Anyone can play guitar, and maybe that's why Radiohead has slowly mutated from a straight-up rock band to a gaggle of techno-savvy Luddites interested in stretching the limits of rock music. R.E.M. and U2 at different times in the recent past have flirted with musics outside the realm of rock but neither went as far as Radiohead did with last year's Kid A. Some critics and fans heard Kid A as audacious, some heard it as pretentious. However, the mouth of anyone with an opinion was agape when the album debuted at #1 on Billboard's album chart. This had nothing to do with the music itself and everything to do with the fact that Head-heads were simply anxious for new material. Some were no doubt disappointed by the fact that the album was cut from a cloth distinctly different from the fabric used to fashion OK Computer and The Bends.

Amnesiac ostensibly seeks to split the difference between Kid A and the band's earlier material, even though more than half the album embodies the experimental spirit that dominated Kid A. The first song, "Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box," begins with ping-pong percussion and glowing organ notes similar to the ones heard in Kid A's opener, "Everything in its Right Place." Singer Thom Yorke plays the part of the modern male victim, a character found in many Radiohead songs. The song's memorable refrain, "I'm a reasonable man, get off my case," is repeated mantra-like in an effort to cope with disappointment, victimization, and unfulfilled longings. The music of "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" sounds like an infinity of revolving doors clacking, clattering, opening, closing, suggesting the endless course of actions one could take in response to the most major, or minor, of events. In a distorted voice, Yorke describes the plethora of portals that one could pass through. Reliably paranoid, he saves the worst for last: "And there are trapdoors that you can't come back from." A gritty, vaguely rockabilly-style guitar dominates "I Might Be Wrong." Here Yorke trades pessimism for cautious optimism, singing, "Open up and let me in. Let's go down the waterfall. Have ourselves a good time." The most direct link to Kid A, besides the black and red cover art, is an alternate dirge-like take on "Morning Bell" titled "Morning Bell/Amnesiac." The most indulgent song is "Dollars and Cents." Though it begins dramatically enough with stentorian strings, the song meanders, making a mess of itself. It would have made a tolerable b-side. "Hunting Bears" is a quiet guitar interlude that contrasts with the electronic textures the band has favored of late, but also sounds like nothing the band has done before. Yorke's voice is distorted again on "Like Spinning Plates." Other odd sounds include music-in-reverse that sounds like the Millennium Falcon traveling backward through hyperspace in slow motion and the high, lonesome whistling of a sonic-whip tube toy (I used to have one. What were those things called?). Yorke sings about being cut to shreds, recalling the violent imagery found in some Kid A lyrics. Amnesiac's closer, "Life in a Glasshouse," provides another clear link to Kid A: horns. The helter-skelter marching band that stumbled through Kid A's "The National Anthem" is replaced by jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttleton and friends providing New Orleans funeral-style accompaniment to the slow death of Yorke's sanity. He sings, "Well of course I'd like to sit around and chat, but there's someone listening in." Again with the paranoia!

Radiohead does throw a few bones to long-time fans clambering for epic ballads like "Fake Plastic Trees" and "Exit Music (for a Film)." "Pyramid Song" is a lush, majestic evocation of transcendence. Yorke sings of jumping in a river where all his lovers, pasts, and futures swim. With "nothing left to fear and nothing to doubt," he travels to heaven in a little rowboat. The magical river motif suggests Radiohead may have been listening to Billy Joel's River of Dreams for inspiration. I might be wrong. "You and Whose Army?" half-heartedly taunts some unnamed oppressor, builds in confidence with a surging middle, then devolves into self-pity. Yorke is let down and hanging around, again. The most conventional song on Amnesiac is "Knives Out." The smooth, clear vocals don't do much to help the listener unravel the meaning of the cryptic lyrics, though it is possible to suss out common Radiohead themes such as desperation and violence.

What is next for Radiohead? Amnesiac debuted at #2 on Billboard's album chart. A summer tour is selling out. After taking a break from singles and videos, the band has made a video for "Pyramid Song," and another for "Knives Out" is in the works. Is another soul-deadening run through the media wringer in order? Commercial success, lengthy touring, and video-making in the wake of OK Computer's release in 1997 precipitated Radiohead's temporary music biz burnout. Can we expect to see a new Radiohead documentary in 2002 titled, Meeting People is Easy 2: Kid A Not OK? Or will the band withdraw after the summer tour and hibernate with its synthesizers, six-strings, and Billy Joel CDs to craft something even more weirdly moving than the one-two punch of Kid A and Amnesiac?

-Don Leibold

Milk
04.07.01