5 comments about Kid A.

1. This is the best album cover ever in rock and roll history as far as I'm concerned, the music inside is just gravy. Nothing could top OK Computer, so Radiohead didn't even try - they very wisely went in a completely different direction into almost another genre altogether. OK Computer is basically a straight up rock record but Kid A is pretty much electronic music. The first song, "Everything in it's Right Place" is one of the best in Radiohead's live set - it sounds much better live is what I'm trying to say - but the studio version is still very captivating, especially with good speakers. "How To Disappear Completely" almost matches the intensity of "Exit Music" from the previous record. I think the peak of the record is "In Limbo", maybe the scariest song I've ever heard from a major rock band and that includes Pink Floyd. Another thing I like about this record is that it has a character; some albums are a collection of songs with no discernable unifying theme or common identity, but on this record, from beginning to end, it is definitely Kid A.



2. It's almost tragic, in a way, the first time you hear an album as magnificent, visceral, and life-changing as Kid A; tragic because you just know you're never going to get the same feelings from an album ever again.
   I was a casual Radiohead fan in ninth grade when I decided to pick up Kid A. I was first drawn to the more immediately catchy tracks on the album (The National Anthem, Optimistic, etc.), but ultimately I didn't grow to love it as much as I do until I went to college, where my obsession with this album led to a complete reevaluation of my music tastes, leading me to explore more experimental and electronic music.
   It's hard to explain in words the impact Kid A has on me. I can't listen to it without having certain moods, feelings, and memories being brought out of me. The first few seconds of the first track, Everything in its Right Place, push me into this amazing mental space every time I hear it. The track "Kid A" has these calming nursery sounds that melt into a pulsating muffled rhythm from the future. The National Anthem, with its "traffic-jam" orchestra sections crashing over the catchy, rolling bass line. The beautiful, eerie acoustic How to Disappear Completely. The ambience of Treefingers, the epic rock anthem Optimistic, the underwater acid trip In Limbo, the danceable stuttered rhythms of Idioteque... I can go on for pages.
   Kid A is the perfect album. Every song is incredible. The album takes a little time to sink in, not so little that the hooks become boring but not so much that the album becomes too difficult and aesthetically awkward. No track goes on for longer than you would like, no sound seems misplaced. Everything seems to, well, fall into the right place.
   I cannot overstress the brilliance of this album and recommend it to anyone who enjoys music. Kid A is approaching its tenth birthday and has only become more musically relevant over the years in this music reviewer's opinion. If you haven't heard Kid A, do yourself a favor and buy a copy of one of the best records of all time.



3. To examine Kid A's influence (and it is influential), let's look at "The National Anthem." This song starts with a simple bass line, not even a bass line so much as a very basic bass rhythm. This rhythm is then played unswervingly for the rest of the song. No other melodic elements are ever added. Where a rock band might gradually raise the tension with a developing guitar solo, where a club-oriented dance band might build up many different layers to crescendo, Radiohead adds a whole bunch of blaring trumpets, squealing cacophonously all at the same time all of a sudden. The surprise and the volume attempt to make up for the lack of music.
   
   In recent years, this sort of thing occurs all the time in popular music, when albums are largely defined by the adjectives assigned to them in reviews or interviews, and their musical content consists of very common, basic stamps, simple stand-ins for the explanations offered in the reviews and interviews. You know the type, when "musical diversity" means that someone bought a couple of exotic instruments, strummed a few idle and disconnected notes, then tweaked them in ProTools until they sounded palatable. "Making nonsense seem profound," to paraphrase the editorial blurb, is the defining quality of popular music throughout the 2000s. If you want to see the downside of Kid A's influence, listen to something like Blur's 2002 album Think Tank. "Crazy Beat" is a more ingratiating take on "The National Anthem," based on the same exact kind of dull repetition.
   
   This approach is heavily inspired by the "artistic" trend in nineties electronica: Aphex Twin, Autechre, Bjork, etc. This type of music was already extremely susceptible to adjectives and mystique, even in the nineties. Look at some of the essays written about the Warp Records catalog in the early nineties, and you'll see what I mean. Kid A synthesized many of those sounds and made them mainstream. Put Bjork in front of the microphone in "Motion Picture Soundtrack," and you get an absolutely typical example of one of her "harpsichord songs" like "Cover Me" or "Like Someone In Love," where she sings over incidental strumming. "Idioteque" recalls Autechre with a mechanical dance beat that you can't dance to, with a few dissonant, droning synth waves (again, no other melodic elements) laid on top. And just about any electronic band has done something like "Treefingers," a moody ambient drone with no musical progression.
   
   The title track, in particular, is a flawless Aphex imitation. He did this kind of playful/wistful music-box lead many times, both before Kid A ("In The Glitter Part 2" from 26 Mixes For Cash) and after it ("Nannou," on the Windowlicker EP). The distorted, croaking vocals, half-creepy and half-innocent, as well as the jittery drumbeat, are also straight out of his playbook. I guess it's a testament to how deeply Radiohead buried themselves in the part. But, in Radiohead's hands, this stuff became oblique enough for countless adjectives, and sounded serious enough to create mystique.
   
