Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool

It's the same shape as those other records.

http://hw-img.datpiff.com/m736491d/Rick_Ross_1-900-too-real_Pt_2-front-large.jpg

"adult contemporary" doesn't have to sound like that song from "robin hood: prince of thieves".

Wild Times by Jeff Lynne?

imo it's a real stretch to call a six minute long song without a chorus and that ends with a kind of sinister swarm of strings "adult contemporary" but of course your opinion wasn't produced by listening critically to the record but by wanting to position yourself as superior to radiohead fans, which is why every comparison you make to other music is only in a pejorative sense, without respect to what those records actually sound like or the idioms the artists actually work in. the scales have fallen from your eyes, etc. iirc this is how a lot of people reacted to kid a

your opinion wasn't produced by listening critically to the record but by wanting to position yourself as superior to radiohead fans

Like you would know the precise calculation/formula that leads to any of my opinions being "produced", so do be quiet. But oh, look! It's the "if you don't like anything Radiohead do, then you must be some kind of musical snob" line, so often hammered into the ground over the years by the hardcore fans. "It's textbook!" as they, again, say in the business. But listen, I did buy my first Radiohead record in 1995, and continued to buy each album, including this one, as they were released. Why? Because I may not be one of those uber-hardcore Radiohead fans who think that everything they shit out is a work of genius, but I have enjoyed their music over the years. D'you know what you call a person who likes the music of a certain band and keeps buying the records, Brad? It's called a fan, but you're a bright spark and I shouldn't really be having to tell you that. Therefore, the main point I glean is that I'm trying to "position (myself)" as being superior to "(myself)" in which case: LOL.

I'm not sure how many people on here are uber-hardcore Radiohead fans who think that everything they shit out is a work of genius. I think it's probably a lot less than you think. King of Limbs got a pretty cool reaction on here didn't it? A Moon Shaped Pool is a big improvement and a good album but it's not a work of genius. That seems to be a pretty common opinion.

Yeah it's fair enough Turrican not liking the album/thinking it sounds like Phil Collins or whatever, but accusing everyone here who's into it even a bit of having bad faith opinions is pretty obnoxious.

imo it's a real stretch to call a six minute long song without a chorus and that ends with a kind of sinister swarm of strings "adult contemporary"

Yeah, if we're operating by some snowflakey definition where Hejira typifies the roots of AC, maybe I could see it, but basically anything I've ever heard on AC radio features subservient arrangements accompanying big front-and-centre voices singing sentimental hooky choruses. "Daydreaming" is pretty much the opposite of this.

xpost:

People are forgetting that I've said that I actually like five songs on this record, and are focusing on getting butthurt about comments I've made about the soft, unbearably middle-aged and unexciting sound of the album (true) and hardcore Radiohead fans' tendency to overrate pretty much everything they do (also true). Clearly, 'tis the season.

nobody's "butthurt" and only children use the term anyway, you tiresome boor

Thanks, dad. Rock on!

you got owned. a chance for growth. think harder.

just want to step in here and ask everyone to please escalate, this topic is more important than any of you know

my considered contribution to this epoch-defining debate is that it's a boring album, sure, but 'tinker tailor...' is one of the best things on it. have at THAT!

see, knew that'd end it

Well, obviously our choices of what the best song is on this album don't match, but I'm glad that you can see it.

sorry for being rude Turr. nb i haven't even heard this

ah, but Turrican, I don't think this album is boring because it is AOR rock. I think it is boring because I think it doesn't do enough with its textures and song development to make up for its lack of compelling melodic and harmonic ideas. it's pretty clearly art-rock, as above, just not very successful art-rock (first two tracks and 'tinker tailor' aside, imo)

n.b. I'm currently relistening to Autechre's latest release, which is a bit unfair on poor old Radiohead, especially when trying to remember what their songs actually sound like

ITT: edgelords

You can see "Daydreaming" or "Identikit" fitting in here without their having to change anything?

― Hi! I'm twice-coloured! (Sund4r)

yeah maybe they're a little ugly and old for that chart... i can't keep too much track of genres because they keep shifting. what i'm trying to say is that what turrican's saying in a pejorative sense i think is true in a non-pejorative sense: the general public will put up with more "weirdness" than we sometimes think, popular music today is full of stuff that is "strange", and while something like "ful stop" has zero crossover appeal, "present tense" could appeal to people outside of the (very large) existing radiohead fanbase, because it has a strong melody and pretty acoustic guitar and massed vocals. that some of those vocals are backwards is of less importance than some might think.

I had a similar change of heart about this album, where when I first heard it the "sophisti-pop" angle was right up my alley but at this point am finding it mostly boring. Recently I've been trying to figure out why. There are certain compositional flourishes or segments that are "typical Radiohead" sounding to me, so that doesn't help, though there are plenty of segments I still find moving or well executed. However I think I realized that the stalest element for me is definitely the vocals. Some of Thom's vocal melodies almost sound identical to older songs (not just True Love Waits for obvious reasons) and I found myself turned off as soon as he emerges. I perk up with the instrumentation then get bored quick when the melody defaults to typical sounding Radiohead progressions and especially typical vocal executions.

And I think the adult contemporary vibes probably come from the band resisting climactic moments in favor of the aforementioned "sophistication" achieved by perhaps stubborn resistance to obvious rock song structuring. So that results in an overall conservative feeling even if the details are a bit more innovative.

I think it is boring because I think it doesn't do enough with its textures and song development to make up for its lack of compelling melodic and harmonic ideas.

Well yeah, I totally agree with this, and it was actually one of my points! It's actually the biggest reason why this album mostly doesn't work for me. As I said...

