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Customer Review
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 April 2011This is the first Radiohead album that I have ever felt fully drawn into. I've always had a kind of removed appreciation for their work; recognising the quality of the music but rarely actually wanting to listen to it. Radiohead have always sounded like they want to impress while at the same time feeling uncomfortable with this fact- something which may have leant a sense of angst to a lot of their previous work. OK Computer and In Rainbows particularly have been lauded as great albums, but to me they are the Radiohead albums that seem most to embody this sense of angst.
So moving on to the King of Limbs and it seems like Radiohead's existential crisis is over, no longer are the concerned about impressing and the angst is gone with it. It is the sound of a band that is confident in itself, and this is evident in the lush textured feel to the album. The production is incredible and each track feels like a natural extension of the last - not because it sounds samey but because of the care that has gone into creating a distinctive, progressive feel throughout the album.
It is a far more self-contained album than In Rainbows, and while a common view seems to be that The King of Limbs is a natural progression, it actually sounds to me like a significant reductive shift. The melodious elements of the album are subtler and far less immediate, but ultimately are all the more beautiful for it.
It is difficult to pick a highlight from the album; it is very much the sum of each wonderful part. If anything, Lotus Flower sounds slightly out of place as a centre piece, neither fully fitting in with the frenetic beat driven first section of the album nor the relaxed opium haze of the second half, but it may be that it sits there to act as a conduit between the two halves.
I know a lot of people who loved In Rainbows who are disappointed with The King of Limbs. However, when Kid A came out there were a lot of people who had loved Radiohead's previous work who were up in arms, but with time it became apparent that Kid A was an excellent album.
King of Limbs may not contain much in the way of hooks or stadium sing-alongs, but to me it is the band's most beautiful, confident and coherent work to date; the sound of a band that feels it has nothing to prove and benefitting because of it.
