By Samuel Rubenfeld
In what one can only describe as a revolutionary moment in music history, Radiohead released its latest album “In Rainbows” just after midnight on Wed., Oct. 10. Purchasers could only “buy” the album from the band directly off the Web site inrainbows.com, and they could name their price, including paying nothing at all.
(In the interest of full disclosure, I paid $10.91 after conversion rates, including the .45UK handling fee.)
Since the release, other bands, including Oasis, Jamiroquai and Nine Inch Nails, have indicated a willingness to follow Radiohead’s model. An anonymous source allegedly connected to the band revealed to the Web site Gigwise.com that Radiohead sold 1.2 million downloads in its first day alone.
The songs are all DRM-free mp3 files at 160Kbps, which means they are transferable anywhere. The audio quality is not as good as a CD, which is recorded in “lossless” quality-just in the studio.
Multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood said in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, “We just wanted to make it a bit better than iTunes, which it is, so that’s kind of good enough, really.”
iTunes files download at a bitrate of 128Kbps in .mp3 format.
The record fits right in with the rest of Radiohead’s catalogue, even surpassing most of the band’s recent efforts. This might be Radiohead’s best since the opus “OK Computer.”
As with every Radiohead release, it is impossible to find the full meaning behind each song, or the album as a whole, for an initial review; there is simply too much going on both in the foreground and in the background. Listen to this record on headphones.
However, “Rainbows” clearly is the most up-close and personal record the band has recorded since “The Bends” in 1995. Thom Yorke’s vocals are not hidden behind a wall of reverb, the album is not a constant journey through post-apocalyptic hell, as both “Kid A” and “Amnesiac” both were.
“Bodysnatchers,” apparently a song about a soul trapped inside the body of a zombie, is the heaviest song Radiohead has recorded in a decade. Pounding drums over waves of guitar noise almost drown Yorke out of the mix.
All of the paranoia of “The National Anthem” is here, albeit without the pretension. In the song, Yorke sneers, “Has the light gone out for you?” before explaining: “Because the light’s gone out for me.”
Yorke seems to be losing himself throughout the song and throughout the album as well, but ironically, his delivery makes the loss seem peaceful, kind of like dying while asleep.
Radiohead has a penchant for revisiting previously recorded but unreleased songs for subsequent albums, and “Rainbows” is no different.
“Nude” has existed since the “OK Computer” sessions, but it finally gets a proper release more than 10 years later. This version is achingly beautiful, with lilting strings, a light guitar riff and barely present drums. Then everything cuts out, and Yorke holds a note for what seems like forever. The music comes back slowly, as if Yorke was jumping off a roof into a “parachute-like” sheet held out by the band to save him from himself.
“Videotape,” the album’s coda, is weighted heavily by its cryptic lyrics and its mournful sound. Yorke sits at a piano playing a funeral march throughout the song. “When I’m at the pearly gates,” he almost whimpers, “This will be on my videotape, my videotape.”
Radiohead, by releasing “Rainbows” in this manner, guaranteed itself the curiosity of millions. The disc version of the record may see a release in 2008-pending a distribution deal from the very labels Radiohead just spurned-but one can only wonder if a traditional release can have the staying power this download is sure to have.
Giving listeners an option in price and only releasing its newest album online, Radiohead’s “In Rainbows” is like no other album. (harpmagazine.com)