The 'pay what you want' fire sale that launched In Rainbows in October wasn't a new idea so much as a perfect amalgamation of distribution tactics that bands large (Smashing Pumpkins) and small (the thousands on MySpace) have tried since the birth of the mp3. As technorati, Radiohead are to indie bands what Led Zeppelin were to broke old bluesmen: They took the ideas and got people to scream about them. Three months later, the questions keep flying about their business: How many people bought the download? What was the average sum they chucked in the tip jar? Is it true that, even though Radiohead basically gave the files away, a slim majority of listeners went ahead and stole them out of habit? It's fair to say that the shop talk eclipses interest in the B-sides record tucked into Radiohead's $80 discbox (which it packs in alongside In Rainbows on both CD and vinyl, plus pix, artwork, lyrics- and if you have to ask if that's all worth the price, it's clearly not meant for you). Like the main LP, this bonus disc could not be mistaken for the work of a band other than Radiohead- from Thom Yorke's nerve's-edge balladeering, to ever-slighter splashes of experimentalism, to guitar tones as fussed over as other band's hairdos.
Does anyone know where I can get my hands on In Rainbows Disc 2? Tried to purchase on WASTE, iTunes etc but no luck. Wouldn't normally resort to.
- Shop talk about the industry of In Rainbows has largely pulled focus off the bonus CD tucked into Radiohead's $80 discbox-- but maybe that's for the best.
- Radiohead 2008 In Rainbows CD 2 download. File name: Radiohead - 2008 - In Rainbows CD 2.rar. Size: 63.20 MB.
But it also catches the band at its most maudlin: Not only did Radiohead cram their leftovers onto this bonus disc, but they also gather all the mopey, overplayed tropes their last album left behind. Radiohead have always capitalized on tension, but here, that tension turns to exhaustion. The playlist wades from one slice of paranoia to another, the ear going most often to the incessant horror film piano- and to Yorke's voice.
His strained falsetto and near-soul-singing on 'Down Is the New Up' deliver the risk-taking you'd expect from an odds-and-ends release, but the cynical/alienated rut into which he grinds himself has the persistence of a toothache. 'Up on the Ladder', which has been under construction since the 1990s, is all climb, no teeter- and elsewhere bare lines like 'I can't face the evening straight/ And you can offer me escape' sound like the guy at the next bar stool that you've been turning your back to all night. Here, Yorke sounds like neither a post-millennial prophet nor an uncanny empathist, so much as a crank. Still, the thick fog that hangs over the album doesn't obscure all its gems.
Though it goes nowhere, 'Go Slowly's slow burn would have fit on the proper album- for that matter, it could've been an outtake from any of their last four records. The pristine 'Last Flowers' may be a textbook Yorke ballad, but at least it's a pretty one. As the album's only wake-up call, 'Bangers & Mash's antic drums grab your attention until Yorke's crude snarling lets it go again- although the itchy, uncomfortable feeling it gives you is an interesting break from an otherwise sweatless set.
Best-of-EP honors go to 'Four Minute Warning', a breath-catching little campfire song about (what else?) taking cover from an aerial attack: Radiohead have predicted World War III for so long, it's no surprise they'd stay calm when it shows up. But its weaknesses notwithstanding, this bonus disc isn't meant for the public at large; it's for the fans, who've studied these songs through bootlegs, YouTube clips, and clues on websites. To them, it's an extra goodie in the luxurious Discbox stocking. And as net-savvy as Radiohead may be- and for as many goofy webcasts and sketchy websites as they've posted over the years- they still seem to love their hard, physical packages. These aren't just the studio versions of 'Up on the Ladder', et al.: They're the canonical, compact disc editions, polished and packaged as official versions. A lesser band might have crammed some bootlegs and demo takes in here, but when Radiohead put something on disc, they want it to count.
Cd-2 Stop Leak
For a band with so many ideas about digital life, they still treat the record as king.
Radiohead – In Rainbows (2007) FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/44,1 kHz Time – 42:34 minutes 479 MB Genre: Alternative Rock Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: Q0buz Artwork: Front cover © XL Recordings Radiohead’s seventh studio album which pioneered a unique “pay-what-you-want” system of album sales when it was first released. In Rainbows, as a title, implies a sense of comfort and delightfulness. Symbolically, rainbows are more likely to be associated with kittens and warm blankets than the grim and glum circumstances Radiohead is known for soundtracking. There’s a slight, if expected, twist at play. The band is more than familiar with the unpleasant moods associated with colors like red, green, and blue – all of which, of course, are colors within a rainbow – all of which are present, and even mentioned, during the album. On a couple levels, then, In Rainbows is not any less fitting as a Radiohead album title than “Myxomatosis” is as a Radiohead song title.
Despite references to “going off the rails,” hitting “the bottom,” getting “picked over by the worms,” being “dead from the neck up,” and feeling “trapped” (twice), along with Radiohead Wordplay Deluxe Home Edition pieces like “comatose” and “nightmare” – in the same song! Double score!
Radiohead In Rainbows Cd 2
– the one aspect of the album that becomes increasingly perceptible with each listen is how romantic it feels, albeit in the way that one might find the bioport scenes in David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ to be extremely hot and somewhat unsettling. Surprisingly, some of the album’s lyrics are even more personal/universal and straightforward than anything on The Eraser, the album made by Thom Yorke and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. “I’m an animal trapped in your hot car,” from “All I Need,” has to be one of the saddest, most open-hearted metaphors used to express unrequited love. “House of Cards” begins with “I don’t want to be your friend/I just want to be your lover/No matter how it ends/No matter how it starts,” and the one with the worms includes “I’d be crazy not to follow/Follow where you lead/Your eyes/They turn me.” This effective weaving of disparate elements – lyrical expressions commonly associated with the band, mixed in with ones suited for everyday love ballads – goes for the music as well. The album is very song-oriented, with each track constantly moving forward and developing, yet there are abstract electronic layers and studio-as-instrument elements to prevent it from sounding like a regression. In Rainbows will hopefully be remembered as Radiohead’s most stimulating synthesis of accessible songs and abstract sounds, rather than their first pick-your-price download. Tracklist: 01 – 15 Step 02 – Bodysnatchers 03 – Nude 04 – Weird Fishes/Arpeggi 05 – All I Need 06 – Faust Arp 07 – Reckoner 08 – House of Cards 09 – Jigsaw Falling Into Place 10 – Videotape Download.