THE KING OF LIMBS

Oh boy, how the mighty have fallen. This is the new Radiohead album? 37 minutes of songs that would have been filler on earlier albums? This sounds more Amnesiac than Hail or Rainbows; more 2001 than 2011. Almost sounds like a Thom Yorke solo album more than a group effort. This is clearly their worst album since Pablo Honey. You should have paid for your download of In Rainbows, but this should be free...and come with a digital apology. Since In Rainbows the band has released some non-album songs that were good ("These Are My Twisted Words" for example). So why not include them or better yet, why is nothing on the album as good as those songs? When "Lotus Flower" is the best song on you're new album, you know you're in trouble.

"Lotus Flower" is not only the best thing here but also the first (only?) single/video from King Of Limbs. Still, it's nothing special. "Little By Little" is the next best song. Nice mix of acoustic guitars and drum machine programming. The vocal melodies here are good. "Codex" is a nice atmospheric ballad. Third best song. I like the modified piano sounds here. Thom does some good singing in this song. "Give Up The Ghost" has folky/country style acoustic guitar playing, including hitting the body of the guitar with the hand. Cool overdubbed Thoms doing harmony back-up vocals. Another cool overdubbed Thom whose voice is so altered he sounds like a cello or horn. The least electronic sounding song on the album. "Seperator" reminds me of other songs, some by Radiohead and others not. There is a guitar part here which reminds me of a Scorpions ballad from the 1970s.

I would consider myself a Radiohead fan ( I got Pablo Honey when it was their *only* album), but if they keep releasing sub-par crap like this, that may change. There has to be a reason why they released this mediocre album instead of something better...these guys are too clever. This is for completists although not a horrible album. 2 stars.