   The best musical moments occur in the mid-tempo tracks, where it's possible to ease into the mood and zone out. "Everything In Its Right Place" is quite original in the way the moody piano is arranged into an oscillating loop, backed by buzzing vocal samples and Yorke's neurotic lead. "How To Disappear Completely" takes the quiet acoustic guitar from "Exit Music For A Film," and adds whale-song synths to match the drifting vocals -- pretty and detailed for a rock band, inventive for a techno band. "Optimistic" also has a pretty simple guitar line, but the aggressive rhythm section creates a powerful churn. 'Churn' is one of those meaningless rock-journalist words, but here it's apt. There's a chaotic and ramshackle feel to the song that gives it the energy that was lacking in "The National Anthem." Of all the songs on the album, this one is closest in spirit to OK Computer. "In Limbo" is quieter, back to drift mode, but keeps that chaotic churn, now given form by a faint keyboard line.
   
   Take those four tracks, add "Kid A," and you have five very good songs that genuinely make use of some of the strengths of Warp-style electronica. But the album's reputation claims so much more. The lyrics play a key role in the mystique of Kid A, and here too, we run into some trouble.
   
   Lyrically, Yorke's focus has constricted to oblique, demonstrative statements of isolation, things like obsessively repeating, "there are two colours in my head." OK Computer is also an introspective album, but most of it somehow reacts to the outside world: to lovers ("Exit Music For A Film," "Lucky"), politicians ("Electioneering"), insufficiently sensitive bourgeois ("Fitter Happier," "The Tourist"), or outside events ("Airbag"). By contrast, Kid A shuts out everyone and everything other than Yorke. The only reaction Yorke has to anyone other than himself is stated in the first song: "What, what was that you tried to say?" Any possibility of meaningful communication is immediately, categorically denied.
   
   Yorke's exclusion of the outside world is so total that it begins to sound very deliberate. The loneliness of modern man is no longer enough to explain it. It takes a sustained, deliberate effort to drown out the outside world so completely. This type of thing has its appeal, in one's self-pitying moments ("the best you can is good enough," Yorke reassures in "Optimistic"), but it's important to realize that it's not all that sympathetic. And then, one can't help but get a bit fidgety. Gentle reader, are you really patient enough to want to help someone who seems to delight in rebuffing your efforts?
   
   Kid A is not so much an "experimental" work as it is a collection of many then-contemporary ideas in electronic music. In a way, it set the tone for the decade. However, one might wonder if that was entirely a good thing.



4. This may be the best album I've ever heard. The first five notes are simply the most arresting announcement of a sea change for a band that I know. When this was released, it was instantly the most important popular (admittedly, a dubious title) album on the planet. That it only lasts about 60 minutes (when it easily could have been crammed to the brink with the outtakes that later comprised the comparatively weaker and less mysterious [read: Kid A could not have been equaled or surpassed] Amnesiac) is instead a testament to its cohesiveness. It is the only album I own that I almost never interrupt to select individual songs.
   
   As for the mystery, it is rampant and lovely: Who is Kid A? What is he or she (or, most likely, it) the product of? What is the year? Does the cover depict a landscape or a soundscape? Are those the same thing?
   
   I could go on. I won't.



5. I just saw Radiohead live for the 1st time last night in Bristow, VA. They were absolutely incredible live!!! If you're looking for one of they're best, then you can't go wrong with the album KID A. From start to finish it just leaves you wanting & yearning for more! If I were stranded on a desert island(no not on LOST)I would take this one with me with plenty of batteries....er maybe Saywer could help me out with that?

5 comments about London Calling.

1. Buying this album was one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. For the money, I've never had anything blow my mind quite like this album. It's obvious. Buy it now.



2. London Calling should be in any music lovers collection. I hesitate to call it classic because it is so fresh after 20+ years that is seems inappropriate to tag it that way. Much the way that Sgt Pepper or Nevermind feels unique and current no matter when you encounter it 1970, 1994 or 2008



3. The song "London Calling" touched a nerve at the start of the 1980s. Like the Young Ones, 2000AD, and the impact of new wave was being felt. The haze of the seventies was gone. A new dawn of nihilism was upon us (attack commercial greed - Koka Kola) people were scared and we were taught in schools of nuclear holocausts (London Calling) but the beauty and naivety still remains in songs such as "Train in Vain". As strong as The Stones Exile on Main St (the great double album of several years earlier) but preaching to an audience who would rather die than associate themselves with such a 60s / 70s iconic group. This was the music of our generation and we embraced it will both arms. Nothing would be the same again, and The Clash had moved New Wave to the next step, a kind of wary respectability.



