Amnesiac (2-10" LPs)

So, no, I wasn't surprised to read reviews that cried "injustice!" for the band not to release EXACTLY what they expected. I, for one, am NOT changing my tune about Radiohead being the most innovative, talented, and creative band currently on the planet. And Amnesiac fits nicely along the other releases of the Radiohead cataloge. Is it perfect? No, and get over it....

How does the album stand against other Radiohead releases? I believe that it fits in somewhere after "Ok Computer," but before "The Bends." You probably don't agree with me, but "Kid A" remains first on the list, for no other release has been more dynamic, more creative, more envelope pushing than that 2000 release. Not only is it the best by the band, but onw of the best in the last decade. Once again, as they did with "Everything in its Right Place" on "Kid A," they blast off the second disc of the Kid Amnesiac Sessions with a killer keyboard piece, "Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Time Box." Just like most of their track one's, THIS is what I want to hear when I put the album in. Others that will eventually be Radiohead classics are "You and Whose Army?," the amazing "Knives Out," the ironic "Dollars and Cents," "I Might Be Wrong," and the current acoustic single, "Pyramid Song." I believe this album shows the bands capabilities. They made this album at the same times as "Kid A," yet they are two very different albums. Many editors tied this release as a trip back to the band's roots, of the more accessable days. But this is NOT "The Bends." It sounds more like a hybrid of "Ok Computer" and "Kid A," and besides, I think the band is done with repeating itself. Thom Yorke has said that if he can't be different and challenge the band, they may as well give up.

So, despite what you think, this album was not made in the 'N Sync-style to please the listener alone. Radiohead is not writing music to appease you or the media or the critics that hail them musical gods. If you were let down by this album, fine. It wasn't made for you anyway.


Quite possibly the worst album   June 6, 2001
25 out of 59 found this review helpful

Quite possibly the worst album I've ever listened to all the way through. It's one thing to "grow" and "experiment" as a band(famous last words ususally), but Radiohead would never have gotten a record deal to begin with if they had put [stuff]like this out. Because Pablo Honey, The Bends and OK Computer were so good, it appears that we now have to suffer through these ego-driven side projects. If you liked their first albums, there is NO WAY you can find this CD tolerable, because it contains none of the qualities that made those albums great. There is zero songwriting involved here;instead just a series of beeps, thumps and hisses. It sounds like a teenager in the basement who experimenting with his new synthesizer and drum machine he just got for Christmas. Enough with this already! And please, you 5-star reviewers out there, don't pretend as though this is groundbreaking ingenious music. If Thom Yorke recorded himself snoring for 50 minutes you people would give it 5 stars and laud it as visionary. Just admit that you've been had for the 2nd album in a row. Otherwise, you're just encouraging them to create another album like this one.


This isn't Kid B, It's Amnesiac   June 10, 2001
J. Henson (Washington, The State)
17 out of 26 found this review helpful

I read every review about this album and they all said easier to listen to. That is a total fabercation by loopy journalists who don't even listen to music but write reviews anyways!

This album no matter what is *awesome*

Every track was unique and blatently Radiohead.

Packted Like Sardines crushed in a tin can: This is a weird song, nothing like "Karma Police" as some people say but it fits the album very well.

Pyramid Song: Beautiful, so very beautiful. it almost wants to make you cry, the lamented "There was nothing to fear, nothing to doubt" gives me the chills everytime.

Pulk/Pull revolving doors: Reminds me of a cross between Enos and Nine Inch Nails.

You and who's army?: Melodic at first than billows your system with sheer power, all the while Thom whispers a reserved chant, excellent!

I might be wrong: Reminds me of an old Cars songs, It felt out of place tapping my foot to it.

Knives Out: People say this is THE single from the album (These are of course the same people who don't believe in global warming)It was Ok but not the phenom it was built up to be.

Morning Bell/Amnesatic: The Best version out there, this on had a creepy eerie creepy feel to it. This song sounds like a cousin to Karma Police!

