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So what's your favorite Radiohead album? Is there are a "best" album at all?
I always respected Radiohead for their uncanny ability to come out with very new and different sounding music, yet at the same time always remain unmistakable "Radiohead". Not many bands are as immediately recognizable from just a second or two of music.
Anyway, as for my personal preference, I'd say The Bends, OK Computer, and Kid A are my favorites. I don't really listen to Pablo Honey much. And Amnesiac has some songs I love, but doesn't seem to fit together as an album as well as the others. Strike that, it's not that it doesn't "fit together", there's nothing really wrong with the way the album flows. It just doesn't grab me like the others do.
But between the first three, I'm not sure what I'd say. OK Computer has a special place in my heart being the first Radiohead album I heard and really getting me into the band in the first place. Two years ago it would've been my favorite, but then I got really into The Bends, opting for Radiohead's more "rock" based music. Until very recently, when I discovered a new found love for Kid A, and have been listening to it relentlessly for a few months now.
It's funny how our taste in music changes over time. Even though I've owned all these albums for some time now, my appreciation of them is always changing. It's possible that my love of Kid A is partly due to not listening to it for a while, and the newness of everything. But I'm gonna give myself more credit than that, and go on record saying that's my favorite Radiohead album.
Interestingly enough my favorite songs on the album, Everything in its Right Place and Idioteque, are its most electronic songs. But following right on their heals is The National Anthem and How to Disappear Completely and Optimistic and I'm just gonna stop now before I list the whole damn album.
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Like I said Twinks, 3 months ago I would've been right there with you. And now Kid A has done something to me that few things manage to do: stick in my head and haunt me when it's not around.
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I still love The Bends. Its what got me back into Radiohead after not listening to them for a while.
Question, do you know why they have Morning Bell on two different albums? I think the version on Kid A is superior, but I'm just curious. It's an interesting thing to do.
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It fits with the whole concept of Amnesiac as an album where they forget about everything they did before (notice that Knives Out or whichever it is is more or less the same riff as Paranoid Android) but also as a paired album with Kid A (same set of sessions), but I've never heard them commenting on it directly. I imagine they have, but I don't listen to their interviews and all that sort of stuff very often.
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That was the original question, yes, but not my question. You'll notice that I also chose The Bends. Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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I would have to say...OK Computer. We flew up to see them in Toronto for their Kid A tour, and it was amazing live, but not as moving in recorded form.
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My first impulse is OK Computer. Not only was it the first one I got into, it's survived the test of time. I go through phases with all the others, but at the end of the day, songs like Exit Music, Lucky, Tourist, and Karma Police will always be at the top of my playlist.
I have to break the mold a bit here and say that my second favorite is probably Hail to the Thief.
I don't have much else to say- I think you've already done a great job of capturing some of my favorite things about the band- the way they mix excellent songs into a well thought out composite for each album, their incredible range from rock to electronica, and general creativity and flare.
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The only live Radiohead I've really heard is what's on "I Might be Wrong". I've never seen them live and am pretty upset about that. What's it like Twink(in regards to the Kid A question)?
I forgot about Hail to the Thief. I loved it when i first listened to it, but more and more now it's becoming a bit like Amnesiac for me. A few absolutely great songs, but the album on a whole doesn't do it for me.
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It's unbelievable, and so much better than the album versions of the Kid A/Amnesiac tracks that I never even bothered buying Amnesiac again when I lost it, and I also haven't listened to Kid A more than once or twice since then (and it was a year ago last October, so that's some considerable time).
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To whoever asked who Radiohead was, they're the best band on the planet. But they are not for the impatient - you have to really listen to their albums before you can start to appreciate them. Once you do, though, there's no going back, and the other music that you love just isn't quite as good anymore.
OK Computer is their best album. No other album I have listened to is as cohesive a package as OKC. From Airbag, the opener, "in a fast German car/I'm amazed that I survived" to the closing plea of The Tourist, "idiot, slow down", the album presents a remarkable commentary on modern society.
