Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Ultimate Dragon Inner Soul Fire Mega Super Giga Ki Energy Gaia Eternal Blast +5
(Or 'Why Some People Watch Dragonball Z')
What, do you think I actually KNOW?
Pfft. Give me a little credit.
Instead, I'm going to ramble about how I think Radiohead are overhyped. That's right, another self-indulgent rant about music.
See, I consider myself a fan of Radiohead. I don't understand why many of their fans are hoping they'll release another OK Computer (since they kinda already did OK Computer). I guess if they mean 'release something that's original and has the potential to make us re-think what we know about rock music, like OK Computer did', then I guess they did that too with Kid A.
But I derail. I'm really intending to write about their consistency. I haven't heard much from Pablo Honey (but almost every fan admits that the first album wasn't the best) and I've not really heard through The Bends properly (so I COULD say that what I heard from it on first listen isn't terribly original and that it sounds quite a bit like everything else around that time, bar Johnny's crazy I-can't-find-my-lower-frets guitar playing, but I won't). I have OK Computer. So I'll start dumping on that.
It's not that it's a bad album, it's just that it's patchy. Like I said, consistency is a good thing, and any tracks that I skip over or just damn well can't remember after I've listened to it for months (upon months upon months) are probably not too memorable in many ways. Keep in mind, few albums that I listen to cause me to make use of 'Old Skippy'
Airbag is a good one. That was the first Radiohead song I heard and I kinda liked it. Still do.
Paranoid Android is OK as well...although my opinion of it dropped a little once I heard that Thom claimed that its multi-sectioned structure was influenced by 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. This is not a bad thing, but after listening to the two songs back-to-back, I can say with certainty that they did take a pre-existing formula and put it to good use but couldn't they have done something else to it as well? It seems like they unconciously lifted the song structure from a song from years ago, and applied it to an otherwise conventional Radiohead song.
Subterranean Homesick Alien is also cool, as is Exit Music.
Let down's one that I just can't remember anything about. I just started playing it though, to see if any memories come flooding back. One did: 'Oh, God, not this song, skip forward'. Bad sign. I think the way it's sung is rather dull. (I've finished listening to it now...it actually ends quite well, but it's mainly in the way the vocals are layered. It's a slight redemption, but I still don't think it's a great song)
Karma Police. Oh dear. I remember this song. It genuinely bothers me to this day. It's so goddamn simple and by-the-numbers in every way I can think of and sounds like a B-side from the Bends. Yet they even made a video for it. I'm skipping the rest of the track - by it's very existence, this song depresses the hell out of me. It's even mixed badly.
Electioneering. Radiohead really are sticklers for lyrical content that makes you think, aren't they? Again, instrumentation is dull. I like the lead guitar line, but even that gets repetitive by two minutes in. And the drumming is...*cough* beatles-esque*cough*. If I were a drummer banging out something like this, I'd get bored. With life. Yeah, sure, he plays a few fills here and there...I don't blame him. This song, too, has horrendous mixing.
Climbing Up The Walls is one I like. Although 'No Surprises' isn't one of my favourites, it's not bad in any way, so I guess it's a good thing.
Lucky and the Tourist...I just can't remember for the life of my what either of those songs sound like. They both run into each other (but I don't think it's intentional)
(Just listened to Lucky...again, not bad once I'm listening to it. Still a little dull in places, particularly the way the song starts. But it gets into a good thing after a few minutes. Am I going to say the same thing about The Tourist? No way...As I force myself to listen to it, I just keep looking at the 'time left' display. The guitar solo at the end isn't bad though. Doesn't stand out like a guitar solo shouldn't., so I guess that's a point for good mixing.)
My point (no, I'm far from done) is this: If you took out, say, Paranoid Android, Airbag, Climbing, Exit Music, would people still like it? Forget that, if you just took out Paranoid Android and left everything else, would it be as popular? I doubt it.
Kid A, at least, is much more difficult for me to hurl abuse at. When these guys made it, they sounded pretty damn original. The National Anthem in particular is quite insane. I guess Optimistic and In Limbo are potential throwaway tracks, but it's another case of 'good, just not great'. Morning Bell is the only song that I dislike...which makes me wonder why Amnesiac features a rearranged version that (somehow) is even worse. I guess I have to respect a group of musicians that can take the worst song off one of their albums, botch THAT up (as if it weren't already) and put it on the next album.
Which leads me to Amnesiac. I listened to this one last night (since I hadn't listened to it as much as Kid A) and I enjoyed more of it than I remembered from last time.
