In Rainbows is a dream that’s far from even close to the edge.January 6th, 2008 by dreadedoutsider
The method of promoting this new offering of ten tracks from Radiohead, erstwhile pioneers of the extraordinary, has to be commended. When the band realized it was substandard they baled out, opting to leave the decision on price up to the buyer.
Lacking the resonance of The Bends or the outrageousness of Kid A it doesn’t even try to grab hold of the listener. Even the otherworldlyness of Amnesiac seems beyond the band these days. Remember those esoteric almost mystical moments from off the wall?
The whole of this package is just too non threatening, too tight and just too neat. It can accommodate everybody from old through to new fans and even lapsed fans in between who are now reborn after just one listen.
It demands no thinking from the listener just a go with the flow, making no real decisions while sitting on the fence pretending to be a fan in certain circles and denying it in others. A one size fits all kind of easy on the ear stuff that both your parents and your kids would enjoy.
Bob Dylan did a similar thing when he found God and demanded disciples not critics, then discovered that his cutting edge had been severely blunted.
There’s nothing ragged or jagged about this Radiohead, in fact nothing dangerous to even suggest that the listener is being mugged. The whole thing can be listened to as elevator music or worse still, played as a lullabye sequence for recalcitrant babies.
The Peppers worked a similar con with Stadium Arcadium although they retained some of their dignity by at least charging for their recent offering.
The similarities between the two boil down to both packages being curiously listenable and yet making no unique impact on listeners. The con simply lulling them into temporary amnesia about any band bibliography with which to make comparisons.
The ultimate postmodern music, a band with no history only the present moment, In Rainbows.
Generic, albeit polished, pieces tooled to deliver instant gratification with absolutely no demand on the listener. This kind of toy or plaything comes from a comfort zone playpen far from that edge, ever close to the precipice, that Radiohead inhabited in their not so distant past.
Maybe the band has started believing their own myth or could it be a cutting indictment of most listeners and critics and their mushy acceptance of mediocrity? A credible bounce back from this far down is always possible but not inevitable. His track record speaks for itself though, so watch my space.
According to Wikipedia, In Rainbows earned a rating of 88 out of 100 on Metacritic.
‘Nuff said.