Kid A Reviews

Radiohead released their 4th album in October 2 2000 and it was a huge commercial success, as it was the first time that the band reached the No1 in US Charts. After their Magnum Opus, Ok Computer, everyone was expecting that a great album would follow! Radiohead surprised everyone with their experimental colors! Kid A wasn’t an album that would take advantage of the OKC success and follow the same path.. Radiohead played with string, brass, electronic beat and the result was great but completely different! Let’s have a look at the reviews of important music magazines for Kid A.

NME wrote: “Seemingly overwhelmed by the exorbitant praise heaped upon ‘OK Computer’, Radiohead elected to get in touch with their avant-garde side, that time (dis)honoured escape clause in the white liberal rock star’s lexicon of How To Deal With Success. But although they might disavow the process, Radiohead have been complicit in their own deification through sheer aptitude. Now, predictably, in attempting to reinvent themselves as a more elusive entity, they’ve made a record that by its mere existence will only heighten the intrigue and intensify their global cult“.

Rolling Stone‘s David Fricke writes: “If you’re looking for instant joy and easy definition, you are swimming in the wrong soup“. And adds: “But the whole point of Kid A is that there are no sure things, in pop or anything else — and that our best intentions and finely tuned plans are often just fuck-ups waiting to happen. In a recent Web chat, Yorke claimed that the album title refers to “the first human clone — I bet it has already happened.” For all of its apparent inscrutability, Kid A is, in fact, a clear-eyed space opera about a plausible future — a generation raised like plant life. And inside the hermetic electronics and art-pop frost is a heated argument about conformity, individuality and the messy consequences of playing God“.

Pitchfork writes: “This is an emotional, psychological experience. Kid A sounds like a clouded brain trying to recall an alien abduction. It’s the sound of a band, and its leader, losing faith in themselves, destroying themselves, and subsequently rebuilding a perfect entity. In other words, Radiohead hated being Radiohead, but ended up with the most ideal, natural Radiohead record yet“.

Finally, Q Magazine says: “In the time since OK Computer, Radiohead seem to have built up reservoirs of fresh bile and listened to a lot of Aphex Twin records…. Musically, the album’s best features are its keening, lapwing guitars and a thin, atonal orchestral drizzle…. Kid A will still baffle and upset those who are disappointed that they don’t do Creep anymore“.

Amnesiac Reviews

Amnesiac, the 5th album of the band, was undoubtedly one of the most experimental moments of Radiohead but yet an album that was a success! The album was recorded while Kid A was about to be released and hit the stores in 2001. What did the great music magazines wrote about that great album?

Pitchfork wrote: “we’ve been hearing that this album, recorded during the same sessions as last year’s wildly experimental Kid A, would serve as a return to the band’s mid-90′s roots. Now we come to find it was all a lie“. It adds “Despite the heights attained by much of Amnesiac, I prefer Kid A for a number of reasons. Quality aside, the questionable sequencing of Amnesiac does little to hush the argument that the record is merely a thinly veiled b-sides compilation; Kid A played out as a cohesive whole that evoked panic and paranoia as well as surrealism and disorientation. Still, Amnesiac’s highlights were undeniably worth the wait, and easily overcome its occasional patchiness“.

NME‘s Victoria Segal wrote: “Amnesiac hints at a darker, better truth: this is a record that choses its rarefied isolation, feels its elevation, a damaged record, yes, but not a fragile one. Radiohead are in their heaven and nothing’s right with the world“.

Jon Pareles writes in Rolling Stone: “Amnesiac is the work of a band determined to pursue its most wayward and musicianly impulses wherever they might lead. As such, it’s clear proof that the progressive-rock impulse survived the twentieth century. On Amnesiac, which was made during the same recording sessions that yielded Kid A last year, Radiohead have set out to erase all that their listeners once expected. Acting like a bunch of artists – not, as in most current rock, a business consortium touting a consistent product – Radiohead continue to slough off the style that made them standard-bearers for anthemic Brit pop in the 1990s”.

Finally Sputnikmusic.com wrote: “Should you buy this? The answer is one that is cause for pause. If you haven’t gotten a Radiohead album in your life, don’t get this one. The ambience filled diddies and airy tracks can be intimidating to the first time listener. But if you are into Radiohead, and particularly enjoyed Kid A, then the recommendation is given. Thom Yorke’s signature warble and some brilliant Radiohead-ish songs are present throughout the album, even though there’s some dirt to dig through to get the good ones. But the way Radiohead works in different styles, even if for one or two tracks, makes for an entertaining listen, to say the least. They always fit an unexpected style into every one of their albums, and on Amnesiac, it’s no different“.

