I'll defend A Moon Shaped Pool until I die. Probably prefer it to the Bends to be honest. It doesnt have any of the big highs like the Bends but maybe because I'm older I just want less noise :) it also feels like the most of its time album (after Pablo Honey) and I think that ages itStill listen to OK Computer and The Bends to this day.The only tracks i skip are Fitter Happier and Climbing Up The Walls.
Glastonbury when they headlined and did most of the stuff from OK and The Bends was an iconic set.
All downhill after bar There, There track from Hail to the Thief.
9/10.Poetry in motion
Sheesh man i absolutely love this song. It's kind of fragile but masculine at the same time - like a Russian man wearing a tutu atop an iceberg. I love the atmosphere of it. Yes it's contrived and constructed but it's made so wellI'm lactose intolerant.
But the pie order should be cancelled, because I just barely made it through "Exit Music (For A Film)" and recalled why I dislike this record so much.
Paul McCartney (along with his wife Linda) wrote "Live And Let Die", and he was in The Beatles, and they were both in Wings, not Radiohead, so I think a fact check is in order here.They even wrote the best James Bond theme tune
It's unbearably whingy, tuneless, hookless, slow, arid like a desert, pointless, ugly and vague.Sheesh man i absolutely love this song. It's kind of fragile but masculine at the same time - like a Russian man wearing a tutu atop an iceberg. I love the atmosphere of it. Yes it's contrived and constructed but it's made so well
How can a 9/10 record have songs you skip? You skip 17% of the tunes!Still listen to OK Computer and The Bends to this day.The only tracks i skip are Fitter Happier and Climbing Up The Walls.
Glastonbury when they headlined and did most of the stuff from OK and The Bends was an iconic set.
All downhill after bar There, There track from Hail to the Thief.
9/10.Poetry in motion
Brilliant commentary. I would guess my review and score will be somewhat more focused on the musical content now that you’ve articulated your feelings.We're not even a day into this pick and it's doing my head in. Not the album itself which has some merits if you park it's cynicism and lack of authenticity. But because I've been reminded of the absolute torrent of garbage that is written about it and the associated baggage that comes with it; such as unanswerable questions like why is Jonny Greenwood lauded to the heavens when someone like Dominic Miller is ignored? Why do people say the lyrics and themes are prescient or profound but when you ask them to explain a bit more they can't actually articulate any proper detail? Why can't Thom Yorke be arsed to follow an idea through to a cogent conclusion? When did absorbing a few influences and bringing them together sometimes successfully sometimes not, constitute "reinventing rock"? I don't hate this album (at least not for purely musical reasons) but I do hate all the arseholes with a 2:2 in English Lit from Keele or wherever, who wrote rainforests worth of total shite about it.
It's put me in a foul enough mood to score it now. If I was scoring this purely as a few pieces of music I'd probably give it a 6 maybe a 5 because theres some interesting ideas on it with some decent playing; but i've been told plenty of times this is in effect an important piece of art. So it's getting scored as such and it's getting compared in terms of it's intent and execution against the likes of Guernica. And on that basis it's getting 1/10 because it's devoid of any artistic integrity.
Gonna go and listen to the playlist as I really do need to chill out now.
We're not even a day into this pick and it's doing my head in. Not the album itself which has some merits if you park it's cynicism and lack of authenticity. But because I've been reminded of the absolute torrent of garbage that is written about it and the associated baggage that comes with it; such as unanswerable questions like why is Jonny Greenwood lauded to the heavens when someone like Dominic Miller is ignored? Why do people say the lyrics and themes are prescient or profound but when you ask them to explain a bit more they can't actually articulate any proper detail? Why can't Thom Yorke be arsed to follow an idea through to a cogent conclusion? When did absorbing a few influences and bringing them together sometimes successfully sometimes not, constitute "reinventing rock"? I don't hate this album (at least not for purely musical reasons) but I do hate all the arseholes with a 2:2 in English Lit from Keele or wherever, who wrote rainforests worth of total shite about it.
It's put me in a foul enough mood to score it now. If I was scoring this purely as a few pieces of music I'd probably give it a 6 maybe a 5 because theres some interesting ideas on it with some decent playing; but i've been told plenty of times this is in effect an important piece of art. So it's getting scored as such and it's getting compared in terms of it's intent and execution against the likes of Guernica. And on that basis it's getting 1/10 because it's devoid of any artistic integrity.
Gonna go and listen to the playlist as I really do need to chill out now.
I think the same thing almost every day when I look at the 5.27 average you lot dished out to King Swamp - an album on which Dominic Miller played some superb guitar :)why is Jonny Greenwood lauded to the heavens when someone like Dominic Miller is ignored?
I'm expected threespires to row back on this at some point, but we'll see. This week is already interesting. It seems my Two Tribes post is, so far, very apt.C’mon , whilst this is a very good Fog inspired rant 1/10 is disingenuous and ruins the average score. Play fair!
How can a 9/10 record have songs you skip? You skip 17% of the tunes!
This is kind of my point about "overrated". At the least, it seems grade inflation.
If this is how I scored records, I have like 683 10/10s.
Sorry mate -- I don't mean to be harsh. Maybe it's just me, but any record with songs I'd skip is a 7 at best.