Generally, I can't complain up until I Might Be Wrong, which is still a pretty good song. I think the guitar line is cool as a rhythmic device, but wonder what it would be like if it were pushed back into the mix a bit...
Knives Out is a little sleepy. Not something I've felt the need to skip over, but at times it comes close.
Morning Bell/Amnesiac...I've been over that. I don't want to give it any more of my time...
*pause*
Damn, I just did.
Basically, the only song after that that I dislike is Hunting Bears. Dollars And Cents and Spinning Plates are so-so...and Glasshouse doesn't seem to work. The instrumentation is great, but it is basically Radiohead trying to play a genre they can't pull off. When I listen to this one, I'm always concious that they're playing a genre for the sake of playing the genre.
Maybe my opinion of them will change eventually and new light will be shed on those songs I dislike. The same thing happened for a few months after I bought Lateralus (no, I won't stop bringing up Tool every second bloody post). Of course, I eventually took to liking the songs that once seemed like filler because the only problem with them was that they were too subtle for their own good. Although I still think 'Reflection' goes on for way too long...
Oh, and I'm aware that I didn't do Hail To The Thief. I'll probably do something about that in the next week or so.
Wha...Why aren't I hearing sighs of relief?
Pfft. Give me a little credit.
Instead, I'm going to ramble about how I think Radiohead are overhyped. That's right, another self-indulgent rant about music.
See, I consider myself a fan of Radiohead. I don't understand why many of their fans are hoping they'll release another OK Computer (since they kinda already did OK Computer). I guess if they mean 'release something that's original and has the potential to make us re-think what we know about rock music, like OK Computer did', then I guess they did that too with Kid A.
But I derail. I'm really intending to write about their consistency. I haven't heard much from Pablo Honey (but almost every fan admits that the first album wasn't the best) and I've not really heard through The Bends properly (so I COULD say that what I heard from it on first listen isn't terribly original and that it sounds quite a bit like everything else around that time, bar Johnny's crazy I-can't-find-my-lower-frets guitar playing, but I won't). I have OK Computer. So I'll start dumping on that.
It's not that it's a bad album, it's just that it's patchy. Like I said, consistency is a good thing, and any tracks that I skip over or just damn well can't remember after I've listened to it for months (upon months upon months) are probably not too memorable in many ways. Keep in mind, few albums that I listen to cause me to make use of 'Old Skippy'
Airbag is a good one. That was the first Radiohead song I heard and I kinda liked it. Still do.
Paranoid Android is OK as well...although my opinion of it dropped a little once I heard that Thom claimed that its multi-sectioned structure was influenced by 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. This is not a bad thing, but after listening to the two songs back-to-back, I can say with certainty that they did take a pre-existing formula and put it to good use but couldn't they have done something else to it as well? It seems like they unconciously lifted the song structure from a song from years ago, and applied it to an otherwise conventional Radiohead song.
Subterranean Homesick Alien is also cool, as is Exit Music.
Let down's one that I just can't remember anything about. I just started playing it though, to see if any memories come flooding back. One did: 'Oh, God, not this song, skip forward'. Bad sign. I think the way it's sung is rather dull. (I've finished listening to it now...it actually ends quite well, but it's mainly in the way the vocals are layered. It's a slight redemption, but I still don't think it's a great song)
Karma Police. Oh dear. I remember this song. It genuinely bothers me to this day. It's so goddamn simple and by-the-numbers in every way I can think of and sounds like a B-side from the Bends. Yet they even made a video for it. I'm skipping the rest of the track - by it's very existence, this song depresses the hell out of me. It's even mixed badly.
Electioneering. Radiohead really are sticklers for lyrical content that makes you think, aren't they? Again, instrumentation is dull. I like the lead guitar line, but even that gets repetitive by two minutes in. And the drumming is...*cough* beatles-esque*cough*. If I were a drummer banging out something like this, I'd get bored. With life. Yeah, sure, he plays a few fills here and there...I don't blame him. This song, too, has horrendous mixing.
Climbing Up The Walls is one I like. Although 'No Surprises' isn't one of my favourites, it's not bad in any way, so I guess it's a good thing.
Lucky and the Tourist...I just can't remember for the life of my what either of those songs sound like. They both run into each other (but I don't think it's intentional)
(Just listened to Lucky...again, not bad once I'm listening to it. Still a little dull in places, particularly the way the song starts. But it gets into a good thing after a few minutes. Am I going to say the same thing about The Tourist? No way...As I force myself to listen to it, I just keep looking at the 'time left' display. The guitar solo at the end isn't bad though. Doesn't stand out like a guitar solo shouldn't., so I guess that's a point for good mixing.)
