After what seemed like many long, musically inadequate days of having no music to really look forward to, I was starting to despair. There were bands I really liked, but everything seemed too samey (bar of course from The Suburbs and a couple of others.) In the meantime, indie & therefore in a sense rock music seemed to have almost died out. Then, on Valentine’s Day, I awoke without love in mind, but finding a very different, almost lost love of mine rekindled. The love (almost strictly plutonic) of Radiohead had instated itself back into my life with the best news possible. A new Radiohead album was finished. Not only this, but it was being released on that very Saturday (later changed to Friday.)
I was shocked, but as far as shocks come, this was definitely one of the best I have ever experienced in my life. After the shock came a sudden explosion of joy and after the joy came an immediate realisation. I, as well as everyone else, knew NOTHING about the new album. All we knew was the album title and artwork but aside from that, we knew absolutely zilch.
So, not only was everyone ultra excited at the prospect of a new Radiohead album, we were all bursting with anticipation as to what it would sound like. Now, in a month where Lady Gaga and The Strokes had released new material, each greatly anticipated by their own loyal fanbases, they were left almost i the dust by the ambiguous super powerful musical force that was crash landing in our own midst. This I felt, was the start of a new musical era.
By my own humble search for clues about the new album which I searched for roughly the day it was expected to launch, I stumbled upon a ‘first review’ of the album by the Guardian. Intrigued, I read on, only to find the most aggravating, stupid & pointless review I’d ever read. Not only had the reviewer only listened to the album once, they immediately cast it down for not reinventing music again. What the actual fuck! How can people keep expecting Radiohead to constantly create an Ok Computer for every genre possible? It’s absolutely absurd. AND, how can you tell after ONE listen, whether it's a reinvention? For one thing, Ok Computer has been voted in countless best albums lists as the best album of the last 25 years. Not only this but after Kid A, In Rainbows AND The Bends, all brilliant albums in their own right, they are immediately scorned for not doing so again. It’s a ridiculous presumption. Ok yes, I can understand that Radiohead, in the past, have kinda had this expectation self imposed just by creating so many amazing albums, it’s sad that people cannot appreciate it for what it is : a brilliant album. The fact that it’s not as revolutionary as others should not be a negative factor.
In my own opinion, after having acquired the album through a legal download (I know weird!) I found the listed reaction to be utter nonsense.
The King Of Limbs is a great, different album. It’s moved along with the times, it’s changed completely compared with In Rainbows and the fact that they have pretty much abandoned guitars on the record is an amazingly ambitious and brave move. The songs echo almost the post dubstep era of James Blake and co, with Give Up The Ghost hauntingly minimal throughout, whereas Lotus Flower is out and out groove in the style of Idioteque but with more lyrical meaning. It seems that they’ve take everything that’s made all of their previous albums great and rolled it into one brilliant album. Ok, it isn’t as good as Ok Computer but that’s hardly a criticism considering its legacy and accolades. If there is a bad word to be said about the album however, is that at 8 songs long, it’s almost not enough. On saying this, there are however mutterings of another album that’s already been finished which would obscure the above comment, though nothing has been confirmed yet.
What else is remarkable about Radiohead is that with constantly reinventing their music, they are now rejuvenating record sales as well. The rush announcement and digital download seems to have found a way of tackling the downloading situation of an album leak, by making it available a few months before the physical copy is released, something that everyone is so used to in the current musical climate.
So to summarise, not only have Radiohead made another excellent albums, where they hae once again changed the direction of the music they make, they are kick starting the faulting music industry. Two amazing feats conquered in a week, leaving the Guardian journalist with a fucking ostrich sized egg on his face. Here’s to Radiohead, the saviours of music and the all around kings of musical reinvention.
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