RADIOHEAD - THE KING OF LIMBS
Right. I`ll get straight to the point. I have had a love/hate relationship with this record ever since it was released. Initially I found it bold, musically challenging and brilliantly performed. Then disappointment kicked in. It was too short, too fragmented, too angular. However with the recent additions of the Supercollider/The Butcher and The Daily Mail/Staircase singles my love affair with The King of Limbs has blossomed again.
Upon release it was titled a "newspaper" album, which made little sense, but with the added songs (now making a 12 track album), I understand that Radiohead wanted some kind of fluidity, a kind of reaction against the traditional ways of making a record after the troubles they had with "In Rainbows".
TKOL opens with the jittery, jazz tinged "Bloom" that is held together by Colin Greenwood`s bass and Thom Yorke`s soaring vocal. It is a complete 180 from the sound of "In Rainbows" and lays the groundwork for much of what is too come. "Morning Mr Magpie" has a guitar riff that sounds like it has had too much caffeine giving the song a strange sense of urgency. In fact the first half of TKOL is very much in this mold, with new song "The Butcher" fitting in well, with a sycopated stomp of rhythm and an etheral melody floating over the top.
The second half of TKOL is much more accessible, with the single "Lotus Flower", the beautifully haunting piano driven "Codex" and the closing poppy gem "Separator".
The newer songs all add something special to the album, from "Supercollider", which is seven minutes of minimal beats, soaring, spacey melodies and impassioned vocals to a more classic sound Radiohead on "The Daily Mail". However, "Staircase" is the standout mainly because it pulls off sounding like everything else on the album and at the same time something completely fresh.
DOWNLOAD - STAIRCASE, CODEX, SEPARATOR, LOTUS FLOWER
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