Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

The King of Limbs is a 3 and the LftB version is 3.5 you're saying? I'd say give more listens and let the great atmosphere and interesting rhythms wash over you. Bloom, Staircase, Codex, and Give up the Ghost are four of their best.

All those songs together that I've mentioned in my above comments, and this album with Ill Wind, In Memory of Harry Patch, and Spectre, make for two of the best albums of the decade.

Both these albums should've been released with all the songs included on each imo, maybe lose Burn the Witch, and all together it's only 13 songs totaling around one hour for both albums.

" if you could get all 13 songs to flow together cohesively."

i used to have a playlist where i did this and it was gr8

"Just having the 8, and with Bloom not being its full potential like it is live"

bloom is perfect on the studio album.

"a little underwhelming knowing that at least 5 more songs came from those sessions"

literally every radiohead album has like 5 to 27 b-sides from their respective sessions, this included as you know (except the ones from this aren't very good)

"Both these albums should've been released with all the songs included on each imo, maybe lose Burn the Witch, and all together it's only 13 songs totaling around one hour for both albums."

as much as i love some of the TKOL b-sides i have to argue against this. part of what makes TKOL even more special for me is its brief run-time. I love ~40 minute albums, I think its the perfect length and often it means you are getting little to no filler, and you are getting an immediately memorable experience front to back that doesn't have as much potential to test your patience or overstay its welcome. there isn't a lot of time in the day to sit and literally do nothing while you listen to an album start to finish. any longer than that and your brain doesn't even have the power to focus uninterruptedly for the whole duration. it makes longer albums take a lot longer to process and familiarize to the point where every moment is so instilled in your mind that it becomes reflex, and those are the albums that for me become the most personal. you want to play it again as soon as it finishes. thats big for me.

the butcher is my favourite TKOL session song and i don't care at all that it isn't on the album. the thing is a tight, perfect, unique, succinct little package. in fact all of radioheads best albums are less than 50 mins. new Lapalux is like that too.

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

I used to have that playlist too. I like the studio version of Bloom but the live version elevates it, sounds more compelling and clear especially toward the end. OKC, Kid A, and IR are perfectly flowing masterpieces, and each of their b-sides works as its own separate album too (Kid A's being Amnesiac, ha)

I guess it became kind of irrelevant ever since mp3s came into existence, since anyone can make a playlist of how they think the album should be for themselves. Putting that aside, I see your point and can appreciate a short album too.

Radiohead can pull off a 1+ hr long masterpiece tho, it's been done multiple times by bands like Tool, Swans, Hammock, motWell / KD, Amon Tobin, & BoC. Even if some of the albums might be stronger in a few ways if the worst songs were cut, I wouldn't want to be without them, & I think it's a band's responsibility to put their songs together and have the album flow well whether it's 30 minutes or 80 minutes.

I'm not sure Radiohead are the best at that outside of The Bends, OKC, Kid A, and IR, but I think it was possible with their others. Thom Yorke released his own track list for HTTT cause he saw what a mess that album turned out to be, despite all the songs being good or excellent individually.

More great songs in a well flowing album can only be a good thing. I just think TKOL, this, and HTTT are good candidates for that, or at least to have bonus tracks. You said yourself that the 13 song version of TKOL was great to have. It might be for the best that both versions of TKOL exist, b/c I like having all the songs together in the LftB version, but when I'm in a certain mood I do enjoy the more succinct studio version.

Album Rating: 3.1

yeah but Thom's tracklist of HTTT opens with There There or something, it's ridiculous

well aye of course there are hour+ long masterpieces by artists that do not include Tool, Swans, or Hammock ;]

just explaining why i like me a short album

i really love the tones on this album. and the songs are all just so pretty

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

I'm not saying Thom Yorke's alternate track listing for HTTT is perfect, but it's an improvement to the original imo. I'd just add Gagging Order and Fog (Again) as bonus tracks.

Pots didn't you have 10X Days at a 5/5 rating for a while? Or was that ironic or something?

Album Rating: 3.1

I'm not against the idea of shortening HTTT at all I just think his tracklist does it very poorly lol. I imagine this is why Radiohead tracklists are determined via democracy

if thats the case then this album is a fucking great anecdote for the failings of democracy

Album Rating: 3.1

this album is basically a compilation, something like 9 out of 11 tracks are just re-recorded from anywhere from 3-20 years ago. if it had been marketed as a compilation the complete lack of flow, thematic resonance or meaning wouldn't bother me as much as I'd probably enjoy this a whole lot more. it's the fact that it's a comp wearing a studio album's clothes that bothers me

yeah i'm aware and deffs agree

Album Rating: 3.0

The King of Limbs is a 3 and the LftB version is 3.5 you're saying?



Exactly. But I’ve only listened to LftB a few times.

Album Rating: 3.0

this album is basically a compilation, something like 9 out of 11 tracks are just re-recorded from anywhere from 3-20 years ago



Yup, and most of it sounds like leftover scraps to me, aside from a few tracks (like True Love Waits, which is an incredible song).

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

Funny you say that cause True Love Waits is like the oldest most well known song on the album.

I don’t see how the songs being old matters in terms of the quality. Sure the track list doesn’t really make sense, but it sounds just as innovative and emotional as Radiohead have always been. Others disagree and the musical styles and songwriting might not appeal to you; that’s just personal preference and makes sense, but if this came out before the internet and you thought all these songs were new and recent, that would somehow make it better?

"just as innovative"

mmmmm no. TKOL sounded innovative. this sounded like a bunch of old Radiohead songs. As it is. they might have sounded innovative if they were released a decade prior sure.

"but if this came out before the internet and you thought all these songs were new and recent, that would somehow make it better?"

it would just make it more confusing as to why radiohead randomly regressed a stage as a band.

Album Rating: 3.0

I don’t see how the songs being old matters in terms of the quality



I guess it doesn’t really. It’s just that most of the songs don’t fully resonate with me. I do think both albums are pretty good, but that’s it. Amnesia is a b sides album and I really like that one.

Album Rating: 5.0

That new Ed single is pretty disappointing

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

This doesn’t sound like old Radiohead songs to me, it’s an innovative album just in a different way from TKoL. Both are original and diverse sounding in their own ways imo

For anyone who doesn’t know, Amnesiac was recorded with Kid A but actually has its own set of b-sides, some of which are great like Kinetic, Worrywort, and Fog. The Pyramid Song and Knives Out singles/EPs have them.

I liked the new Ed O’Brien song a lot, sounds like Brian Eno.