Radiohead: In Rainbows, Why All the Hype?
Radiohead released In Rainbows as a digital only album where you had the choice to pay anything you want. In theory this is a great idea with both fans and the artist gaining financially, where fans can choose to pay less or nothing at all and the artist gets their money directly without losing a huge % to the label company.
I say theoretical because this only works for a band that is actually world wide recognized. Most indie bands could not of had more blogging hype especially among the mainstream and indie crowds. It was a smart move to say the least.
The reviews for In Rainbows has been OFF the charts. Basically the reviews are saying that this has been one of the best Radiohead albums and currently has an 89 out 100 score on Metacritic making it the top album of the year.
Do I agree with everyone else? Not at all. When I first listened to the album, I just felt as if this was really boring and difficult to listen to. There aren’t many of songs that I specifically can start liking right off the bat. It took repeated listens to actually start to like something.
The songs are different but to me the album was more headache inducing than something I would say is equivalent to some of my top albums of the year like Sunset Rubdown’s Random Spirit Lover, The National’s Boxer and Of Montreal’s Hissing Fauna.
The singing is definitely decent and the songs are mostly growers but does it deserve such a high ranking? I feel as if the ratings are biased for people falling in love with the idea of releasing albums digitally only. Granted, I never have the same opinion as Pitchfork but I don’t let my liking of a band reflect what I think in a review.
The album is only decent. Nothing special. I could understand if it was still critically praised but not to this extent. I just couldn’t force myself to really like this album even with everyone else liking it.
This album as my friend called it feels more like “filler” of the great albums. Add that there are not really any songs I could say I really like, it makes it difficult to really listen to this album for a long period of time. I’m giving it a 2.75 out of 5. Decent overall but just not an album I will listen to in the future nor an album that is staying on my hard drive. If you hate it, feel free to comment or leave me alone to listen to old Radiohead stuff.
Here’s arguably the first song I liked on the album, Weird Fishes/Arpeggi (download)
dude, I hear what you’re saying but think you’re smoking crack. This album is phenomenal and it requires time and thorough listening, much like Kid A, for it’s full potential to become manifest. I’ve listened to it at least a hundred times now and I still keep hearing more and “getting it” more each time. To each their own, but this album is great.