Kida-mnesia

[purlieu]

It's a nice half hour, but it's very difficult to find it anything other than underwhelming as a collection of outtakes from two albums, especially given the lack of b-sides that there's totally space for. Pulk/True Love Waits is utterly wonderful - my favourite version of TLW so far - and it's interesting to hear Like Spinning Plates in the studio, although I'd take the live piano version or studio version of it any day. I'm always trying to downsize so I'll probably get it at some point, as one digisleeve takes up considerably less shelf space than two jewel cases.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

I think the fan frenzy triumphing it as the superior version comes from the fannish tendency of fetishising "the songwriter and his instrument" over arrangement or studio craft (which is what actually makes Radiohead interesting to me). It's like the version of Motion Picture Soundtrack from OKNOTOK - great performance but not what the song needed to be on record.

I heard the original 1995 version for the first time recently and was surprised by it. Driving tempo (at least for a radiohead ballad), strumming and "it makes us crazy, maybe?" chorus with a distinctive sneer - their most britpop/Oasis sounding song by far! You can imagine it as clodhopping number one with 1995 brickwall production, acoustic strumming and doomf doomf drums and a bit of 60s strings at the end. Right between Wonderwall and The Drugs Don't Work.

[Rev+]

Constructing something that works as an album rather than just slapping a load of disconnected out-takes on a disc is admirable, and there's clearly been quite a bit of thought put into what the third disc would be.  But it is a bit, though?  Isn't it?  It sort of is a bit.

Loads better than the In Rainbows bonus CD, though.  Fuck me, that took the piss.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

Wasn't into this new version of Like Spinning Plates much. Interesting to hear that it was considered as a more conventional Radiohead song at some point but without either the backwards gimmick or the spontaneity of doing an experimental number on solo piano, it doesn't stand out much and its a bad case of Thom Yorke "the political situation makes specifically me, Thom Yorke, feel bad" lyrics.

But I did like hearing the Pulk/TLW and Fog versions! Never been a big fan of TLW but hearing it meshed into the KID A session style, how much they were pushing themselves to get out of "guy with a guitar, being authentic" archetype, I'm really glad we get to hear it even if it is a reconstruction. I like Pulk a lot anyway, its a great arrangement for the song and a shame it didn't make the album in that form. The version of Fog is less grabbing, but interesting to see how close they got with it.

The Fast Track snippet is just frustrating - the track always got a lot of attention, I think a lot of people intrigued by its origin. Now there is a 1:30 version of it thats more structured with an clearer bassline, that makes it sound even more like it was intended for another song at some point, but no info or context, just 1:30 more of minor fan favourite floating in the ether.

[Inspector Norse]

I listened to this yesterday and quite enjoyed it. As an album it doesn't work, no, but nor to my mind does Amnesiac which to me always had a bit of a "Kid A cast-off" feel to it despite some undoubted high points.

I'm not generally into discs of demos and outtakes because it's usually just badly-recorded versions of good songs or 28 seconds of a scrappy riff or the drummer knobbing about when everyone else is at Gregg's but with a band like Radiohead they make genuinely interesting and pleasant sounds, you get an idea of how they're working in the studio - putting all their best ideas down, seeing which ones fit together and how they can make them work best.

[imitationleather]

I remember at the time feeling hugely letdown by Amnesiac but I think I might have pretended to like it because I was 14 and that's the kind of thing you do then.

Not sure I've even listened to the bloody thing since it came out.

[Johnny Textface]

With a bit of fat trimming and reordering those sessions could have made a tight extraordinary album maybe.
Always annoyed by that Hunting Bears thing which is just obviously the intro of I Might Be Wrong.

There's a 'trailer' for that nightmarish exhibition thing on PS5 https://youtu.be/AOinMjQ9jo8


Anyone know if this will be on Xbox too? Seems weird to only release with Sony :(  Maybe it's VR I dunno.

[Glyn]

There's a 'trailer' for that nightmarish exhibition thing on PS5 https://youtu.be/AOinMjQ9jo8


Anyone know if this will be on Xbox too? Seems weird to only release with Sony :(  Maybe it's VR I dunno.