4. I was torn between 4 and 5 stars and would have done 4 1/2 if I knew how. I was probably a little bit harsher in my rating because of the record's reputation. It probably won't disappoint you, but I don't think it approaches the best album ever. It very likely has some great songs you've never heard, though, and some favorite ones familiar to you. It was ahead of its time with all the different styles melding together nicely, but there are some weak points in my opinion. But still better than 90% of other good albums out there, and better than 98% of all the crap you can get.



5. Not only is London Calling one of the best-written albums ever, it's one of the best-sounding albums as well. London Calling is an auditory delight, thanks in a large part due to Guy Stevens' impeccable production. The music is rich and mellifluous, with each song drifting through various genres and musical styles without ever becoming uneven or overwhelming. There are no weak tracks here, just great songs and greater songs. London Calling is a landmark rock album, and is essential for anyone who likes classic rock, punk, alternative, reggae, or great music in general.

No comments about Dig Out Your Soul.

5 comments about Urban Hymns.

1. Bittersweet Symphony is the best song ever. I'm using the intro for my wedding march.



2. I don't think people normally are compelled to write 3 star reviews, normally they only write when the really are blown away or really dont like something. However as a huge Verve fan, this album, although huge, is much more mainstream and doesn't reflect the sonic beauty reflected on their earlier and unappreciated albums. As other reviews had said, Storm in Heaven (and the Verve EP), is not just the best Verve albums, but one of the best albums period. It is sonic and similar to 'shoegazer' music but somehow a warmer, lusher, gentler take on the genre than say My Bloody Valentine (i know, heresy).
   
   Urban Hymns isn't an album in the same sense, but more a discrete collection of songs, individual, composed and mainstream. If you like Urban Hymns work your way backwards to the earlier stuff, you might be blown away. If you don't like Urban Hymns or think "bittersweet Symphony" is the Verve's highpoint, it's not, don't write them off on this forgettable offering.



3. "Bitter Sweet Symphony" and "Lucky Man" drew me to this album, and I think it is a good album. However, while the CD starts out really strong, it wanes towards the end. The first 6 or so cuts from the CD are very vocally driven and traditionally "modern rock band sounding," however, the last few tracks are more instrumentally driven, with unique guitar effects, almost with a modern psychedelic vibe. Not really my thing, but if you like a combination of the two, then this CD is definitely for you. Maybe I will grow to like the latter tracks and appreciate them more. I definitely think that it is worth the buy for the first half of the CD. There are some really good tracks there.



4. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but to those who claim their is only one hit on this cd ..well you need to get your ears checked! This album is quite possibly one of the best ever released during the 90's for this genre. I consider myself quite picky when it comes to purchasing music and this is one of my all time favorites. Ashcroft's voice sounds surreal and hallucinatory as if his voice were one of the instruments. Buy this cd, hit play, close your eyes and prepare for a musical journey like no other. Do yourself a favor and buy this cd ...NOW!



5. I recieved my cd through the mail in just a few days time and in perfect shape. Speedy service and great customer satisfaction. I believe I will be purchasing more things from this site more often. Thank you!

5 comments about Hail to the Thief.

1. Radiohead-Hail To The Thief ****
   
   What strikes me about Hail To The Thief is that it is Radioheads boldest statement, and yet probably the bands all around weakest album. Where as every other album the band released would grow in a new direction, Hail just simply reverted back to Kid A and really only slowed it down. You find basically the same themes through here as you did there as well. So why is this so bold? Well we always expect Radiohead to go somewhere new and they deliberately didn't. But what is this albums greatest merritt is also it's downfall. There is nothing new here which feels like we have already heard this album before. Though at the same time, In Rainbows only took everything the band ever did and put it all on one album, and I personally feel that it is their strongest album to date, even surpassing the highly acclaimed Ok Computer. So what we have is a paradox.
   
   '2 + 2 = 5' with much thought put into this statement, just might be the very best song Radiohead has ever released. It's beautiful melancholy, in a fast angry gun shot to the face delivery with a soft silk screen silohuetted over it. I am aware that statement made no since, that was the point. 'Sail To The Moon' needs no mention as the track speaks for itself. 'We Suck Young Blood' and 'The Gloaming' scare the bright side out of you upon first listen.. 'A Wolf At The Door' might be the weakest track Radiohead has ever released making the end of this album perfect. Don't ask me how that works, I don't know. The fact is that everything this band does should suck, because it goes against everything that we are told to like, and maybe that is why we love them so much. In an alternate universe I believe the world hates Radiohead in the same way that we love them.
   
   So why not give Hail To The Thief a five star rating, I don't have a reason for that. I just feel that five is too many and anything less than four would be treason. Aside from a few hand claps thrown in nothing new is here as I said making this album feel like you have heard it before. So for that I can't give it a higher rating, and I can't give it a lower rating because all the groups other work is brilliant so it would be hypocritical to lower a rating for that lone reason. I highly recommend all Radioheads work!