Ok Computer Reviews

Ok Computer, is, for a big part of the Radiohead fans, the best album they ever composed! Though we believe that the 2007’s In Rainbows is even better we can’t agree that Ok Computer isn’t something less than a Masterpiece! With millions of copies sold Ok Computer is considered to be one of the best albums of the 20^th Century. The album’s hottest moments are Paranoid Android (the best song they ever created?), Exit Music (for a Film) and Karma Police. A great pure alternative rock album, with up tempo tracks (like Electioneering, or Paranoid Android), sweet ballads and sad slow melodies (Exit Music, Karma Police, The Tourist). Yorke had his best performance till that moment. But it wasn’t just an alternative rock album.. it was something more.. it was the first sign that Radiohead will be experimental in their following creations.. remember the proggresive-ish 3 parts of Paranoid Android, for example!! Don’t forget that the readers of Q Magazine voted Ok Computer as the Greatest album of all times.

Answers.com writes: “Radiohead have stripped away many of the obvious elements of guitar rock, creating music that is subtle and textured yet still has the feeling of rock & roll. Even at its most adventurous — such as the complex, multi-segmented “Paranoid Android” — the band is tight, melodic, and muscular, and Thom Yorke‘s voice effortlessly shifts from a sweet falsetto to vicious snarls”.

BBC‘s John Lusk writes: “The dense instrumental textures never seem over-stuffed and are wide-ranging and often thrilling, driven by Phil Selway¹s meaty drumming, layered with growling guitars and the varied use of keyboards, synthesisers and electronic treatments. Tom Yorke’s dread-filled voice will get on some peoples’ nerves.“

Pitchfork‘s Ryan Schreiber writes: “Thom Yorke’s fragile vocals backed by the intricate guitar duels of Jonny Greenwood and Ed O’Brien, Phil Selway’s intense, rhythmic pounding and the subtle but effective bass guitar of Colin Greenwood sends an energetic flare clean through your speakers, hurtling into the room around you and charging the air with static electricity.“

Finally Rolling Stone‘s David Fricke writes: “OK Computer,” ostensibly a concept LP about a zombie world of hard law and infernal software, is a song cycle about serial fear and suffocating routine, laid out in mad leaps of melody, tempo and pathos that slowly accrue their queer beauty“.

 

 

In Rainbows Reviews

In this page you can find a synopsis of the reviews made for the amazing last album of the band, called In Rainbows.

According to our opinion maybe this is the top Radiohead album, the more mature creation and it worths every minute we were waiting for its release. What can we say for the album. A great mixture of up and slow tempo tracks, some great ballads, all following the absolutely unique sound of Radiohead. Some of the songs are new and some go 10 years back (like the ethereal Nude).  Our highlights are the first single called Jigsaw falling into place, the first track of the album i ever heard Reckoner and amazing up tempo called 15 steps (noticeable heavy rythms). Yorke attracts his fans with his great performance, his hypnotic vocals, the creative ideas of Jonny excite us and the band seem to be in its best shape ever.

Don’t forget to notice the brilliant marketing decision to offer the album for digital download with optional payment! And of course the album was a great commercial success!

Rolling Stones magazine writes “In Rainbows has uptempo guitar songs and moody acoustic ballads, full of headphone-tweaking sound effects. All of it rocks; none of it sounds like any other band on earth; it delivers an emotional punch that proves all other rock stars owe us an apology.” “Otherwise, the music is full of vividly collaborative sonic touches, from the Gary Numan synth-nightmare drones of “All I Need” and “House of Cards” to drummer Phil Selway’s surprisingly deft way with his brushes and woodblocks. No wasted moments, no weak tracks: just primo Radiohead.“

NME writes

for Reckoner: “Another highly orchestral number, this song pre-dates the ‘Hail To The Thief’ sessions and has been played live before. Thom Yorke’s voice sounds choir-like.“

for Videotape:  “The most highly anticipated new song. First played live in 2006, the song is minimal and sparse, build around Thom Yorke’s sombre guitar. Juddery drums and swirly effects kick in later in the song, but overall it remains an understated, tender number. Another song picked out by fans as a highlight.“

BBC says: “In Rainbows proves, once and for all that Radiohead still have the will and desire to not just weird us all out, but to make achingly, desperately beautiful music.” “So, big sighs of relief all round. In Rainbows is the sound of a band who effortlessly straddle the avant garde/popular divide, and also sound like they actually enjoy being themselves again.“