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Track Listings
| 1. Bloom |
| 2. Morning Mr Magpie |
| 3. Little By Little |
| 4. Feral |
| 5. Lotus Flower |
| 6. Codex |
| 7. Give Up The Ghost |
| 8. Separator |
Editorial Reviews
Vinyl LP pressing. 2011 release, the eighth album from the enormously successful and influential British band. As usual, the album was produced by longtime co-hort Nigel Godrich. Recorded on and off throughout 2010, the album is a cohesive collection of songs that were laid down by the band in a more relaxed fashion than their ambitious In Rainbows long-player. The album's title refers to an oak tree in Wiltshire's Savernake Forest, thought to be 1,000 years old.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
245 of 282 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Album of Secrets - just listen and learn (*Updated 3/29/2011)
February 19, 2011
By Bardwire777
Format:Audio CD
Yes it is atmospheric. This in no way resembles OK Computer or the Bends or any of their proper "rock" albums - but then Radiohead told us not to expect he same approach after Hail To The Thief. And what is the result of this new phase? I'd say it's better music to paint to than blasting in your car with the windows down (yet I do suggest blasting it loud or with so you can hear all of the subtle shifts and changes - it will kill you with a whisper) Most of these songs are centered around loops like Everything in It's Right Place, and from those initial loops other loops are borne, layers are added, drum loops become live drums, chanting begins and the record indeed ends up sounding both innovative as well as ancient as the King of Limbs' namesake - with different limbs of musical ideas twisting out into different directions. Clearly a bold thrust in a direction that they had only been tinkered with before (except if you don't count Yorke's the Eraser.)
This album feels like the follow up to the Eraser more than In Rainbows. The tracks on this album also has the feel of Radiohead's more interesting B-sides, which usually was the arena where they put their more experimental efforts and let themselves hand loose. In the case of this album, all the tracks feel like honest innovations, like the band is seeking new territory, and so in a way it feels like an album of b-sides which in my book is an excellent thing.
This review was originally written only after a few listens, however, after living with this album for a week here are my *personal* thoughts on the individual tracks;)
Bloom - a sonic welcome mat, with some surprises - the Yes-like synths over-arching like the Northern Lights are a nice effect. These are definitely sounds we've never heard from them. Thom's voice swells in an attempt to swallow the cosmos, like the song says, "Open you mouth wide" he could be asking us to think larger, to take in more...
Morning Mr. Magpie - Here we're catching a hint of the muted guitar swagger that began on Amnesiac with I Might Be Wrong and went on to be more apparent in Hail To the Thief. Like strutting through a haunted house. Sexy. Twisted groove.
Little By Little - As with the rest of the album, this song plays with your expectations of what the beat should be. The guitars stand out but are never overstated, feels very Kid A to me, especially with the sounds that lace the last minute of the track, very Everything in its Right Place. This song goes on a tad long for me, but it's so interesting the relationship between the guitar, vocals and beat that it is hypnotic as heck.
Feral - this is SO Amnesiac it kills me, raw and expansive. It feels like digital drums but THESE ARE LIVE DRUMS that go back into digital again! Amazing. Colin's bass work which is especially fascinating on this album weaves in an out of focus. Thom Yorke meanwhile paints us a sonic tapestry with his vocals, sounding like a creature that has been infected by technology but (like well...a feral) is returning to a primal state, a forest where words are not necessary.
Lotus Flower - is the re-invention of the pop song. Tom Yorke released a video for this on his website where he's dancing around like Prince, enjoying the dancability of his music...YES HE INVENTED A LOTUS FLOWER DANCE. Its an amazing video with just him dancing on an empty stage, black and white, that could be construed as part piss take but is certainly celebration of Radiohead's new sound and direction. He has so much hip swinging swagger! The song is so bad ash, he hangs on notes like a junky, addicted. And when he goes to the chorus your heart wants to burst from your chest. Very Idiotech. I also love the sincere. This song is surely about addiction (hence the Odyssey reference) but the lyrics here as well as the other songs are so sincere and poetic. I'm in awe.
Codex - The most devastatingly beautiful track. I can't even find words. The first listen was a holy moment. Even the nay-sayers will have to give that one to the band. Like the dragonflies Thom Yorke mentions here, the horns section swoons over the top of the songs promising the divine. As for the theme of the album, (and I realize I may be overreaching) this song proves that the technology-addicted human can still return to raw beauty of our natural world, enjoy it and hopefully even save it. I also love how the album's beginning wanders into a blippy bloopy forest of darker more mysterious songs but after Codex the final two songs lead us to closure, and reconcilement with the artist's more experimental methods.
