Sic Semper Tyrannis

Amnesiac by Radiohead (2001)

A Random CD Review from the Stutzman Memorial Archive
Amnesiac by Radiohead (2001)

The computer spit out #460 for today—Radiohead’s Amnesiac. I have quite a few gut instincts associated with this album, but I felt that I owe you, dear reader, a little more than that. I shall listen to this album one more time before I commence with the commentary…

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Since it had been a long time since I listened to this album and since Radiohead is such an “important” band, I wanted to be as fair as possible. Critiquing Radiohead negatively is like saying Princess Diana looked mannish and was a harlot. But the fact that I haven’t heard this disc in a while should be your first clue as to what I think about it. And I must admit, upon listening to it last night, I wound up not hating it as much as I expected to. Be that as it may, in a word, Amnesiac, is underwhelming to me for a variety of reasons.

One, it’s widely noted for its’ dearth of guitars, as is Kid A, the album before it. That’s never really been an issue for me, except for what logically follows when there’s not a lot of guitars—digital doodaddery and the dreaded loop-based composition. One seemingly inescapable byproduct of creating music with software samplers and loop recorders is non-dynamism. When you’re creating a piece of music with a bunch of audio puzzle pieces that repeat at such and such times, obsessing over mere placement of parts, it is really difficult to mold that into an overarching composition that takes you somewhere. That is one of my problems with a lot of the music on this album—it just kind of sits there taking up time, (not to mention the nebulous song titles that have very little to do with the songs or with anything: “Dollars and Cents,” “Hunting Bears,” “Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box.”) These songs have no presence for me unless they are playing right now. I can’t imagine anyone saying “Dude, ‘Hunting Bears’ totally turned my life around.” Anyway, I was speaking of dynamics and Radiohead music without dynamic contrast is a waste of talent in my opinion.

Another waste of talent is the fact that this was the second album in a row featuring what I’m going to call the “anti-song.” I could be here all day trying to answer the following question: “What is a song?” At its most simple, I think a “song” is a collection of words set to a melody that can be fairly easily realized by a girl or guy accompanying him/herself on a guitar or piano. That’ll be my working definition for now, as limiting as it is. A track like the hideously titled “Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors” is almost the exact opposite of that. For those of you like me who don’t remember what this composition sounds like—it’s a pretty static drum loop with very little harmonic information and a tweezed robotic voice talking about all kinds of “doors.” This is the most unnervingly pretentious bullshit on the album. There is very little difference between the sounds on this track and Ross Geller’s vocoder performances with his Casio keyboard at Central Perk. But the fact that Thom Yorke is associated with it somehow turns it into some important statement.

Now, rock critics often talk about “departure” and artists’ “growing,” so theoretically my problems with this version of Radiohead not sounding like my darling Radiohead’s first three albums is really more my problem than theirs. But let’s deal with the matter of historicity. These tracks were the results of the same recording sessions as those for Kid A. That, to me, suggests that these were the songs that weren’t good enough for that album, or were at least not the ones that the band was most excited about. The typical response to that accusation is that these songs just didn’t fit the overall vibe or theme of Kid A. Really? Are Kid A and Amnesiac really that different sounding? I don’t think so. The name Amnesiac describes this album’s ideal audience—those who forgot what Kid A sounded like.

Another amusing aspect of this album is its’ heavy minor key tendencies. I think every song at least starts in a minor key, (except for the aforementioned “Pulled Pork/ Revolving Doors,” or whatever it’s called, which doesn’t really count since it’s only vaguely tonal anyway.) Listening to this album is like a forty-five minute funeral dirge. At times I just want to shake Thom Yorke and say, “OK! I get it! You’re brooding and artistic!”

Now, with the last five paragraphs said, let me offer what this album does well. Despite all my rattling on, there are some really interesting moments for me as well. I really do believe that the best moments from this album and the best moments from Kid A would make a pretty incredible disc. “Knives Out” and “You and Whose Army” are stand-out tracks for me, and not surprisingly, they are the two most traditionally Radiohead-esque songs on here: jazzy guitar harmonies, memorable melodies, a real band sound. They just groove along really nicely, like if the beatnik band from Pee-Wee’s Playhouse got a little bit more angst-ridden.

And then there is the beautiful “Like Spinning Plates,” one of the least analog moments on the album, yet it is way more than just chopped up beats and some non sequitur lyrics thrown on top. There is harmonic motion, chord changes and even a melody, (even though it’s backward vocals for a lot of the song), but it goes somewhere. The backwards synth arpeggios are a little disorienting at the beginning, but it develops, grows in volume, the lyrics become distinguishable and all of it is covered by some stringy synth-swells. If John Lennon had not been assassinated, I could hear the Beatles sounding like this in the 90s. The only thing missing is a drum set and some guitar. To me, this piece is the culmination of the new electronica-aware Radiohead. Hail to the Thief would come afterwards to try to integrate this technology with the soul of the first three albums, but this tune reminded me of just what heights they are capable of reaching, albeit a bitter reminder. This track is still not Radiohead-the band, but rather Radiohead-the experimenters with noise.

posted by Mike @ 7:40 AM