A review:
There are some good spots on this disk, but overall I am disappointed. I think Radiohead decided to toss all of their distortion boxes in the trash, and with that their ability to write anything that has a hook.
Sonically the songs are interesting but there is no real structure. The songs are very linear from a composition standpoint. The drums come off as machine like in many of the tunes even to the point of not being able to tell the difference.
Thom York seems to have eschewed melody for a sonic mishmash that comes off as random at worst, aimless at best. You can tell the guy can sing and there are some good vocal moments. But most of the songs seem unfinished, or parts of songs where noise and sound effects were added to make up for the lack of structure or hook.
I understand Radiohead are trying to stay interesting and different, but sometimes interesting and different does not mean good.
I want to hear some "songs" again from these guys. Not some jam like sonic experiments. I had enough of that on Kid A and Amnesiac.
Thom Yorke is a brilliant melody writer, one only has to listen to High And Dry, Fake Plastic Trees, Planet Telex, even Creep.
The music he is singing over does not lend itself to this concept. Perhaps that is their goal, but after 6 listens, this CD still just sounds like mostly noise to me.
This band used to ROCK. This CD does not rock in any way. It would probably be best to have it playing in the backround while pulling tubes from your favorite bong.
Comon Radiohead, write some rock songs again!
![[Crybaby]](graemlins/crybaby.gif)