2. "Pablo Honey" spawned mega hit "Creep", skip some years down the road (and two albums) "Kid A" is released gone is the alternative rock sound. In return we got a electronic minimalist style. Compare and contrast their sound all you'd like, fact remains they are creative and entertaining. Knowing the bands intentions to change their dynamic highly layered music, one must be filled with anxiety...You really never know what to expect! Scrolling through a few more years after "Kid A" and the decent attempt "Amnesiac", "Hail to the Thief" emerges. "Hail to the Thief" is immersing, brooding (but not nearly as dark as past work, some songs are actually quite uplifting), and clever.
   
   "2+2=5" is as complex a song, as it is to prove 2+2 actually equals five. The intro is simply a input jack from a guitar being tapped. Clouds of sound billow each song some slowly and some stormily fast. "Sit Down, Stand Up" has bridge that breaks the songs mold and speeds the whole process up.
   
   Before my laptop dies (4 minutes left so little of time), my pick off the album is "Sail to the Moon". Such a beautiful song. I just had a surgery and listening to this as an ambiance playing a game or relaxing in a dark room really painted images in my mind.
   
   Overall fantastic artsy album, easily their most assecible album to date. Easily worth a listen, congrats Radiohead.



3. I don't know where this album ranks in terms of the band's entire catalog, but I absolutely love it. I've loved it from day one (yes, I bought it on the day it came out). I didn't feel compelled to write a review on Hail To The Thief until I started reading magazine articles about In Rainbows. I agree that In Rainbows is a masterpiece in its own right, but Thief is a great album as well. It infuriates me that even the band is starting to second guess the genius of this album. In all the interviews I've read the band basically apologizes for this album, which is ridiculous. It's actually an insult to people who were truly moved by the material on HTTT. Until IR was released, this was the best album of the new millenium. Don't listen to the naysayers. This album is a wonderful mixture of the old guitar driven Radiohead (The Bends, Ok Computer) and the more adventurous, experimental Radiohead (Kid A, Amnesiac). No band should apologize for the work they produced in the past. This is the space they inhabited at that time and this how they chose to express themselves. For me, Hail To The Thief actually confirmed, in my mind, that Radiohead is the greatest musical phenomenon since The Beatles. I'll never forget when I saw the band perform live during the HTTT tour. They opened with There There and it totally blew me away. I implore the band to stop soiling my memories with negative vibes. This is a great album and a worthy addition to the Radiohead catalog.



4. Let me be frank: I hate this decade. Everything about it is dark and depressing, no matter who you are, where you are, or what you believe. It's the decade that has seen the full fruition of American divide between red-state right-wingers who have one type of wisdom but are closed-minded, and blue-state left-wingers who have another type of wisdom but express a fascist attitude. Both sides have principles, both sides lack moral perfection. And both sides are only half correct to this Libertarian. The events of this decade have magnified this divide to an alarming degree: the 2000 elections, 9/11, the Iraq War, and the culture wars. I'm optimistic that decades or even centuries from now a unified Libertarian world will look back on this time and shake their heads at the childish prison too many of us inhabited so willingly. And they'll also probably want to know what it could be like to live back then. Well, if I were to make a suggestion to them, I would tell them go listen to `Hail To the Thief', by Radiohead. For no other record has captured the dark all-pervasive atmosphere that has settled over this era like a shadow, or, The Gloaming, as the band themselves refer to it.
   
   The Sound and the Atmosphere:
   This album is a continuation of the sound they began with 'Kid A'. Or, more concisely, think of the songs 'Optimistic', 'You And Whose Army', 'Pyramid Song', 'Idioteque', and 'Like Spinning Plates', and you'll have a very accurate idea of what this album sounds like, only taken to a new level of sonic and melodic intricacy. EVERY song here conveys a dark atmosphere, and it's certainly not an uplifting listen, but it is a very engrossing and haunting one.
   
   The Words and the Message:
   Like the melodies, the lyrics here range from VERY depressing and angry, to resilient and hopeful. The main message the words convey here is a feeling of helplessness in the face of an intolerable ignorance that is powerful and has authority. But there is also a message of quiet resolve to stick with ones own convictions and ride out the storm.
   
