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Nov 04, 2009 Web Exclusive By Jim Scott

The companion piece to Kid A, Radiohead’s Amnesiac is much more than a selection of outtakes or B-sides. Without the single-mindedness of Kid A, Amnesiac shows more range, both in terms of emotion and sound.

From the tin drum opening of “Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box” to the thunderous percussion of “Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors” to the jazzy spaciousness of “Dollars and Cents,” Amnesiac may be a collection of things that veered too far off center for Kid A, but what a brilliant collection it is. The only coherent theme appears to be the sheer musical bravery involved.

This reissue includes further experiments, those that landed too far outside of Amnesiac‘s forgiving borders. No one would fault the band for leaving the ghostly “The Amazing Sounds of Orgy” with its disembodied birdcalls or the buzz-saw “Trans-Atlantic Drawl” and its dentist drill guitars off of a major label record.

Further into this second disc, however, comes the hypnotic “Kinetic,” with its mesmerizing “Better keep movin’/Don’t fall asleep at the wheel” mantras and the pleasing “Worry Wort,” which puts Radiohead’s ability to make charming music out of seemingly useless noises on full display. “Worry Wort” also features some of Thom Yorke’s most naked lyrics, “Take a look around/candles on the cake/what could have been.” Supplementing these songs even further are seven live versions of some of Amnesiac‘s staples. As always, the band turns in stunning performances.

Amnesiac, further bolstered by these extra tracks, shows what an astonishingly fruitful period Radiohead went through at the close and turn of the century. Oddly enough, the rollicking “Cuttooth” fails to conjure up the same energy as the rest, despite being the most straight-ahead song on either disc. “Cuttooth” shows where the band stood at the time; if they weren’t walking the fragile line between experimentation and nothingness, they lost their edge. In managing to walk that line for two albums in such a short span, they altered the shape of popular music. (www.radiohead.com)

Author rating: 9/10