My point (no, I'm far from done) is this: If you took out, say, Paranoid Android, Airbag, Climbing, Exit Music, would people still like it? Forget that, if you just took out Paranoid Android and left everything else, would it be as popular? I doubt it.
Kid A, at least, is much more difficult for me to hurl abuse at. When these guys made it, they sounded pretty damn original. The National Anthem in particular is quite insane. I guess Optimistic and In Limbo are potential throwaway tracks, but it's another case of 'good, just not great'. Morning Bell is the only song that I dislike...which makes me wonder why Amnesiac features a rearranged version that (somehow) is even worse. I guess I have to respect a group of musicians that can take the worst song off one of their albums, botch THAT up (as if it weren't already) and put it on the next album.
Which leads me to Amnesiac. I listened to this one last night (since I hadn't listened to it as much as Kid A) and I enjoyed more of it than I remembered from last time.
Generally, I can't complain up until I Might Be Wrong, which is still a pretty good song. I think the guitar line is cool as a rhythmic device, but wonder what it would be like if it were pushed back into the mix a bit...
Knives Out is a little sleepy. Not something I've felt the need to skip over, but at times it comes close.
Morning Bell/Amnesiac...I've been over that. I don't want to give it any more of my time...
*pause*
Damn, I just did.
Basically, the only song after that that I dislike is Hunting Bears. Dollars And Cents and Spinning Plates are so-so...and Glasshouse doesn't seem to work. The instrumentation is great, but it is basically Radiohead trying to play a genre they can't pull off. When I listen to this one, I'm always concious that they're playing a genre for the sake of playing the genre.
Maybe my opinion of them will change eventually and new light will be shed on those songs I dislike. The same thing happened for a few months after I bought Lateralus (no, I won't stop bringing up Tool every second bloody post). Of course, I eventually took to liking the songs that once seemed like filler because the only problem with them was that they were too subtle for their own good. Although I still think 'Reflection' goes on for way too long...
Oh, and I'm aware that I didn't do Hail To The Thief. I'll probably do something about that in the next week or so.
Wha...Why aren't I hearing sighs of relief?
Comments:
I'm glad I live with you. NOw I can HIT YOU!
When you've changed music and affected people's lives the way Radiohead have, then you come back and say that Life In A Glasshouse doesn't work and that Let Down is boring. But until then , shut the flaminglips up! Gosh!
And try listening again. Because if you can't tell the difference between Lucky and the Tourist, well, maybe the problem aint with the band.
I have more to say, but like you, will be back....
For now I will content myself with glaring at you across the room.
Grrrr.
When you've changed music and affected people's lives the way Radiohead have, then you come back and say that Life In A Glasshouse doesn't work and that Let Down is boring. But until then , shut the flaminglips up! Gosh!
And try listening again. Because if you can't tell the difference between Lucky and the Tourist, well, maybe the problem aint with the band.
I have more to say, but like you, will be back....
For now I will content myself with glaring at you across the room.
Grrrr.
and what is your opinion on Thom Yorke's new album, hmm? I have stickers for it from work.
I honestly don't know much Radiohead apart from Paranoid Android (which I liked), Karma Police (which I hated because it was depressing and sounded like Paranoid Andriod, just without the bit where it starts to rock) and Knives Out (which I'm pretty indifferent to, Your Neutralness).
Oh, and the Village People have changed people's lives. I think that merits a bigger Bam than Linkin Park.
I honestly don't know much Radiohead apart from Paranoid Android (which I liked), Karma Police (which I hated because it was depressing and sounded like Paranoid Andriod, just without the bit where it starts to rock) and Knives Out (which I'm pretty indifferent to, Your Neutralness).
Oh, and the Village People have changed people's lives. I think that merits a bigger Bam than Linkin Park.
Good point on the Village People. I stand corrected.
Just listened to The Eraser last night, in fact (Sarah bought it yesterday). I didn't have high expectations. I figured it'd be Thom singing some pretty simple songs over minimalist clicks and beeps and that's pretty much what it was, albeit with a few other sounds thrown in here and there. It's (very) minimalist Radiohead.
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Just listened to The Eraser last night, in fact (Sarah bought it yesterday). I didn't have high expectations. I figured it'd be Thom singing some pretty simple songs over minimalist clicks and beeps and that's pretty much what it was, albeit with a few other sounds thrown in here and there. It's (very) minimalist Radiohead.