Every song is good, most are great. Exit Music (For A Film) is the best song that could ever be written about Romeo and Juliet (it was originally done for the soundtrack to the film with DiCaprio, sadly). Electioneering is a very rocking, straight-forward guitar track about political BS. Climbing Up The Walls is one of the creepiest songs I've heard, an amazingly layered song with 16 violins playing quarter tones apart from one another. I like it more every time I hear it. Paranoid Android is Radiohead's magnum opus, a sort of three act song that summarizes the album as a whole. All of the other songs are fantastic as well and the way they flow together makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
Most "best album ever" lists generally feature either The Beatles' Revolver or Sgt. Pepper at the top. I have both, and they don't stand up to OK Computer. I would say that Kid A is their second best album, though I prefer The Bends and Hail to the Thief. All their albums (with the exception of Pablo Honey) are fantastic, and though I don't think they will ever top OKC, I can't wait to see what they do next.
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I have to also go with OK Computer. Between the sentimentality of it (for me) and the sheer awesomeness of the music, I can't really say anything else.
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Mmmm. Toughie. I, too, first got into Radiohead with OK Computer. I saw the Paranoid Android video on MTV, I think the first time it was played, and I immediately fell in love. A band that could produce such a unique and beautiful song must have others.
Then I bought The Bends. I'm going to have to say The Bends is my favorite, even though I've kind of worn out the album by listening to it so much. Fake Plastic Trees is still one of the best songs ever recorded.
Still, my favorite Radiohead songs are both B-sides: Talk Show Host (the R&J soundtrack version) and Cuttooth. I absolutely loved the live version of Motion Picture Soundtrack that Thom recorded years ago. The version on Kid A is way too overproduced and gunky. The original song is breathtaking.
I actually like Amnesiac better than Kid A, just by a small margin. Pyramid Song is wonderful, and I love I Might Be Wrong. Kid A was such a shift from the Radiohead I had fallen in love with that I kind of resented the album. Plus, it introduced music that wasn't played by all five members of the band, kind of Thom's one-man show. Radiohead are always at their best when it's all five of them recording together on their instruments, in analog.
Like Jonny Greenwood said, Hail to the Thief is a great listening album. I love it. But it doesn't have the soul that the previous albums do. Still, it's the one I play the most frequently nowadays.
Radiohead seem to be taking a hiatus right now. Hopefully not permanently. I know Thom and Jonny have kind of been taking things their own direction, and it seems like the band is undergoing kind of a mid-life crisis. May they overcome their egos and create an infinite amount of new music for me.
[ April 30, 2005, 12:23 AM: Message edited by: advice for robots ]
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I actually read that they're supposed to have a new album out sometime this year, so don't despair just yet.
I agree with pretty much everything you said, afr. "Pyramid Song" gives me shivers. So does "Cuttooth." I've only heard a couple of their songs live, but I love them--"Like Spinning Plates" is excellent. I'll have to check out some more of their live stuff, I guess.
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I agree with the songs you guys are mentioning from Amnesiac. I love both Pyramid Song and Knives Out, and a few others. But I just feel that the album as whole isn't on par with their best works. It's tough because there really aren't any bad Radiohead albums, and not a single one that I don't like. It's like trying to pick the best movie out of your favorite movies.
Bryan, my personal Beatles preference is Abbey Road. I think it's the best album they ever made, and one of my top 3 favorite albums ever.
quote:Radiohead seem to be taking a hiatus right now.
Actually, as someone alluded to, they are in the studio right now, so hopefully we'll get a new album this year or early next year. They have been for a month. Jonny was doing something called the Ether Festival last month and Yorke showed up to sing a new song called Arpeggi. Then, a couple weeks ago, Yorke played a new song called House of Cards at a Trade Justice rally in England. He also played an unreleased song called Last Flowers. You can go to www.ateaseweb.com to listen to rather poor quality MP3s of House of Cards and Last Flowers, while Arpeggi can probably be found on any file sharing program. It all sounds pretty promising.
