In Rainbows Transcript

https://bit.ly/In_Rainbows

Music Rewind welcomes Luke Bouris to discuss: In Rainbows by Radiohead.

A fascinating conversation on how this album’s placement in the band’s evolution, and how it impacted our guest’s own musical journey.

Album: In Rainbows Artist: Radiohead Year: 2007

Transcript as follows:

Participant #1:

Hello, and welcome to Music Rewind, a podcast where we look to tell the stories behind our favorite albums. I'm your host Steve Epley, and in each episode, I will invite a guest to tell us about their favorite favorite music album, how they discovered it, and what makes it special to them. Joining me today is a friend of the show and lifelong music fanatic Luke Boris. Luke is a guitar player himself, a friend of previous guest Alan Ziegler, and a lifelong collector of violent CDs. He has a passion for all things rock and roll from Tool, the Pearl. Jam and others. Welcome, Luke, and thank you for being on the show. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Looking forward to talking about tonight's album. All right, Luke. Well, let's jump right into this. What is your favorite album, and how did you discover tonight? We are going to be talking about Radiohead. In Rainbows,

Participant #1:

I discovered Radiohead, I guess by listening to one of my good buddies. His brother used to play acoustic guitar and his grandpa's Den, and he'd play all the old Radiohead from the Benz era. And I kind of fell in love with the music from there, started buying the CDs, all of that good stuff, and later on in life started collecting vinyl. But that's when my love for ready hood really began. So, okay. Computer was a big part of my childhood. Okay. Computer was my intro into Radiohead. Sure. I never connected until probably the end of that okay computer era. That Creep was the same band. Yeah. And it's kind of hard to look at it that way, too, because tonight's album, In Rainbows and Creep from Pablo Honey, they're just two completely different albums. They are, but I kind of like when bands do that, when they don't stick to the same routine every single album. So I like that. They've evolved throughout the years, and they're still evolving. Their most recent album was phenomenal. In Rainbows was their 7th studio album. So how many do they have now? There were two more after in Rainbows moon. Rainbow was the most recent one. I'm trying to think of the one in between the two. King of Limbs was very polarizing for people. A lot of people thought it was very unapproachable and didn't really like it. But similar to In Rainbows, I call them headphone albums. There's just so much going on, and it almost feels like you're suspended in jello. So many things coming at you and you're just floating. I don't know how else to describe it. It's like a drug like experience. Who needs drugs when you've got music like Radiohead and Tool? I've always had kind of a love hate relationship with Radiohead ever since Okay Computer. I was a huge, still am Pink Floyd fan, so when this album not this album when Okay computer came out when I was in high school, I was told by many people that you must like Radiohead because you like Pink Floyd. Okay. And there was this directive that I was required to like it. And so it got in my brain that, no, I don't like Radio ad. Sure. Just know. And then you hear Commerce Police and Paranoid Android and Back are like, God damn, it's a good song. Absolutely. But I still can't like Radiohead. No, it's a principle here. I just can't like Radiohead. And they weren't really marketed. I guess it's probably the right word for it. Growing up in the middle of Illinois Valley, there's nothing there. I didn't really hear much of Radiohead. It was another cousin of mine, Chris Hank, that brought Okay computer to the table for us all to listen to, which was really good at the time, I will admit it. But their previous or not previous, but their albums after that, I really never heard much of it. I don't know if there was, like, a special following or if they didn't get kind of the airplay on the stations I listened to because it wasn't really pop hits, but it wasn't really classic rock either. It wasn't grunge. So where did it fit in? It didn't really find me ever. Sure, I can see that. Absolutely. And Katie and Amigiac really aren't very Radio friendly. There are a couple of songs on there that were singles that eventually did make it to the radio. But like you said, I don't think they got as much airplay as, say, Karma Police or Paranoid Android. But they've got a following. I mean, Radiohead absolutely. Devoted followers. Yes. Picking apart piece by piece back to King of Limbs, the final song on King of Limbs is called Separator, and the fans said, Oh, Separator. That must mean there's going to be a part two of King of Limbs. They've got these wild theories. At one point, someone said, you have to press play on Okay Computer and in Rainbows at the same time, and they play simultaneously over the top of each other. And if you listen to it, you check it out on YouTube sometime if you get bored, there are some weird moments where it's like, wow, that was really cool when those two things happen together. But I don't buy into the whole. They purposefully made those two albums to be played over the top of each other. And speaking of Pink Floyd, they had the same kind of thing going on. Oh, definitely. I dove down that run of the whole many a time. Yes. I've watched Dark Side of the Moon or Dark Side of Oz, I guess, played over the top of wizard of Oz. How does this album flow to you? Do you listen to Straight Through or do you kind of pick out tracks and skip a couple of others? How do you like to listen to it? I am not a single fan. I'm an album fan. Vinyl records have always been my thing, and you can, but you shouldn't drop the needle in the middle of the album. So I'm an all the way through kind of listener, and this album in particular, it really flows nicely together. So I think that it was intentional, the order that they put the songs in, and I don't know, this one's definitely a full beginning to end experience. Yes. I do like the way it starts with 15 Steps. It really kind of kicks it off with forward momentum,