Haven't seen anything for Xbox but epic games have it listed as one of their free PC games from next Thursday.

Agree that True Love Waits/Pulk is the best track on this.  I was also pleasantly surprised that Follows Me Around sounds a lot better to me through headphones .

[popcorn]

I think that exhibition thing looks quite cool. According to the press release they put out today it was conceived as a physical installation 2 years ago but it got nixed by covid. Shame, I could imagine it being fairly mesmerising in the flesh.

[Rev+]

As an album it doesn't work, no, but nor to my mind does Amnesiac which to me always had a bit of a "Kid A cast-off" feel to it despite some undoubted high points.

That's literally what Amnesiac was, though - the stuff that didn't quite make the grade for Kid A, and would have been b-sides if they were releasing singles at that point.  It's a compilation rather than a proper album, but there is some good stuff on it.

[popcorn]

That's literally what Amnesiac was, though - the stuff that didn't quite make the grade for Kid A, and would have been b-sides if they were releasing singles at that point.  It's a compilation rather than a proper album, but there is some good stuff on it.

I don't think that's right. The band insisted that it was an album in its own right and got snippy with journalists who suggested otherwise.

I think they assembled the two albums based on what tracks fit where, not based on "what made the grade". I mean there's no way you can say Pyramid Song is a B-side.

[Johnny Textface]

Yeah Amnesiac was certainly marketed by the band as it's own thing. I think they may have been a little unsure about the reception of Kid A so created a little bit of backup to get the fans back on board if it all went a bit Pete Tong.

[Custard]

Amnesiac was deffo an album in its own right. During the writing and recording for Kid A they simply wrote so much music that eventually they decided to make two albums

Then after Kid A was released, they ended up writing several more tunes. So come the time to record Amnesiac, they had a vast amount of solid songs to cherry pick from. It's absolutely not a compilation of b-sides or stuff not good enough for Kid A

Some of these songs then spilled over into the sessions for Hail To The Thief. Radiohead tend to hold some great tunes back simply because they can't get the perfect version or feel it fits the album they are making at the time

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

While Kid A and Amnesiac doubtlessly share the same DNA, both coming from the same writing/recording period, to my ear they're clearly completely distinct and deliberately curated. Kid A is tonally crisp, sharp and austere, evoking the vast snowscapes in that era's artwork, whereas Amnesiac has a murkier, swampy vibe.

[popcorn]

Then after Kid A was released, they ended up writing several more tunes. So come the time to record Amnesiac, they had a vast amount of solid songs to cherry pick from.

No, Kid A and Amnesiac were all written and recorded in the same sessions.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

No, Kid A and Amnesiac were all written and recorded in the same sessions.

I think with the exception of Life in a Glasshouse.

[popcorn]

I think with the exception of Life in a Glasshouse.

Life in a Glasshouse wasn't written after Kid A was released, it dates to at least before OKC was released. It's often said that it was recorded after the rest of Kid A/Amnesiac but I've never found any conclusive evidence for that.

[popcorn]

While Kid A and Amnesiac doubtlessly share the same DNA, both coming from the same writing/recording period, to my ear they're clearly completely distinct and deliberately curated. Kid A is tonally crisp, sharp and austere, evoking the vast snowscapes in that era's artwork, whereas Amnesiac has a murkier, swampy vibe.

Definitely. I think Amnesiac has a strangely grumpy yet festive mood for some reason.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

Life in a Glasshouse wasn't written after Kid A was released, it dates to at least before OKC was released. It's often said that it was recorded after the rest of Kid A/Amnesiac but I've never found any conclusive evidence for that.

Yes, obviously there's performances of Life in a Glasshouse seen in Meeting People is Easy and the various versions and mutations on the leaked Minidiscs.

I think it's usually Humphrey Lyttleton's ultimate involvement that's cited for setting it slightly apart recording-wise, but as you say, anything conclusive is hard to come by.

[Wayman C. McCreery]

I'm not adding much to the conversation here, but I much prefer Amnesiac to Kid A these days.

[Glyn]

While Kid A and Amnesiac doubtlessly share the same DNA, both coming from the same writing/recording period, to my ear they're clearly completely distinct and deliberately curated. Kid A is tonally crisp, sharp and austere, evoking the vast snowscapes in that era's artwork, whereas Amnesiac has a murkier, swampy vibe.

