OK, so this album has been reviewed to death, but I must say I love it. The production is superb and it sounds great whether listening to it on headphones or in a surround sound environment. The first two tracks, particularly, blew me away. When I first played "Everything In It's Right Place" on my new discman, I thought that there was a short in the headphone wiring. In the beginning of the song Thom's sampled voice stutters and finally fizzles out and the stereo effect fades in and out. This had me going nuts trying to find a short in my wire. The track "Kid A" really pushes the limits of any sound system. When I played it on my fairly good surround sound stereo, the surround speakers sounded like they were fuzzing out due to a massive frequency overload. I scrambled to my stereo, adjusting equalizers, volume, checking speakers to make sure that they were not blown. I was frantic. Through all manner of tweaking, I finally figured out that both "problems" were, in fact recorded, mixed and produced to sound as such. It seems the joke was on me. Only Radiohead can turn a spectator experience like record-listening into a full blown panic situation. This is just one more example of how Radiohead truly pushes the envelope, not only in songwriting and production, but in the listening experience as well. Thom and crew know that at least 75% of their audience are audiophiles just like me (especially after Nigel's fine production job on OK Computer). I believe they took that carefully into account whem recording this album, so that the paranoia, chaos and panic evident in both form (music) and content (lyrics) would transfer over into the listening experience. There is something very situationist (not to mention punk rock) about this type of antagonism. For those of you familiar with the art critic Walter Benjamin, this is a classic case of the alientation effect at work. For the uninitiated, just note that for an instant, Radiohead managed (in my case at least) to demonstrate, just how dependant on our machines we really are and how one small bug in the system can throw the us all into disarray. Oh yeah, and they exposed ME for the narcissistic-idiot-a**hole-music-snob I really am. And that's s good thing. A little self-critque never hurt anyone.
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You're thoughts are well written down, but the review sort of ends after you describe track two. Needs paragraphing too.
AntonyPaul 29.01.2001 14:53
Yeah this is fantastic well done. This is the best opinion I have read in a long time. It would not surprise me if you got the Pullitzer prize, a nice piece of work, well done.
U will go far!
Radiohead may well be the most courageous band in Britain. Their second album,The Bends, ... more
was a success both critically and commercially, and they followed it up with an album of epic prog-rock,OK Computer, that would have destined a lesser band to comm...
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Radiohead may well be the most courageous band in Britain. Their second album, The Bends, ... more
was a success both critically and commercially, and they followed it up with an album of epic prog-rock, OK Computer, that would have destined a lesser band to co...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Radiohead may well be the most courageous band in Britain. Their second album, The Bends, ... more
was a success both critically and commercially, and they followed it up with an album of epic prog-rock, OK Computer, that would have destined a lesser band to co...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Radiohead may well be the most courageous band in Britain. Their second album, The Bends, ... more
was a success both critically and commercially, and they followed it up with an album of epic prog-rock, OK Computer, that would have destined a lesser band to co...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Advantages: Different to other albums, has a slight aphex twin feel to it. Original and epic.Radiohead albums should not be judged instantly but given a few weeks to appreciate Disadvantages: Might take a little getting used to. A dark album
Mr.Writer 19.03.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Kid A - Radiohead
Jan 29th, 2001
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