Participant #1:

which is a trend through many of the songs in the album. Yeah, absolutely. 15 Seconds is just an awesome opener. It's fantastic. The baseline is infectious. I don't know, bass is very important to me. A lot of bands don't give their bass players enough of the soundscape, I guess. Is that a good way to put it? I don't know. I listen to a lot of one great example Son type of pilots. Is it Dean or Robert is on bass? I believe so. Anyway, Robert Gillio is an amazing bass player and there are a lot of songs where he just gets completely drowned out. So, anyway, 15 step bass line, it's absolutely amazing. I'm not talking about car shaking bass. The melodic groovy, it sets the rhythm very well. Yes, absolutely. Speaking of rhythm section, the drums on this one are absolutely amazing as well. I think there's this effect on the drum that kind of give it this odd sound. I guess originally, from what I've read, the children's choir, that you can hear screaming in the background in certain areas. Originally, the drums were going to be the children clapping and they couldn't get it down, so he's got that slow

Participant #1:

and then yeah, the lazy guitar group. Not lazy in a bad way. Lazy is and it just keeps the flow going as well. Yeah, I like how you describe that. It's got movement. I think that tracks one and two themselves, 15 Steps and then Body Snatchers, they flow very well into each other. This episode isn't out yet, but in the Pearl Gem episode that we did, we talk about the first three tracks of an album. You come out strong and then you take it up a notch and then you bring it down. This album does that in a radio headway is the best way that I can kind of describe it. It does say they blend well to each other and then we'll get to check for you in a second. But Body Snatchers does kind of continue that forward momentum, but takes it up a notch. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that Body Snatchers is probably the only Alan approved song on this album. I don't think he would be much of a fan of this, just my opinion.

Participant #1:

Yes, Bobby Snatchers is amazing. It's one of the more straightforward rock songs on the album. But like you said, it's still got those Radiohead touches to it. It has all these sounds that shouldn't work, but somehow they do. Yes. Which leads to a lot of probably studio time and the engineering, putting that together. And it's definitely one where if you've got the ear muff headphones on, you can really hear that stuff. Absolutely. And you just kind of do get lost in it, just because there's so much going on and you're trying to listen to everything at once. But like you said, there's a scratching in this here or there's, I don't know, a Xylophone going on. And it's just so much happening that I think that's why I like it so much. I think that's why people like Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, all that stuff. Again, I'm not a musician in terms of knowing the science behind it, but Headphones album is what I'm going to call it. Like you said, the big cans. Just sit down on the couch, lights out, get lost in it. Yeah. Body Fetchers. Fantastic. The lyrics are a bit odd. Yeah. I don't know if it was going for like a scrambled horror movie sort of thing, but they don't make a whole lot of sense. A lot of their stuff doesn't make a lot of sense. But I think that's the beauty of poetry. You kind of make your own that's true. Mind up about the lyrics. What's the lead singer's name? Tom York. Tom York. He's got a voice that I really can't understand him a lot of times. Sure. Yes. But that is weird. When you're listening to it with the lyrics in front of you, you hear it clearly. Yeah. And then I take the lyrics away and I can't understand the words. Yes. I don't know this album. He kind of went into his falsetto a lot more, experimenting with that. And when he does get up there like that yeah. I think it's even more hard to understand what he's saying in certain instances. But I've listened to this album so many times, I've got the lyrics downpad. Well, you mentioned that falsetto track Three Nude, that's one where he really goes high. Absolutely. It's a slow song. When you said, take it down a notch, they go way down slow here. And it just feels like a very intimate and sentimental song to him or whoever wrote it. I don't know who wrote the actual songs and lyrics, but you definitely get that feeling from this. Yeah. And back to the Jello comment. This is one where you just feel they've created a space. I don't know how to describe it. It's just like you're in this room alone and there's this echoing effect going on around you. And, like I said, just kind of suspended.

