My Amazon Reviews: Radiohead "Kid A"

Yesterday I Woke Up Sucking a Lemon

3 Out Of 5 Stars

"OK Computer" was the sound or technology and humanity colliding in Radiohead's world with astonishing results. Three years later, and humanity got the short end of the stick. "Kid A" threw away any previous alignment with traditional rock music and plunged head first into the world of Aphex Twin and Brian Eno. Since Thom Yorke has a generally dour view of the world as it is, the skittering beats and washes of sound tend to submerge instead of uplift. On the Scale of Ambition, "Kid A" rates a 10. On the scale of listenability? Not so much.

"Kid A" and the follow-up, "Amnesiac," are difficult and alienating listens. The song that starts out sounding close to a potential dance record, "national Anthem," ultimately breaks down into a blindfolded New Orleans marching brass band colliding with each other on the thoroughfare. Yorke sings atop this with his voice sounding like it's being forced through a metallic filter. It's one of the oddest songs to ever reach the top of the album charts (where "Kid A" debuted in 2000). There is at least one traditional rock (verse verse chorus with guitars) song here, "Optimistic."

But really, Radiohead made "Kid A" as a bold statement of purpose, that after getting critical raves and big sales, they were not out to just "take the money and run," as Yorke bleats on "Idioteque." I will certainly give them that much credit. However, I can't say that, ten years later, "Kid A" has held its appeal like "OK Computer" or "The Bends" has.