   The Songs:
   '2+2=5' (The bands best opener to date. Guitar driven, it starts out slowly and then explodes halfway through, and then ends abruptly.)
   'Sit Down, Stand Up' (A fast piano-driven song. fantastically builds to a piano bridge that collapses into a cacophony of electronic bleeps.)
   'Sail To the Moon' (EXTREMELY dark atmosphere. Another piano song, slow-paced this time. Very haunting.)
   'Backdrifts' (Electronic, yet very melodic. Fast-paced. Great guitar embellishments and piano solo.)
   'Go To Sleep' (A fast-paced acoustic song that really has a great climax.)
   'Where I End And You Begin' (One of Radiohead's very best. Very fast-paced with an incredibly haunting atmosphere. A blend of guitar rock and electronica.)
   'We Suck Young Blood' (A little over the top, and the creepy atmosphere seems a little forced. Slow-paced for the most part, but it breaks into a excellent piano solo towards the end.)
   'The Gloaming' (An electric loop, just a bunch of noise in my opinion. Has a VERY haunting atmosphere and imagery, however.
   'There There' (Another one of the best songs the band has done. A very fast-paced, catchy, and guitar-driven song. Features the best climax of any Radiohead song.)
   'I Will' (A slow, quiet, and lovely little song. A sort of dark lullaby. Hopeful yet melancholy.)
   'Punch Up At a Wedding' (Almost a funk/reggae song. Slow and piano driven.)
   'Myxomatosis' (A rather annoying bunch of noise, imo. Sounds like a million zippers being pulled up and down at once.)
   'Scatterbrain' (A great reflective kind of song. Slow, with a gentle guitar accompaniment. Te only truly upbeat song on the album.)
   'A Wolf at the Door' (A dark closer about a hostage situation, a very fitting summation of the sound and content of the album. Electronic and very fast-paced.)
   
   Overall:
   This album is the definitive Radiohead experience in my opinion, just as the 'Joshua Tree' is for U2. There are three weak songs on the album, and even though the album could have done without them, as-is they still lend to the whole dark atmosphere, and thus enrich the listening journey. It will always remind me of my youth, of growing up during an uncertain time.
   And most of all, this record gloriously maintains the assertion that music above all transcends whatever legacy may be left of the period it came from.



5. Frankly I thought this album was dead boring. Then again I don't really like Radiohead in the first place. If you do like them I guess you'd probably like this album, but if you prefer your music a little more lively it might not be for you.

5 comments about Amnesiac.

1. I rarely give ANY product this kind of review - but Amnesiac is one of those rare CD's that can be listened to in entirity. Moody, extremely layered, sad, whistful.
   
   Listen to it once and you will be hooked.



2. THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE CD AND THESE GUYS ARE AWESOME LIVE!
   LIKE SPINNING PLATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



3. Rock music does a lot of things extremely well, but one emotion that it seems to have difficulty capturing is despair. I'm not talking about the blues. The blues involves reveling, often in a kind of self-satisfied way, about one's awareness of how badly one's life is going. There's nothing smug or self-satisfied about despair: it is a prelude to the death of hope, the reaching of a point from which one can't "come back." "Amnesiac" captures despair better than just about any rock album I can think of (another great entry in this abject sweeptakes would be Fleetwood Mac's masterpiece "Then Play On").
   
   "Amnesiac" is to most music dealing with misery as opening up a bottle of whiskey in a darkened room with a loaded gun on the table, alone and with the phone disconnected, is to a bragging drunkalogue delivered to a crowded AA meeting. If you don't understand what I'm talking about consider yourself fortunate. If you do, get "Amnesiac." It does perfectly what it sets out to do, with no compromises or gratuitous bows to commercial acceptance or normal rock and roll conventions. It couldn't be the high art that it is if it had been done in any other way.



4. I remember listening to this album while reading at the library on cold winter days somewhere in upstate New York when the sun did not shine (which was often). These songs have a haunted feel that perhaps matched my surroundings and my mood. I agree that this album is maybe not right for every single occasion, but I feel I have to defend some songs on this album that have been pounded on by others. In my opinion, this is one of the best albums in terms of interesting music that you can actually enjoy listening to. I have listened to this album (as well as all of the other Radiohead albums) from start to finish many times, and for some reason, Amnesiac is the most fun. As for the disjointed sound, who is bothered by this now? How many people have not gotten used to listening to a wide range of music on iPod shuffle mode? I am not one of those guys who defends avant-garde art because it's daring or clever. I actually like these songs for what they are. In terms of favorites...
   1.Life in a glass house--like being drunk in an old French wine bar on a wet night walking home with your crumpled hat and clinging to a telephone pole for support. I was shocked to see other people don't like this song. It gives me chills every time I hear it. But hey different strokes.
   2.Pyramid song--driving through an unknown mountain town on a cold still night alone. I like how this song builds into that dreamy, melodic nowhereness.
   3.You and whose army--I like how weak his voice sounds in contrast to his big words--overall it gives me the feel of a weak person reminding someone who is tormenting him that we are all weak and there is strength in numbers. Do not mess with us!
   4.Hunting bears--as a post-apocalyptic source of nutrition, bears will be hunted. It will be a sad time. This song will make it sadder.
   5.Spinning plates--probably not good enough to listen to on repeat, or maybe not ever, what the hell, skip this one.
   6.Knives out--sounds more like a Radiohead song than anything else on this album, and it's good, but not as good as some of the other songs on Amnesiac.
   Anyhoo, if you don't like this album I can't help you. It's not worth trying to change someone's opinion regarding music anyway. (Have you ever tried to recommend something you are super excited about to someone and they are like, eh..) I feel that way about this album. I'm just glad I have it and can listen to it on my headphones so as to not annoy those around me.



