It’s out a day early, so grab your download and start talking about it. I’ve only gotten in half a listen (that is, scanned through all eight tracks while writing this), but right now what’s grabbing me the most are “Little By Little” and “Lotus Flower.” The latter also got a surprise video today, a simple black and white clip with some not-so-simple Thom Yorke contortions and dancing. Check out the video, the tracklist, and discuss below:
The King Of Limbs tracklist:
01 “Bloom”
02 “Morning Mr Magpie”
03 “Little By Little”
04 “Feral”
05 “Lotus Flower”
06 “Codex”
07 “Give Up The Ghost”
08 “Separator”
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so basically, the first time you listen to this album all the way through you will like only a few songs. but around the fifth time you listen to it (this is very possible to do because it is only 37:29 long) the whole album grows on you, and you can really appreciate everything they’ve done. that’s my opinion anyways.
i love this album. Music is music. stop being so critical. Thom is Beautiful.
I’m a bit puzzled by the criticism of the length.
Look at the two best Led Zeppelin’s albums: ‘houses of the holy’ and ‘IV’
-they had 8 tracks each and are around the same length.
KOTL feels like a complete thought to me. The color and complexity is so rich and the arc so masterful – length isn’t an issue. I’m completely sated by the finish.
But then again, I’ve never been a size queen.
I don’t know if I agree with these double-album-theories but I really really hope so. I love the record but a surprise second half would be one of the coolest stunts in Radiohead history.
They did that with Amnesiac. And it was better than Kid A. So, yeah, it would be GREAT to get more music from them this year.
Better….hmmm…..
That’s an epic debate you’ve set up, but this is about KOL so I leave it alone.smal (smirking a little….it’s about time for an alternative to lol cause usually I’m not out loud)
Let’s all relax a little, put this on the best speakers we have, turn it up LOUD, and pay attention, wait a while. Then start spouting off about it.
Alright, listened to it like 15 times and my opinion is……great. You can’t deny the technical prowess of the album. However, the length is a problem for me as well as the subtleness. So far no track is on particular repeat and I miss the guitars(electric), they are treated more like accessories to the atmospheric background instead of up front like on “Weird Fish”.
Look whether or not they release another set of songs this is an album. Releasing another album isn’t going to make this album any better than it is so why don’t we try judging it based on what it is and not what we foresee it might be.
As a standalone album (looking at it as if it were Radiohead’s first or only album) I give it a 9.6
Taking in account all that Radiohead has done before this I give it a 9.0
My opinion save the hate.
So I guess…the official rating would be 9.3
the same as hail to the thief and in rainbows got from p4k interestingly
Just brilliant, while it flirts with being a throwback to Kid A/Amnesiac era Radiohead, it is wholly an excursion into a new sound for them.
I LOVE what they’ve done with Lotus Flower. They had me worried there for a while (just needed to spend a little time in the studio with it).
Bloom and Codex are my current standouts, and they are looking to be replaced by Morning Mr. Magpie, and the Give Up the Ghost respectively in about a week’s time.
I too am buying into all these conspiracies surrounding the album (although some might be digging a little too deep to find hidden clues). I mean the duality in the album artwork and “Separator” as the track that divides the album definitely seem to point to a double album. My theory on the whole aspect of a “Newspaper” Album: one reads the newspaper to find out what has happened recently and what is currently transpired; therefore, there is a possibility that the initial 8 tracks were offered as a sort of teaser for those who were willing to purchase the album and there will be new, unreleased tracks accompanying the physical release. Plus, would they really go all out with this album with +600 pieces of artwork and a $48 vinyl price for just 8 tracks? I hope these conspiracies are right because I feel like a lot of people (including me) enjoy the album but want something more after waiting for a new release since In Rainbows. I just don’t want to be disappointed along with the other people conspiring if this is indeed the final, complete work even though I thoroughly enjoy all 8 tracks and how they flow together nicely
I was half-awake, half-asleep on the bus, and I played this album. It’s like I was hallucinating in a world of different shades of colors and yearning voices.
Oh my god, Lotus Flower has to be one of the most beautiful songs I’ve heard in years.
Fudge it……..10/10.
