Amnesiac is the second collection of songs from the sessions that spawned Kid A. After OK Computer, the album that defined our state of the nation, Kid A was a shock. It sounded at times like a desperate wail of pain, lightened only by the occasional glimpse of blue-skied optimism.

Amnesiac continues in a similar vein. It's not a very coherent album, but it occasionally taps into the underlying secret songs that run through your soul and make you feel human.

Amnesiac is from the same stable as Kid A but gallops off in its own directions. Jazz influences make a surprising appearance - a fan letter from Jonny Greenwood to Humphrey Lyttleton tempted the legendary octogenarian trumpeter to join Radiohead on "Life in a glasshouse", the last track.

Amnesiac is likely to get a mixed reaction. I was at one of the Big Tent Tour concerts in Warrington, where Radiohead were showcasing Kid A as well as parts of Amnesiac. The crowd appeared disgruntled by the new and challenging material. Fans chatted amongst themselves or shouted "Creep" at the stage, harking back to Radiohead's breakthrough halcyon days.

Disaffected fans even post messages asking "Can anyone pinpoint the moment when Thom Yorke stopped singing and started whinging?" on the Radiohead messageboard. Fans who loved early Radiohead still pine for the band's previous incarnation, perhaps suffering from the feeling that bands "owe" them an unending re-run of their same-old favourites.

The track-by-track breakdown:

1. Packt like sardines in a crushed tin box
The sound of a climbing frame being smacked with a table tennis bat overlaid with spacey electronic experimentations. Vocals are laid back into menace with hellish muttering in background. The sound of commuting?

2. Pyramid single (e.n.: err... perhaps 'song' would be a better idea, no?)
A haunting piano & strings-driven song about swimming with black-eyed angels, building to a soaring soul-stirring crescendo. You can imagine Thom screwing up his face with the pure effort of pouring his soul into this song.

3. Pull pulk revolving doors
Frightening aliens-are-gonna-get-ya song underlaid with an ominous bass threatening to explode at any moment and burst your eardrums.

4. You and whose army?
Preceded by a vast intake of breath, this song is a bit Blur-ry (or is that Thom influencing Damon?). Full of quiet menace.

5. I might be wrong
More traditional guitar and drum-driven groove with unusually pure vocals. Even goes so far as being gently funky.

6. Knives out
An unearthly combination of Smiths-esque guitars and Thom's unending vocals. Previewed live during Radiohead's tent tour last year and rumoured to be the second single off the album. Took 373 days to record: apparently the band were nervous about it because it was too "straight".

7. The morning bell amnesiac
Aural déja vu from Kid A, but reversioned. Where did you park the car?

8. Dollars and cents
Viennetta layers of complexity & strings with the pure vocals of a husky and the song of Amazonian insects building to a percussion crescendo.

9. Hunting bears
Meandering duo of guitars and the sea. An instrumental number.

10. Like Spinning Plates
Little aural helicopters of music flipping backwards, interspersed with forwards-sung, indecipherable but nonetheless emotive lyrics.

11. Life In A Glasshouse
Thom as paranoid jazz diva, supported by the great Humph on trumpet. Evokes a New Orleans smoky basement club at 3am after too many cigarettes and a little too much booze. Stunning.

-Charlie Pinder

BBC Oxford
07.01