now playing | Radiohead | The King of Limbs

words_natalie b david

If another band on this planet deserves the Greatest Band on Earth title more than Radiohead, I’ve never heard of them. Few bands have grown and pushed musical and artistic boundaries as far as Thom Yorke + Co., and still maintained a wide-reaching and diverse fan base that spans age, style, education, and even musical tastes.

But that’s not to say that every Radiohead album reaches perfection. The King of Limbs is a Radiohead album, which at this point is all you need to hear to know it’s going to be very, very, very good, but for a band that continually tops itself, this album feels more like a slight stall, with eyes glued to the rearview mirror, instead of the full-steam ahead we’ve come to expect.

Sure, Radiohead are still growing, exploring and experimenting—that’s just in their DNA—but the breathtaking Ah-ha! moments on The King of Limbs just seem a bit fewer and farther between.  “Morning Mr. Magpie, ” “Little by Little” and “Codex” are immediate stand outs, but the album’s overall feel matches that of Hail to the Thief, with a little bit of Kid A thrown in for good measure.

It would be really easy to just write that Radiohead are past their prime, but then I would be lying. The King of Limbs may not be the best Radiohead album, or even their best post-Kid A, but it’s still a Radiohead album. They built the pyramid. If they want to enjoy the view instead of continuing the climb, they’ve earned it. And that’s good enough for me.

For now.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 20th, 2011 at 9:02 am. It is filed under cool music and tagged with king of limbs, lotus flower, music, new radiohead, radiohead, radiohead releases new album, thom yorke. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.