I just noticed the parallels between the reception of this and that of Kid A so to be ahead of the curve I am certifying this a classic. Ha!
Interesting clues about a Part 2.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SGCtlcCJvc
you can rationalize all you want, listen 50 times in a row to “get it”. but this album simply isn’t that great. i really have problem admiting it myself, because i so wanted it to be great. i hoped for a fifth great album, after its four predecessors… well, maybe next time…
songs sound more like a sketches, ideas… not rich radiohead songs we know from previous releases. and the dub step influences? sound outdated already
Kid A: 10/10
Amnesiac: 9/10
Hail to the Thief: 9/10
In Rainbows: 9,5/10
King of Limbs…: 6/10
and i agree with somethong that was said here: more music, Ragiohead, less wortless electronic bleeps frosting… we don’t need another post-Fragile Nine Inch Nails
I think you rated them wrong-
Kid A: 10/10
Amnesiac:9/10
Hail to the Thief: 8/10
In Rainbows: 9.5/10
The King Of Limbs: 9.5/10
Close. Mine would go
Kid A: 10/10
Amnesiac:9/10
Hail to the Thief: 8/10
In Rainbows: 9.5/10
The King Of Limbs: 6/10
i’d like to see your ratings of all those albums after you’d had them a day.
don’t try to say “this album simply isn’t great” like that’s a fact. it’s not “simply” anything. maybe you “simply” don’t like it because you expect a band to intuitively know what you want out of them and then cater to it, and when they (continue to) defy expectations and predictions, you feel a little dumb and left out.
“worthless electronic beeps frosting”?? man. listen harder. there is so much happening here. it’s so intricately orchestrated. this is an absolutely thrilling album. to write it off as a “D” the day after its release is so strange to me.
“there is so much happening here”….in my opinion no, it’s not. and that’s pretty much the problem.
i loved all of the previous albums since day one (except kid a, because somehow i had a chance to listen to it some time after release, still loved it pretty much instantly though) i lover In Rainbows after first listening and i remember it like it was today… i just was extactic and had problem to believe they’re giving awayfree something that great… this time? i’m trying to FORCE onto myself the idea that I LOVE IT… but i don’t. :| and believe me, i am sorry because i’ve been waiting for this moment 3 years
I really do love this album. It’s amazing how after all these years they still figure out how to challenge us. Kid A sounds very accessible compared to this. It’s interesting that they followed up their most straightforward album in years (In Rainbows) with this one.
I love that it’s not a retread either. It’s decidedly different than any of their other material, organic beats and polyrhythms. Influenced by the music around them, but adding their own flair that no one else can pull off. The lyrics also seem particularly strong this time around even if Thom Yorke’s singing is even slighter than before.
These guys are on one hell of a streak of albums. Has any other band existed in the mainstream while earning rave critical reviews this many years in a row?
I’m still not really sure what to think about this album, all I know is that I can’t stop listening to it. Also, Give up the Ghost almost brought a tear to my eye, which is weird because I thought I was dead inside.
so i guess the whole double album thing was fake?
there was never a thing to fake. people made that up, not the band.
I wrote about 2000 words defending this album, then I erased it all, who cares what you all think, Ive always LOVED radiohead, and I love this album, more great songs to add to an Incredible library of music.
I hope there are b-sides. If not oh well. I listen to alot of music. At least Radiohead never disappoint me. Their albums make me feel. And in the world we live in, anything that can make me feel is great. They get emotions. They get me. and thats enough
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_55Bs175cg So far my fav on the album but overall this whole album is amazing.
I really don’t like the record that much. I think Little By Little and Codex are brilliant, and both those tracks could’ve been on Amnesiac(my favorite Radiohead record).
Besides those two standouts, I think Bloom and Mr. Magpie sound like In Rainbows b-sides, they have that 15 Step sound, but lack the melody and just sound forced to me. Especially the “difficult” rhythm of Bloom that adds nothing and merely distracts from the song. I also hate how they make the live drums sound like a drumcomputer, it works if you use it sparsely but after a while it just starts feeling like a studio gimmick.
