Review Summary: Underwhelming
"In 2001, when he was asked about Kid A, Ed O'Brien described the band's new direction as a ‘freedom to approach the music the way
Massive Attack does: as a collective, working on sounds, rather than with each person in the band playing a prescribed role.’ The rejection of the model that proved so successful in Ok Computer divides people to this day, yet, love it or hate it, the risks they took over a decade ago helped add another dimension to the band."
After listening to ‘Mezzanine’ and being presented with the opportunity to listen to 'Kid A', the album that was ranked No. 1 in lists of the best albums of the 2000s by Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, The Times and Sputnikmusic, I was excited ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG6AlhpN9AY ).
Yet, what is it that this album does that we haven't heard before? True
Everything in it's Right Place and
Idioteque are fine tracks, and
How to Disappear Completely pierces you every time, but that can hardly make up for an atrocious vibe that persists through the overindulgent, meandering and abysmal vibes pervading this ‘experimental masterpiece’.
The eponymous title track, ‘Kid A’, dutifully serves as a microcosm of the album as a whole – namely, what it feels like to walk into a snowstorm in only a t-shirt. Worse still,
The National Anthem blares trumpets in your ears irritatingly until the overwhelming desire is simply to turn this crap off. Yet if that’s not bad enough,
How to Disappear Completely manages to ruin the mood faster than a
Massive Attack vs. Burial track, making you feel so worthless and overcome with depression that the rest of the album simply cannot overcome it. Though
Idioteque shines interestingly later on, it can do nothing more than flicker briefly because it lacks the fortitude to overcome the nauseating tracks leading up to it.
At this point in their career,
Radiohead had managed to create the incredibly innovative set of supersounds that was 'OK Computer' and the simple yet excellent pop rock album 'The Bends', as well as
Talk Show Host, one of the greatest single songs to come out of the '90s. But such meandering by established bands is certainly not unique.
The Red Hot Chili Pepper's 'By The Way' is an album that offers parallels in many ways. It has the soothing
Zephyr Song, the rising
Cabron that can only make you smile, and the incredible tracks
Can't Stop and
Venice Queen, but the overall tone of the album is forced, and listening to the album in its entirety is a chore. Similarly
Nas and
Damian Marley, respective legends in rap and reggae, managed to create a handful of masterpieces in 2010's 'Distant Relatives', but too many filler tracks making the whole record simply not enjoyable.
I cannot argue that I don’t feel moved by this composition, but if all it does is irritate me, depress me, and meander me in no direction whatsoever (Thom Yorke did confess to picking lyrics form a hat), then that’s pretty bad.
All these have flaws
Will lead to mine