Participant #1:

I don't know, I really dig this one. And then back to the Layers comment that we had earlier. This single on itunes was sold as stems, so they gave you MP3 of each individual Bleep and Bloop and falsetto, the background noises, all of that good stuff. You could listen to each of those individually and the band actually encouraged people to create their own mix of the song. That's cool. Yeah. I thought that was very neat. Well, on that note that you probably the downloading of it, this album, was kind of free to download. It changed the distribution gain absolute from my research on it, where instead of they had just come out of their contract with EMI, so they were free to do whatever the hell they want. And through their recording process, someone had the idea, well, let's just put this out there for everyone to download it and then they can pay us what they want. Which is pretty crazy idea. Yes. When you said it was free, I don't think that was the intention, but apparently most people downloaded it for free. But I'm hoping that those people that did, which I was one of the people that did download it for free. But I own this album on vinyl. I own it on CD. So I was downloading it with the intention of purchasing the album in the future. From limited research that I did on it, about 60% of the people downloaded it for free as far as the first week. There you go. But with the average payment being around $6. Okay. But they said they made more off this album and all their other previous albums just because they cut out so much of the studio in the middle. Man. There you go. Yeah. I don't know. You would think that 60% free downloads would equal a bad situation, but yeah, as you just suggested, if you take all that out but it was the right band at the right time because they were financially stable enough to do that. Yes. They had the name recognition to do that, to just say, Hey, here's an album. And they had that devoted following that would download it and would give money to do it. Whereas if this was album one or two, they may not have had that ability to do that. So it was actually quite polarizing in the music community. Some people said, this is the future. Some people said, you're screwing everybody else because you're going to set a bad precedent and younger artists are not going to be able to get there. You guys are rich already. Yes. And I could absolutely see both sides to the story, but I don't think that was their intention to screw the little guy. But I don't know. That is neat how they encourage people to make their own mixes, though. That's really fascinating. Yeah. And there was another one off the album that they did that, too. It might be later on as we get down the list. I have an idea of which one it is. Yes. So, anyway, actually, nude, I had a T shirt with the lyrics on it. They did these really cool T shirts. It looks like the album cover with the underscores and the slashes for the Typography. And I actually was secretly madly in love with the girl at the record store here in East Peoria and I gave it to her because it was too small for me. Never had the guts to ask her out. So this they probably still regret that, but maybe she's listed. There you go. But the very, very end of Nude, though, that's where the singer hits that high note that it's not one you normally hear on a lot of these songs in a long note as well. That was impressive. Yeah. Next up is track four, which is weird. Fishes Arpeggi, which is probably one of my more favorite tracks on the album. I did like this one a lot. Absolutely. And on any other night, I would say this is my favorite song of the album. But tonight I'm going to pick a different one. And I think that it could go that way. Asked me in a few weeks it will probably be Nude. Ask me in a few weeks after that. It's one of those albums where I just pick up little things each time, but I can see where this one would be one of your favorites. Well, that Arpeggio just keeps going and going and going. And I love that drumbeat. It just keeps moving and doesn't stop. Love that.

