RADIOHEAD-In Rainbows

RADIOHEAD-In Rainbows
Radiohead's decision to drop "a chemical weapon on the music industry" (Thorn
Yorke's words) and release their seventh studio album only via their official website is an interesting one - especially the part where people decide how much to pay for a download. Far more interesting, though, would have been if punters were able to decide how much to pay for in Rainbows after they had owned it for a few days. For the record, I paid £5 - the price I believe download albums should cost; after all there is no artwork, no lyrics, no jewel box and the sound quality is inferior to what you'd get on a regular CD.
Cleverly, the albu;n is also being released by the band on vinyl and on disc, with added extras, in December - for the less than bargain-basement price of £40. Also, a traditional release of the album via one of those evil record companies is expected in early 2008.
The way In Rainbows is being distributed may have turned the entertainment world on its head, but the music is Radiohead's least revolutionary collection since the still weird Kid A. It is, though, fantastically good,and grows with each listening once you accustom your ears to the strange ebb and flow that is Yorke's whine,
sows and the dense, brilliantly technical over-layering of the music. The trick the band pull off brilliantly and with great style throughout is the sensation of a musical fog gradually lifting to reveal astonishing clear skies; the way Nude (an old track that has eventually made it onto an album) and All I Need slowly build towards crescendos puts them alongside this band's finest moments.
As the album progresses it gets simpler (for them), and all the layers start disappearing until we arrive at three final, stripped-down songs. Of these, the haunting ballad House Of Cards is magnificent (it opens with the most un-Thom Yorke of lines: "I don't want to be your friend/I just want to be your lover"), while Videotape is among the most heartfelt songs Radiohead have ever recorded.
Obscure and uncompromising they may be, but Radiohead are still a people's band, and they've made an album that can be enjoyed by fans who've grown tired of their experimentation as well as those who survived them. Power to the revolution.
Johnny Dee