AMNESIAC

Radiohead's Amnesiac turns out to be nothing more than a continuation, or rather a conclusion, of the experiments that began on the phenomenal Kid A; however, while on Kid A almost every experiment was a unique success, which piled together to make one alarmingly great album, on Amnesiac, some of these experiments are surefire failures, while others are just plain mediocre. Still, there are certainly some very fine gems throughout this album, and it is certainly worth picking up for any Radiohead fan or Kid A lover.

Now, the music:

The opener is an example of the mediocre in terms of the experiments on this album; it is a mid-pace techno song that feels like nothing more than 4 minutes on meandering over a drawling beat, which is exactly what it is. Still, it serves its purpose as an opener, just not nearly as well as it should. The second track, "Pyramid Song" is much better than the opener, and has become a tagline of Radiohead fanboyism. It deserves the title, surely, as it is just that damn good.

"Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" is just plain silly, and the finest example, barring one other song on the album, of the "bad" experiments on this album. From here, one might be thinking, that the outlook for this album is grim, and mediocre, but then.

It all picks up. With "You And Whose Army" the album glissandos beautifully into the dark, cataclysmic roots of electronic progressivism, and the results turn out almost as good as much of the material on Kid A: On "I Might Be Wrong", a heavy, "National Anthem"-esque bassline carries the mysterious, surreal vocals of Thom Yorke over the tinkering of all of his bandmates, and the album still continues to sail with high flags.

"Knives Out" is a beautiful song, another Radiohead staple of imaginative songwriting, with beautifully produced drums to boot. Then the album stutters with "Morning Bell/Amnesiac", which is extremely mediocre (but not quite as bad as "Pulk"), but this is forgivable when "Dollars and Cents" creeps along with its tangible tension and epic, stirring climax.certainly one of the obvious highlights of the album.

The last trio of songs is completely great, and despite the weak opening tracks and the offhand stutter that is "Morning Bell/Amnesiac", the album comes off as a success. "Like Spinning Plates" and "Life In A Glass House" together make up two of the best ending tracks I've ever heard, rivaling and almost defeating the ending tracks on Kid A ("Morning Bell" and "Motion Picture Soundtrack").

So, overall, the album is a success, but a blanketed one, hampered by a few really mediocre tracks which ruin any cohesion the album may have otherwise had. For this, the album scores something like a 7 in my book, which is but 3 stars on this site. Certainly good, but Kid A is vastly superior if you're looking into electronic-era Radiohead.

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