Radiohead - 'In Rainbows' Review

Radiohead were once the biggest band on the planet. This is not such a big claim as every band has it's time and place which is more than just a Andy Warhol 15 minutes of fame. When you follow such a great album as The Bends with the brilliant OK Computer, people stand up and take notice. From there, Radiohead became disillusioned with the way music is made and for reasons known only to the band, they veered off in a new strange direction full of minimalist beats, spooky vocals, a distinct absence of big guitars and not much in the way of melody. This was the new Radiohead - Kid A and Amnesiac, both half a great album. Hail To The Thief in 2003 tried to get back on track but ended up stuck between two sounds and styles.

So, for fans of the older Radiohead it was difficult to accept this new sound. Only the wonderful I Might Be Wrong (Live) showed that the band could still cut it live and the songs took on a new energy. For most, Hail To The Thief was the last chance and a chance wasted. At the end of 2007, Radiohead had cut all ties with major record labels and were doing things on their own. They released In Rainbows for download only for a price of your choosing. A radical idea and a great publicity stunt - they would give their album away (for free) to raise the profile of the band and the album. It seems to have worked. But is an album the band were prepared to give away actually any good? Or is it more of the same experimental so-called groundbreaking new-wave challenging music that Radiohead are now synonymous with?

In Rainbows starts with the spiky beats of 15 Step and Thom Yorke asking 'How come I end up where I started?'. It is clear that we are in Kid A territory and not to expect the straight forward rock punches of Paranoid Android or the subtle melodic delivery of High And Dry. The slightly odd childlike cheering is a neat touch and the song plods along driven by Yorke's now mumbling drawl. 'Bodysnatchers' is much more robust, guitar led and organic. It's more despair and alienation from Yorke: 'I have no idea what I am talking about. I am trapped in this body and can't get out' but much more energised and driven. There are clear lines and boundaries here and not just a muddy mess of electronic beats and wails. 'It is the 21st century. It can follow you like a dog. It brought me to my knees' is hardly uplifting but sums up the situation. The last thirty seconds is the best Radiohead have sounded for years.

'Nude' opens with strings and a backing track that sounds as if it is being played backwards. This is a dreamy song about lust and temptation summed up in the lines: 'So don't get any big ideas. They're not going to happen. You'll go to hell for what your dirty mind is thinking'. The choral arrangement in the last minute is exquisite and it's clear that there may be more to this album as you dig deeper into the complexity of the music. 'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi' uses vast oceans as a metaphor for escape and the effect of the different vocal tracks and keyboards is astonishing.

The deep bass keyboards take centre stage in 'All In Need', drowning out the vocals. This, on the surface, is a straight forward love song wrapped up in more metaphor: 'I am a moth who just wants to share your light. I'm just an insect trying to get out of the night' and 'I'm in the middle of your picture. Lying in the reeds '. The song lifts at the end in a mass of vocals, xylophone, organ and crashing cymbals. 'Faust Arp' is probably the most difficult song on the album with fast paced vocals, disjointed guitars and layered strings. At just over two minutes it does its job then is gone and forgotten. 'Reckoner' is, in many ways, a perfect Radiohead song - the opening guitars and drums are familiar and safe, as is Yorke's soprano drifting across the landscape. It is the unofficial title track: 'Because we separate like ripples on a blank shore' is underpinned by 'in rainbows'. It's a poignant high point.

The first line of 'House Of Cards' might be a Texas tribute. That aside, this is another song about relationships. It drifts along with a gorgeous guitar piece and sweeping strings. There is a lot about 'Denial' which suggests some bitterness in the past. 'Jigsaw Falling Into Place' is another song that songs like it has always been a Radiohead song. A great opening into choral vocals and some real structure as Yorke starts. The vocals are thrown at you at pace giving just enough time to take them in. It plays like a therapy session: 'Come on and let it out'. The lines 'I never really got there. I just pretended that I had. What's the point of instruments. Words are a sawed off shotgun' are fascinating - a dredge into the past perhaps showing the lack of contentment in the band?

Album closer 'Videotape' starts with the lines: 'When I'm at the pearly gates. This will be on my videotape'. The song is an elegant suicide note: 'This is my way of saying goodbye.Because I can't do it face to face. I'm talking to you after it's too late.From my videotape'. Again it is simple piano and Yorke's vocals. The song ends with the wonderful 'No matter what happens now. You shouldn't be afraid. Because I know today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen'. Hardly a big finish but beautifully constructed.

It is hard to review a new album without referring back to the benchmark set by previous releases, particularly if that benchmark is so high. Radiohead have a lot to live up to and even though this new musical direction does not produce songs as distinctive as those on The Bends or OK Computer, they are making some amazing and complex music. Lyrically it has never been so intriguing, saying enough but giving nothing away. Thom Yorke is more disciplined in his vocals, only descending into incoherent wailing when it requires. The entire album feels like a lot of work and effort to make something the band wanted to make, not what people wanted them to make.

In Rainbows is the best Radiohead album since The Bends, and given what has come between this isn't saying much. The big problem is the lack of solid defined memorable songs. If you take all the good stuff from the last three albums, you would have a better album than this so at least the consistency is back - quality over quantity. But it is so hard to love Radiohead now. You can only admire what they are doing: free music (if you choose), free gigs (if you can get there) and lack of industry ties has to be admired. The cynics can easily say 'if they are giving it away for free then it must be crap'. It leaves you disillusioned, undecided but strangely hopeful for the future.

-- CS