Re: kid a vrs httt vrs old radiohead

Date: 12 Jun 2003 08:17:54 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.music.radiohead
Size: 2,384 bytes

Okay. My turn.
I remember liking "Creep" when the "alternative" AM station (!) played it
constantly my last year in high school (I'm going on 28 next month). During one
of these times, one of my friends announced he would buy the album that night;
he had decided. So he did. But I never got to listen to it. When I got to
college, my dorm-mate had "Pablo Honey" (on tape!) and I listened to that thing
more than he did. But for some reason, "The Bends" and "OK Computer" just hit
me the wrong way. I simply don't know why and kick myself for it now.
Shoot to a handful of years ago. A buddy makes me a mix CD and put "Idioteque"
on it. I'm hooked on the song. I had U.N.K.L.E.'s album, and loved the Thom
piece on that, so I started to wonder if I somewhere went wrong. I went out and
bought "Kid A." I found the album completely accessible, totally enjoyable and
listened to that thing ad infinitum until the next week, I decided to go out
and buy "OK Computer" and listened to THAT forever. The next week I thought I
should go out and get "The Bends" and I listened to that album just as much. It
took another month or so for me to decide to get a copy of "Pablo Honey."
So, to answer some of the questions posted in this thread, I kinda' went
backwards after letting go of them ten years ago. I think that "OK" is pretty
brilliant, and would declare that to be the best album, but I find the live "I
Might Be Wrong" to be pretty wonderful and play that one just as much, if not
more, than "OK."
I'm finding "Hail" to be pretty good. During my first listen, I felt as though
most of the songs were a little dull. Not bad, but they just didn't spark
anything. But, on the second and third listen, they got under my skin and I
find the majority of the album to be quite good. Talk of returning to an "OK"
or "Bends" era sound seems a little stupid. "Hail" doesn't have the same feel
as those. Quite frankly, "Bends," while immeasurably fun, lacks a lot of the
maturity I enjoy from the later albums. And while "Hail" and "OK" are both
pretty diverse in sound from song to song (as are in "Kid A" and "Amnesiac")
the albums don't feel alike. "Ok" is angrier, meaner, complex. "Hail" is
subtler, quieter, pensive.
Or, so I think tonight. No doubt tomorrow I'll think "What? Why did you write
that? Did you forget about x song on y album? Isn't that mean? Wasn't that
subtle?"