5. I have to admit that Radiohead's first three outings, culminating in OK Computer, were spectacular. With songs like Creep, The Bends, Fake Plastic Trees, Let Down and Electioneering, they had become the buzz band of the '90's. Then came Kid A and it's companion Amnesiac. Disgusting! Thom Yorke adopts a high, nasally, whiney voice and the critics call it avante garde. The band starts to play unmusical, atonal mood poems and the critics exclaim that Radiohead have made rock music interesting again. Au contraire. This entire album is pretentious crap. It's only place is to be played in Soho with the band wearing all black, including turtlenecks and berets. Real Rock'n'Roll has a soul, which this does not. Radiohead had a soul up until OK Computer. It's shown it's head in spurts on Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows, but is still hiding behind all this pretentious BS. Let's hope they snap out of it, stop investigating their own navels and return to producing music for the real world, not a bunch of godforsaken critics.

5 comments about Made of Bricks.

1. Mariella and Nicest Thing are my two favorite songs. I really like this CD. Her lyrics are funny and cute and the tune is hum-worthy. Defiantly worth the buy.



2. Kate has that lovely Brit accent that's so 'fetch!' Her angry songs are mixed with the sweetest little hymns like the perfect martini. The baby-girl voice and rowdy profanity is an intoxicating mix when you're mad as hell, but want to be nice and feel better! It's angel versus devil; you have to listen to determine who wins...



3. Kate Nash has got te be one of the best up and coming singers out of England. Fantastic voice combined with great writing and band. Would highly recommend. She's been bumped to the top of my "hit list". Great stuff.
   
   Vendor was great in getting the product to me as promised. Would also recommend.



4. I can't believe that this ENTIRE album is so full of songs with nothing to say. Her over the top British accent gets tiresome, her uninspired lyrics may appeal to the average 14 year old who actually believes the way to get over a broken heart is to just drink and pout. I was patient with the first few tracks, but each song got worse than the last one and I finally just gave up.
   
   What a waste of money and time!



5. The only good song on the cd is the one they play on the radio..a couple songs were just plain bad...very disappointing. I was expecting more.

5 comments about Pablo Honey.

1. While I know most people buy this album for the track "Creep" there are other good tracks as well. It took me a while to like these tracks (like at least 4 or 5 listens) after that it stuck with me. There are some very catchy pop tunes on here. "Stop Whispering," "You," "How Do You?," and "Vegetable" are some of the most memorable tracks. It is worth buying this especially if you are a fan of 90s pop/rock.



2. Today, I made an amusing discovery in the bottom of one of my desk drawers - the cassette tape single from when this album first came out of "Creep." I was 12 years old at the time, and like many people who went through adolescence in the early nineties, I had just really started to get heavily into music thanks to Nirvana. I loved "Creep" when I first heard it, so I picked up this single, and if you've never heard it, the B-Side of "Creep" is a song called "Faithless, the Wonder Boy," and it truly is outstanding (unfortunate that it wasn't put on Pablo Honey). So, I bought this album (back in the day), and while I still loved the two songs on the "Creep" single, the majority of Pablo Honey didn't do much for me.
   
   I was thinking that Radiohead was just another "Nirvana clone," (as a LOT of people were), so it took me until O.K. Computer came out to give them another chance. Of course, I've been a huge fan of pretty much everything they've released since that point (and even before it - "The Bends" is probably my FAVORITE Radiohead album).
   
   But, enough rambling, it's been many years since I listened to Pablo Honey as a whole album, and my musical tastes have evolved quite a bit from when it first came out, so I was kind of expecting that these past 15 years would help me appreciate it more.
   
   Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. While I pretentiously dismissing the album for pathetic reasons (as I had back in the day), the music it contained still just didn't resonate with me (for the most part - "Stop Whispering," and "You" are pretty sweet songs). In particular, I couldn't help thinking "why am I listening to this, when I could be listening to "The Bends," or "OK Computer?" The album is extremely straightforward, and really doesn't hint much at the direction this band was going to take.
   
   Oh well, I'm sure glad they DID got that direction. Pablo Honey may still not be my favorite album, but Radiohead is definitely still one of my favorite bands.



3. For all intents and purposes, The Bends was Radiohead's true debut. Indeed, many Radiohead fans pass over this album as if it never existed. However, listening to the album, one immediately hears a promising collection of tunes, that, while not as fleshed out as those on follow-up The Bends, makes clear the direction the band would eventually settle in. "Blow Out", ending on a long instrumental break of distorted guitars, and "You", the album's opening salvo (not to mention its odd time signature), signal the band's experimentation on future endeavors. And while the band seemingly has difficulty writing compelling material, there are highlights scattered throughout, whether it be the U2-esque buildup of "Stop Whispering", the lilting "Lurgee" or the Jim Morrison-mocking "Anyone Can Play Guitar". The true highlight, however, comes in the form of the self-loathing monster hit "Creep", which is still a radio staple today. Best bit: Lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood's two notes of distortion before the chorus (which, ironically enough, was done to try to "ruin" what he considered a poor song).