Give Up the Ghost - "Don't haunt me...Don't hurt me" chant the boys as if they were five year olds facing down their Boogymen. The song could be seen as a person-to-person plea from one lover to another, but like many songs on this album the romance of this song feels connected to a greater love for the endangered enviroment..... Like the best of Radiohead's work it is hard to nail down, which is wonderful. As for the sound, this is a perfect accoustic Radiohead track akin to the B-side 4 Minute Warning as if they band is all sitting around a circle beating on their acoustic guitars....The song's bridge here is soaring and stupidly beautiful. (The sonic noises at the end sound like insects in the night.)
Separator - What an uplift! The way the other tracks grow in a thoughtful way, this song lifts like an R&B track off the ground, swagger intact. It manages to showcase Phil's drumming, Thom's lyrical genius....by the time the guitars come in with their up-beat lilts, you will be in heaven and that's when Thom promises, "If you think this is over then you're wrong". The final layer is Johnny's spooky reverb guitar that comes out of the 1980s and wipes the plate clean.
---I gave this album 5 stars because, even now having heard it 100 or more times, the album keeps revealing itself to me and is such a potent personification of the new direction the band talks about.
To the naysayers I only suggest listening to it again. Though not using such drastic changes as Paranoid Android, the album will surprise you with its different levels and subtle shifts. They have built a solid world here and it is full of secrets and and sincere beauty for the patient ear. These guys know what they are doing and they are delivering on levels that I have only begun to uncover here. Thank you Radiohead.
This album feels like the follow up to the Eraser more than In Rainbows. The tracks on this album also has the feel of Radiohead's more interesting B-sides, which usually was the arena where they put their more experimental efforts and let themselves hand loose. In the case of this album, all the tracks feel like honest innovations, like the band is seeking new territory, and so in a way it feels like an album of b-sides which in my book is an excellent thing.
This review was originally written only after a few listens, however, after living with this album for a week here are my *personal* thoughts on the individual tracks;)
Bloom - a sonic welcome mat, with some surprises - the Yes-like synths over-arching like the Northern Lights are a nice effect. These are definitely sounds we've never heard from them. Thom's voice swells in an attempt to swallow the cosmos, like the song says, "Open you mouth wide" he could be asking us to think larger, to take in more...
Morning Mr. Magpie - Here we're catching a hint of the muted guitar swagger that began on Amnesiac with I Might Be Wrong and went on to be more apparent in Hail To the Thief. Like strutting through a haunted house. Sexy. Twisted groove.
Little By Little - As with the rest of the album, this song plays with your expectations of what the beat should be. The guitars stand out but are never overstated, feels very Kid A to me, especially with the sounds that lace the last minute of the track, very Everything in its Right Place. This song goes on a tad long for me, but it's so interesting the relationship between the guitar, vocals and beat that it is hypnotic as heck.
Feral - this is SO Amnesiac it kills me, raw and expansive. It feels like digital drums but THESE ARE LIVE DRUMS that go back into digital again! Amazing. Colin's bass work which is especially fascinating on this album weaves in an out of focus. Thom Yorke meanwhile paints us a sonic tapestry with his vocals, sounding like a creature that has been infected by technology but (like well...a feral) is returning to a primal state, a forest where words are not necessary.
Lotus Flower - is the re-invention of the pop song. Tom Yorke released a video for this on his website where he's dancing around like Prince, enjoying the dancability of his music...YES HE INVENTED A LOTUS FLOWER DANCE. Its an amazing video with just him dancing on an empty stage, black and white, that could be construed as part piss take but is certainly celebration of Radiohead's new sound and direction. He has so much hip swinging swagger! The song is so bad ash, he hangs on notes like a junky, addicted. And when he goes to the chorus your heart wants to burst from your chest. Very Idiotech. I also love the sincere. This song is surely about addiction (hence the Odyssey reference) but the lyrics here as well as the other songs are so sincere and poetic. I'm in awe.
Codex - The most devastatingly beautiful track. I can't even find words. The first listen was a holy moment. Even the nay-sayers will have to give that one to the band. Like the dragonflies Thom Yorke mentions here, the horns section swoons over the top of the songs promising the divine. As for the theme of the album, (and I realize I may be overreaching) this song proves that the technology-addicted human can still return to raw beauty of our natural world, enjoy it and hopefully even save it. I also love how the album's beginning wanders into a blippy bloopy forest of darker more mysterious songs but after Codex the final two songs lead us to closure, and reconcilement with the artist's more experimental methods.
