the tinyblog

#05: Radiohead - In Rainbows

I hardly even feel qualified to review this album. It's been done elsewhere much better. The stylus review, the pitchfork review (where they joke about choosing your own rating), everyone's weighed in, and I'm just not a big enough Radiohead fan to place it so confidently in their pantheon. Most of the people reviewing it thing it's a great, humble return to form for the band that make OK Computer, but then lost their way with Kid A and Thom Yorke's solo album and their electronic noise noodling.

They say it's a vital, passionate, assured album by the band at the top of their powers. I agree. No one would be foolish enough to keep this off a top ten list for the year. I've probably listened to it more times than all of their other albums before. As an outsider, I'll say it... it sounds like they quit whining long enough to make the lovely music they're capable of.

Most of the way through the first song on the album, 15 Steps, some kids shout "YAY!" in the background, and I totally knew how they felt. It's a rousing start, and the first time I heard the third song, Nude, I knew I was in for something good. Suddenly I see what all the rabid fans were talking about all along.

Plus, they made the record industry quake in their boots, and that can't be bad.