4. An album I seemed to have overlooked, Pablo Honey is a great look back at the roots of Radiohead. Everyone remembers "Creep", but the album reveals a more primal grunge-alt-rock side of this musically mature band.



5. 
   This is the first CD of the best band in the entire universe. Buy it. Buy them all and ascend to the highest level of existence.

5 comments about Loveless.

1. This may be, along with possibly David Bowie's "Station to Station" and Neil Young's "Tonight's the Night," the most terrifying masterpiece I have ever had the pleasure of being confronted with. Yes, what the fans say is true in my opinion, that this is a densely-layered, coherent thought layed out among eleven shorter (though no lesser) ones; and, to be accurate I am indeed a fan myself. Although I don't pretend to have heard all the incarnations "popular" music over the past 30 years, I do know this: Loveless, like any earnest and accurate expression of existence, is no less meaningless today than it was seventeen years ago. The blend of a prevailing major key alongside an urban sound density would make one assume that within this album there should be found population, wit, and communication. Luckily for us, none of those things exist here in the prosaic. Communication exists, yes, but only insofar as you are really only engaging yourself in conversation, along with a million other people engaging themselves in conversation- you are alone, along with everyone else, and you take comfort in the fact that love exists everywhere but here. Nowhere else have I heard a musical expression advance this thought so clearly and convincingly as here. So for all you parties of one who nevertheless need this earth and everything in it, get acquainted.



2. All notion of talent is historical, but some people certainly rely much more on contextual receptivity than voluntaristic genius. MBV are the former. Just like Mozart's 2nd rate elevator work hypnotized his contemporaries who basically wanted music to sound pretty and dainty while they ate bonbons and powdered their wigs, MBV released a record during an age where, mindboggingly, people were willing to hear anything that sounded like apathy, but loud. Blame it on the fall of the Berlin wall, but these people really wanted music that asked no questions and made no statements.
   
   People have defined Loveless as aural androgyny, but passive-agressive neuroticism is more the case. Imagine Tony Soprano's mother if she were amplified till her negativity feedbacked into a permanent state of numbing aggression. Strip it of meaning and you're pretty much there.
   
   MBV managed to be formally formless and cashed in on the public's perennial willingness to digest abstract ideas as long as they sounded anti. MBV simply decided to make everything wrong: psychedelia was no longer a trip to a distant quasar but to your navel. Punk rock was no longer a loud scream but an over-amplified sigh. Acid House was no longer dance music but a swing-your-head siren lull. You can't really do much to this music, whether it's singalong, get angry or shake your hips. You simply witness.
   
   Some people think this is the apex of music: music as music, pure music, a religious experience, the sublime that blows you away.
   
   Others like me simply keep powdering their wigs and eating bonbons.



3. "Loveless" is one of THE greatest albums ever made. Absolutely unique in its own sound, powerful and moving, and a huge influence on many bands that followed it. There are moments on this album one nearly touches heaven. For the full experience, listen loudly with good headphones, and let it move over you like a warm wave. Absolutely essential to anyone who likes rock music that hits you on a deep soul level.



4. 2 years, 19 Recording studios, estimated £250,000 spent, and with the bands record label creation records nearly bankrupt all the while anyone not named Kevin Shields was just sitting around "sipping tea" a masterpiece was just over the Horizon. Yes, quite simply Kevin Shields and company made one of the best albums of the nineties in my honest opinion.
   
   Quite simply, I love this album, even though some may say all it is just a bunch of Sonic Noise, it is much more than that. Voluptuous yet ethereal melodies and arrangements, The songs oozing of Drug & sex induced imagery.
   
   Shoegazing at it's best, simple as that. This not for everyones taste though as some have said, you can't just pop this on, flip open a book and expect to fall in love with this record, there is so much going on here, so much layering, so much creativeness... Kevin sampled with many drum loops, fused with Valentines' roaring guitars with a dance-inspired beat, The lushest of arrangements you will ever hear.. even today this record sounds very fresh, very much so than what was topping the charts in 91.
   
   No, it does not have Guitar masterbation, No it does not have Led zeppelin Riffs, and No there is no verse-chorus-verse-chorus-Middle 8th-chorus format here.. this is simply Beautiful Noise.
   
   Highly Recommended.



5. only four stars? i subtracted one for the format. if this were a review of the LP i would give it ten stars out of five! one of the best records ever made (sound familiar?). if you like this cd i urge you to try and find it on vinyl - it sounds SOOO MUCH BETTER!

5 comments about Hopes and Fears.

