In rainbows
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2007 |
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| Label (s) | XL recordings | |||
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CD, LP |
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
42:34 min. |
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In Rainbows is the seventh studio album by the British band Radiohead . In Germany it was released on December 28, 2007 on CD and vinyl by the record company XL Recordings . Since October 10, 2007, the album has been available for download from the band's official website for an amount of your choosing. The ability to legally download the album for free prior to its official release sparked controversial debates in the media and among other musicians.
The band began working on the follow-up to 2003's Hail to the Thief in early 2005 . In the meantime, singer brought Thom Yorke with The Eraser his first solo album out. The album was completed in late summer 2007.
In Rainbows reached number eight on the album charts in Germany and number one in the USA and Great Britain. The songs Jigsaw Falling into Place and Nude were released as single, but are only available as an import in German-speaking countries.
Emergence
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Playlist In Rainbows
Track list of the Discbox Bonus CD
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After a hiatus in 2004, the band began work on the seventh album in February 2005. Singer Thom Yorke and guitarist Jonny Greenwood played the song Arpeggi for the first time at the London Ether Festival in March 2005 . More new songs followed in the summer at the Trade Justice Rally charity concert , where they played Reckoner , Last Flowers and the previously unreleased Nude , which was already written for OK Computer times . The first recording sessions began in August 2005 and lasted until the beginning of 2006.
According to singer Thom Yorke, however, these were not very productive, which led to frustration within the band. It was finally decided in February 2006 to work with Mark “Spike” Stent instead of the regular manufacturer Nigel Godrich . By the end of April 2006 the band wrote many new songs, but recording continued problems, so they announced a tour of Europe and North America to have a goal in mind. Radiohead played here both at major festivals such as B. the Bonnaroo and the V Festival, as well as concerts in smaller clubs and theaters. During the tour they played many new songs which were later released on In Rainbows.
In September 2006 the band returned to the studio, this time again with producer Nigel Godrich. At the beginning of 2007 they began to publish pictures and text excerpts in the band's blog . In June Godrich posted a short video clip online containing excerpts from the songs Jigsaw Falling into Place , Down Is the New Up , Bangers + Mash , All I Need , Faust Arp and Weird Fishes / Arpeggi . The band then gave the album the final touches in July and August 2007 in New York City .
Musical and lyric content
The band recorded 15 Step , the first song on the album, with a group of children from the Matrix Music School & Arts Center Oxford . According to Colin Greenwood, the initial plan was for them to clap their hands; however, this idea was ultimately rejected. In the final version you can hear them cheering around the middle of the song. 15 step is driven by a drum loop in 5/4 time and Yorke's high voice.
Yorke described the second song Bodysnatchers in an interview with the English music magazine Mojo as a mixture of Wolfmother , New and Psychedelic Rock . The piece is characterized by a distorted guitar and bass and is one of the rockiest on the record. However, synthesizers played by Jonny Greenwood are also used in between. Lyrically, like most of the songs on In Rainbows, Bodysnatchers is rather abstract. At the end of the piece, the more times repeated is I've seen it coming ( I've seen it coming ) down the loud guitar riff in the background.
On some songs, such as in All I Need and nude , come strings of the Millennia Ensemble used. Back in 1998, during the OK Computer tour , Nude was played live under the working title Big Ideas . However, Yorke felt uncomfortable with the style of the singing for a long time, so it was a long time before the song finally appeared on a phonogram. On the album version the song is arranged very sparingly and Yorke's voice, distorted by Hall, is in the foreground. However, the strings and the reverb create a threatening atmosphere.
Faust Arp is the shortest song on the album at just over two minutes, but it still has the longest lyrics. The piece works completely without drums and bass, Yorke is only accompanied by strings and an acoustic guitar.
The album was named after a line from the seventh song Reckoner . The piece is characterized by Yorke's falsetto singing and experiences a sharp break after about two and a half minutes. If the piece was initially dominated by guitar and drums, the accompaniment initially stops completely, after a while a few strings are added and after a little more than three minutes and fifteen seconds the catchy guitar riff and drums from the beginning set in again.
