IN RAINBOWS

Radiohead (album)

Depending on which side of the fence you sit, Radiohead have either done something incredibly stupid or something incredibly brilliant. Their six album deal with Parlophone ended with Hail To The Thief four years ago… and they haven't bothered sorting out another one. What they've done instead is to make their latest set available on their website and if you want a copy, you can pay as much or as little as you like for it. If you want, you can even download it from the site for nothing, but where's the fun in that? There's no copy protection either, so once you've got the tracks you can do what you like with them – you can leave them on your computer, whack them on your iPod, and if you're feeling really old school you can burn them onto a music CD. There's also a £40 discbox in the pipeline too, consisting of two LPs, two CDs, a booklet and loads of artwork, so if you like having the real thing you'll be as happy as Larry, assuming Larry likes this sort of thing. If he doesn't, that's his loss. Anyway, once you get past all the media frenzy, there's still ten new songs to get through. So onto the album, and at times it's like listening to a stripped down band – they're still experimenting, but the approach is a little more minimalist compared to previous albums. That's not to say there aren't surprises, blimey, it wouldn't be a proper Radiohead album if it was straightforward. That much is evident with track one, 15 Step, which is essentially drum'n'bass without the bass, at least for a good portion of the song, but it kicks things off with an intensity that dispels any thoughts that just because it's free it's going to sound cheap and nasty. Now, one good song could theoretically be classed as a result, after all you're free to delete any songs that don't make the grade, but there's something to be said for every single track (and luckily, it's something good). Even the songs that come as close as the band get these days to being conventional rock songs (Bodysnatchers and Jigsaw Falling Into Place) are well above anything bands like Keane are ever likely to do. However, it's not all fast, and this is a more relaxed and downtempo Radiohead album than I was expecting (see, again with the surprises). Nude is slow and dreamy, Faust Arp brings a load of strings to the party and House Of Cards… blimey, where to start with House Of Cards. It definitely has a Son Of Albatross feel to it, and I never thought I'd be mentioning Fleetwood Mac and Radiohead in the same sentence, but oh look at that, I've just done it. House Of Cards may be reminiscent of Albatross, but it has its own distinct identity and it's one of the best tracks on the album. If that's good though, All I Need is a masterpiece. It's slow, dark, electronic, and it's pitched to perfection. Even when it wakes up three minutes in, it doesn't put a single foot wrong. It also features drumming you could conceivably dance to, something that also applies to 15 Step and Weird Fishes / Arpeggi, although it definitely doesn't apply to Reckoner, probably because the left and right speakers are throwing out entirely different sets of percussion while a guitar gently strums away and Thom Yorke goes all falsetto. Actually, Reckoner's an odd one – the first time I heard it I loved it, the second time I found I'd gone off it a bit, but it's wormed its way back into my affections again. All of which leads us to Videotape, the last track. It's little more than a singer, a piano and some seriously mental drumming, but it's the perfect way to end the show, and the sort of song that encourages you to just stop for a couple of minutes after it's finished so you can take in the album as a whole. And, as a whole, In Rainbows is a brilliant album. As both my readers know, I don't say that lightly, but it really is fantastic. Have a listen yourself, it's not like you can't afford it…