Kid a

It has been said that this album was recorded to put off the masses so that the band could continue to record in relative peace. 'Kid A' will very possibly put off those fans who only liked the anthems from 'O.K. Computer' (Paranoid Android, Lucky, Karma Police)and 'The Bends'(Street Spirit, High and Dry) but for the majority of their fans this album is a progression from the unusual to the wildly strange and fascinating. The Album starts with 'Everything in its right place', a throbbing rhythmic piece with stacks of pace and tempo plus unusual lyrics 'Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon...' completely fresh from all their songs and does not let listeners hear what direction the band has taken. 'the title track 'Kid A' is a mixture of a nursery rhyme and a nightmare, eery and frightening but with twinkling percussion sounds, involves Yorke singing random thoughts 'We've got heads on sticks' in a heavily disguised voice. 'The National Anthem:' fuzz bass and heavy drumming still no evidence of guitars, dissolves in to a collection of wild brass instruments, innovative and different. 'How to disappear completely' is in my opinion the track of the album, soft acoustic guitar and clashing strings are powerful but the way that they regularise into a beautiful harmony is breathtaking, a truly spellbouinding song. 'Treefingers' is a floating instrumental that contains an element of pure peace. 'Optimistic' is a track fot the hordes: anthemic. major guitars, cracking riffs, huge energy 'this one came out of the swamp.' 'In Limbo' is hugely experimental, it is in fact my least favourite track although others heatedly dis agree with me, rippling sea-shore esque sounds, forlorn sounds. 'Idioteque' Yorke's favourite song, fantastic new direction, pounding beats, desperate lyrics 'This is really happening' fantastic pumping rhythms, dance for the anti-dance fan. 'Morning bell' a mourning melody, sad almost builds up to 'Motion Picture Soundtrack' a fantastic ending, majestic, harp-filled bursting with life, truly beautiful. This album is a fantastic piece, it needs to be listened to as a whole not as individual segments, it is dark in some aries and airy and light in other. It is in my opinion the unmissable album of the year.

Unfortunately, amazon.co.uk only allow for a maximum of 5 stars on their rating system. I believe this is the 401th review of Kid A since its release ten years ago. What an album to look back on; Kid A marked the end of Radioheads mainstream success as one of the best rock bands of all time, and the beginning of something much more profound and beautiful.

It really could have gone either way: O'Brien wanted the band to reverse back into snappy three-minute pop songs, whilst Yorke had different plans for their future. Kid A really can't be placed in any particular genre of music. It sits there all alone in its dreamy world. This is an album of truly unique, and in my humble opinion, unrivalled since its release in 2000.

When I first heard that Radiohead were going to release a new album, I figured it was going to include all those unreleased songs from the video 'Meeting People is Easy'. I was disappointed with most of the album for about a day or so until i really loved it.

The immediete songs i enjoyed by simply flicking through the tracks were, 'How to disappear comepletely', and 'Morning Bell', as to me they are just your average Radiohead songs to me. Getting used to songs such as the title track and 'In Limbo' definitely took time, but now I appreciate them so much now. Radiohead's influence of Aphex Twin is obvious is 'Everything in its Right Place' and 'Kid A', with the random drum beats, the chiming synthisers and the electronic voices muttering such lyrics as "we've got heads on sticks / We've got ventriloquists." People were very annoyed as to 'Treefingers' being slap-bang in the middle of the album, as it suddenly slows it down, but I personally think its ok to go. To me, putting it as a bonus track isn't so effective, and I think the 'Head boys saw that too. At first, I wasn't so impressed with the 'National Anthem's' bass riff, as being a big rock fan I saw nothing special with it, but that also grew on me. The industrial like thumping drum beat on 'Ideoteque' gives the album a bit more spunk, and 'The National Anthem' sounds as emotional as Nine Inch Nails 'The Great Below'. The only real disappointing song on the album is 'Optimistic', simply because I don't think its that good a song, simple as that.

To me, 'Kid A' is a wonderful album. With the album, I can picture images to suit the music, or a film which would go well with it. When it comes to going out, 'Kid A' is always first to go in my CD player, and it just fades into the background. Compared to Radiohead's past albums, this must never be compared to them. However, I still think 'OK Computer' is better, and the boys from the head could never have beaten it.