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| In Rainbows | 
 enlarge | Artist: Radiohead
Label: Ato Records / Red
Category: Music
List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $8.98
You Save: $5.00 (36%)
New (29) Used (11) Collectible (3) from $7.94
Avg. Customer Rating:  267 reviews
Sales Rank: 119
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.9 x 0.3
MPN: 21622
UPC: 880882162221
EAN: 0880882162221
ASIN: B000YXMMAE
Release Date: January 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 In Rainbows - All Hype January 25, 2008
11 out of 58 found this review helpful
Radiohead continues thier slide into obscurity. The media hype might continue to fuel interest and sales, but it doesn't compose the music. I appreciate all those fans who rave ... innovation, creativity, ground breaking (blah). In Rainbows comes through as all the latest RH releases, barley tollerable and at times, simply annoying. For those who managed to download it for free ... you paid too much. And the faithful who will dis this review, saying it's from a mindless, pop loving, neophite ... you are wrong. You can call this art, but you can't call it good.
 Here's squinting at you, Kid A. January 5, 2008
10 out of 15 found this review helpful
On first listen, you would hardly notice that this is the most disturbing album that Radiohead has put out -- by far. You'd be more prone to admire the echoing, canyon-like spaces that their music now inhabits, or the way punchy melody has been sacrificed to consistent atmosphere the way it might be on a Wayne Shorter jazz album. The first thing you notice is that this album is an album, the way no Radiohead album has been before, and the way few pop "albums" have been before. There is not a moment squandered and each of them reflects, like a mirrored window into past and future, the others surrounding it, without ever devolving into dreaded concept album territory. I would say it is well-nigh perfect from a musical standpoint.
It may seem initially like this is just a mature and polished summation of all of Radiohead's tricks. But really, everything has changed. Listen closely and you'll see that Thom Yorke is no longer playing the doomsday prophet but has become bodysnatched, he is now one of "them," and knows it. The do-gooder impulses of his youth have now been seen through as a trick. It's as if we are hearing an all-enveloping, Cinemascope elaboration of "Creep," but much darker, where the maladjusted young man has sold his soul ( references to both Faust and Mephistopheles! ) to become the rich stooge posing as the hero of the people. $80 special gift-box sold separately.
As indescribable as Kid A, Yorke somehow taps into his very 70's, Updikean midlife crisis -- wife-swapping seems to be an underlying theme here, and I must say, it's the most unexpected and the most skin-crawlingly weird to ever emerge on a Radiohead CD -- to create something universal, a message from the lost souls of the present to the even more lost souls of the New Age future, somewhere over that rainbow. Yorke reveals himself, with disturbing self-hatred I haven't encountered since Elliot Smith died, as both ordinary and a loser, with no answers, grotesquely co-dependent with a mystery woman who I'm pretty sure is not his wife, and "Mephistopheles just beneath." At the end, the only consolation he's left with is having lived some kind of vague "perfect day," like you'd see in a cell-phone advertisement. And you know what makes this even creepier? Yorke wants you to relate to him, as if what he's describing is the essence of being "adult."
Well, I did not recognize myself in this album. I felt superior every step of the way to Yorke, while admiring, from a distance as high as the clouds, the well-crafted emptiness on display. This is not a ship I want to sink with. However, there is an undeniable alien beauty in watching the Titanic go down, steered into an iceberg by its half-mad captain, as each porthole light, representing so many lives, slips under the cold black waves. What I'm saying is that Yorke is an almost comically exaggerated illustration that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
I'd praise him for being honest except praising the void is not my style -- so I'll just say that Radiohead is still technically the best rock band out there, and this album is as fascinating as their best, with their most unpredictable and rewarding song structures.
The most 'traditional' album since "OK Computer" January 1, 2008
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
Radiohead famously self-released its 7th studio album in October, 2007 via a name-the-price-yourself digital download, and now almost 3 months later comes the actual physical CD release. The way Radiohead went about this (one of the biggest bands in the world forgoing the major label structure completely) made as much news, if not more so, than the music itself. So hoes does the music actually stack up?
"In Rainbows" (10 tracks, 43 min.) starts off with "15 Step", which for about a minute makes you think you're listening to more of Thom Yorke's brillian solo album "The Eraser", but then electric guitar crashes in, reminding you this is the full band. A bone-crushing "Bodysnatchers" follows, then giving way to "Nude", which is reminiscent of "How to Disappear Completely" from Kid A. "All I Need" caps off a very strong first half of the album. On the second half, the band turns more introvertly, quieter, check out "Faust Arp" with a beautiful acoustic guitar intro. "Reckoner" again reminds me of "The Eraser" sound. The album ends in a great 1-2 punch, the uptempo "Jigsaw Falling Into place" and the piano-driven ballad "Videotape".
In all, "In Rainbows" is a return to the more traditional (if there is such a thing) Radiohead. Indeed, since the release of "OK Computer", the band has taken a number of sideroads: the brilliant experimental "Kid A" and its baffling and underwhelming companion album "Amnesiac", followed by the unfocused and sprawling "Hail to the Thief" have finally lead to "In Rainbows". I saw Radiohead headline Bonnaroo in June 2006, where they played several of the "In Rainbows" tracks. This album is further proof (to the extent that was still necessary) that Radiohead is one of the most important rock bands out there these days.
(As an aside: the CD packaging comes with a do it yourself kit, including stickers, to make this into a proper CD jewel box release. Amazon has posted a hilarious short video on here that shows you how to properly assemble the CD box.)
Life Changing Music!! January 1, 2008
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
You should buy this album because it could change your life like it did mine. Buying 'In Rainbows' has been the single best decision I've ever made. This album cured my depression, insomnia, and overeating of chocolate truffles. Previous to buying it, I had only a few friends but now I have made many new friends. It also solved my constant monetary difficulties. I even met a beautiful woman who I am planning one day soon to marry. I've tried to change my life in the past by reading some of those hokey new-age books (like, e.g. 'The Secret', which seemed to me utterly pointless), but listening to Radiohead works a lot better. Plus, the songs are absolutely incredible. Try it! You won't be disappointed...
 I tried so hard to like this... February 8, 2008
9 out of 13 found this review helpful
...but I just can't. Radiohead has been my all time favorite band for 8 years. I paid over $500 to travel and see then in TN at Bonnaroo in 2006. They have produced some of the most amazing music I have ever heard; I have always felt a emotional connection to it. Kid A, OK Computer, and the Bends are outstanding and eclectic. Even Hail to the Thief was underated. But this album is...bad. Some of the songs are just downright boring (Videotape, House of Cards). On Last Flowers (on the 2nd disc in the Discbox version) I could swear Thom has gone temporarily tone deaf! Reckoner is hard to listen to as well. 4 Minute Warning (disc 2 also) starts off with their signature buildup but then just ends without getting anywhere. The first 4 songs and Jigsaw are not bad, Weird Fishes is actually pretty good, but they just can't compare to their earlier work. What I don't understand is how so many can claim this is their best album, or best work since OK Computer. They must be listening to some other album.
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