SomeAngryIndian

The second part of my In Rainbows review is here. This is a song-by-song rundown, where I put down my fresh impressions of the album. (It’s written as though I’m writing it on my first listen, for creative reasons, when actually I wrote it the next day.)
***

Wow, 15 Step is different. 15 step is good. I can imagine every hip-hop producer stumbling over themselves to steal this. I hear Thom’s comment on Kid A in the back of my head (paraphrasing): Copy this, you fucking…. I’d like to see Timbaland try.

Bodysnatchers is next and I am in awe. Its function, to me, is to be what 2+2=5 failed to be. Finally, Radiohead takes their video-game-noise fetish and perfects it in Bodysnatchers’ fuzz. Thom’s laidback delivery of the first line segueing into a screams, “I have no idea I am talking about.” I am floored. I think I hear…one…two…three guitars going at once? Splices like in Treefingers only now serving melody and not settling for white noise. The last minute leaves me extremely satisfied. “I’ve seen it coming.”

Nude is next. I didn’t quite feel this one live, but AtEasers made me believe it would come alive on the album. Waiting calmly. Hushed voices brushing past my ears. All of a sudden a burst of melody, a soothing tempo, and how many Thoms?!? I feel like I’m being rocketed skyward by a chorus of angels then – nothing but Thom and a simple bass line. “Don’t get any big ideas. They’re not gonna happen.” The – dare I say it – juxtaposition of the intro and the opening vocals is jarring, brilliant. By now I am having trouble breathing. I am literally gasping. After kicking this song around for a decade, I don’t think they could’ve improved on it any more than this. “Now that you’ve found it, it’s gone. Now that you feel it, you don’t.” Thom is lyrically on top of his game. This is some of Colin’s best bass work. Nude is fucking amazing. Fucking Amazing. Keep piling on those hyperboles.

Thom’s swirling vocals return to carry us into Arpeggi. Known at one point as Wierd Fishees, then Arpeggi, now Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, it sported some of Ed’s best backing vocals (here, with a vengeance) and a sense of increasing tension that I anticipated would be simply astonishing on the album. That it is. The many dynamic changes in the album fascinate me. The end, as the ondes comes in, the drums kick, Thom wails, and Colin’s bass flourishes here and there, is breathtaking. “Hit the bottom and escape.” Early versions had Thom whispering “escape” repeatedly as the instruments faded way. This version is less pathetic and more self-assured.

Next is All I Need. I heard the boot of its debut in Chicago and have been hoping this song would make the album ever since. Here it is as the A-side closer. Some at AtEase lampooned it for being a straightforward love song. The initial sound is warming, and hints at this being a conventional love song (for Radiohead, a love song like this is kind of unconventional, though). Then the fuzzy, ominous bass kicks in. I always thought Thom sounded a bit dependant in this one. I sense a shift in tone. The familiar line has been changed to “I only stick with you because there are no others” from “You only…” which kind of disturbs me. This is no love song. Then the bass fades and Thom runs to the piano. “It’s all right. It’s all wrong. It’s all right.” Mmm…crescendo. Suddenly everything drops and drowns out and I’m left there, yet again breathless.

I’ve never heard Faust Arp before. People thought it might be an instrumental but, on an album this short, I wanted lyrics. I love this song. I reminds me of Bryter Layter and Nick Drake in general. Thom’s singing is impeccable. “I love you but enough is enough.”

As Reckoner begins I begin hysterically laughing. This is not Reckoner! The Reckoner we diehards knew was a thrashy and Bends-y stomper. I can imagine the “I hate the new Reckoner” threads popping up at AtEase. Sucks for them, because this new Reckoner is more appropriate for the album and also a superior song. The cymbals and the arpeggios are sublime. The last thirty seconds is one of their best finishers. For “filler songs,” Faust Arp and Reckoner are fantastically good. Highlights on a lesser album. Reckoner also serves as a nice companion to All I Need. “Did I cater to all your needs?”

House of Cards is next and I am, for the first time, doubtful. I love the starkness of the live version (uh oh, interweb blues) and from the first seven songs knew this one would be produced the shit out of. The new House of Cards sounds like Thom is singing from the opposite end of a long tunnel. Or, rather, his voice is like a memory fading in. Something he whispered to you coming back again. It works perfectly for a song like this. It is one of the sexiest things Radiohead has ever done. Perfect where it is on the album. Phil’s drumming is superb. Colin’s bass proves itself again. Doubts assuaged. I’m in love.

There was a lot of hype over Jigsaw Falling Into Place, formerly Open Pick, another song I’d not been wow-ed by previously. I liken this one to Bodysnatchers in that it’s focused on the guitar and seems a bit more conventional. Still, Phil’s back up front and I’m loving it. I once told a friend that to get into any Radiohead song keep your ears focused on the rhythm section. Thom’s still being sexy. “Just as you take my hand. Just as you write my number down.” Thom’s speaking voice is surprisingly manly. “The beat goes round and round” and Thom’s going a little nuts. And I’m getting the message. “What’s the point of instruments? Words are a sawed off shotgun.” A pretty interesting statement coming from the guy who pulled words out of a hat to write “Idioteque”. Irregardless, the lyrics on this album are consistently clever and appropriate for the instruments. Somewhere inside me I feel like “You’ve got a light you can feel it on your back” is our generation’s “There is a light that never goes out.” It won’t be, since it’s delivered like any other line. That’s their style, I suppose.

Videotape. They played it after Fake Plastic Trees in Boston. I downloaded Thom’s solo version recorded for From the Basement, Nigel’s music show. I notice immediately that the tempo has been upped. It’s hurried. We’re being rushed. I feel tense. People aren’t going to like this. I can’t breathe or move. My eyes are playing tricks on me in the dark. The bass kicks in on “videotape, my videotape”. Thom’s inflections are perfect. The background vocals and the steady drum reminds me of a funeral march and a train departing from a station at the same time. “On videotape. On videotape. On videotape.” This is the perfect closing song. “This is my way of saying goodbye because I can’t do it face to face I’m talking to you — ” Thom cuts out and I smile. I think I’m going to cry. In the old version the line finishes as “after it’s too late, from my videotape.” Thom’s edit lends itself to that feeling of a hurried goodbye. He can’t even say it’s been too late. I am trying to soak every second of this song in. I don’t want it to end. “You shouldn’t be afraid because I know today has been the most perfect day I’ve ever seen.” The train is rolling away. Now it’s gone. The piano lingers, fades, silence.

In Rainbows.

***

Well, hope you enjoyed reading about my rambling mindgasm. Expect Part 3 (Digestation) where I devour the album countless times and see what comes back up. Yum!

Also, many thanks to all who commented here, on Facebook, and on Last.fm! I appreciate the kind words. Might I add that if you enjoyed this, look back on the archives for my Flaming Lips and Dismemberment Plan concert reviews (just click on Music).