Something tells me that I’m glad I didn’t start listening to Radiohead until Amnesiac came out. I probably never would have liked them if my initial exposure to them was one of their early videos rather than the video for the “Pyramid Song” late one night.

In fact, I still to this day prefer Amnesiac, arguably their most difficult album, because of the sparse arrangements compared to their “wall of sound” earlier years. Don’t get me wrong, there are great songs on Pablo Honey and The Bends, but the filler in-between is what kills me. It’s obvious that they were trying too hard to force a “sound” onto their songs, rather than just letting them play out.

Later Radiohead goes the opposite way, sometimes detrimentally, but most often in a way that works wonders on their songs. Standard song structure is irrelevant if your songs are awesome

http://www.youtube.com/v/WuOfZDu0EBE

http://www.youtube.com/v/XX3IYwuGApA