Vanguard

Thom Yorke, lead singer of Radiohead, performs fan favorites at a concert in London, England.

At the beginning of October, millions of ravenous Radiohead fans from across the globe flooded the band's Web site to discover a peculiar message that would both astound and delight them for the next ten days: "Radiohead have made a record. So far, it is only available from this Web site. You can pre-order it in these formats: disc box and download."

Yes, Radiohead's seventh studio LP "In Rainbows" has finally been released, but you won't find it in any music store; it is only currently available through their website http://www.inrainbows.com/, while plans for a traditional CD release are in the works for 2008. The band's six-album contract with EMI Music expired after the release of their last album, "Hail to the Thief," leaving them free to experiment with the music business without all the hassle of dealing with a major record company. For the first time in their long career, they are officially without conventional representation: free-agents, if you will.

Perhaps the most intriguing part of this change to free-agent territory is the ability to release their CD without a traditional price tag: If you simply want the latest album without paying the money for the extra stuff accompanying it in the $82 disc box format (which includes two discs with more songs, copies of both discs on vinyl, plus artwork and the download itself), you can download it for any price you want - even if that price is nothing.
While at first it seems like a waste of time and talent to release an album this way, it's worth noting that most artists signed to a major record label typically make pennies to every dollar those companies make off their work; so if the record companies are eliminated from the equation, all proceeds from album sales, concerts and merchandise go primarily to the band itself. Plus, as solo guitarist/musical prodigy Jonny Greenwood told Rolling Stone in an interview Wednesday: "It's fun to make people stop for a few seconds and think about what music is worth, and that's just an interesting question to ask people."

Nothing on "In Rainbows" is a waste of time and talent. Radiohead has consistently delivered fantastic music throughout the years, and this album certainly delivers.
The album's opener is their most popular crowd-pleaser, "15 Step," a funky, beat- and guitar-heavy number featuring school children yelling and hands clapping to a 5/4 tempo.

The album quickly moves to "Bodysnatchers," a fast, gritty, guitar-driven song which sounds very reminiscent of Radiohead during the "OK Computer" days. If you can even imagine a grittier, fuzzier version of "Electioneering," you won't be far from describing this song.

The album's first slow piano ballad, "Nude," is one which the band first introduced to their live set back in 1997 (when it was dubbed "Big Ideas [Don't Get Any]" by loyal fans), but its predecessor came nowhere near sounding as beautiful as it does on this track. The string section in this song swells wonderfully, adding to the sonic beauty of Thom Yorke's voice.

Along with an incredibly odd name, "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" has a particularly gorgeous melody; it certainly earns its name, too, what with the continuous arpeggio in the background, courtesy of Jonny Greenwood (or Ed O'Brien, one of those two). It builds wonderfully, adding random guitar and keyboard parts here and there (as they like to do from time to time), until concluding with the ending lyrics: "I'll hit the bottom/hit the bottom and escape, escape."

"All I Need" is easily one of my favorites on this album. If the first four songs sounded eerily reminiscent of the "OK Computer" days, "All I Need" is their return to "Kid A"/"Amnesiac" glory (nothing against "OK Computer," by all means; each album is especially unique in its own way). The keyboard in the early melody reminds me of the Dust Brothers, before Thom's piano and Phil's high-hat break into a rhythmic countermelody.

"Faust Arp" is an eerie, lyric-heavy acoustic/strings arrangement that seems much longer than it really is (2:10). Every note, every word hangs in your eardrums for an eternity. The words flow much faster in this song, which sort of recalls "Wolf at the Door" from "Hail to the Thief."

"Reckoner" opens with a catchy high-hat/maracas rhythm along with a guitar line that seems like a throwback to "15 Step" earlier. Thom's voice becomes multi-layered to harmonize with the main melody, and in a truly beautiful a capella moment (around 2:31) the melody disappears briefly, leaving the listener with only multitudes of Thom Yorke voices.

"House of Cards" is one of the most laidback songs I've ever heard by this band; its simple guitar/bass line and rhythm (they probably play two or three chords the whole time) seem to hearken back to older Jimmy Buffet songs without all the booze (what a comparison!). The strings come back with a vengeance, adding a lot of sonic beauty to this otherwise simple song.

"Jigsaw Falling into Place" is one of the reasons I still listen to this album after more than a week straight of it. The fast-paced rhythm/acoustic line and lyrics build to a louder and louder conclusion, and Thom's lyrics grow ever more dramatic, building to the final desperate lines: "Wish away the nightmare, wish away the nightmare / you've got a light and you can feel it on your back, a light and you can feel it on your back / jigsaws falling into place."

Offering a sullen conclusion, "In Rainbows" finally bids its goodbye with the mournful "Videotape," a song which had also been given extensive life on stage. The lyrics deal with saying goodbye to loved ones with lines like "when I'm at the pearly gates / this will be on my videotape." The slow and precise piano keystrokes fall as heavy as the song's concluding lines: "No matter what happens now, I shouldn't be afraid / Because I know today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen."

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