Three 65, Day 26
Radiohead, Amnesiac

Amnesiac isn't Radiohead's most popular album. It's often considered a distant, inferior cousin to the far more radical Kid A, released a few months prior; in fact, when this album came out, Radiohead had billed it as their return to form after the experimentation of Kid A, when in truth it's nothing of the sort. But fuck all that - I like Amnesiac. I think it's gotten a bad rap, when in fact nearly all of the songs are gems.

"Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box" kicks off the album with odd percussion and distorted synth lines, while Thom Yorke mumbles (and folks, the man doesn't usually sing, he mumbles; it's okay, but let's call a spade a spade) "I'm a reasonable man, get off my case." "Pyramid Song" is a stately funeral dirge for the pharaohs. "You And Whose Army?" is an overtly political song challenging the rule of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, and it's chilling in both its desperation and sincerity.

"Morning Bell / Amnesiac" finds the band revisiting a song from Kid A, but this time approaching the material from a more positive outlook, which totally changes the nature of the song. Ostensibly about a divorce ("cut the kids in half"), Kid A's version of "Morning Bell" has one half of the marriage mourning, but this version is almost joyous. Clearly, someone wanted out of the relationship really badly.

"Like Spinning Plates" is an ambient number, and "Life In A Glasshouse" ends the record on a New Orleans-like jazz note. Overall, there are just no stinkers here, which is more than I can say for Hail To The Thief or Pablo Honey. Striking just the right note between experimentation and straight-ahead music, Amnesiac is not soon forgotten.