THE KING OF LIMBS

A worthy follow up to the sophisticated In Rainbows release. The King Of Limbs continues in the direction of heavily bass lead song structure overlaying lighter jazzy electronica with almost near perfect vocals from Yorke. A couple of their recent albums do tend to have the habit of songs nagging your subconscious for days, such is the indellible mark they make from a melodic point of view. I cannot work out if that is a good or bad effect.

The album ironically is more of a single pastoral result and in this reviewers opinion the analysis of individual songs become irrelevant other than to focus on a few highlight tracks. It is the mood evoked from TKOL's that has more relevance. An exstension to In Rainbows but conitinued minimalist songs evoke a watery, emotional and exquisite piece of music. As stated the lyrics are keen and hit home, just listen to the jewel of the album " Codex" and with Yorke starting off with the very so clever lines..." Sleight of hand....". " The Lotus Flower" conveys what almost any passionate music lover feels like doing when demonstrating every intricate note and nuance of a song in a dance routine......just check out Radiohead's video of Yorke's hypnotic dance routine. The video becomes more powerful as the your relationship with the song grows. Genius stuff! Other highlights are the trippy " Morning Mr.Magpie" and " Feral". Much crtiticism has been laid on the album as being too short. Give me 35 minutes of quality anyday to 75 minutes of overplaying, overproducing and awful bonus tracks.

A sure winner, Radiohead continue their fascinating journey where I am sure their studio artistry will far outweigh a tour or gig. Their strength lies now in appreciating their aural 'canvass' IMO as opposed to thrashing some angst out on stage. Another very mature work and an excellent experience. Four solid stars.