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Radiohead, In Rainbows

by Stephanie Allerdice
10/12/2007

Radiohead surprised fans by announcing that they were releasing their newest album In Rainbows on the internet before it goes to stores. Not only that, but you get to chose the price you pay for it. Maybe they are trying to prove that the record companies cost more than file-sharing fans.

Sorry guys, I can’t help you there, as an impoverished college student I can barely afford shampoo, let alone CDs. I’m actually kind of glad that I chose not to “donate” money to the album. I was a little skeptical since I am not a die-hard Radiohead fan. I’ve listened to them some but I wouldn’t be able to pick out their songs on the radio.

But I’m also glad that I didn’t pay anything because In Rainbows is a little above mediocre. I had such a hard time thinking of what to say about it; I had to listen to it three times and the fact that it didn’t get any better or worse with each listening speaks to the mediocrity of the album.

Thom Yorke’s falsetto singing was fine, the lyrics, when comprehensible, weren’t amazing, but most of the time it sounded like rhythmic mumbling. And throughout the album, I felt like I was listening to one song.

Most of the songs on the album have been played live before; maybe they are better in the concert setting. They start off energetic with the song “15 Step,” which has a good beat but again the lyrics were muttered and indistinguishable from one another. From there the album flowed into a melody that strung the rest of the songs together with occasional tempo changes.

“Reckoner,” and, “House of Cards,” were the two songs I liked on the album. “Reckoner,” brought me out of my stupor with its prevalent use of percussion and quicker pace. Yorke’s voice is stronger in this song, like he’s actually singing about something specific, but I still can’t understand what that something is. The acoustic guitar playing on “House of Cards,” is almost upbeat and Yorke actually annunciates in this song so I could understand the words.

This album makes for good studying music, if nothing else. It fades easily in the background and is pretty much unchanging throughout the album, which makes for good mindless listening.

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