Since there was some talk of B-sides, I have to chime in and say my favorites are Polyethylene and The Amazing Sounds of Orgy. I don't know how the latter didn't make it onto Amnesiac, it's an amazing song.
And Strider, Abbey Road is actually my favorite Beatles album as well. But I still don't think it's as good as OKC....
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I heart them when i played music in my band. Before it i loved Pink floyd because of their wonderful originality. Now we have Radiohead as creative as Pink Floyd.
My favorite album is uncontestable Ok Computer. I like a lot the live album "I might be wrong"
About Kid A and Amnesiac, at the beginning, they would make one album : "Kid Amnesiac". But they have too many music. That why these two albums are similar in the sound.
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quote:Go ahead, name some better bands. I dare you.
Tool Fugazi Godspeed You! Black Emperor Jawbreaker The Flaming Lips
But this is really a matter of opinion. I just really get tired of Radiohead getting praised as the most original/best band ever. There are so many bands that are at the same level and in my opinion several that are better. I do really love The Bends though and their other stuff is pretty good too.
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That reminds me, it's been a little while since I listened to a Tool album clear through (lately I've been on a bit of a string tribute kick; both of the Tool string tribute albums are quite good, if very dark). I should do that today.
Where's a good place to start with GY!BE? I've been meaning to listen to some of their stuff.
Also, I think Muse are better than Radiohead in terms of raw talent. Matt Bellamy alone is more gifted than the whole of Radiohead put together. That's not to belittle Radiohead's talent -- the whole band is certainly very talented -- but rather to highlight how absurdly talented Bellamy is. The guy is just unbelievable. I might be biased, though, because Muse sound like what I wanted Radiohead to become after The Bends, and instead I got OK Computer (which I like, quite a lot, but not as much as The Bends). Radiohead wouldn't write songs like Stockholm Syndrome, Space Dementia, or Citizen Erased. And none of the pianists in Radiohead is capable of something like the middle section of Butterflies & Hurricanes. Heck, that's beyond the skill of most classically trained pianists.
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Heh. I have to say, though, that I find the bridge of Prison Sex very powerful. You know, the part where it quiets and then Maynard sings "I have found a kind of temporary sanity in this..." I won't transcribe the rest, but if you know the song you know what it is.
I dunno that True Love Waits is really a love song. I'm not all that big on it in any case. I'd probably go with Lucky, which could sort of be construed as a love song if you look at it askance.
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As with most people here, it alternates between "OK Computer," "Kid A," and "The Bends" for me, with the first two generally taking the top spot. "Fake Plastic Trees" and "Street Spirit" are two of the most beautiful songs ever written, but the rest of "The Bends," though composed of excellent songs, doesn't have the same cohesion that "OK Computer" and "Kid A" do. Plus, "Paranoid Android" and "How to Disappear Completely" are absolutely PERFECT songs.
That said, both "Pablo Honey" and "Hail to the Thief" have their brilliant cuts as well: "Lurgee" and "You" from the former, and "There There" and "A Wolf at the Door" from the latter, just to name a few.
Edit: I don't think anyone (even the members of Radiohead themselves) would argue that Radiohead's music is good due to the virtuosity of the members of the band, although I'd argue that Jonny Greenwood IS awesomely talented in the sense that he can play every weird instrument ever made, and is a damn good guitarist to boot. Radiohead's brilliance comes from the texture, complexity, and emotion in their compositions; as Chris O'Riley once noted, they are one of the only bands whose music, when transcribed for piano, can SOUND like a classical piece.
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For GY!BE I'd start with Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada or Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven though all of their material is top notch.
How are the other Muse albums? I have Absolution but not any of the others.
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The other Muse albums are good, though I'd say Absolution is the best one. The middle one, Origin of Symmetry, is the one I'd put second (and a very close second, at that; there was a time when I more or less abandoned absolution for it).
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