We're gonna crack your little souls." Kid A was the exploration of our cracked little souls no Radiohead song better expresses this feeling than the sublime "How to Disappear Completely" in which Yorke has been obliterated completely out of existence and revels in his invisibility. And yeah we're gonna crack your little souls. In "Dollars and Cents", a jam-based song of swirling guitars and keyboards, Yorke repeats in a deadpan chant, devoid of feeling, "We are the dollars and cents and the pounds and pence and the mark and the yen. The hell of Amnesiacis the fear of becoming just another cog in the corporate machine. Theirs has been the voice of the embattled idealist, desperately hanging on to the shards of authentic identity left to an individual in a world of money and commerce, corporations and conglomerates. Since 1997's OK Computer, Radiohead have been crafting a horrific vision of modern life in an age of technological global capitalism. Intensity has been replaced by nostalgia a certain feebleness, a certain sadness, a certain tenderness. Consequently, on Amnesiac we get the groove-based moodiness of "I Might Be Wrong", the wailing New Orleans jazz funeral procession of "Life in a Glass House", the soft 1940s style three-part harmonies of "You and Whose Army?", the stark watery piano of "Pyramid Song", the quiet ambient drone of "Hunting Bears". Radiohead are showing themselves to be braver and braver with each album, not afraid to redefine themselves, not willing to be limited to the conventional rock setup of drums, bass, and two guitars. They jump from style to style with the zeal of a raving lunatic hopping from one topic in conversation to the next. Radiohead seems to be in a state of stylistic schizophrenia whereas it was once easy to label something as distinctively 'Radiohead', it is now impossible to do so. Gone are the braying horns of "National Anthem", the raucous, assaulting dance beats of "Idioteque", and the swirling orchestral score of "How to Disappear Completely". This accounts for the drastic change in style on Amnesiac. Amnesiac is the first person narration of the intense loneliness and terror felt in the explosion's wake. The horrible destruction of Kid A's "Idioteque" has come at last. ![]() Amnesiac, on the other hand, is colored by despair, regret, and foolish pride it is the lonely wail of a caged animal. "Women and children first" sang Thom Yorke in "Idioteque", the album's definitive track. It described a far-off chaos that was soon approaching. Kid A was the distant lament of a lost friend. Radiohead's Amnesiac (Capitol, 2001) is a darker, trippier album than its predecessor, Kid A (2000). ![]() Moody shifting colors browns, blacks, deep yellows faded memories the will to remember the intense melancholy of forgetting. Jonny Greenwood / lead guitar, piano, organ, orchestral arrangements (2,8) Packed Like Sardines in A Crushed Tin Box (4:00)
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