AMNESIAC

"Amnesiac" is the 5th full-length studio album by UK alternative rock act Radiohead. The album was released through Parlophone Records in June 2001. The material on "Amnesiac" were recorded during the same sessions as the material for it´s predecessor "Kid A (2000)" and released just 8 months after the said predecessor, so it´s fair to call them sibling albums.

Stylistically "Kid A (2000)" and "Amnesiac" feature a lot of similarities, which is only natural since they were recorded during the same sessions, and the tracklists for the two releases probably weren´t chosen before all material was ready, but there are differences between the two albums too that make them stand out as individual entities. Overall "Kid A (2000)" is a more electronic inclined release while "Amnesiac" reintroduces rock guitars to the band´s sound. "Amnesiac" is still an alternative rock album, featuring a lot of electronic elements though as well as elements from ambient pop/rock, rather than a more guitar driven rock release. It´s pretty eclectic too which the New Orleans-styled jazz rock track "Life in a GlassHouse" is an example of.

"Amnesiac" features high level musicianship and while there is a lot of focus on experimenting with sounds it´s still lead vocalist Thom Yorke´s emotional vocal delivery that´s predominantly in focus and ultimately defines the band´s sound. The whole thing is packed in a professional and well sounding production, which brings out the best in the music.

With "OK Computer (1997)" and "Kid A (2000)", Radiohead more or less revolutionized the alternative rock scene and also managed to bring a more experimental spin on creating rock music to a mainstream audience. It´s quite a huge achivement and therefore it´s probably utopia to think that they could continue releasing such high quality statements. My overall impression of "Amnesiac" might suffer a bit from the huge expectations I had as the result of listening to the two innovative predecessors. To my ears it doesn´t quite reach the heights of those two albums. It´s however still a pretty great and quite adventurous release by Radiohead deserving a 3.5 star (70%) rating.