Give Up the Ghost - "Don't haunt me...Don't hurt me" chant the boys as if they were five year olds facing down their Boogymen. The song could be seen as a person-to-person plea from one lover to another, but like many songs on this album the romance of this song feels connected to a greater love for the endangered enviroment..... Like the best of Radiohead's work it is hard to nail down, which is wonderful. As for the sound, this is a perfect accoustic Radiohead track akin to the B-side 4 Minute Warning as if they band is all sitting around a circle beating on their acoustic guitars....The song's bridge here is soaring and stupidly beautiful. (The sonic noises at the end sound like insects in the night.)
Separator - What an uplift! The way the other tracks grow in a thoughtful way, this song lifts like an R&B track off the ground, swagger intact. It manages to showcase Phil's drumming, Thom's lyrical genius....by the time the guitars come in with their up-beat lilts, you will be in heaven and that's when Thom promises, "If you think this is over then you're wrong". The final layer is Johnny's spooky reverb guitar that comes out of the 1980s and wipes the plate clean.
---I gave this album 5 stars because, even now having heard it 100 or more times, the album keeps revealing itself to me and is such a potent personification of the new direction the band talks about.
To the naysayers I only suggest listening to it again. Though not using such drastic changes as Paranoid Android, the album will surprise you with its different levels and subtle shifts. They have built a solid world here and it is full of secrets and and sincere beauty for the patient ear. These guys know what they are doing and they are delivering on levels that I have only begun to uncover here. Thank you Radiohead.
45 of 49 people found the following review helpful
By David Lynch
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Definitely worth the wait!
Whenever I see or hear derisive commentary on Radiohead's latest release it lets me know that all is still well with one of the greatest bands in Rock history. Stravinsky provoked a riot when he premiered The Rite of Spring, in 1913, and we can all be thankful that his monumental work outlasted the collective breath of the naysayers. Be thankful that there are musicians like these today who refuse to conform to an agent, a producer, or even public opinion, as they stay true to themselves and defy all the forces that would work to package their genius into a nice tidy, market-ready box. All the notes were made ready hundreds of years ago, and the lines have been created, worn-out, and recreated time and again. I revel in the fact that this band still has what it takes to shock and stun a world that is largely jaded and programmed to the point of numbness.
So, you say, The King of Limbs is not your Radiohead? (Just like the New Coke wasn't the Old Coke) Well, I hope they will never be anyone's Radiohead.
If this were visual art, I might call it Impressionism, or Post-Impressionism. With those, you don't walk up too close to the canvas, or you'll only see the blobs of paint. Same thing here with KOL. Don't listen too closely at first; you might be turned off! But, give it a chance, and absorb it gradually. It is immensely rich stuff!
Whenever I see or hear derisive commentary on Radiohead's latest release it lets me know that all is still well with one of the greatest bands in Rock history. Stravinsky provoked a riot when he premiered The Rite of Spring, in 1913, and we can all be thankful that his monumental work outlasted the collective breath of the naysayers. Be thankful that there are musicians like these today who refuse to conform to an agent, a producer, or even public opinion, as they stay true to themselves and defy all the forces that would work to package their genius into a nice tidy, market-ready box. All the notes were made ready hundreds of years ago, and the lines have been created, worn-out, and recreated time and again. I revel in the fact that this band still has what it takes to shock and stun a world that is largely jaded and programmed to the point of numbness.
So, you say, The King of Limbs is not your Radiohead? (Just like the New Coke wasn't the Old Coke) Well, I hope they will never be anyone's Radiohead.
If this were visual art, I might call it Impressionism, or Post-Impressionism. With those, you don't walk up too close to the canvas, or you'll only see the blobs of paint. Same thing here with KOL. Don't listen too closely at first; you might be turned off! But, give it a chance, and absorb it gradually. It is immensely rich stuff!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I got this cd the day it came out, and it's taken me a while to get to a point where I feel I can review it, because it's taken me this long to really get into it. 'The King Of Limbs' is a WEIRD record.
TKOL is a hard album to get into, no doubt about it. The songs are more focused on rhythm and textures than pop hooks, and it shows as soon as you press play. If you're looking for 'In Rainbows 2' or another 'Kid A' you're going to be very disappointed.
That being said, this is not a bad album. It will probably take you several listens to get into it. This is another 'Hail To The Thief' type album- in that it's a transitional record, and obviously so. The next record, if there is one, will probably not sound like this.
I recommend starting with "Little By Little", which sounds almost like it might have been written around the 'In Rainbows' period, in that it has that weird kind of Thom Yorke "seduction song" feel to it. It has one of the few easily accessible hook-y melodies on the album. "Lotus Flower" also has a strong melody floating over a beat-heavy soundscape. "Mr. Magpie" dates from 2000 or 2001 apparently, and its (relatively) more straightforward melody makes it probably the most accessible song on the record.
