Radiohead
There
There
(Parlophone)
Rating: 8/10
Rarely has a band inspired so much contention by saying so little. Well, Radiohead appear to be emerging from their extra-terrestrial Kid A and Amnesiac cocoon which, lest we forget, produced some colossal music.
Not that the distain of critics made any difference to their fans, most of who followed every twist and turn in Radiohead's tortuously arbitrary but, equally, beguilling sonic black hole. And now, with 'There There', are we out of the vortex and back on Earth?
In a way, yes. However, although the first single from Hail To The Thief is ripped with the guitar steel of old and has a terrific, anthemic marching thwack - plus the cut you down "just because you feel it, doesn't mean it's there" line - the album features many new snatches of head spinning on neck flux.
Check-out the B-sides for the Ying and Yang. 'Paperback Writer', naturally, is not a Beatles cover, and as for the nauseating 'Where Bluebirds Fly'? Flapping their wings in the flames of hell it would seem.
Ben Gilbert