June 7–14, 2001

cd reviews|rock/pop

Radiohead

Amnesiac

(Capitol)

Let’s play a game. Assume for a moment that the overflow of hype that’s been accompanying the recent actions of Radiohead has been the sole creation of their record company’s PR department. Bear with me here. Under this assumption, Amnesiac sounds pretty fine. Recorded at the same time as Kid A, there’s some of the same computer-tweaked sketches, as well as sweet-tart "Sexy Sadie" piano ballads like "Pyramid Song," the kind that were all over OK Computer. Truth be told, this is what the band does best: the rolling guitar arpeggios and angsty vocalizing of "You and Whose Army?" and "Knives Out" are more compelling than the literal button-pushing of "Like Spinning Plates." There is much here to love: the throbbing "I Might Be Wrong"; "Morning Bell/Amnesiac," a broke-down circus band rendition of the Kid A track; the New Orleans suicide march "Life in a Glasshouse." But Radiohead are short on surprise. No matter how interesting an arrangement, songs usually end as they started, with little deviation in between. Forget about anything like wit, anything that might suggest the music will go in more than one direction. Radiohead might want to consider the current state of XTC, who created their own fear-of-technology masterpiece Drums and Wires in 1979, and who have just released Homegrown (TVT/Idea), the demos for their previous album proper Wasp Star. This is the second time in a row they’ve augmented an album in such a way. It’s as indulgent as any of Radiohead’s stunts, but XTC can get away with it, as they long ago were banished from the hip vanguard and consigned to eccentric-uncle cultdom. A great band like Radiohead — whose Thom Yorke looks ready to re-enact XTC-er Andy Partridge’s 1982 onstage nervous breakdown — should appreciate their current status. It will not last.

—Michael Pelusi