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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed reviews, January 25, 2008
Exit Music is a reworking of songs from the Radiohead catalog. Matthew Herbert, Sa-Ra, RJD2, Osunlade, Shawn Lee, and Bilal are among the people invited to contribute to the project. I'm not extensively familiar with Radiohead's music so I tried to defer the details of this review to my son's mother who is a fan. Her assessment consists of the following quote: "Some of it's good. Some of it's not. I still like the originals better."
That's all I could get out of her, so I went back to the drawing board and decided to tell you what I thought of these songs without comparison to the originals. After going through the record again, I came back to what she said. Some of it's good. Some of it's not.
The lead single is Mark Ronson's version of "Just." It's a good decision as Ronson delivers a big rolling track punctuated by nice horns and a prominent rhythm guitar. Alex Greenwald comes through with a nice straightforward vocal turn and the one Radiohead song I'm familiar with off this album gets nicely retuned.
Matthew Herbert had a pleasant surprise for me on "(Nice Dream)" in the form of Mara Carlyle. Some of you may be familiar with her since further research showed me she's had some other material out, but I was not. As my good friend Applejac says of Minnie Ripperton, Mara Carlyle's voice to me is "like hearing an angel sing." Matthew Herbert knew what he was doing because his production is a study in unobtrusive minimalism. It's like he was trying to stay out of Carlyle's way and I thank him for it.
Sa-Ra gets the nostalgia nod for their skating rink era version of "In Limbo." It's the skate jam done well. Made me want to go looking for my copy of "No Parking on the Dancefloor."
Pete Kuzma's production on "High & Dry" made me write down "Radiohead meets Marvin Gaye." His choice of Bilal for the vocals takes the version a bit further down that path. Bilal glides right along with the track's mood, making the better choice of a restrained approach rather than flexing his chops.
The Bad Plus do a beautiful acoustic version of "Karma Police" that bordered on free jazz.
Finally we get to Osunlade and his take on "Everything In Its Right Place." If a place could make its own music, Africa would make songs that sound like Osunlade. Here, Osunlade does what he always does. He takes the source material right back to the rhythmic heritage of Africa and keeps it there. A truly masterful reworking if there has ever been one.
There were some low points. Shawn Lee made a fairly dull pop song out of "No Surprises" and RJD2's noise creation did little to inspire on "Airbag." But overall, I think there are more highlights here than not. Now you'll have to excuse me. Admitting I didn't know a lot of Radiohead has sentenced me to a listening session.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Radioheads have reached an impass, August 28, 2006
I don't know about all of these negative reviews, but they seem like the cynical dismissals i'd expect from radiohead fans who value the vaguely rock/folk side of the band over anything else. These songs are great translations of radiohead tracks into other genres, all eclectic and all leftfield, but mostly nu-jazz and electronica based. Being a fan of these genres to a great degree, i admire what has been done here, and most of the tracks have brilliantly carried radiohead's spacious song structure into other musical styles (which seems like an obvious step to take after listening to a few of tracks on this). Waajeed's interpretation of knives out, meshell n'degeocello's version of national anthem, and the randy watson experience (ahmir thompson on drums, and the stylistic james poyser on the keys) reworking of morning bells are all satisfying on their own, whether attached to radiohead or not. Go into this album expecting REINTERPRETATIONS, and keep an appreciation of the original songs in mind without expecting them straight up.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding, June 2, 2006
I truly love covers, they tend to make the familiar at times seem completely foreign don't they? Oh I could write all day about how these songs don't live up to the originals but what would be the point? It takes courage to forget what you have come to know and embrace someone else's vision. Kudos to K7 and to those of you who open your ears occasionally. Very tasteful and highly recommended.
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is mainly Alternative Rock, quite Hip-Hop, with hints of Traditional R&B”
