No Longer In the Clouds, In Rainbows

Like any respectable thirty something white male douchebag in this country, I have at one point proclaimed Radiohead to be my favorite band. In my sphere of influence, most people who say Radiohead is their favorite band are douchebags, and I certainly was no exception. I looked askance at anyone else who claimed to be a Radiohead fan - knowing the words to High and Dry or Creep did not impress me; I raise you Knives out and Bulletproof. Radiohead is the douchebag correct answer to several party questions:

* What is your favorite band? It’s a band
* What kind of music do you listen to? It’s a genre too
* What is the best concert you’ve ever been to? Oooh Ahhhh, yes, you can still touch me, for a price
* What band would you most like to see live? Again, of course, seeing as how I travel regularly to see them
* Who would you like to see run for President? We are president, fuck the soda can house of cards sun adultress.

Answer Radiohead to any of those questions, accompany it with a knowing nod and you have the formula for smug douchebaggery.

Though I liked Creep, I was late to the cool guy game with “Pablo Honey,” having spent too much time doing bong hits to Cypress Hill and Snoop Dog to get too riled up about people who play instruments. “The Bends” got me. I loved every track on that album, in particular the epic, weepy Bulletproof, which became a personal anthem of blistering self-loathing for about five years. When “OK Computer” was released, I was initially hesitant: this wasn’t screeching guitars, rocking Radiohead, this was techno-geeky weird Radiohead. It took me awhile, but eventually I came around and now consider it the penultimate Radiohead album, one of the finest rock albums ever produced.

I figured my initial negative appraisal of their next album “Kid A” would give way to adulation – you Radiohead boys tricked me again! I waited for the punchline for months. Finally I accepted that, like any parent of multiples, I really did love some more than others. In the end I found Kid A to be difficult, with only a couple noteworthy tracks. I don’t suppose I was much different than lots of Radiohead fans who embraced the album as an exploration of something new. To appreciate the album was to sign on with the Lewis and Clark of the new musical world, even if you didn’t realize that you’d end up spending a lot of time in the swamps of Mississippi before bedding a hot Indian girl.

Same with "Amnesiac," though I liked it even less than "Kid A." More exploration, not enough melody.

"Hail to the Thief" felt like a joke. On me. My reward for a decade of worship was an odd collection of incompatible sounds and relentless Thom Yorke whining. Goodwill had me stopping short of calling it unlistenable, but I hated it so much that it discolored the body of their work. It was like finding out your best friend sometimes kills puppies for sport. You really can’t move on from that.

I recently picked up “In Rainbows," in part because I was utterly enthralled with the distribution model – you could buy it directly from the band for whatever price you wanted (for a limited time), but also because I was hopeful the long layoff would result in the band returning to something approaching acoustically pleasing. “In Rainbows” is delicious. Each track is highly enjoyable, and most are downright positive. All I Need is stunningly perfect. The construction starts simply with minimal percussion and a paradoxically bone stirring, yet soothing base line. Adding Yorke's restrained vocals a bit later, the song builds steam. Just when you think the crescendo is about to set it all loose, a Xylophone is added and the song is reduced to its simplest form, only to start the process all over again and finish with a delicious combination of drums, guitar, bass, smashing cymbals and Yorke's hypnotic voice. I can't think of a single thing I'd change about it.

I'm still not ready to let Radiohead pick up the mantle of "favorite band," but I'm glad I'm back they're back.