It's very hard to pick your favourite album of all time, but after years of thought i have finally settled on this album. The fourth album to be released by Radiohead, who are literally household names since the release of their second album 'The Bends. Famous for their experimental approach to music, the band released 'Kid A' in 2000 without any press or media. The band decided to write an album that could stand on it's own feet without singles and promos.
Kid A, is like listening to one giant song. What i mean by this is that it's best heard in it's entirety without stopping or skipping. Looking at the album sleeve, you see a landscape of what looks like to be mountains. This album IS a landscape, and would best be listened to sitting in front of mountains and unwinding a bit.
From the first track 'Everything in it's right place' it is already clear the band were not going to repeat their earlier work. The track plays with Thom Yorke's amazing vocals
and loops them, creating along with the electric piano driving the song a rather disturbing atmosphere. This is the beginning of the full Kid A experience, and this same disturbing atmosphere is carried forward to the next track. Lyrics like "We got heads on sticks" may not go down well with your local friday night disco, and the scary thing is this entire song is sung in a computerised voice. Things are about to get even more weirder, track 3 'The National Anthem' recalls a bassline the The Stone Roses would've been proud of whilst adding a jazz section over the top.
After the weirdness of the first three tracks comes the traditional miserable whinging Radiohead, or so people may think. The full title of track 4 is 'How to disappear Completely and never be found' and is a reference back to 'Exit Music' on OK Computer. There is a feeling of wanting to escape, musically and lyrically. This is the most beautiful song on the album, an acoustic guitar strummed over lush violins and strings. Gorgeous. Following on from this is track 5 which isn't actually a song. Instead we get just over a minute of ambient noise, something you would expect from the likes of Aphex Twin.
Track 6 'Optimistic', throws back to 'The Bends' with crunching guitars whilst keeping the eerie atmosphere of the album intact. "You can try the best you can, the best you can is good enough. screams Thom Yorke during the chorus. This song ends with a rather random disco outro, has the album suddenly turned happy? Not quite...
We now get to a stange jazz-sounding track named 'In Limbo'. Again this is quite a dark track which ends with vocals crying 'Come back' over and over again. Emotions of loss are released from this song right to the listener, and you can actually feel the pain because the vocals are sung so passionately. The song transforms itself at the end into an all out electronic mess of beats, to be known as 'Idioteque'. This is the most popular song on the album and was recorded live for MTV2 for viewing as Radiohead had not released any singles. It is amazing that Thom Yorke can sing this song as there are so many lyrics in it. This is by far the fastest song on the album, which although sounding out of place is a welcome addition and unlike anything Radiohead had ever done before.
Coming towards the end now, we get another upbeat track called 'Morning Bell' which again sounds like it could've made a good single. Confusion is the theme for this song with Thom singing "I tried to tell you but you never listen, you never understand. So i keep walking...". A wonderful song which would appear on two following Radiohead releases: in remixed form on 'Amnesiac' and live on 'I Might Be Wrong'. All versions of this song are great and i would advise all to track them down.
The final track is 'Motion Picture Soundtrack', which has harps, church organs, angels singing...you name it! This track would've fitted nowhere else on the record, as it really puts an end to everything you've heard before it. The song dissolves into what sounds like a spaceship beaming it's crew back on board!
And then, that's it. The best album i have ever heard in my life! I cannot explain any more how great this album is, you'll just have to listen to it and see for yourselves. May i advise you to be patient and let it seek into your soul, it may take time. This is a true masterpeice that confirmed Radiohead as one of the biggest most innovative bands in the world.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
a great review! well done! i love ok computer but never picked up any previous albums so might give it a go! thanks! :) xx
Miles13 13.01.2006 12:04
Well written and thanx for sharing but sorry not for me I find Mr Yorke vocals rather annoying -Milt
JoePoirot 13.01.2006 11:43
Glad u liked it. Personally I think "The Bends" is the best record they've ever done. This is worthy, interesting and so on but doesn't make me want to listen to it very often.
Advantages: It's almost completely different to every other Radiohead release Disadvantages: It's almost completely different to every other Radiohead release
kfingleton 13.12.2000 (25.04.2001)
·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Kid A - Radiohead
Are you the manufacturer / provider of Kid A - Radiohead? Click here
very helpful by (100%):
![River Is Wide, The [Remastered] - Forum (The)](http://imagesb.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/251/prod_small-6006251.jpg)
