Radiohead, “Kid A”

Chris McJaggerly:

Back in the day, I spent a lot of time trying to like Radiohead albums. A lot of my friends insisted that Radiohead was the best band in the world. I’m a disciple of Keith Richards guitar riffs, so naturally I didn’t get it. But I tried not to be a hater. I told myself, “If people I like, who generally have pretty good taste in music, absolutely love an album, I would be a fool not to give it a chance. Right?” Among the Big 3 Radiohead albums, I emerged as a real fan of The Bends and an admirer of a lot of OK Computer. But the nut I couldn’t crack was Kid A.

Thanks to this little project – the New Top 100, that is – I think I’ve finally cracked it. I played Kid A about ten times in the past week, and during the last three listens, I enjoyed it. I think it’s an album I will listen to — when I’m in the right mood — from now on.

Kid A washes over you. Comparisons have been made to Dark Side of the Moon and other Pink Floyd records, and they’re apt. (Kid A is probably a great record to listen to while getting stoned.) Of course, Radiohead had 25 years of new technology that Floyd lacked, so Kid A features different sounding screeches and howls than Dark Side. Also, at times, Kid A has more of a loose, jazz feel than Pink Floyd (see “In Limbo”), while at other times it brings a little dance-floor drum machine (“Idioteque”). But these are all modifications on the deliberate, atmospheric theme. Thom York, with his plaintive, multi-octive voice, is particularly effective in songs about utter despair, like “How to Disappear Completely.” But his vocals are even better on “Morning Bell,” the catchiest groove on the album.

The one tune on Kid A with some semblance of guitar power, “Optimistic,” manages to deliver a little energy without seeming out of place. Kid A doesn’t have the raw power of The Bends, but not every album is about raw power. You can sort of semi-lock in to Kid A, as with the bass groove on “The National Anthem,” without it absorbing all of your attention. I give Kid A 29 2/3.

Tom Heerman:

Radiohead, Kid A. It’s great you listened to it ten times, otherguy. I always had a rule to not judge a record without three listens. I think there are three different experiences. First time, its the newness, and your brain trying to reconcile with other music by the artist, by other artists, and compare it to music previously logged in the old melon-drive. Then you wait a bit and play number two, which will allow your brain to use some recall, and familiarity. It reacts to the music differently the second time. You have a reaction to your reaction to the second listen. Do I like hearing this again? Can I bother with a third listen? Then wait a few days (or years), and listen the third time. This one usually likes it. Our brain likes what it knows. It thinks it knows what it likes, but it can be trained by repetition to like some very odd music, because it begins to “know” it.

I think if you listened to me fart ten times, you would come to appreciate it. I know I do. The sound at least. I am not saying Kid A is a fart, I just wanted to imply that. It’s pretty cool stuff. I would put it in the “mood music” category, and there is a lot of stuff in that pile. But I like it okay. I found three reviews on the internet which are pretty astute.

1) “Anyone enjoy listening to Radiohead (particularly Kid A) while baked out of your fucking mind amazing? Holy shit all the songs are taking on a whole new meaning and I love them they are so beautiful, or am I just stoned out of my mind?”

2) “One of the best albums ever, i remember bugging the guy in the music shop to give me a copy early, he kept refusing, 9am Monday morning the day it was released i remember getting my copy, going home and listening with a mate of mine, both of us big Radiohead fans. I remember halfway through we both started getting a headache. We carried on listening to the end. I remember being really confused and disappointed that the guitars had gone, the big drum sounds had gone. All that was left was this electronic sound and weird noises that i hadn’t heard before. it took me around 2 years and 100 listens to realise that this album is very unique, the reason i didn’t understand it to begin with, was because it was something new and original that i hadn’t listened to before. Kid A is a piece of art, it is something that should be hung in some art gallery. The album cover and art work inside the casing is very original and excellent by the very cleaver by Stanley Donwood and Thom. This album will stand the test of time, it will still be listened to by me in 30 years time. Radiohead have made 4 of the greatest albums of all time The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A and In the Rainbows. They are the modern day Beatles, they might even be better then that. Thank God for Radiohead.”

3) “Man, you need to trip to them. Otherworldly wisdom.”

My grade: 28 1/3.

Kevin Decker:

I distinctly remember listening to Kid A for the first time and being overcome with disappointment. I had fallen deeply in love with OK Computer (when we come around to grading that monument to brilliant sound, it will be in my top 5 for sure). While I did not believe OK Computer could be beat, I thought that producing something simply in that universe would still stand the test of time. So imagine when I’m listening to Kid A for the first time and feeling like I should be stoned in order to appreciate the tracks. I’m sure it probably is a great album in such a state. Nonetheless, it was one of the few times I actually got pissed at a band, feeling they betrayed what I wanted, what I needed.

So I listened again. A bit better the second go around.

Once more. Now I was getting into it. Moments of greatness revealed themselves (more likely I simply gave them a chance to be seen, heard).

Several more listens and I was hooked. Brilliance once more. The imagination and execution hit me. Holy shit, this is good.

Looking back that experience for me was like watching Tiger Woods go through his first swing change. Why in the hell would you change what was among the best the world had ever seen? I couldn’t understand it, but patience has never been a virtue of mine. But I had no choice. Thankfully. What emerged in both cases was utter genius, albeit different genius than before.

Kid A is not a rock album. Kid A probably doesn’t fit any category for that matter. Put it up against some great Miles Davis or Thelonius Monk and you’re probably getting close to a fit. Kid A is jazz. The band let the music lead, rather than the other way around. Listen to “The National Anthem.” Pure jazz. I would love to hear someone like The Bad Plus take on Kid A. It would be brilliant.

In terms of artistic endeavor, Kid A is probably better than OK Computer. But for that reason it also lacks the sense of songwriting that defines its immediate forebear. For me a great album is usually about great songs. Kid A is more like a great jazz record where the lines between discrete songs are blurred if not entirely blown out. Kid A is a 50-minute masterpiece, not 12 distinct 4-minute masterpieces. What form deserves more accolades? To each his own. I’m putting OK Computer above Kid A, but not by much.

My score: 32.

Chris McJaggerly:

I agree with most of your review, but you give Kid A a substantially higher rating than I do. Here are a few things in defense of my lower rating. First, there are some truly boring moments on Kid A. For example, “Treefingers” is a waste of time. Second, Kid A is not as original as teenagers in the 1990s thought. As I noted in my review, if takes cues from Pink Floyd, and it also sounds a lot like Brian Eno material, not to mention David Bowie’s late 1970s albums. Still, it isn’t a carbon copy of those influences by any stretch of the imagination, largely because of TY’s voice.

More importantly, as you note, Kid A gets high marks for holding together as an album, rather than a collection of songs. If you want to compare rock music to visual arts, a song is like a painting, and an album is like an exhibit. The real “unit” of expression is usually the song/painting. The album/exhibit is often an attempt to contrive a theme that isn’t really there. The best albums/exhibits are often simply the ones with the greatest songs/paintings (or the fewest lousy songs/paintings). In other words, the whole is no more than the sum of its parts. But not always. I think Kid A is one of the exceptions.

By the way, OK Computer is not in the Rolling Stone Top 100. Besides, The Bends (also not in the Top 100) is better.