RADIOHEAD - KID A
i'm forgoing an introduction to this piece, for the most part (i mean, obviously i'm not really because what then, dear reader, is this?). if you're a regular reader of this blog, you obviously know what kid a is and what it means to the music "scene" and to radiohead, in general. so let's get started, eh?
does anyone remember all of news stories several years ago about massive attack and radiohead working on an album together or the latter making an album and the former remixing it? try to imagine, if you will, what that collaboration would sound like: radiohead's pretentions and prog aspirations mixed with massive attack's brooding production and dense rhythms. kid a isn't too dissimilar from that, though the emphasis is unfortunately on the former.
actually, here's a better touchstone. thom yorke performed guest vocals on unkle's "rabbit in your headlights" and that teaming seems to be all over kid a. you might argue that unkle and massive attack aren't really that different, and you'd be wrong because here's the key: massive attack is happy just being who they are -- their cred was established long ago; james lavelle and dj shadow, on the other hand, want to be taken deathly seriously and, though the beat culture influence there, you know they'd much rather be radiohead.
kid a is that deadly followup album, the one on which the artist who's just shot into the stratosphere, at least in critical terms, struggles to not make the same album again, and to experiment with different sounds. though the music is in no way comparable, an example that comes right off the top of my head is prince with purple rain followed by around the world in the day: there are definitely ambitions on both records, but the followup lacks the coherence of the landmark record; in addition, on purple rain, there's a sense that prince is going for broke and trying to make one of the greatest albums of all-time. this is essentially the difference between ok computer and kid a.
i'll say it now: i enjoy kid a much more than ok computer -- admittedly not a difficult thing to do. in fact, i like kid a slightly more than i'd care to say because of how much i hated ok computer. the album as a whole plays better, there are more "keepers," and there are far fewer tracks with enough pretension to kill a man.
the album gets off to a propitious start with the vaguely-latin chords of "everything in its right place." yorke provides a nice vocal hook to the song -- he's far less strangulated on this album than on _okc_ ; there's a palpable sense of dread, of bad things to come (figuratively, thankfully), but nothing comes to be, like the scene in a slasher flick when the music builds and it turns out that menacing shadow just belonged to a cat.
actually, bad things do come in the form of the title track. it's a relatively light-hearted song with far too much vocoder: it gives off the atmosphere of a lab somewhere in the future (or perhaps even here TODAY!!! -- sorry) where "kid a" -- the first child created by science -- is born. while it is fairly tame-sounding, there is this underlying unsettledness. the song is awful, but i suppose it lays out the groundwork for the "story" of this album.
"the national anthem" is next -- how many times am i going to use dread during the course of this album? well, i refuse to say it again. the song is foreboding and perhaps fit for a nation that has begun to fuck with mother nature. the bassline is very nice, and while many will love the jazz band that plays on it (these "many" are mostly critics and diehard fans), it just strikes me as an outtake from the kevin shields/primal scream sessions: in the end it just sounds like some with potentially life-threatening flatulence.
"how to disappear completely" strikes me as the least "dynamic" track on the album. this isn't a bad thing, really, it just sounds atypical for radiohead. it's a softly-strummed ballad with string accompaniment: without giving in to sound effects and related hoo-ha, by sticking with genuine human "feeling" (something i thought they'd all but forgotten), the band is able to convey a strong sense of alienation and a desire to drop out of society. this track is immediately followed by the ambient instrumental, "treefingers," which seems to try to express the inner feelings of the band. what i sense from it is a need for spiritual fulfillment, something which seems to just be out of their reach. God damn it, radiohead is making even me pretentious. on to "optimistic," then.
"optimistic" is my favorite track on the album. retreating from the introspection and solipsism of the previous two tracks, "optimistic" finds the band trying to contend with the outside world. "optimistic" is, of course, ironic: can you think of any group that comes across less optimistic than radiohead? yorke seems to want to have a positive outlook, but discovers that trying "the best you can is getting old." it's the most melodic song on the album and is also the best potential single as far as i can tell. it contains some fine guitar, primal drums, and a haunting wordless hook from yorke. it ends on an oddly -- get ready for it -- funky note, before giving in to the self-explanatory "in limbo."
"in limbo" is a muddled mess, which is probably what it's intended to be, with yorke occasionaly piercing through the mire with his vocals. it's fairly dull stuff, though in context of the album, it works. it's very densely constructed, but it's far too close to some of the more enervating tracks from okc for me to enjoy it, or even just respect it. next, please.
"idioteque." beat heavy and some cool soundz, but the album is defintely starting to take a down turn. i'm getting the same feeling i did from much of okc. ah, "morning bell" is here to soothe me. warm bass tones and more of those smooth keys like on "everything in its right place." it's not to be, of course, for as the end nears, that creeping sense of dr-...terror returns. i guess it's just as well as the song was starting to get a bit too monotonous. it was just the right time for that trepidation to return, anyway, because we're at the last track, "motion picture soundtrack."
i'm happy to say that the album version is much better than that demo that was making the rounds. yorke can be a great vocalist as anyone who's heard "fake plastic trees" can tell you, but he can just as easily be horribly whiny. in the midst of all of the insanity and fear created by the birth of kid a, "motion picture soundtrack" seems to be yorke's plaintive call for a little humanity in this/that high-tech world. the sound is mournful with a wonderful organ tone and harp and what sounds like some operatic faint vocals thrown in. it does resemble an end credits song -- it's true to its title and to its position on the album -- though it's less uplifting than that fare usually is. the song ends, "i will see you in the next life," as if yorke has given up on this world.
in a way, it's a continuation of the theme from ok computer, that fear of technology and where it's taking our society. whereas okc dealt with the computer age, kid a takes it one step further, to that place where we hope mankind will never tread. in capturing that sense of alarm and utter helplessness, the album succeeds; in being a good album, it's very close. a parting analogy: the trial by orson welles (or how about todd haynes' safeis the cause of one of the most uncomfortable experiences i've had watching a film; i have no strong desire to see it again, yet i can praise it for its effectiveness and skill. while i'll praise kid a for its effectiveness, i'm not so sure i think it's a good recording...yet. and saying that much about that them is much more than i thought possible when going into this record so for that alone, radiohead gets my respect.
(c) 2000 - fred solinger -
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