Participant #1:

Absolutely. And that's the other thing. It builds as it goes. Arpeggio. They've got the notes of a chord played in succession, but they bring in multiple instruments. So after each line in the verse, they introduce a new instrument. I don't know if you got that when you were listening, but I did hear that. Yeah. It's amazing. And it just keeps building and building and building to the point where it's almost overwhelming just because there's so much going on.

Participant #1:

There's a good YouTube video out there of them doing some of the songs on this album from an in basement. It's called yes. And I've actually got a note on that for the song, actually. Yeah. Yeah. And it was neat to watch them play it. I've never seen Radio Head live. I like to, especially these older albums that I have not listened to before. Some of the other ones we've done, I've done Pearl, Gem and Metallica and stuff that many times. This one was new to me, so I wanted to see them play it if I can. And it was really neat to see them do that. Building layers all in a circle. It's pretty cool. Yes, absolutely. From The Basement is actually Nigel Godrich. He's a producer, which, as he suggested earlier, the production on this album is amazing. And I don't know if they would have as much leverage. I don't even know if that's a word, but I think he's kind of the mastermind behind getting all of that to work together. But anyway, his show from the Basement, he's had the White Stripes, Beck, PJ, Harvey, Andrew bird Queens of the Stone Age. He gets all these big bands to come in and do that. It's in a basement. They just sit there and yeah. The camera angling to each of the artists and the band. And as you said, it's just a neat experience to watch them putting all that together. Yeah. I recommend anybody listening to this to check that out on YouTube. That's a great video to watch. Absolutely. Yeah. And I'm going to go back to one of your comments earlier that the flowing of the album, the movement, this song being called Weird Fishes and I think the lyrics kind of allude to this as well. It just feels like you're floating down a river. It just keeps going and going and going. Yeah. It's another one. I don't really know what it's about, but it just sounds really cool. Yes. The best way to say it. Absolutely. I can see why you said that's your favorite, and I agree with you. If anyone listening wants to check it out, go see it from the basement. Track five is what called All I Need. And it's another slow one, but it starts loading. It's got a gradual build up. Yes. Which is kind of a theme on this album, the gradual build up. Absolutely. And they just layer. So, again, I'm going to keep repeating that. I think if I had one where to describe this album, it would be layered. I think this is another one where the embellishments really kind of complete the song, too. Just the little chimes and the bells that are coming at you from all angles. And if you got the headphones on again, left side, you're hearing one, right side, you're hearing one, then it's perfectly centered. It's just an allencompassing experience.

Participant #1:

A lot of these albums for the show I listen to here at my desk and out of my just basic speakers. But this was one that I actually had a different experience when I put the headphones in and just kind of walked around. I was doing stuff, listening to it again. And this is one of those songs that, first time through, kind of boring to me. Sure. It didn't really click, like, okay, what's the next song going to be? Whereas when I wasn't really focusing on other things, it just kind of doing miscellaneous tasks around the house and listening to it with that stereo sound, it really kind of does elevate it to a more enjoyable listening experience. Yes. I know not everyone can do that, but the headphones with stereo make the world of difference. You kind of experience the song a lot different. I agree. And speaking of that, at the very end of the song, the culmination of all of the instruments coming together, I guess, Johnny Greenwood, they're a guitarist, and I wouldn't just call him a guitarist. He's a mastermind behind all the Bleeps and Bloops as well. But he wanted to create like a white noise. And in order to achieve that, they had the orchestra play all of the notes together and it just kind of culminates and blows up almost. I don't know how else to describe it. Johnny has scored most of Paul Thomas Anderson's. Oh, really? Movies, obviously. I didn't know that. Yes. And There Will Be Blood, The Master Inherent Vice, all those good ones. That's cool. I didn't know it at all. And the orchestral compositions really shine on All I Need. Next up, we have Faust ARP. Now, I believe the ARP is alluding to arpeggio again, because the guitar has that arpeggiated, if that's even a word. Sorry to all of you musicians out there who know what you're talking about. I do not. So arpeggiated is the word we're going to use this one's. Got that? arpeggiation. There you go. So, again, the notes the Accord played in succession. I got that from Webster's Dictionary there. But, yeah, I really did this one. I don't know what's your take on it? It was very fast as far as the lyrics were. Very fast is what I'm referring to. As far as a lot of it was acoustic. I think I remember right, I don't have a playing right now, but the lyrics, it was almost all in one breath. And then I don't want to say this yes, it's all in one breath.

