touch. Others, however, hailed them as geniuses. Any radical change leaves some behind.

This is an album of confusion and sadness; obviously a phase the band was in. There are no excuses for what it is, it simply lays itself out there. If you take it for what it is, it's beautiful melodies and detached sadness couldn't be more perfect. Why try to change that?

Imagine you're 9000 miles from home. You're walking down the street, alone, at night, and as you pass a record shop, you hear an ethereal, almost jazz-like riff come into focus. It stops you in your tracks. Then a warbly tenor floats in above the instruments... "I want you to know... He's not coming back..." The voice is delicate but insistent. This is Knives Out. This is your introduction to the new Radiohead.

So that was how it happened for me. Granted, not everyone can have such a unique and appropriate first contact with Amnesiac. But it's not the situation that makes the music... It's the music that makes the situation.

I owned and enjoyed OK Computer, like so many people. But I didn't bat an eye when Kid A came out ("Oh look, more of those spiky mountain posters at the record shop... whatever.") So the whole Amnesiac thing was the new Radiohead sound, as far as I was concerned. Therefore, I didn't come to this "tainted" by the notion that it's a Kid A outtake (which is entirely untrue anyway -- the albums were made at the same time and assembled as such because that's how they made sense, not because Radiohead decided a few months after Kid A that they might as well toss the bloody chunk leftovers out for the raving fan-sharks to shred). This is a beautiful, moving album in its own right. Almost every song is remarkable, filled to the brim with that combination of yearning, epiphany, and disconnect that only Radiohead can concoct.

Pyramid song, You and whose army?, I might be wrong, Knives out, Dollars and cents, Like spinning plates -- these are some of the best songs I have ever heard. Ever. This album made me a Radiohead fan. And if you need guidance, just look to the directions on the album's back cover: "Store away from direct sunlight, preferably in a dark drawer with your secrets. See inside for details." This album knows all your hidden selves, and it will find them if only you surrender.

I don't think I will ever understand Radiohead "fans." The media and critics hail Radiohead (and deservingly so) in a way that gets people excited for their new releases. And when they buy the disc, bright-eyed, handing over their money, huge smiles on their faces, only to run home put it in their CD players and be "let down." What do you expect? "Amnesiac" could have just as easily been "Sgt. Peppers" or "Dark Side of the Moon," and the same result would have taken place.

So, no, I wasn't surprised to read reviews that cried "injustice!" for the band not to release EXACTLY what they expected. I, for one, am NOT changing my tune about Radiohead being the most innovative, talented, and creative band currently on the planet. And Amnesiac fits nicely along the other releases of the Radiohead cataloge. Is it perfect? No, and get over it....

How does the album stand against other Radiohead releases? I believe that it fits in somewhere after "Ok Computer," but before "The Bends." You probably don't agree with me, but "Kid A" remains first on the list, for no other release has been more dynamic, more creative, more envelope pushing than that 2000 release. Not only is it the best by the band, but onw of the best in the last decade. Once again, as they did with "Everything in its Right Place" on "Kid A," they blast off the second disc of the Kid Amnesiac Sessions with a killer keyboard piece, "Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Time Box." Just like most of their track one's, THIS is what I want to hear when I put the album in. Others that will eventually be Radiohead classics are "You and Whose Army?," the amazing "Knives Out," the ironic "Dollars and Cents," "I Might Be Wrong," and the current acoustic single, "Pyramid Song." I believe this album shows the bands capabilities. They made this album at the same times as "Kid A," yet they are two very different albums. Many editors tied this release as a trip back to the band's roots, of the more accessable days. But this is NOT "The Bends." It sounds more like a hybrid of "Ok Computer" and "Kid A," and besides, I think the band is done with repeating itself. Thom Yorke has said that if he can't be different and challenge the band, they may as well give up.

So, despite what you think, this album was not made in the 'N Sync-style to please the listener alone. Radiohead is not writing music to appease you or the media or the critics that hail them musical gods. If you were let down by this album, fine. It wasn't made for you anyway.