Firstly, this must be one of the least "forward-thinking" releases in Radiohead's catalogue - which isn't a bad thing in itself, but what it does mean is that, in the absence of much fancy window dressing/sonics, the listener focuses upon the quality of the songwriting, and a lot of the compositions meander and aren't particularly melodically interesting. Radiohead have got around this problem in the past by dressing up songs that are barely there with sonically interesting arrangements. Here, the sound is mostly monochrome and a touch on the bland side - and the string arrangements, as just about competent as they are, aren't enough to carry a lot of these songs.

Having said that, I did also say...

One of the main criticisms of Radiohead's output over the years is that they're depressing, a criticism that I don't quite agree with and never have really agreed with. However, what is depressing is that Radiohead, this time around, have delivered their equivalent of an adult contemporary record, a la Coldplay or David Gray - albeit one that is distinguished by Thom Yorke's melodic sense and compositions that avoid the traditional verse-chorus-verse-chorus-mid 8-chorus structure

So, I guess you can make up your mind about people's comprehension skills ITT. Particularly Brad's.

yeah maybe they're a little ugly and old for that chart... i can't keep too much track of genres because they keep shifting. what i'm trying to say is that what turrican's saying in a pejorative sense i think is true in a non-pejorative sense: the general public will put up with more "weirdness" than we sometimes think, popular music today is full of stuff that is "strange"

― a confederacy of lampreys (rushomancy), Monday, August 15, 2016 3:58 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The "general public" has always been able to put up with more "weirdness" than we sometimes think. Let's not forget that 'O Superman' and Japan's 'Ghosts' were Top 10 hits in an era where you really had to sell a lot of records to chart.

"o superman" was a hit for the same reason "convoy" was.

Kris Kristofferson movie?

chip davis.

my only objection here's that it seems a bit churlish to complain of "mid-tempo plod" during oasis poll month; get in the spirit imo

All British rock bands are mid-tempo

Napalm Death might disagree.

I wasn't thinking of that type of rock

my only objection here's that it seems a bit churlish to complain of "mid-tempo plod" during oasis poll month; get in the spirit imo

― le Histoire du Edgy Miley (difficult listening hour), Monday, August 15, 2016 6:06 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The first two Oasis albums have far more energy to them than this record. As does Suede's Night Thoughts, for that matter.

How is it possible that this discussion is actually getting worse?

Was going for the "edgelord" thing just recently but was trying to actually contribute with my earlier post.

Jeez, why is everyone piling on Turrican? Dude just expressed his opinion. I usually agree with him but in this case I don't, and that's what makes horse-racing.

Look, I own every note Radiohead's every released. Been on the train since I first heard "Creep" when it hit the airwaves. Will rep for their hated debut album but feel like "The Bends" is well played-out for me. The new one scratches that particular Radiohead itch I get, though I can sympathize with the criticism of Thom's moaning, and that some of the songs are a bit amorphous and run together in the mind (though "Burn The Witch" is f-ing brilliant and unique on the album). But I'm no super-fan. For some reason, as much as I enjoy hearing their music when it's playing, I rarely crave them. Not really sure why.

My experience with Radiohead is almost always the same for each album since "Kid A" - subsequent plays reveal more little things to connect with and get excited about. Also, the live element really transforms much of their material, c.f. the "In The Basement" versions of the previous two albums absolutely stomp on the studio releases. I hope we get a similar version of "A Moon Shaped Pool".

I think two things here:

1) There's a piling on of Turrican because he's really off base with the adult contempo likening. Add to that he keeps doubling and tripling down and it gets to the point where he's lost his way.

2) Why are there so many people in here all like, "I'm not a Radiohead fanboy"? Is there some sort of disconnect with being a very active fan of the band and not being able to assess the situation clearly? I'm a very big fan of the band and proud to say it. This doesn't mean I'm unable to express a clear headed opinion.

I think it's less that I'm off base with saying that it's Radiohead's equivalent of an adult contemporary record, and more that folks don't like the idea that anyone could possibly say that Radiohead are entering their carpet slippers phase.

im in my carpet slippers phase and im v happy with where my life is right now and i like this radiohead record a lot. for me it's 100% your wack as fuck AC designation.

You'll get over it, I'm sure.

already am *sips apple juice*

Good, I'm off to listen to a record that doesn't sound like five comatose septuagenarians slowly dying in front of a piano, barely able to get a decent swing on their rocking chairs.

*tries to make jerkoff motion, limited by arthritis*

It's tempting to imagine Thom Yorke in years to come doing exactly that, when the home help arrives to wipe his arse and flicks the radio on and 'Daydreaming' comes blasting out on some future adult contemporary/golden oldies station. "Oh bless 'im, he's always been his most harshest critic!"

Poops

I think it should be noted for the record that Geir liked No Jacket Required

It's not that Turrican is expressing his opinion, it's that he's using one of the most infantile and annoying Internet arguments to defend it, ie 'if you don't agree with me it's because you can't HANDLE THE TRUTH'

also contempt for older people, ways of listening to/appreciating music that don't tally with his, and gentle remonstrance with "let me tell you how things really are" blowhard hetoric

rhetoric. hectoric would've also done.

]It's not that Turrican is expressing his opinion, it's that he's using one of the most infantile and annoying Internet arguments to defend it, ie 'if you don't agree with me it's because you can't HANDLE THE TRUTH'

― chap, Tuesday, August 16, 2016 8:21 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No, it really is simple. Turrican gives his opinion and description of the record, people don't like his opinion and description and find ways to get annoyed about it. This isn't Turrican's problem. "Simples", as the meerkat said.

Just kind of curious if anyone had a reaction to my take.

Also why are people having so much trouble merely getting the gist of what each other is saying in this thread?