Participant #1:

Yeah, absolutely. And I don't know, I think lyrically, this one is absolutely amazing. I think. Again, I don't know what he's talking about at all. Yeah, I wasn't really following a Faustian story there in the traditional sense. Sure. That deal with the devil sort of deal with Faust. But it was good, too. I enjoyed the one. Now, I seem to remember an interview where Tom York said that this was not alluding to Faust when he made a deal with the devil. I don't know if it's the band Faust, if the guitar style. Have you heard of Faust? I've heard of them. I couldn't tell you their music, though. Yeah, I didn't know until I heard that interview and I gave it a listen and I could see where it might be a tip of the hat to them that would make more sense. Yes, but I can see where you thought that, because later on in the album, there's a definite Faust reference. I don't know in the interview if he was being facetious, because I know most of the time, the band, they're kind of goofy in interviews. They're not trying to be the formal, answer all the questions correctly kind of guy. That's the Brits and taking the Beatles tactic there. There you go. Yes. And I know for this song, speaking of from the Basement, for this album, they did a very similar take. They did all of the songs live, but had little clips in between each song. So it was more like a movie. Very weird, weird things going on. It's called Scotch Mist. If you do want to continue your experience with this album, scotch Mist is a film to check out. But Tom and Johnny play this song. It's dusk, lights are setting. It's just an acoustic guitar and Tom's vocals and it's awesome. Chilling. So check out Scotch Mist version of this one. Okay. Check that out. Next up, we come to reckoner, and apparently the line in Rainbows comes from this song. I'm surprised you caught that. I was listening with the lyrics in front of me. Okay. It took me years to find out that that part was in there because, again, the layers, and I'm not even going to attempt to do it. But you know the part that I'm talking about. Yes. But he's staying in Rainbows. But over the top of it, there's just Ooze and Oz going as well. So it's kind of buried in there. There's a lot going on in this song. Yes, absolutely. Vocally, I think Tom's vocals are really another instrument in this one. Okay. I see it. Yeah. Just because there's so much going on anyway. And no one harmonizes with Tom York better than Tom York.

Participant #1:

This song, it pulls you into a lull for about three minutes and then it kicks back up and you almost didn't even realize how slow it had gone. Yeah, I can see that. I thought that was kind of cool. Yeah. And Johnny's orchestration again really shines here. I don't know. Lull is a good way to put it. And actually, Radiohead wrote a song called Lull as well. Yes. But I know I get lost in this one. It's probably my favorite from the album. Okay. That's the one I was referring to earlier. And maybe not just this album. This might be Pinnacle Radiohead for me. This may be my favorite track from all of their albums. So, anyway, I don't know. That's probably a Polarizing statement as well. But to each their own, right? Yeah. If I had to go with that statement, I'll go cliche with Paranoid Android. But I'm not the super fan of Radiohead. I don't know their catalog. I might have to dive into it more and pick up Cadet after this. Yes, absolutely. And fun fact, a couple of weeks ago, they rereleased Kit A and Amnesiac as a package deal and all of the B sides from the two albums were released as a third disc. So if you are looking for it, you can get all three of those albums for a pretty good price digitally. So I picked it up and one of the few bands where I actively seek all of their B sides as well. It's also a trend on this show where the people that are bringing these albums to the table, they have a desire to find those hidden ones that didn't make it for whatever reason, but are usually pretty damn good on their own. Yeah, absolutely. And Radiohead is one of those bands. I was going to save this for the end, but there is a disk two in Rainbows. I don't know if you saw that in your research, but as opposed to using them as besides, they gave it away as disc to the album and I don't know, big personal opinion. I think most bands would kill to have album of their own that is on par with disc two of this, which are basically the same. I did see that they had something like 1516 songs recorded, but they thought that one of their earlier albums due to studio pressure, was too long held in The Thief. Yes. Okay. Because without any studio pressure, they were on their own here. They could literally do whatever the hell they wanted. The Ten Songs is the perfectal yes. And I think it is. It's a fantastic experience. Not too long, not too short. I don't know. I agree with all of that. And Hail to The Thief is a fantastic album. I'm not going to talk poorly about that one at all. But it is longer for sure. It's more dark. Yeah, that's what I was reading. Was that from OK computer all the way to was that to The Thief right before this one? Yes. So in between that era was a very angsty, angry and dark kind of radio head, which you can look at the radio, but the actual recording studios for that, the Pressure. And then now that they didn't have that, this one comes off as very hopeful. Yeah. Kind of a good word to describe this one. Absolutely. I can see that it's not as political because they did get down in there, but George W was President and I think that's what the title of the album, actually. Alludes to Hail to the Thief. I'm sure President Bush was concerned with radio hip hop. Oh, yeah, absolutely. And Pearl Jam, man. Yeah. All of us, big bands. They were very anti Bush, but yes, I agree. I don't think he lost too much sleep over that. Well, we roll into A House of Cards, which is another song I did like because this was kind of a love song. Yeah, I can see that. It's about a guy who is in love with a chicken. I could see that. I don't know the line about throw your keys in the bowl. Is it a swingers party? No, I took that as how he met her. Okay. And then I guess with the swingers party you're not supposed to fall in love. But he did. There you go. And then she's unattainable. There you go. I think you nailed it there. For sure.