Definitely, I can't think of a single Amnesiac track which you could add to KidA. It's such a cohesive album that it must have been planned as its own thing quite early on in the recording process. Amnesiac is more of a mixed bag for me and there a few bsides I would have swapped on to it but you're right that it has its own bluesy feeling.

[Custard]

No, Kid A and Amnesiac were all written and recorded in the same sessions.

I remember them saying they wrote and recorded further stuff for Amnesiac, after Kid A had come out

Unless I'm completely misremembering. But I recall them saying that, as people were saying it was bound to be the stuff not good enough for Kid A

[popcorn]

Nah, I remember them saying they wrote and recorded further stuff for Amnesiac

Nope. If you can find a reliable source for that I will PayPal £50 to the charity of your choosing because I would love to know about that. Not a joke. That's a popcorn promise

[popcorn]

Yago: You recorded all of the songs for Kid A and Amnesiac in one session, right?

Yorke: We did, although some people tend to think that Amnesiac was a panic reaction to Kid A, especially in Britain, which is hilarious.

Yago: Why didn't you release Kid A and Amnesiac as a double album, then?

O'Brien: It wouldn't have worked. The tendency with a double album is that if there's quite dense material in there, you tend to skip it, you tend to move on. We realized that maybe at first listen it wouldn't come to you, but it warranted coming back to. It wouldn't have happened if we put it on a double album.

Yorke: It would have been a massive overload.

https://web.archive.org/web/20080311144136/http://www.mtv.com/bands/archive/r/radiohead01/

You've already played some of the other songs live: 'Knives Out', 'Egyptian Song'...

Yorke: Yeah, even though they're really great songs, and I'm really proud of them, they just didn't fit, which is quite a weird feeling, because you think an album should be just basically the best songs. That's not necessarily true. You can put all the best songs in the world on a record and they'll ruin each other. On the later Beatles albums, when they got really, really good at putting things next to each other, like on The White Album, it's just amazing. How in the hell can you have three different versions of 'Revolution' on the same record [sic] and get away with it? I thought about that sort of thing.

https://citizeninsane.eu/media/uk/select/04/pt_2000-12_select.htm

[Custard]

I've edited my post, to further clarify

I do clearly remember them saying they'd recorded further sessions for Amnesiac. And that it wasn't the leftover dregs from Kid A

Unless my memory is going. It probably is

[Video Game Fan 2000]

I also remember them refering to Amnesiac as "the real album", the real follow up to OK Computer after Kid A.

Clearly sarcastic since journalists were asking "where are the tunes then"

[purlieu]

While Kid A and Amnesiac doubtlessly share the same DNA, both coming from the same writing/recording period, to my ear they're clearly completely distinct and deliberately curated. Kid A is tonally crisp, sharp and austere, evoking the vast snowscapes in that era's artwork, whereas Amnesiac has a murkier, swampy vibe.

I've generally found Thom York to be a bit of a tit, but his description of Kid A being viewing a fire from a distance and Amnesiac being within the fire always rung true to me. Amnesiac is a less coherent album overall, but the messy structure of it fits the messy feel of a lot of the tracks. I think there are a few songs that could have crossed over - Packd and Like Spinning Plates would have been fine on Kid A and The National Anthem and In Limbo on Amnesiac, but on the whole one is a very tightly constructed, icy synthetic record, and the other a messy, more lo-fi album. The artwork suits them perfectly: Kid A's black and white images with lots of digital glitches, Amnesiac's browns and beiges with torn paper and scribbles. They've never not felt like very deliberate records to me.

[Glyn]

Anyone else having fun getting lost in the exhibition ? There seem to be some different takes,live videos and fragments of songs hidden about the place and it's all very well put together. Well worth a look.

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

thanks for reminding me, bloody love it

[Glyn]

It's really good! Beautiful and terrifying, often at the same time. The video (and alternative mix) of How to Disappear was incredible and I get the feeling I haven't found everything yet. Really hope the audio tracks emerge from this as there is a lot of interesting stuff in here.