(Second part to the unedited Radiohead section that I wrote for my school’s newspaper, the Ebbtide.)

With all of the noise concerning the manner in which Radiohead’s new album In Rainbows has been released, it’s easy to forget that there’s a new Radiohead album to listen to, and boy am I excited.

I downloaded In Rainbows yesterday, and according to iTunes, I’ve listened to it at least five times through. (In answer to the other question, I paid £5, whatever that works out to in American Dollars.)

So I’m going to come right out and say it: This is Radiohead’s best album since OK Computer back in 1997. It’s been 10 years and three albums since that classic came out, and it’s almost possible that the wait was worth it.

So far, it’s one of those albums that is definitely getting better with each successive listen. They’re finally starting to play the music that we as Radiohead fans have been wanting them to play for a long time.

In Rainbows is clearly a combination of their Grammy Award winning OK Computer and the best parts of their last album, Hail to the Thief. Toss in a little bit of the sonic experimentation of Kid A, and you might be able to grasp the concept.

To the great relief of many of their fans, Radiohead have scaled back the digital blips and bleeps of their recent albums in favor of a more guitar and piano oriented production, not to mention the emphasis on Thom Yorke’s haunting vocalisms that have no peer in the music world.

The best song is a slow, ballady number called Nude. To highlight the similarities between In Rainbows and OK Computer, it should be noted that this song was originally written during that era and has been kicking around in live versions for quite a while.

The other songs alternate between high energy rockers such as Bodysnatchers and 15 Step to the more pensive and delicate songs such as All I need and Videotape. There’s not a stinker in the whole bunch, a phrase that perhaps could not be applied to Hail to the Thief, Amnesiac, Kid A, or, GASP! the Bends.

Overall, In Rainbows is the most consistently good album that Radiohead has put out in a long, long time and is worth whatever it is you decide to pay for it.