Participant #1:

The vocals on this one very haunting. Again, got that space going on the reverb on the guitar, echoing effects on the drum beats. It almost sounds like there's vocals on this one. Very haunting. Again, got that space going on, the reverb on the guitar echoing effects on the drum beats. It almost sounds like there's a leaky sink as well. Like a drop from a sink hitting here and there. But that's got reverb on it as well. So I don't know. Just very atmospheric is a good word, I think. And the music video for this one, they used LiDAR technology, which is light detection. So it was just Tom singing and then shots of a suburban set of houses, all that. It kind of creates this disintegrating effect. So I think that alludes to a falling house of cards. And they were able to integrate all of the colors of the Rainbow in it. So that leads back to the name of the album. I guess that shows that their art isn't only music. They definitely have artistic aspects in all of the music videos. The albums themselves, actually. Yeah. For the Rainbows, they released everything in an envelope and inside there were stickers that you could put on a Jewel case to create the album yourself? To create your own album cover. Yeah, that kind of thing. So Stanley Donwood is the guy who's done, I believe, all of their album. Maybe not Pablo Honey, but he's done the majority of their album covers and he's the mastermind behind all of that. And Tom York does help him with the art, but he uses a different name. I forget what the he uses the student name. Yes. So, anyway, the two of them, they come up with the concepts behind all of the videos and the artist. My limited knowledge of Radiohead, it kind of always goes back to okay, computer. And I know that Paranoid Android had that fantastic video and I could be clear here, but the story that I was told was that they gave that artist the music only it said, create a video for this long ass song without any lyrics and then they would have made some changes. But they loved that first draft of that video and they kept it and then put the lyrics in there and everything just kind of fit because that video is crazy. Absolutely. Nightmarish in some cases. And big part of my childhood. Again, I love that video. Almost got a Beavis and Butthead type art style to it. But, yeah, I love that music video. Next up, we have Jigsaw falling into place and this brings it back to those forward motion Arpeggio songs. But this one, if not weird fishes. This would be my other kind of favorite on the album. I like this one a lot. Yeah, absolutely. I don't have much to say about this song. It's another almost perfect song, in my opinion. Perfectly layered. It builds as it progresses.

