Like Spinning Plates

[pmcd9]

I saw the coolest commercial the other day.  It was for an upcoming program on PBS.  The scene was a man, who was totally silver, in a silver jumpsuit, He was painting on an easel in a park in the middle of a large city.  The picture was a a duplicate of the scene he was in which ran on into infinity inside the picture.  The  narrator was giving a speech about the post modern man that was totally nihlistic.  The man painting the picture drew a bullseye on the back of the image in front of him which in turned painted it on the back of all the other images, including his own, which was outside the easel.  Or was it?  Then behind him appeared a lady dressed in black.  She loaded an arrow in a crossbow and shot the man square in the bullseye.  He fell over, but the rest of the images only stepped out of the frame of the painting.  The soundtrack music for this scene was Radioheads 'Like Spinning Plates.'  It only lasted about a minute or so, but it was totally awesome.

~Paul

[jough]

I saw the topic and was hoping it was a Radiohead thread.  I love those guys.

I haven't seen that commercial but I'm sure I'll hear "Man, Radiohead SOLD OUT" from some friends, as if making a record, selling merchandise like t-shirts, or touring *isn't* "selling out."

Idiots.

-- Jough, stepping down from his soapbox.

[sjlimmer]

Ok, if there's a plurality of Radiohead fans around here, maybe someone can recommend which of their albums I should buy first.  I pretty much like all of their stuff I've heard, but I haven't heard all that much.  I'm really not all that familiar with the last 3-4 albums, but I've heard a lot of stuff from The Bends.

Any suggestions?

[Nabubrush]

I'm going to go ahead and lay it all out - even though Radiohead is more famous than God, I've never listened to them. I have a copy of Pablo Honey that I got at a pawn shop for $3 a year ago and I still haven't listened to it.

[slink]

Ok, if there's a plurality of Radiohead fans around here, maybe someone can recommend which of their albums I should buy first.  I pretty much like all of their stuff I've heard, but I haven't heard all that much.  I'm really not all that familiar with the last 3-4 albums, but I've heard a lot of stuff from The Bends.

Any suggestions?

Well, I'm not really a Radiohead fan anymore, but I always reckoned their best album was probably OK Computer. The Bends is damn fine, and in other ways Pablo Honey is my favourite. The latest ones, while I havent' heard Hail to the Thief yet, were good, but not quite my cup of tea.
I'd recommend OK Computer for the genius that is Paranoid Android and Subterranean Homesick Alien especially.
Man, I don't know, each album has weak spots for me I guess...

[jay-ell]

I saw the topic and was hoping it was a Radiohead thread.  I love those guys.

I haven't seen that commercial but I'm sure I'll hear "Man, Radiohead SOLD OUT" from some friends, as if making a record, selling merchandise like t-shirts, or touring *isn't* "selling out."

Idiots.

-- Jough, stepping down from his soapbox.

My brother in law wrote a rap song that included the lyric, "Sold out since day one, so pass me the Grammy."

[starlight]

I used to be a lot bigger of a radiohead fan in '99 (including the domestic full lengths, I bought singles, imports, bootleg copies, tshirts -which I recently sold cause they were too big and I needed money much to my dismay-, stickers, a promo poster with a plane on the front, another poster that came with a book I looked through once, buttons, etcetc).

..then Kid A came out and I completely felt a lull (even if I bought them; actually Kid A upset me mostly cause I heard a lot of those songs on this rarities bootleg I had and they were way better on there.  I even have the special library book edition of Amnesiac which I only listened to twice!) up till Hail to the Thief which I bought reluctantly thinking it, too, wouldn't catch my interest.  it ended up being a ray of hope - it holds some sliver of their old sound which is what I feel was missing from the past couple.

---

So, yeah, anyway, I'd say either buy OK Computer or the Iron Lung import (cause it's rad and has the acoustic version of Creep; Creep is the only good song on Pablo Honey!).

[jough]

People went ga-ga for Kid A, which I thought was brilliant, but not particularly listenable.  I.e. it's a really "smart" album, but you don't want to play it.

OK Computer is in my top 10 (maybe top 5) of all time albums.  It's two tracks away from perfection.

I've made a "best of" radiohead album that would be in my top 3 favourite albums were it an official release.

So for a noob, I'd say go with OK Computer - it's middle of the road between being a decent rock album and being a masterpiece of experimentation.

And to think these guys started out as a GRUNGE band, lumped in with Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

[pmcd9]

I think OK Computer is just about perfect in every way.  It's totally gorgeous.  Kid A and Amnesiac though so close to perfect that I can't think of a single complaint.  As for being listenable, I have listened to them more times than I can count.  I'll admit that KA and Amnesiac are not very accesible albums, but I found them so very interesting that I kept listening until it clicked and then it was like WOW life is awesome.  Even now I still find new pleasures in them whereas OK Computer has begun to get slightly stale, but only because i've listened to it so many times I guess.  Their live recordings album, with totally reworked versions of many KA/Amnesiac songs is also a complete triumph as well.  Hail to the Thief is a step backwards in my opinion.  There's a lot to like about it, but it doesn't hit like their three previous offerings.  Compared to most of the dreck out there it's a 10, but in Radiohead's cannon it's probably my fifth or sixth favorite.

They are playing a concert on Thanksgiving day in London and I am seriously considering attending.  If I don't get laid off in the next few weeks i'll be buying the tickets and making the travel arrangements.

~Paul

[Nabubrush]

People went ga-ga for Kid A, which I thought was brilliant, but not particularly listenable.  I.e. it's a really "smart" album, but you don't want to play it.

Now there's a ringing endorsement.

[Limmo]

The Bends is an amazing album.

OK Computer is even better.

Kid A has maybe two good songs, buried in electronic glop.  Ditto for Amnesiac.  

Haven't heard the new album.

[jough]

The new one's pretty good - it's got four great songs and eight mediocre songs.  That's about as good as albums get these days.

One of the French New Wave directors said that a good film has 3 great scenes and no bad ones.  Albums are like that too - if they have two or three truly great songs, and no horrible ones, that's fuck*ng ENTERTAINMENT.

[satchel]

Kid A is the only Radiohead album I like, and I’ve listened to them all a lot.

OK Computer is almost universally categorized as their tour de force.

[captainimpossibles]

That's true. Just the other day a bunch of these one-headed guys from Mars came over, and I was talking like Radiohead's tour de force was Kid A, and they were all like 'no way man!' Eventually we went out to get falafels and ended up forgetting the whole thing.

[slink]

Geeeee, you sure know how to kill a thread with pointless drivel...
*sigh*

Enough of this!