Radiohead
2011
Released independently
Peak position on charts:
#7 - UK Albums Chart
#3 - US Billboard 200
When you go back and listen to "Creep", Radiohead's first single and the song that got them on the board, and compare it to anything released on The King of Limbs, the only element that sounds even remotely similar is Thom Yorke's vocals. His far-ranging, entrancingly vibratic voice has pretty much been the one source of consistency throughout the years of transformation that came to define the band. In the Pablo Honey (Radiohead's first studio album) days, the music was pretty simple; Yorke's lyrics overtop a guitar, bass, and drum kit. They were, dare I say, a typical, clean-cut 90s band. Their maturation over their twenty-year span is apparent.
The King of Limbs presents a wonderful blend of simplicity and chaotic complexness. Only eight tracks in length, the album is Radiohead's shortest to date (which was somewhat of a disappointment coming out of a four year layoff). Featuring similar sound qualities to its chronological predecessor, In Rainbows, each song is beautifully orchestrated, and Yorke's lyrical work is as transfixing, if not more so, than ever. More importantly (to this album), every song is entirely its own; the contrast from song to song is impressive, especially considering how similar the instrumentation is for the first five tracks. That contrast is epitomised by pairing the most energetic song on the record, "Lotus Flower" (track 5) with the most delicate, "Codex" (track 6).
Throughout the album, Radiohead plays with looping of recorded overdubs, usually of Yorke's harmonic vocals, often by repeating a segment of audial data according to how much time it takes up, not by consistency through the measures of the song. In other words, the looped layovers are purely in free time, and are desynchronised from the rest of the music in the song. An instant feeling of richness and of thick complexity is produced. It's pretty smartly done.
Despite my praises of it, The King of Limbs was the first of Radiohead's records since 1997 to never hit number 1 on the UK Albums Chart, snapping a streak of five straight #1 albums. In part, I'm sure, the lack of publicity leading up to the album's release led to its decline in sales; the band told absolutely no-one that they had produced a new album until a week before they planned to release it (intentionally, of course). Even then, they exclusively sold it through their website for a month and a half before online vendors such as iTunes or Amazon were able to sell it. But Radiohead had already established in 2007 their low priority for profit following album releases... (more on that MUCH later...).
All in all, though, The King of Limbs is a wonderfully crafted album that is deeply intricate when it needs to be and hauntingly caressing where appropriate. I wish it were longer.
As a footnote sort of thing, this is the only album released in 2011 to appear on this list. I have nothing but pure kudos for it, and with time, I'm sure the 24th spot on this list will be downright insulting. Give it time, it'll be playing with the big dogs soon enough.
I'll link two (count 'em, TWO) songs below, to show you the gulf in style between some of the songs on the album, as well as a full track listing, since it's only eight songs' worth anyways.
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Track Listing:
- Bloom (5.15)
- Morning Mr Magpie (4.41)
- Little By Little (4.27)
- Feral (3.13)
- Lotus Flower (5.00)
- Codex (4.47)
- Give Up the Ghost (4.50)
- Separator (5.20)
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