For three and a half years I refused to buy Kid A, and while I canít excuse my behaviour I can at least try to explain it. I put it all down to the fact that it came out while I was indie enough to hate NME with a passion, but I didnít quite understand why. This left me unable to distinguish between the reviews that consisted entirely of brown-nosing (Hello Craig Nicholls!) and the reviews that actually consisted of reviews. So when NME gave Kid A one of their most positive reviews ever, I was immediately put off. I knew the buzz, Radiohead had gone crazy. Donít listen to the NME, they just want to get some loving out of Thom Yorke, Kid A is just noise and beats, letís remember them for The Bends and be done with it.
Iím not sure when I started to realise that Radiohead were the greatest band in the world ever but I know the moment the fact crystallized in my mind. A few weeks after Radioheadís 2003 Glastonbury performance Steve Lamacq played the set again on Radio 1. The set closed with a live version of Karma Police that remains to this day the most spine-tinglingly beautiful song I have ever heard. The idea that this song sounded so much better, after all their experimentation got to me. Obviously Kid A couldnít be that bad if it had produced such good results.
I only finally got around to buying Kid A last year and it sounded exactly how I feared it would, but for some reason that sound was the best sound in the world. On days where I believe the common man exists, I wonder if Iíve lost touch with him because I rate Kid A so highly, but then I think, stuff the common man, he doesnít exist and this album is fantastic.
I feel I should say something along the lines of ëgreater than its partsí but thatís misleading. Its parts are fantastic, just fantastic as a whole. That said, I havenít a clue what on earth they were thinking when they left Tree Fingers on the album.
slightly off-topic, but I was wondering what you thought of William Shatner's version of "Common People" that has just reached #9 in the UK download chart?
This is a website by Mark Walley. If you want to find out more or get in touch, that'd be nice.
Getting around this website can be a tad confusing. If you're looking to explore the better stuff of what I've written then this navigation should help you. If you're after a specific post then searching or looking through the archives chronologically may help.
This site tries its best to be accessible for everyone. Atom, and RSS feeds are available. All content licensed through a creative commons licence. I may have stolen ideas off you when you weren't looking, but it was almost certainly an accident. As with all claims of originality and ownership Psalm 24 v1 applies.
Matthew
Indeed. Treefingers is the most filler-like song I've ever seen used as a filler. It's still good as background music though.
I can't decide if I like Kid A, OK Computer or The Bends more. It's always been a toss-up.