The third to last piece House of Cards is supported by a recurring guitar riff and supplemented sparingly with strings and electronic noises. In contrast to most of the other songs on the album, the basic structure of House of Cards is continuous and does not experience any fundamental change in arrangement, tempo or dynamics until the end of the piece.
Yorke described the recordings of videotape , the last song of In Rainbows, as “pure agony” . Still played with the entire band on the 2006 live tour, the finished album finally turned into a piano ballad with a drum loop that became more and more dominant towards the end .
A year before the release, Yorke said in an interview that the upcoming album would be similar to OK Computer, but "more scary ". After the album finally came out, Yorke said it was “freaking panic when you realize you're going to die ...” and guitarist Ed O'Brien adds that the lyrics are “general, not none pursuing political intentions ” .
distribution
After the 2003 release of Hail to the Thief , Radiohead's contract with the major label EMI ran out. For a long time there was uncertainty about how to release the new album. Singer Thom Yorke said in an interview that although they would like to continue working with EMI employees, they do not agree with the profit-oriented course of the new management.
On October 1, 2007, the band finally announced via their weblog Dead Air Space that the new album was ready and will be available for download on the inrainbows.com website from October 10th. The listener should decide for himself whether and how much he is willing to pay ( “No really, it's up to you” - “No really, it's entirely up to you” ). Until December 10, 2007, the album could be downloaded as DRM- free MP3 files in a ZIP package for any amount . However, the download did not contain any artwork and the MP3 quality was comparatively low at 160 kbps . Guitarist Jonny Greenwood explained in an interview that they wanted to focus on fast availability and not on the best possible quality, because after all it is not a CD and the download was not offered for the price of a CD.
There is no official information on the financial success of this strategy. ComScore observed the behavior of nearly 1,000 visitors to the Radiohead website, about 62 percent of whom paid nothing for the album. An online survey of 3000 people, however, showed that two thirds would have paid for the download. In media reports there was talk of around 1.2 million downloads of the album from the official website. The band denied that the numbers reported in the media were correct.
Fans could also order a so-called disc box. This contained the regular album on CD, a bonus CD with eight further new songs and two records containing the ten songs from the regular CD. The disc box was delivered in a large-format hardcover artwork by Stanley Donwood , an artist close to the band, who also designed the covers of previous albums. This disc box was delivered from mid-December. As announced, the album was released as a traditional CD / LP some time later. The album was released first in Japan (December 26th), followed by Germany (December 28th) and Australia (December 29th) and finally the USA and Great Britain on December 31st. In Rainbows appeared on XL Recordings in most countries . Exceptions are Japan (hostess) and the USA / Canada (ABO)
An extensive world tour was also announced for the summer of 2008, during which the band played in Germany for the first time since 2003.
Comments from other musicians on distribution
The statements of other musicians about the release policy of In Rainbows were very different. Some, such as Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails or the rapper Saul Williams praised the move and won with Ghosts I-IV and The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! Plates published on a similar principle.
Criticism, however, came from Lily Allen , for example . She described the band's behavior as "arrogant" and believes the band is "sending the wrong message to young bands who are not as rich and famous as Radiohead" . Noel Gallagher said that such a release mode for his band Oasis was "only possible over his corpse" . Even Gene Simmons of Kiss and Robert Smith of The Cure is expressed negatively about the manner of publication.
Artwork
As with all Radiohead releases since 1994, the album's artwork was developed by Stanley Donwood . For In Rainbows, Donwood experimented, among other things, with photographic etching by placing colored prints in acid baths . He rejected his original idea of using the motif of suburban life in the artwork because, in his opinion, this would not have suited the sound of the album.
Donwood himself says about the finished graphic design: "[...] It is colorful [...] It is a rainbow, but a very poisonous one, more of the kind you would see in a puddle."
The disc box version contains, in addition to the text book, a large-format, 16-page collection of other works by Donwood.
Webcasts
After the album was released, the band played three so-called webcasts, which were broadcast as a video stream on a specially set up website . The three webcasts were announced on the Dead Air Space blog.
The first of the three webcasts was shown on November 11, 2007 and is called Thumbs Down (German: Thumbs down ). In addition to some of their own songs, the band played cover versions of The Smiths ( Headmaster Ritual ), Björk ( Unravel ) and New Order ( Ceremony ). The video for Jigsaw Falling into Place also premiered, for which the band filmed themselves making music using cameras built into their bicycle helmets.