Dammit that's a great song alsoPaul McCartney (along with his wife Linda) wrote "Live And Let Die", and he was in The Beatles, and they were both in Wings, not Radiohead, so I think a fact check is in order here.
But apart from that it's amazingIt's unbearably whingy, tuneless, hookless, slow, arid like a desert, pointless, ugly and vague.
It's horrifying. All that rock and roll should never be.
In my opinion. :)
If he'd written a line that said "like a Russian man in a tutu atop an iceberg" it'd at least be a simile worth discussing.
C’mon , whilst this is a very good Fog inspired rant 1/10 is disingenuous and ruins the average score. Play fair!
He he. I had to come back for this. I did wonder who would be brave/daft enough to propose it and it’s you Rob (under the pretence that it’s a filler you never listen to). Yeah right. At least own your passion man ;-).The Album Review Club
The moment that many have dreamed of.
The current round of albums is due to conclude with a couple of new nominators. The person scheduled for this week’s nomination has asked for another week to put a write-up together. I then put out a call to the last nominator on the list but have so far not received a reply.
This creates a problem because I don’t want to have an end-of-round playlist with just two weeks of the current round to go. Neither do I want to kick off a new round (because I’m not quite ready!)
But then the perfect solution occurred to me. What would be a good way to make a great thread even better? Here are some relevant comments from a few of the music threads:-
“I'm sorry if I inadvertently helped derail the thread but if it does get nominated by someone I look forward to discussing it.” – threespires
"Man, if this thread has a "norm" I'm not sure what it is! And that's what makes it great. And if you choose to select the hands-down most overrated record ever made, that would be fine :)." – FogBlueInSanFran
“I cannot think of another group that I have liked and then went downhill so fast.” – bennyboy
“It’s all subjective anyway but the ultimate arbiter will be the Bluemoon vote.” – journolud
"Radiohead for me as a young teen was just a great rock/indie band that stood outside the mix of Britpop" – BlueHammer85
Middle-aged gentlemen and slightly older gentlemen, without further ado, I give you:-
OK Computer by Radiohead.
Editor’s Note
Please note that this is a bonus selection, and not my selection. I look forward to listening and reviewing because I’ve never heard it.
In some ways, this subverts the normal process: we take it in turns to put forward a record that means a lot to us, we bare our souls and try to explain how our lives are intertwined with the songs, and we wait for our fellow forumites to agree with us or point out how we have been wrong all these years.
However, Radiohead, and OK Computer in particular, have come up so often in the various discussions that it somehow feels wrong not to listen to this album as a collective. A little sluggishness on the part of some new nominators, plus some intense discussion ahead of the eagerly awaited return of the Bluemoon Cup, have conspired to produce a glorious window of opportunity.
I was too good an opportunity to turn down, like a beautifully arcing Kevin De Bruyne pass that lands invitingly at the feet of a certain goal-hungry Viking.
OK Computer may have regularly featured in the Champions League places of many a post-year-2000 poll, but how will it fare in the harsh crucible of the Album Review Club league table? As @journolud says, “It’s all subjective anyway but the ultimate arbiter will be the Bluemoon vote.”
So, I look forward to applying a bit of science and cool, calm perspective to prove or disprove @FogBlueInSanFran ’s assertion that this is the most overrated album ever made.
I trust that everybody will take their duty seriously and play nice. Having said that, let battle commence.
So should they have a) written songs about surfing or b) recorded the album in a drug den and given all their proceeds to a charity for fallen teens?I will 100 percent will come back to this post because this is my central problem with this band: getting super-rich while feeding the masses the hopeless cynicism you know will sell records while blissfully recording the fucking thing in a mansion owned by a B-actress whilst totting up your millions is the ULTIMATE in true cynicism and reckless selfishness. It’s nearly Trumpian.
Honestly, I've never listened to it.He he. I had to come back for this. I did wonder who would be brave/daft enough to propose it and it’s you Rob (under the pretence that it’s a filler you never listen to). Yeah right. At least own your passion man ;-).
If I’m honest, I owned it and liked it when released. Don’t play it anymore but have always been startled at the strong reaction to this band on here. I’m off to give it a few listens again and look forward to reading the hatchet jobs er reviews and will put my own analysis and score in.
Go on then. I’m genuinely interested.This is not an underconsidered opinion. If we want to discuss it I'm happy to say why I think it exemplifies the worst of the music industry and ironically actually quite a lot about modern life, particularly where the arts have gone in the last three decades but that will bleed into a political conversation that I suspect most want to keep this thread free from.
Hmmm. Methinks you do protest too much.Honestly, I've never listened to it.
When I do listen to it, I may recognise one or two, but if that's the case, it will have been because I've heard it in the background on TV or film or when out and about.
I'm genuinely looking forward to hearing it for the first time given the poles-apart responses on this thread over the last few years.
Before joining these forums 4 years ago, the way I've consumed music was:-Hmmm. Methinks you do protest too much.
Rob, it’s ok to be open. We are all friends here. The only way to rid yourself of this is to confront it and share it with your pals - as you have done.
Seriously. I’m interested in your first impressions. But really, how could you have avoided this album. It must have been deliberate surely.