Feral sounds like the reason most techno and electronic-music artists use computers instead of instruments. The idea is nice, but it needs so much more detail, sound and layering. It just sounds boring to me.
Each song has its own excellence, its own signature sonic journey. If you were able to avoid the hype and hysterics surrounding this album’s release and happened to come across any one of these eight songs on their own, you would stop whatever you were doing and listen. You know it’s true!
I was really excited about this album – I’ve been a Radiohead fan for years. I’ve listened to it twice now. I like it, it’s very beautiful, but compared to other Radiohead albums, it’s a bit like a multi-course meal of soups. Soup can be really wonderful – intensely flavored, multitextured, really satisfying. But I miss the way their songs used to be so symphonic – starting small and intimate, and building to a crescendo and satisfying release – not all of them, but enough of them that you felt like you’d just experienced something cathartic.
Maybe it’s that the guys are done with angst. Can’t say that I blame them! I’m less angsty now too. Life does that to you as you progress. But I can’t help but wonder if/hope that they might be able to craft something with a little more meat and heat next time around.
let’s all calm down, it took a while but this album is fantastic. it feels like “feels” in its pacing and the back half is heartbreaking and just as good as anything they’ve done. I agree with the fact that there is no standout like a paranoid android or anything but this album has the cosmogramma or music has the right to children vibe where it should be listened to as a whole. I dont think its a masterpiece, i dont think its crap, everyone needs to calm down with there immediate judgement.
It’s growing on me quickly! Still need to give it many more spins. Just came from a cookout where it was being played, and it sounded great in that moment. Yay!
This amazing album makes me all the angrier that a piece of garbage like Kanye’s album received so much critical praise. If Kanye’s album is a 10, shouldn’t this be, like, a 22?
What does Kanye West have to do with Radiohead? Art isn’t graded on a curve.
I don’t think Radiohead fans realize how obnoxious they sound when they tell someone how stupid they are for not liking this or any of their albums. Also there is nothing to “get.” Either it sounds good or it doesn’t. If this were Arcade Fire or Kanye West you would have no problem with people saying it sucks.
I like past albums and a couple of songs on this one stand out as being great, but don’t pretend that someone needs to belong to Mensa to enjoy an album of theirs.
After 1st listen, ‘Mr. Magpie’ was the standout of an overall solid Radiohead album.
The King of Limbs is a boring and underwhelming release that would have better served the band if it had just been a ‘teaser ep’/free ep download/’fan appreciation type ep’ thingy rather than the proper follow up to ‘in rainbows’. Radiohead should really head directly back into the studio and try to make some actual compelling music or they should just ‘retire’ if they are out of ideas or aren’t excited about being a band anymore. they totally ‘phoned it in’ with this album. But of course i realize that all of the lamestreamer radiohead fanbois/fangurls think it’s amazing. if thom york recorded himself taking a shit these same radiohead super fans would probably try to find the ‘subtle beauty’ in that as well. This is boring ‘overground’ music that is perfect for the ‘entry levelers’ in your life but should be avoided by serious and experienced music connoisseurs.
Hahahaha this is hands down the most obnoxious post I’ve ever read. Great insight, bro.
I need to listen to it a little more to really know what to think about it, but I think fifty dollars is a little steep for, well, any eight songs in the world, no matter what you call it (“Newspaper Album? What does that even mean?) and how much extra crap you throw in there. Which doesn’t really matter, I guess, because nobody’s making you buy the LP’s, but I just think it’s a little strange since In Rainbows was released in such a different way. I wasn’t expecting a follow-up to the “pay what you want” album to potentially cost so much. It’s almost like they regret releasing In Rainbows the way they did, and they’re trying to financially make up for it by releasing all this expensive artwork and crap with King of Limbs. I guess I won’t really know until I see what’s really in there.
Although, people who think this album didn’t have enugh “emotion” in it must not have listened to the same “Codex” and “Give Up the Ghost” that I did. Doesn’t Thom Yorke actually sing the words “Don’t hurt me” like a million times in Give Up the Ghost? I haven’t felt so emotionally drawn to a Radiohead song since the first times I heard “Videotape” and “How to Disappear Completely.”