For the release of In Rainbows as a regular CD / LP in the UK and US, Scotch Mist was broadcast on December 31, 2007 . Radiohead played all of In Rainbows' tracks, but not in the order in which they appeared on the album.
The last webcast was shown on January 16, 2008. In contrast to the other two webcasts, this time the band played in front of an audience. For the free concert in London the venue had to be changed a few hours before the start due to excessive demand. Ultimately it took place at 93 Feet East and Radiohead played In Rainbows in full (and in original order), Up On The Ladder from the bonus CD on the Discbox, and four songs from previous albums.
Charts
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Rainbows went straight to number 1 in many countries. It also took first place in the United World Charts . In Germany, however, the highest chart position was only eighth, in Austria only twelfth, in Switzerland, however, at least second.
The single Jigsaw Falling Into Place only entered the UK singles charts at number 30, which for Radiohead was the worst single placement in Great Britain since Pop is Dead , which was released in 1993 . The second single, Nude, climbed to number 21 in the UK singles charts. In German-speaking countries, the singles are only available as imports.
Between 60,000 and 80,000 pieces of the disc box have been sold worldwide.
Decoupled singles
Jigsaw Falling into Place
The first single, Jigsaw Falling into Place , contains live versions of the songs Down Is The New Up and Last Flowers as B-sides , which were recorded in November 2005 as part of the TV program From The Basement .
The video for Jigsaw Falling into Place premiered on the Thumbs Down webcast . (see above)
Nude
For the second single Nude , Down is the New Up and 4 Minute Warning from the bonus CD of the disc box were used as B-sides .
The band has also made the individual tracks of the song available for purchase on iTunes so that fans can make their own remix of the song. Over 2200 remixes have been uploaded to the official site.
House of Cards / Bodysnatchers
At the end of June the songs House of Cards and Bodysnatchers were released as a promo CD . In the video for House of Cards , laser technology is used instead of conventional cameras. Thom Yorke said in an interview: “I like the idea of using technology in ways that it wasn't actually designed to do. [...] I find the idea of making a video using only lasers that can still capture real people and their surroundings, very exciting. "
Reckoner
At the end of September 2008, Reckoner was released as a download and promo CD. As with Nude , another remix competition was held, which again received more than 1,600 entries.
Reviews
Most of the music critics received a very positive reception in Rainbows. This is proven, for example, by the 88 out of 100 rating points that the album received on Metacritic . The album thus has the third best average critics of 2007.
In Rainbows received good to very good feedback in the German music press. For example, it was named album of the month for December 2007 by the specialist magazines Musikexpress and Visions . Plattentests.de rated it nine out of ten points and laut.de gave it four out of five points in the editorial rating .
“One thing is certain: With In Rainbows, the fan gets an album that is less accessible than its predecessor Hail to the Thief , but not as closed off as Kid A or Amnesiac . You look in vain for jazz elements, but there are plenty of electronic gadgets, subtly reserved and in the background. "
It also received good marks in the English trade press. For example, The Guardian and Q gave full marks; at Pitchfork Media it received 9.3 out of ten possible points. In Rainbows received four out of five rating units in the Times and All Music Guide and Rolling Stone also gave a positive rating with four and a half out of five possible points. Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield in his review:
“All the songs are good, none of them sound like any other band on the planet; it delivers a poignant mix that proves that every other rock band owes us an excuse. [...] No wasted moments, no weak songs: just Radiohead. "
The album received Grammynominierungen in the sections Album of the Year , Best Alternative Music Album , Producer of the Year (Non-Classical) , and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package . The album won in the two categories Best Alternative Music Album and Best Special Limited Edition Package . There were three other Grammy nominations for the video for House of Cards .
