Thom Yorke celebrates Obama’s victory by humbly donating ‘a remix of harrowdown hill that was finished ages ago during the band webcasts’. A pretty gloomy musical piece as a ‘small reminder of the dark days of Bush’s….’
That’s not the only remix news Radiohead has to offer. Uk’s The Guardian has addressed five renowned jazzmen to perform interpretation of the song ‘Nude’ out of Radiohead’s latest album, ‘In Rainbows’. You can listen to the versions here.
Beautiful results for a beautiful song. For those of you who still haven’t given In Rainbows a shot, I urge you to do so. The album is breathtaking.
A couple of weeks ago the band’s publishing firm released the numbers behind its success, and those too are breathtaking. In Rainbows to date, has moved more than 3 million units, across box-sets, physical CD sales, and downloads via iTunes and the band’s website. The physical CD itself has moved 1.75 million since its release in January.
The ‘pay what you want’ model did pay off big time, even after Radiohead got criticized for dropping it after three months. We all agree that very few are the bands that can pull this off, but these numbers proove that quality of music surpasses the prestige of a band’s reputation. Their previous album ‘Hail to the thief’ moved less copies even as it was label-supported. This goes to show that top-notch major label executive marketing and promotion isn’t necessarily the answer to healthy success.
We are at a time where people can listen to whatever they want from whoever they want whenever they want. My take on this is that only the artists who concentrate more on their art then on anything else have better chances at getting noticed and appreciated for what they do.
mruff.
I respect your opinion, but I don’t see this album being anything more than “mood music.” The success (in terms of money) of In Rainbows is – IMO – partly due to a well-timed gimmick and the band’s growing hipster popularity. The real commendation should go to them for somehow maintaining a level of “cool” after becoming so mainstream.
Now, I realize the massive positive reception it has gotten from many reputable media sources, but I don’t see how this album speaks for, identifies with, socially stimulates, or represents in the least with their generation or culture of fans. It’s like a Bob Ross painting: very beautiful, yet not something I want to hang on MY wall. I would expect In Rainbows to be in the New Age section and not Pop/Rock, because it would be very suitable for a dinner party, massage session or dare I say it? -an elevator.
I can appreciate the spectrum of timbres used & the improvisational-esque craftsmanship on this album, but I’d much rather listen to something that I can sing along with. Have you ever heard someone say, “you know, that song on In Rainbows, it goes like…da da daaa da daaa?” Probably not, because…well, you can’t. And if you could, it wouldn’t help the person.
Sometimes a band is cool because it’s cool to like a band. They’re like the Paris Hilton of the music industry. Maybe they didn’t intend or ask for it to be that way, but that’s just the way it is.
This is all my opinion, though. This is art, not fact. Music enjoyment is in the ear of the listener. So, if viewers of this comment LOVE In Rainbows and want to disagree with me, that’s fine. If your goal is to change my mind about the album, it’s probably best not to insult me or my intelligence and try pointing out aspects why the album is good.
Hey Discombobd,
Thanks for reaching out.
Ok, where to start (don’t worry, no convincing will take place in my arguments, at least I hope not).
It took me a year to discover this album. Not that I started to listened to it a year ago and gradually developed a liking, but rather that I was afraid to be disappointed.
And rightly so. It is very rare, I’ll even add extremely rare, that artists, and mostly musicians, to re-invent themselves after long lasting years of success. Now I wouldn’t say that Radiohead re-invented its proper genre through In Rainbows, but IMO they sure did a very nice job providing quality music.
Many of my favorite artists, whether it be in jazz, pop, rock, prog rock, experimental, free etc go down hill from a certain point. I think you know what I am talking about. That’s just the way it is. It is as if they squeeze out all their creativity through their first works, and struggle to grasp bits and pieces of it later on in their lives.
And for me, Radiohead is still in the zone, big time. So there, I haven’t really had time to think it through. A month ago I decided to give it a shot and really liked what I heard, pleasantly suprised they didn’t take the easy route.