Second (More Like 4th or 5th) Spin: Showing Up Late to the In Rainbows Party

For my just-short-of-dreadful Writing in Communications class I'm writing about the critical blowjob Radiohead got back in October for their In Rainbows marketing ploy and how it affects the RIAA (basically, it comes down to its time for the RIAA to get off its ass and do something). All the research I've been doing led me to decide that it was time to try giving In Rainbows another chance, see if maybe I hear what everyone else did when they fell in love with it. So a few weeks ago (and right now), I gave the album, the same 160-bitrate copy I downloaded on October 10th, yet another listen, to determine whether or not the album was something that needed to grow, or if it is indeed just sludgy trip-music with no coherence at all.

The first time around the only songs that had a truly positive impact on me were "Faust Arp" and "Videotape". The rest of the album I was mixed about, some of it having some cool elements to it, but largely inaccessible to me. This time around (I am indeed on my fourth or fifth time through the album) the first two tracks managed to suck me in. "15 Step" and "Bodysnatchers" are both neurotic messes in song form, reflected thusly in the lyrics. Part of the turn-off here is the fact that Thom Yorke's singing, and thus his lyrics, are very much one part of the equation that tend to get lost in Johnny Greenwood's guitars and Ed O'Briens various contributions. I've slowly learned that's what Radiohead is about in a lot of ways. They aren't the kind of rock band where the lead singer is the one delivering the message; everyone is. I can't say I necessarily agree with that tactic as a music fan, since as observed in In Rainbows, that can make things jumblefucky and turn off a lot of listeners.

After the first 8 minutes, Yorke gets his first chance to land a real blow on the listener with "Nude". As with most Radiohead songs, I couldn't tell you what the song is about without looking at the lyrics, but the sound itself is very flowy and smooth, a total shift from the opening. That concept continues in "All I Need" and "Reckoner", with the band still getting their shots in along the way (Greenwood's best moment lies in the all-too-short "Faust Arp"). By the time "Reckoner" starts playing the band has found a much better blend, and I stopped feeling like I was getting beat over the head with dischordant noise once every 3 minutes.

Lyrically, Yorke is damn near peerless in the genre. The faltering point is in the fact that the lyrics aren't always delivered well, making the words of In Rainbows better as poetry in some spots ("House of Cards" being one of them). The instrumentals still haven't sold me, but they've made serious progress since the first listen. After nearly 5 listens (the fifth listen will end by the time I finish this entry), In Rainbows will have proven that its a unique album not only for the way it was released, but in the way it grew from something sludgy and hard to swallow, to something powerful and multilayered.

In closing, yeah...I guess I am pretty impressed. Radiohead may not chart as high as the Foo Fighters or Pearl Jam in my book, but they're certainly a worthy peer.

Ruling on the field
Then: 4.5/10
Now: 9/10

Radiohead - Videotape
(Creepiest ending of an album in awhile)

Second Spin: The Spiral Just Keeps Going...

Welcome to Second Spin, where VLM goes back and gives an album another listen to see if the first reaction was correct, or if perhaps it deserves better than the treatment it's received. This week's feature is the breakthrough album from Nine Inch Nails, The Downward Spiral.

Let's get one thing straight; NIN was making noise before making noise was cool. And even now he's doing it better than most others who try (See also: Slipknot, KoRn). When I first got around to picking up the album about a year ago (it came out in 1994, so I'm a teensy bit behind), I gave it a spin, but was pretty ho-hum about it. Save for the well-known tracks like the blatantly sexual "Closer" and "Hurt", it all just kinda blended into one big clusterfuck of synths and screaming that made no sense to me.

Shows how much a year makes when you spend that year turning into a music geek.

From the moment I popped in the CD for the purposes of this entry, I was prepared to be listening to something significant. After watching all the meticulous work done simply in advertising Year Zero and learning about the recording process done in the house of the Sharon Tate murders, I realized there had to be more to this CD. And there was. "Mr. Self Destruct" opens the album with textbook Nine Inch Nails style wrack-and-thrash industrial sound, and that keeps going all the way to the amazing "Heresy", "March of the Pigs", and "Ruiner". After getting the radio-friendliness out of his system, Trent Reznor dives back into the balls-to-the-wall soundtrack to fornication. Personally I had a hard time keeping up with the tracks and their inherent mechanized trippiness. But nonetheless its still amazing for listening to during sex, or if nothing else, it's solid background noise. Don't get me wrong; as much as it may not be my cup of tea, Downward Spiral was still a great album and something that really does grow after a few listens.

==TJ==

Second Spin: Going back to Sam's Town

Welcome to Second Spin, a new weekly feature where I go back and give an album another listen to see if my first reaction was correct, or if perhaps it deserves better than the treatment it's received. The first album in this feature: Sam's Town, the critically derided sophomore album from The Killers.

My initial thoughts on Sam's Town weren't too far off from everyone else's. I missed some of the '80s revival synth-pop that permeated Hot Fuss. At the same time though, The Killers were in a rough spot in recording a follow-up to an album like Hot Fuss. If they had gone and recorded 12 more tracks like "Mr. Brightside", they'd have gotten panned for being unoriginal and formulaic. But they took a different route on Sam's Town, paying homage to '80s arena rock greats, and they still get slammed.

Sam's Town isn't as bad an album as everyone made it out to be. The individual songs don't stand up well as singles, but the album as one cohesive idea is actually pretty cool. Yeah, the whole "Enterlude" and "Exitlude" idea is a bit gimmicky (Who is Sam and who the hell decided it was his town, anyway?), but when it's flanked by tracks like the Springsteen-worshipping "When You Were Young" and "Bling (Confessions of a King)", the campiness is pretty much forgivable. Granted, later tracks like the tired "My List" suggest that maybe The Killers didn't have as material to work with in this new style, but despite the flaws that come with any album that gambles like this one, Sam's Town is still a fun listen, and a great album to take on any car ride (The title track and "When You Were Young" at full blast with the windows down? Awesome...). Cut The Killers a break; it's rare that you see a band take any kind of risk with their sound these days.

Then: ** 1/2
Now: *** 1/2


Sam's Town on iTunes
The Killers [MySpace]
Standout Track: Bling (Confessions of a King)

==TJ==