People involved
- The Millennia Ensemble - strings
- Matrix Music School - children's choir in 15 steps
production
- Nigel Godrich - producer, mixer, sound engineer
- Richard Woodcraft - sound engineer
- Hugo Nicolson - sound engineer
- Dan Grech-Marguerat - sound engineer
- Bob Ludwig - Mastering
- Stanley Donwood - artwork
- Thom Yorke (under the pen name Dr Tchock ) - artwork
Individual evidence
- ^ Laut.de news from October 1, 2007 ; last checked on July 13, 2008
- ^ Netzwelt.de report from October 7, 2007 ; last checked on July 13, 2008
- ↑ Tagesspiegel.de news from October 11, 2007 ; last checked on November 26, 2014
- ^ Report in the New York Times, June 2, 2006; last checked on July 19, 2008
- ↑ The Dead Air Space Blog ; last checked on July 13, 2008
- ↑ Godrich's video clip be Dead Air Space ( memento of the original from June 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; last checked on July 19, 2008
- ↑ a b c Plattentests.de review ; last checked on August 7, 2008
- ↑ a b c Laut.de review ; last checked on July 13, 2008
- ↑ a b Ed O'Brien & Thom Yorke at BBC 6Music. In: BBC. ateaseweb.com, November 19, 2007, archived from the original on May 29, 2008 ; accessed on November 10, 2016 .
- ^ "More terrifying", NME report from April 3, 2006 ; Retrieved May 27, 2012
- ^ Interview in the Observer of December 9, 2007 ; last checked on July 31, 2008
- ↑ Time.com announcement October 1, 2007 ; last checked on July 13, 2008
- ↑ Guy Hands vs. Radiohead. EMI against the rest of the world. In: Musikexpress. January 15, 2008, archived from the original on August 14, 2008 ; accessed on November 10, 2016 .
- ↑ Interview on einslive.de from December 3, 2007 ; last checked on July 13, 2008
- ↑ Andrew Lipsman: https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Blog/For-those-of-you-wondering-about-comScore-s-Radiohead-study. In: comScore. November 8, 2007, accessed November 10, 2016 .
- ↑ MTV report citing the study , last reviewed on August 5, 2008
- ↑ a b report on heise.de, which quotes a survey by www.recordoftheday.com
- ↑ Gigwise.com news dated October 11, 2007 ; last checked on July 13, 2008
- ^ Report from MTV quoting the band , last checked on August 5, 2008
- ^ Radiohead announces 2nd leg of tour. In: Greenplastic.com. April 7, 2008, accessed November 10, 2016 .
- ↑ Intro article from October 26, 2007 ( Memento of the original from November 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; last checked on July 23, 2008
- ↑ Rolling Stone Article, Nov. 14, 2007 ; last checked on July 23, 2008
- ^ The Times article, February 20, 2009 ; last checked on February 22, 2009
- ↑ Article of the Evening Standard of October 5, 2007 ( Memento of the original of August 17, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; last checked on July 23, 2008
- ↑ NME article of October 24, 2007 ; last checked on July 23, 2008
- ^ Radiohead.tv ; last checked on July 13, 2008
- ↑ Dead Air Space entry from November 9, 2007 ( memento of the original from April 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; last checked on July 13, 2008
- ↑ Dead Air Space entry from December 26, 2007 ( Memento of the original from May 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; last checked on July 13, 2008
- ↑ Dead Air Space entry from January 16, 2008 ( Memento of the original from May 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; last checked on July 13, 2008
- ↑ YouTube contribution from Jigsaw Falling into Place Video ; last checked on July 13, 2008
- ^ Laut.de announcement of December 28, 2007 ; last checked on July 13, 2008
- ↑ Dead Air Space entry from January 16, 2008 ( Memento of the original from May 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; last checked on July 13, 2008
- ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts CH Charts UK Charts US
- ^ The Guardian Report, December 9, 2007 ; last checked on August 19, 2008
- ↑ a b Remix Page ( Memento of the original from April 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; last checked on August 15, 2009
- ↑ NME notification of July 11, 2008 ; last checked on July 13, 2008
- ^ Laut.de report from July 15, 2008 ; last checked on July 23, 2008
- ↑ Metacritic Rating for In Rainbows ; last checked on July 19, 2008
- ↑ Radiohead In Rainbows. In: Musikexpress. November 27, 2007, archived from the original on October 20, 2008 ; accessed on November 10, 2016 (editorial review).
- ^ Rolling Stone ; last checked on July 31, 2008