1. This is a different album from their second one, with a sound that's slower, with more ballads than Under the Iron Sea.
   
   Since I haven't paid exact attention to some tracks, I'll do a "key lyrics" type review - with my favorites on the album, which are quite a few.
   
   Somewhere Only We Know - the single. This song is midtempo, but has emotional lyrics which can make an effect on you later in life. Great for those who like to "escape the world" and stay in a little hideout that "only you know".
   Key lyric: "I walked across, a fallen tree, I felt the branches are they looking at me? Is this the place, we used to love, is this the place that we've been dreaming of?"
   
   This is the Last Time - I didn't like this song before because it was a bit loud for me - but gradually I looked at the lyrics and it's my new favorite now! Great for those who let people "lean on them" mentally.
   Key lyric: "The last time, you fall on me for anything you like."
   
   We Might As Well be Strangers - It isn't the lyrics that make this song, but the basslines and power balladry. Powered with a good subwoofer, the bass just POUNDS out. For those who are in a tough relationship crisis.
   Key lyric: "I don't understand your heart - it's easier to be apart."
   
   Everybody's Changing - Another power-driven song. About changes in people. Good for those going through changes in life.
   Key lyric: "You say you wander your own way, but when I think about it I don't see how you can."
   
   Your Eyes Open - It's the simplicity and beauty of the chorus that makes this song. Nice and relaxing - for those who are truly seeing another person in another light.
   Key lyric: "I don't know you, I don't want to till the moment your eyes open and you know all the things I ever wanted you to know."
   
   Can't Stop Now - Power rocksong. The melody and musicality, especially Rice-Oxley's power piano are amazing. As with the bass - simply phenomenal. For those in a rush and are feeling bad about letting others down about their promises because of that rush.
   Key lyric: "And I can't slow down, for no one in town, and I can't stop now, for no one."
   
   Sunshine - I just like it. So...bizarrely interesting!
   Key lyric: "Can anyone find their home?"
   
   Bedshaped - Perfect - musically brilliant, instrumentally perfect, technically amazing, vocally stunning and lyrically beautiful. if this was out of 10 I'd give it 10/10. Great for those tired of a relationship but are getting back together with their partner. Rice-Oxley has crafted an ethereal melody which is nice and slow, Chaplin reaches a great high register with straining his voice which can be a bit hard on the ears to me, and that bass drum from Hughes goes great with a subwoofer.
   Key lyric: "But what do I know? What do I kno-ow? I know."
   
   BONUS
   
   I got the special DVD edition, so there is one more track which is actually my favorite
   Snowed Under: Upbeat, but it's the most relevant song I've ever heard, and is absolutely perfect in every way. As an album closer it's actually like Pt. 2 of Bedshaped, because it ends the album for me on a high note, like the sun coming out after a storm. The end is just where it belongs - it's be out of place anywhere else. PHENOMENAL bass thump, drum beat and the best piano on the album - tied with Bedshaped. It's about letting insults after a relationship or hard words bounce right off you.
   Key lyricS:
   "I don't know why I waste my time, getting hung up about the things you say when I open my eyes and it's a lovely day."
   
   "Now you think that you're alo-ne, and you make your way back ho-me. I'd love to greet the weary traveler, but your time has gone and I'm glad it's over."
   
   THANKS!



2. I've heard good things about Keane, and had heard the debut single "Somewhere Only We Know". I finally got around to giving "Hopes and Fears" a good few listens, and for me it just boils down to this: this is musical wallpaper for the uncritical listener's lifestyle schemata. It's safe mid-tempo rock music that all sounds perfect, it's been auto-tuned and beat-corrected and tweaked within an inch of its life, with soaring melodies by a singer who can obviously sing but who's voice lacks a distinctive character (unlike Bono, or Thom Yorke, or even Jeff Buckley) that sets him apart from a throng of imitators.
   
   Proclamations of wonder about the fact that there aren't guitars and it still sounds great are pretty pointless, because drums and vocals are so dominant in this kind of music... turn the volume down real low and see what you hear... vocals and drums. It would be far more impressive if they could have a massive hit with guitar, keyboards and bass and took away the drums. The recording studio (and producer, engineer, mixing engineer) should get a cut of the profits from this, actually, it's SO important to the sound of this record.
   
   Anyway, kudos to Keane for sticking it out and to the main songwriter for not joining Coldplay when he had the chance long before this record came out. Their efforts have paid off, and I'm always glad when musicians can make a living at their craft. I just hope they invest wisely, in case they don't last.



3. I highly recommend getting this cd - every song is worth listening to, over and over again. It is that good. All relatable lyrics and the melodies are fantastic. A must have in any ipod/mp3...



4. I have just recently discovered Keane and love their music. After listening to song samples on Amazon I decided to buy this one as my first CD of theirs but will buy more I'm sure.



5. This CD has so many great songs, not your typical one or two hits. It's so worth it -- I'm looking forward to purchasing their other CDs!