The only real issue I have with this record is the sequencing. "Bloom" is a good track, but it isn't a strong opener. I feel "Mr. Magpie" should have had that honor, with Bloom being placed somewhere in the middle; maybe before or after the instrumental "Feral".
I've heard a lot of complaints about the packaging, but honestly, I download most of my music from amazon, and when I actually do buy a cd, the case gets tossed in a box in the closet, so it really doesn't matter to me. Besides, Radiohead has an awesome website with plenty of related artwork and stuff I can copy and download if I want.
This isn't going to be one of Radiohead's classic albums like 'Ok Computer', 'Kid A' or 'In Rainbows'. 'The King Of Limbs' is a snapshot of a band that's still experimenting after 20 years together. It's weird, difficult, and rewarding, but you gotta give it a chance, because it's worth it. It just takes a while to grow on you.
TKOL is a hard album to get into, no doubt about it. The songs are more focused on rhythm and textures than pop hooks, and it shows as soon as you press play. If you're looking for 'In Rainbows 2' or another 'Kid A' you're going to be very disappointed.
That being said, this is not a bad album. It will probably take you several listens to get into it. This is another 'Hail To The Thief' type album- in that it's a transitional record, and obviously so. The next record, if there is one, will probably not sound like this.
I recommend starting with "Little By Little", which sounds almost like it might have been written around the 'In Rainbows' period, in that it has that weird kind of Thom Yorke "seduction song" feel to it. It has one of the few easily accessible hook-y melodies on the album. "Lotus Flower" also has a strong melody floating over a beat-heavy soundscape. "Mr. Magpie" dates from 2000 or 2001 apparently, and its (relatively) more straightforward melody makes it probably the most accessible song on the record.
The only real issue I have with this record is the sequencing. "Bloom" is a good track, but it isn't a strong opener. I feel "Mr. Magpie" should have had that honor, with Bloom being placed somewhere in the middle; maybe before or after the instrumental "Feral".
I've heard a lot of complaints about the packaging, but honestly, I download most of my music from amazon, and when I actually do buy a cd, the case gets tossed in a box in the closet, so it really doesn't matter to me. Besides, Radiohead has an awesome website with plenty of related artwork and stuff I can copy and download if I want.
This isn't going to be one of Radiohead's classic albums like 'Ok Computer', 'Kid A' or 'In Rainbows'. 'The King Of Limbs' is a snapshot of a band that's still experimenting after 20 years together. It's weird, difficult, and rewarding, but you gotta give it a chance, because it's worth it. It just takes a while to grow on you.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
NOT SURE..
KING OF LIMBS IS RADIOHEAD'S NEW ALBUM AUTOMATICALLY I GET EXCITED FOR A NEW RELEASE FROM MY FAVORITE BANDS, AND RADIOHEAD BEING ONE OF COURSE I HAD TO GET IT. Read more
Published 1 month ago by MUSICFAN89
5.0 out of 5 stars
My favorite Radiohead album!
That's right! Now before you angrily start the circulation of OK Computer biased hate on this review, I ask you to step back and read what I have to say. Read more
Published 1 month ago by TG
3.0 out of 5 stars
Radiohead - A Tough One For Me
I have listened to this album multiple times in the hope that it would grow on me more with additional exposure, but I have to be honest that of the Radiohead albums that I own,... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Steven Sly
1.0 out of 5 stars
What Used to Be...
It's hard to imagine this came out of the same band that made "The Bends" and "OK Computer". It's such a shame that such musical talent goes to waste on an album like this. Read more
Published 2 months ago by W. Dillon
5.0 out of 5 stars
thankyou seller
I bought a record player mainly because i wanted to listen to radiohead on records. I'm not too into this album though. Hopefully their next one will be better
Published 3 months ago by christopher jones
1.0 out of 5 stars
Is Radiohead done?
There comes a time in every artists' career when they run out of ideas. Similar to an athlete on our favorite team, it's difficult to believe that there may a limit to the talent... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mud Pyramid
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great album
I enjoy different types of music and this was a must have for my collection. If you like this genre of music you will enjoy this album.
Published 3 months ago by jaeusu
5.0 out of 5 stars
Radiohead! King of Limbs
I only just realized that besides being Radiohead!, this album had been released on my birthday! No Wonder it's soo Awesome! HA!* I really don't get the average reviews... Read more
Published 4 months ago by dollsandmagic
5.0 out of 5 stars
It grew on me
I listened to this disc a couple of times but couldn't get into it. But later I heard the live versions from In the Basement, and they were phenomenal. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mmmm
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enough
I agree with everyone who said this album isn't radioheads best or doesn't do them justice. I was pissed off for months. Now I can't get enough. Read more
Published 4 months ago by David Caplan