I thought it sounded like don’t hurt me at first too, but then I realized he’s saying don’t haunt me. And yeah, the album is actually very emotional especially on tracks like “Codex” and “Give Up The Ghost”. But “Bloom” is what really does it for me.
you have a point there. “Give up the Ghost” is the album highlight for me and ti redeems The King of Limbs in the second half.
most of you make me ashamed to call myself a radiohead fan. I thought that collectively we would be a much smarter group of people. Its obvious 90% of you dont know shit about music production or songwriting, and you all act like radiohead owes you something-owes you a song-owes you a memory. You are the people the Thom warns us about. Its pretty sad.
Anyways, This album is fantastic just like all of radioheads music. You’re lucky to even get 8 songs at all.
so this album is pretty good, but feels a bit incomplete. to be honest, these “rave” reviews and said reviewers will proabbly calm down once they live with this record for a season. It doesn’t reward the intimate emotionally satisyfing listens of “The Bends” or have the truly forward thinking electronics of “Kid A” or the epic completness from start to finish of “OK Computer”. It sounds like In Rainbows/The Eraser counterpart, but less accomplished. Still, it might notch its way up to almost be as good as Amnesiac, which is still not a Radiohead top album. Still, “Give up the Ghost” is fantastic song and a true highlight. Just a bit underwhelming as a whole. If there is a double album, then the momentum might make more sense and it might truly lift the value of this one, but if that, its good, interesting and they are not repeating themselves, but its not a giant in their canon. Anyone who thinks so will rub the pixie dust from their eyes after a few more listens.
damn skippy ;)
‘The King of Limbs’ is Radiohead’s approximation of Talking Heads’ ‘Remain in Light’ and it’s fucking great.
fucking yeah man like totally fucking ya dude:P …NOT
To those complaining about the price of the album:
First, you didn’t have to pay 50 dollars. That is not the set price for the album. There were cheaper, regular priced options.
Second, you didn’t pay Radiohead 50 dollars to make the album you wanted, you paid it for “King of Limbs,” an album that already existed when you bought it, and that (hopefully, if you dropped 50 bones) is the latest piece of work by an artist that you trust and respect.
If it’s not what you wanted – fine. I really am sorry. I know how disappointing that can be. But you didn’t have to pay 50 bucks, you could have waited to hear what you were paying for, or bought the cheaper option. Not to mention, the same impatience that made you buy this thing for the most money you could, the minute it came out – might, in the end, keep you from enjoying it.
I hope you love the package that shows up on your doorstep when it gets delivered. I hope the art and creativity and care that went into it blows you mind. But if you don’t, for God’s sake, don’t start complaining that you paid a lot of money for something that, as it turns out, you didn’t want. That doesn’t mean Radiohead owes you anything, that means you made a bad purchase.
I’m also fairly certain the In Rainbows vinyl set was in the same $ ballpark, if not more expensive.
There are a lot of interesting details hidden in the production that come out of the woodwork with more listens. Guitars, pianos and voice echoes all hide within one another and there are a lot of subtle variations that this frequency overlap disguises but become more apparent with several listens. There are also several rhythms on the album that at first sound random or off, but settle into a very interesting groove upon repeat listening (drums in bloom). The chord progressions on this are also more subtle and dependent on knowledge of what’s coming (Codex), rather than being based on a surprise turnaround (like the ascending very end of Nude). With repeat listens, on some level you remember what happens later in the song (jump off the end->switch to major) and the beginning has more impact. After 40 or so listens, this album has settled almost completely into place, highly successful at creating atmosphere, imagery, and experimenting with instrument mixtures to create a beautifully muddled overall sound.
However, the album simply does not live up to the musicality and compositional beauty of every single album previous to this. The songs feel much more like static images, paintings, rather than emotional journeys. Even at their most experimental on Kid A and Amnesiac, there were always songs with extremely interesting compositional aspects. Odd rhythms, chord changes, key changes, song structure would present themselves on not every, but at least some of the songs. There’s no genius musical composition on this album. Every song on this album (except for maybe Little by Little) feels like one basic unit of musical composition looped for an entire song, with the variation coming through subtle changes in instrumentation and production, or a melodic variation. The harmonic and structural inventiveness of their past 5 albums is just not there.
