Radiohead released their latest album In Rainbows last week. You can set your own price and download it from their website. I pre-ordered my download and it all went very seamlessly. I don’t like to give an opinion of an album until after I’ve had the opportunity to listen to it multiple times through. So I’ve been listening to it the last week and my overall impression is positive. I’m a HUGE fan of The Bends and OK Computer, 2 of the best albums ever released. But once they went down the more experimental avenue I started to get less excited about their stuff. I could cherry pick songs I liked from each of their latest cd’s, but I thought they weren’t end to end solid records. But In Rainbows is a terrific blend of their more experimental rhythms and melodies with straight up guitar driven rock.

Now for the guts….First off Jonny Greenwood again shows why he is one of the greatest guitar players of all time. His ear is just incredible, he is able to hear the most incredibly unique guitar parts that just elevate the song to an entirely different level. I’ve never heard him overplay, I’ve never heard him play some cookie cutter lead…he’s incredible. He makes a comeback on this album and creates some beautiful, complex, deep progressions. Ed Obrien(second guitarist) is no slouch either BTW. Let’s take a look song by song:

15 Step - uh oh…here we go again with semi-interesting drum loops and a floating melody…what’s this??? Jonny to the rescue at 0:40, woohoo!

Bodysnatchers - Radiohead always has the coolest song titles. I dig this song from the get go, slick riff. Thom Yorke seems enthused as well, sometimes it seems like he’s sleeping through his melodies. The bridge around 2 minutes is awesome, Jonny’s work coming out of the bridge at 3 minutes in makes me smile, he then drives this song home to daddy. Unbelievable work.

Nude - Not a big fan of this so far. It could grow on me. Very moody, not much to hold onto musically or lyrically for the listener.

Weird Fishes/Arpeggi - love the layering of the guitars on this tune. I know why Thom took so long to come in, it’s just so pretty to listen too. If I had written that progression I probably wouldn’t have sung either. Glad to hear some live drums too. I notice again how well Colin Greenwood(bass) plays the space(or doesn’t play the space more accurately). His bass lines hit me as genius just as often for where he doesn’t play as where he does.

All I Need - I can hear this on about 30 soundtracks. But the truth is I’ll probably skip every time it comes on iTunes. Wish they would brought the instrumental in earlier and hit the hook earlier as well.

Faust Arp - One of my favorites on the album. Thom amazes me how he is able to find these relatively simple melodies over really complex progressions.

Reckoner - Love the drums on this. Haven’t heard too much of Thom’s falsetto up until this point, he’s on top of his game on this one. The piano, bass and harmony get introduced perfectly. The verse melody is so cool I’m not disappointed there’s no real change until 2:25l 2:25
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Spirit was upon him.  

House of Cards - You really have to be patient with all these songs. Radiohead takes their time building their tunes, they aren’t in any rush(hook in 45 secs) to impress A&R reps anymore. But this one never really takes off in my mind. Too bad.

Jigsaw Falling Into Place - Again, a song title doesn’t get any better than this and neither does the guitar riff on this tune, wow. They are gonna kill this song live, can’t wait to hear a live version of this entire album. I think this is my favorite tune, love everything about it, yes yes yes…good good good. 5 star rating on iTunes, that means it makes the iPhone.

Videotape - Phil Selway(drummer) pulls the most unpredictable rhythm of the album here. It’s pretty sweet, gotta love the creativity there. The reverse delay gets a bit distracting however. Last song on the album goes out with a whisper.

So what’s to be learned from this album for worship. I love the blend of really complex progressions, time signatures, but with floating simple melodies. Radiohead is the best at that and it’s something that worship songs rarely if ever try and incorporate. Odd rhythms, odd timing, simple melody. Also I think we can take away some pointers on their patience with songs, they show a lot of restraint, too much at times, and when they finally do get to the big part of the song there’s so much tension there it really creates great song dynamics.

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