AMNESIAC

"Amnesiac" has the unfortunate distinction of being the album to follow the genre-bending masterpiece from outer space that was "Kid A." The two albums were in fact recorded at the same time ("twins separated at birth" as Jonny Greenwood puts it), and I suppose if this one had come out first maybe everyone would have hailed it as the masterpiece and written off "Kid A" as the imitation. To say that this is an album of leftovers from "Kid A" is not entirely accurate, however. The band seemed to have intentionally left some of their strongest tracks off "Kid A" in order to achieve a consistent flow and experimental tone. As a result of this wise decision, "Amnesiac" in turn boasts the same experimental sound but still contains some of the gems of the Radiohead catalog, notably "Pyramid Song" and "You and Whose Army." The album does have a certain "this-all-feels-like-it's-happening-in-a-tunnel" sort of feel (lots of reverb all over the place), and this gives a strange sort of unity to a collection of songs that are otherwise unrelated. Watch out for "Like Spinning Plates" and its experiments with reversed audio. I'm not still not sure what's forward and what's backward there. There isn't a real punch or climax here, just a nice wash of sound, but a worthy effort nevertheless.

Also recommended: The "Pyramid Song EP" which contains 3 fantastic B-sides from these sessions. It's a shame they were not included on the main disc.

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