Perhaps this is how Radiohead is challenging the listener, changing their sound. For me however, this is problematic for a couple of reasons. First, no element in their music has stepped forward enough to fill the hole left by the absence of this deep, nourishing element. Second, there’s something about this new approach that lacks the repeat listenability that makes song like Everything In Its Right Place, Pyramid Song, In Limbo, etc etc so rewarding even on the 500th listen. There’s an essential element of dynamism to those songs that I never grow insensitive to. On this album, sometimes It’s so easy for me to imagine nearly every part of the song over the first few bars that when the parts actually come in, they have no impact.
When I put on Bloom now, I know the song well enough that the beginning is enough to elicit memory of the bass coming in. When it does, it that no longer brings a response in me. I feel the same way about the layered oohs, both the string and horn orchestration at the end etc. It’s not to feel this way about every song on this album.
I’ve clearly enjoyed KOL enough to listen to it 40 times over the span of just a few days and that says something. I’ll keep an open mind about it, maybe it’ll click when I come back to this album in a few weeks, but for now I’ve worn out the grooves on it and this album has settled in a place that is significantly more distant from my heart than everything from The Bends up through In Rainbows.
i think this is a pretty brilliant commentary.
i’m not quite to 40 listens yet, but I think this captures my feelings pretty well.
Nailed it.
Good review of this album over at http://www.syffal.com.
the best songs are codex and separator hands down
Great review over at low lights high volume, the link below
http://www.lowlightshighvolume.com/2011/02/album-review-radioheads-the-king-of-limbs/
I mean Radiohead didn’t write tunes everybody liked. They left that to the Bee Gees.
“it’s good!” -My friend Alex Drossart
please check out this great music project by Darren Solomon of Science for Girls
http://2dudes1musicblog.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/2dudes-approves/
Is it just me?
I feel like I’m trying really hard to like this album. When I first downloaded it, I statused on my Facebook “I’m 30 seconds into the new Radiohead album (and I’m already loving it!)”
I really was 30 seconds into it. And I really was already in sheer excitement.
But, is it just me?
I’ve listened to the album 4 or 5 times since. If everything keeps going this way, I’m actually going to… DELETE IT! O.o
So… is it just me, or is this album just… meh?
Yes. It is just you, and all the other middle school girls that use the word “meh” to describe things that, like, don’t make them want to call their friends, like, right when they get home from school.
Or update their statuses about ‘loving’ things, like, 30 seconds into it.
You used the word ‘like’ excessively, as if I had used it excessively.
Furthermore, you also assumed, or related me to a school girl because I used the word ‘meh’.
Yes.
Yes.
So?
I said ‘meh’. Sorry, you were trying to be cute and cut throat. I don’t buy it. You’re going to have to wield your pseudo intellectual vocabulary a little more spruce if you’re going to try to use solely the defense of the written word to stifle my opinion.
As you can tell, now, sir, you’ve ventured into territory that you thought you would have claimed so easily.
Fat chance.
I think you’ve too much invested in your fandom to Radiohead, and thus, your world is crumbling down over the ashes of a subpar album that has been burning in the fire for the last couple weeks.
Don’t reply. Just concentrate on A) Not being a dick, and, B) Not gushing over Thom Yorke like a school girl. You know, the same type of metaphor you tried to pass on to me, but it’s exactly the image that matter of factly best depicts yourself.
TKOL is boring. It happens to every band. Just worry about your own offerings during the course of your life.
Check please……………. . . . . . . . ……….
No superfandom or crumbling world here. I like the album alright, agree it pales a little compared to the rest of their discography. Just don’t think “meh” really adds much to the conversation.
Sorry for being a dick though, really. I had heard one too many similar comments that day and blew up on your comment. No good excuse for that.
Listened to this record for an entire day in numerous scenarios: http://bit.ly/gVFi62
Codex is clearly the best song on the record.
how bout, it sucks.
Could this be a king of limbs part 2? Seems legit…
thekingoflimbspart-2.blogspot.com
“God’s bukaki” wow thats amazingly gross! Good job!
How exactly are you double paying if you by the vinyl set.