The sudden Radiohead album ‘The King of Limbs’ harks back a decade in sound for me. I’m was thinking ‘Kid A’ on this record as soon as the opening cut ‘Bloom’ started playing. It is that multi-layered Thom Yorke Vs the rest of the band with electronic percussion giving it an immediate Radiohead sound.
I can’t say I thought much of the last album ‘In Rainbows’ although I’ve seen it called “a masterpiece”. Not only was it a free album, it sounded like a throwaway album to me (personal opinion only). ‘The King of Limbs’ is strong. It is made from the stuff you expect to hear from classic Radiohead.
‘The King of Limbs’ is 8-songs strong and 8 strong songs. ‘Morning Mr. Magpie’ has a tribal feel to it. Paging Chris Franz and Tina Weymouth. I would love to hear a Tom Tom Club remix of this.
I’m also hearing ample Tom Cruise movie soundtracks around these songs (but then again maybe the Radiohead placement in Vanilla Sky was just a stroke of genius on Cameron Crowe’s behalf). ‘Little By Little’ could easily replace ‘All the Right Friends’ in that movie. It hints at jazz but in an ambient way.
I am really loving this album. It has been a long time since Radiohead sounded so good. ‘Little By Little’ flows into the instrumental ‘Feral’ with Yorke only using his voice as an instrument on this track.
‘Lotus Flower’ you may have heard (if not check the video below).
‘Codex’ maintains the consistency of the record. In fact, if you like one song on ‘The King of Limbs’, you will like nearly everything you hear.
The repetitive “don’t hurt me” lyric makes ‘Give Up the Ghost’ another haunting (pardon the pun), drifting off moment from Radiohead. Could it be a Thom Yorke love song?
‘Separator’ is the weakest link on the record but I have a sneaking suspicion it may be the grower over time. I can’t really say anything negative about it at this stage but there isn’t anything overly positive to say as well. It is just a track on the album. I do think I may take that back in a few weeks though.
What is so likable about ‘The King of Limbs’ is the multiple musical layers. Every time you play it you will hear something different.
Brilliant stuff from Radiohead.
‘The King of Limbs’ tracklisting is:
1. Bloom
2. Morning Mr Magpie
3. Little By Little
4. Feral
5. Lotus Flower
6. Codex
7. Give Up The Ghost
8. Separator
