RADIOHEAD is pure genius. Not since Pink Floyd has there been such great songwriting combined with out-of-this-world melodies. Amnesiac is just one more beautiful brick in the wall. I give you the Pink Floyd comparison only because they did in their time what Radiohead does today. They relentlessly pushed the sonic envelope and at the same time created music that can’t be ignored by music industry suits. How else do you explain the Grammy? Since when does a band of such artistic integrity win such an overly commercial award? It’s because Radiohead’s music reaches out to the fans in a way other bands can’t and in numbers too large for any record executive to ignore.
Radiohead is a complicated band. It took nearly three years and two subsequent albums to fully grasp its complexity. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, the group changes tack radically. It assumed the role of deconstructionists, a role that allows the group to consistently re-invent itself.
Watching Radiohead’s insightful documentary, “Meeting People Is Easy,” the impetus behind last year’s “Kid A” and “Amnesiac” becomes clear. Quite simply Radiohead got bored with being Radiohead, and more importantly bored with conventional music and the promotional hoopla that goes with it.
On “Amnesiac,” you’ll find a band that has created a vivid soundscape that takes you to the outer reaches of its collective imagination and leaves you there, with a feeling of utter desolation. The brooding atmosphere of “Amnesiac” makes 1997’s “OK Computer” — considered by many to be the best album of the 1990s — seem like a happy walk in the park in comparison.
With “Kid A” and “Amnesiac,” I realize that Radiohead has created a masterful rock opera — the music not the words are what tell the story. Separately, the records sound disjointed, but when you listen to them together, they make total sense.
The album kicks off with “Packed Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box,” a track that sounds like someone walking outside your window, dragging a metal pipe across fence posts; getting louder and more distinct as they get closer. The melodic focal point of the song is centered on lead singer Thom Yorke singing the words “After years of waiting, nothing came/ As your life flashed before your eyes, you realize… I’m a reasonable man. Get off my case.” An obvious ode to “Road Rage.”
On “Pyramid Song” an ethereal vibe is created, with a blending of Yorke’s falsetto and some luminous string orchestration. For added effect, a guitar riff that sounds like your modem trying to connect is added to the mix and swells and descends in tandem with the strings.
Electronica’s influence is felt on “Pull/Pulk Revolving Doors” with digitized vocals that sound like a guest appearance by Stephen Hawking.
“You and Whose Army” — probably one of the darker tracks on the record — brings to mind the quieter moments of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall.”
“Knives Out” is easily the strongest track on the album. It sounds reminiscent of earlier Radiohead material.
“The Morning Bell Amnesiac” is a re-working of the same track from “Kid A.” The melody is identical to the original with only the arrangement getting a facelift. Both versions are equally haunting.
The album ends with “Life in a Glass House.” The arrangement on this track calls to mind the orchestration of Elvis Costello’s “Spike,” if only because of Humprey Lyttleton’s inspired trumpet performance.
Rolling Stone magazine called Radiohead “The Band That Killed Rock Music.” In my opinion after listening to this masterpiece, you realize Radiohead didn’t kill rock music; it simply redefined it.
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(For more information on Radiohead, go to www.radiohead.co.uk.)
