Primarily recorded during the same time as Kid A, Radiohead delivers Amnesiac less than a year after its predecessor. With the successful experimentation done on the prior album, it was going to be difficult to follow up with anything at that level. See, I am a firm believer that there are crap, ok, good, and excellent albums. But then there are the rare albums that are a step above an excellent album, and for me that was Kid A.
So because Amnesiac was mainly recorded during the same time as Kid A, there are those same experimental elements found throughout the album. However, a more accurate description would be to call it a unification of textures found on both OK Computer and Kid A.
“Packt Like Sardines In a Crushed Tin Box” begins with a sound like Kid A – the first 30 seconds is nothing but beats and grooves before a melodic instrument enters. It is as if the songs “Kid A” and “Idioteque” had a baby.
The first single “Pyramid Song” is another favored among many fans of Radiohead. One of the biggest discussions has been about the time signature. Arguments have been made for 6/8, 2/4, 6/8 repeated. Others have also argued there is no time signature, it is just felt, which is a sound argument in this case, but the majority of music has time signatures and one can still be “felt.” I even once read a claim that it uses an old African time signature. 16/4, and 16/8 have also been popular claims as well, depending on where you place the value of each beat.
My own opinion is that it is a simple 4/4 time signature with the phrase extending over 4 measures. The beauty of “Pyramid Song” is that it takes something simple and makes it complex through syncopation and beat displacement, and that is the genius behind Radiohead.
“Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors” makes me think that if the voice found on the song “Fitter/Happier” was signed to a one-song record contract, this would be his claim to fame.
It takes four songs into Amnesiac and almost 2 minutes into “You And Whose Army?” for any discernable early Radiohead to rise up through all of the experimentation in an almost dreamlike flashback to the days of Pablo Honey and The Bends. In essence, the band breaks through its own amnesiac and remembers for the briefest of moments where they came from.
There is a striking similarity between “I Might Be Wrong” and “The National Anthem” from Kid A. Is it possible that “The National Anthem,” may have been some kind of blueprint for “I Might Be Wrong?” Or that could just be crazy talk.
Amnesiac looses its momentum with the 3-song set of “Morning Bell/Amnesiac,” “Dollars & Cents” and “Hunting Bears.” All three songs seem to start and go nowhere, and clocking in at a combined 10 minutes, that is a huge hit on the 40-minute album.
If our dreams had a soundtrack, I believe “Like Spinning Plates” would be the score. The disjointed and cloudy music, in fact creepy sounding at times, would compliment the eerie visions that our subconscious feeds us in our sleep.
Amnesiac comes to a close with a final lounge/jazz like song, in a smoke-filled bar, with the booze flowing freely. “Life In a Glass House” sounds like a good ol’ time drunken jam session. Though, I don’t feel it is the appropriate closer for the album, and think “Like Spinning Plates” would have been more suitable.
CD Two contains b-sides from the “Pyramid Song,” and “Knives Out” singles, including live tracks recorded from Canal+ Studios on April 28, 2001, and “Like Spinning Plates” from the I Might Be Wrong : Live Recordings release.
I think Amnesiac would have been a solid album if the 3-song low moment was replaced with the b-sides “The Amazing Sounds of Orgy,” “Fast Track” and “Worry Wort.” To me, these songs are far superior to “Morning Bell,” “Dollars and Cents” and “Hunting Bears.”
These B-sides are interesting in that “The National Anthem” is completely different from the take on Kid A, and the live versions of “Packt Like Sardines” and “Like Spinning Plates” have lost their electronic/experimentation feel found on the album and take on an alt-rock form.
The deluxe edition gives us a little more on the DVD than did the releases of OK Computer and Kid A. The DVD contains the promo music videos for the above-mentioned singles plus “I Might Be Wrong” and “Push Pulk/Spinning Plates.” It also contains live footage from Top of the Pops and Later…With Jools Holland. There are 11 tracks on the DVD, so that is a step up from the previous two releases.
The deluxe edition also contains the sleeve covers for “Pyramid Song” and “Knives Out,” the original album insert for Amnesiac and a library card for the album.
My biggest complaint with the production of the deluxe edition is that they kept the original font alignment from the album release. While I understand the nostalgic value, I hated it then, and I hate it now. They didn’t choose right align, or left align to keep it organized. Instead, it’s this horrible version of “justify” that makes it very difficult to read.
And if it was done as some sort of connection to the theme of the album title or the music itself, I still don’t like it. I wish on the deluxe edition release that they fixed the original font alignment.
Amnesiac (standalone album) – 3 ½ out of 5 stars
Amnesiac (2 CD/1 DVD) – 4 out of 5 stars
Disc 2 Track list:
(Taken from “Pyramid Song” single)
1. The Amazing Sounds of Orgy
2. Trans-Atlantic Drawl
3. Fast-Track
4. Kinetic
(Taken from “Knives Out” single)
5. Worrywort
6. Fog
7. Life In a Glasshouse (Full-length version)
(Taken from Canal+ Studios – 28/04/11)
8. You and Whose Army?
9. Packt Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box
10. Dollars and Cents
11. I Might Be Wrong
12. Knives Out
13. Pyramid Song
(Taken from I Might Be Wrong – Live Recordings)
14. Like Spinning Plates
DVD Track list:
(Music Videos)
Pyramid Song
Knives Out
I Might Be Wrong
Push Pulk/Spinning Plates
(Top of the Pops 17/08/01)
Knives Out
(Later…With Jools Holland 09/06/01)
Packt like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box
Knives Out
Life In a Glasshouse
I Might Be Wrong
Editors’ Note: PopWreckoning has one unopened copy of this special edition of Amnesiac to be given away to a resident of the United States. To win, all you have to do is comment with your favorite song from the album Amnesiac and explain why the song stands out to you. The comment that stands out to the Editors the most, wins.
Please remember to include a working email address so we might contact you for mailing information. Contest will run until June 10.
