Album Of The Month - January: Radiohead - In Rainbows

This is a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be at the beginning of the month. There really was not a lot to catch the eye on a list of albums released this month. The only album of any note was Field Manual by Chris Walla (of Death Cab For Cutie) and while there are some great tracks on their, it's nothing on anything Death Cab have ever released.
The most hyped album of this month is easily 19 by Adele. She is clearly seen by the record label as a less coked up version of Amy Winehouse, still, theres no denying she can definitely sing. Stand out tracks include "My Same" and album closer "Hometown Glory". Still, its far from brilliant.


And so, I've picked the latest masterpiece of an album from Thom Yorke & Co. I put this album in my top 10 of last year, and named it my album of October (when it was released for download only, where fans could pay what they wanted for it), however, as it was released on CD this year, and I didn't review it last year, I'm doing it now.

It's a definite case of out with the new, in with the old where In Rainbows in concerned. From start of opener "15 Step", it's obvious they have worked hard to bring back the far rawer sound of older albums, particularly 1993's Pablo Honey. The more recent albums were criticised for being too polished and it's clear they have really taken that on board.

Stand out tracks on the album include "Bodysnatchers" (the first single to be released, back in October), which harks back to Radiohead's older heavier tracks, such as "Creep" or "Paranoid Andriod". Apart from this track, the rest appears to be a lot lighter, there is far more acoustic guitar than electric present here, as can be seen in "Nude", which is possibly the best track on the album. New single "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" proves that Radiohead can write singles without moving from their sound at all and closer "Videotape" is just magical.

Radiohead have somehow managed to create an album that represents everything thats great about them, whilst moving forward and altering their sound ever so subtly. In Rainbows is unlikely to be knocking OK Computer off it's pedestal as "The Greatest Album Ever", and on reflection, it probably doesn't deserve to, but there are some truly epic tracks on here, and it probably more likely that In Rainbows will be looked back on as a great achievement in a few years, rather than gain the recognition it deserves instantly.

Best Tracks:
Bodysnatchers
Nude
Videotape

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