Dollars & Cents: I liked this one very much, the lyrics are hard to understand but you get the same gut reaction as you would get listening to Electioneering.

Hunting Bears: A Break for the listener to just enjoy the sounds of the Computer.

Like Spinning Plates: Honestly disappointed me, it was mediocre at best.

Life in a Glass House: This song was AMAZING, oh man this was good! This was so jazzy and amazingly simple I just love it! Radiohead should do a double album next time around a Bends like album and a serious Radiohead influenced Jazz record. The National Anthem and Life in a glass house prove they could make something amazing!!! (Hint Hint)

Something pretty good in this deal!!!


Read this Review   June 27, 2001
Rob Dixon (Lawrence, LS)
17 out of 19 found this review helpful

I'm writing this in response to the poor reviews some people have given Amnesiac. They seem to all hail "The Bends" and "OK Computer" and seem to want the band to make carbon copies of those albums for the rest of their career. I admit that they are great albums, but I for one am extreamly grateful that Radiohead are evolving and constatnly challenging me as a listener.

Still, even you you can't wrap your head around the newer Radiohead material, don't fault them for not playing the same style of music you used to make out to in college. They've matured, and I would suggest you do the same.

Last, I have to say that Radiohead with all their albums, Amnesiac included, are the only band - other than say Pink Floyd or The Beatles - that makes albums I can listen to 50, 100, 500 (a lot!) times and still love every minute of it. That wouldn't be the case if they were fomulaic and predictable.


Misconceptions about Radiohead   June 21, 2001
James Chong (Los Angeles, CA)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful

I recently watched Grant Gee's stunning experimental documentary about Radiohead entitled, "Meeting People Is Easy," which provides a fascinating glimpse of Thom Yorke as a musician (and I don't use this term lightly) desperately trying to cling to his very real notions of artistic integrity. Yorke is clearly a man who does not feel comfortable with all of the trappings of fame and who is tortured by the increasingly formidable barriers that his band's popularity has erected between himself and his vision of where Radiohead's music should go.

Critics and fans like to easily categorize each of Radiohead's very distinct albums as merely being their attempt to throw people off and see what new things they can do as a band. However, Yorke himself has stated that their musical shifts have come more from a desperate need to keep the band together than from any whimsical desire to laugh in the face of expectations. What it comes down to is that Radiohead is a band that continues to make music because of their own essential need to do so, and not as some shallow, artificial reaction or answer to popular and critical success.

Amnesiac, the band's fifth album, is strewn with Yorke's increasingly numb, pained voice and ambiguous lyrics as he delves into issues such as midlife crisis (Packt like sardines in a crushd tin box), suicide (Pyramid song), divorce (Amnesiac/Morning bell), and avarice (Dollars & cents). As typical of Radiohead, they tackle these heady issues with raw emotional honesty, subtlety and grace, and in a very undidactic manner.

It is obvious to anyone who listens carefully to each of their five albums that Yorke's voice progressively changes with the sound of the band; the clarity of the lyrics and statements in Pablo Honey sound nothing like the barely coherent, faintly comprehensible crooning that we get in Amnesiac. In a recent interview, Yorke hinted that the changes in the band's music have been a reflection of his gradual disinterest in the sounds afforded by standard guitars and drums. Getting the rest of the band to agree to the new "electronic" direction that Radiohead has been taking was no small feat for Yorke, but once everything fell into place, the end result was nothing less than brilliance. Critical reviews of Kid A and Amnesiac have placed far too much emphasis on lyrics. Sure, Radiohead has something to say, but it is becoming more and more clear that they want to say it through their elaborately constructed soundscapes rather than through words. They are not content with simply telling a story; they want to create a whole new world, a world that their listeners can immerse themselves in and allow themselves to dissolve into. Indeed, as quite evident in Amnesiac, Yorke's voice has all but disintegrated into these vast and gloomy musical vistas; essentially, his voice has become another instrument -- another invention borne from the genius of Radiohead.