Participant #1:

My note on this one is that this one feels in the pace of the entire album. This is that final sprint after you've done a long run. Yeah, right before the cooldown. This is that final sprint towards the end. I could see a lot of renters using this song, actually, to keep their pace going. Absolutely. It's got that feel to it. So speaking of music videos for this one, it was probably the most low budget video you could ever record. They got bicycle helmets and put cameras like GoPros on them and had the GoPro facing towards them. So it was just them moving around. So you got that jello floating effect going on. I really dig all of their art. Once again, about halfway through the song, there's an acoustic guitar that comes in. It's just in the left ear, and it just gives me chills every single time. And then 30 seconds later, there's another acoustic guitar that comes in on your right ear. And it's got a different I don't know, a different set of chords going on. But again, just layered masterpiece for sure. Let's listen to it again now and try and pick that up. Yeah, absolutely. I'm trying to remember where that acoustic guitar just settled in the left ear because, again, there's so much going on, but there's just this little subtle acoustic guitar that comes in and then all of a sudden, right side, there's another one. It's just amazing. It's

Participant #1:

just back and forth. And I think bands with five members can kind of achieve that kind of effect. I know a guitarist can come back in and play another guitar, but I think it translates well live when you've got five members because you can actually get all of those sound going on. Have you got the chance to see them live? I have, yes. I saw them live in 2008, actually, with that buddy and his brother that I was telling you about at the beginning of the show. Amazing show. It was in St. Louis, 2008. They opened with All I Need, which I found very strange. Yeah, that's a weird opener. Absolutely. But then I think going right into they went right into Jigsaw after that. So I think that probably should have been the opener. But I know a lot of bands, Pearl Jam, I've seen them 13 times now. They like to open Slow Burners and then go right into a big bang or knock your socks off. So I think that's what they were trying to do here as well. So All I Need in the Jigsaw falling into place, which that was pretty neat. But I was younger at the time, had a few alcoholic beverages and I was singing along. And at the end of the concert, the guys that were behind us, one of them confronted me. He said, Dude, you've got a great voice, but I came to see Tom sing. So next time, just kind of keep it down. This is a concert that's kind of weird at a young person's concert to hear that. Yeah. I don't know. What is your opinion on that? Singing at a concert? What do you think? Well, I've fallen into that trap myself more recently. Me and my brother got reprimanded by some old people at an Eagles concert or singing a little bit too much. Really? Okay. But that was also it was a concert where everyone's sitting down in an arena. Sure. So I get it. I do. And my first response, again this is also for several beers would be, Why aren't you singing? You know? Come on. Yes. Everyone knows Hotel California get up is a good one. Yes, because I have been to concerts where people are hesitant to stand up. But I don't know. I like dancing and singing and having a good time with buddies. That's all part of the experience. When I think of Radiohead in a concert, I'm not thinking of a sit down arena. I'm thinking like a more festival sort of atmosphere with Glastonbury or somewhere where everyone's I mean, there are no seats. You're either sitting in the grass or you're up there screaming at the stage. That's what I picture for a Radiohead concert or Pearl Jam concert or any of those. I couldn't imagine they're not being crowd noise. Maybe for a small ballad, I guess everyone kind of quiets down. But for the big songs, I don't know. Sing your heart out, man. There you go. You're at a show. I have not changed my ways. I still sing along, but I just thought that was I got the chance to see I've seen Weird Al three times, which is a fantastic show if you ever get a chance. But the third time I saw him was for the full 40 piece orchestra. Nice. And he did his wonderful song, Harvey the Wonder Hamster, which is all of 40 seconds with this gigantic orchestra. And everybody was singing from five year olds to 80 year olds. They're all singing everyone. That's a fun concert you ever get a chance to see. We're out. Definitely. Weirdo was probably one of my first CDs that I purchased. It was the one he did, the Nirvana Smells Like Peanut Spirit. Smells Like Nirvana. Yeah. There you go. Yes, absolutely. So, yeah, I had that. And bad Haircut. Is that another one or Bad Hair Day? Yes, that's the one with Gangsters Amish Paradise. Yes. So I'm very familiar with her, and I have not gotten to see them in concert yet. But we caught him at a small venue where he did all of his unknown B sides. Okay. And it was an intimate setting. It was all just him and his band. His band is phenomenal if you think about the types of music they have to play. Yeah, absolutely. Full spectrum. They're very talented people. And that was one of the more the first one was just your basic touring show. Second one was that Strip Down non hits, which was really just a lot of fun. And then it was called No Strings Attached. And then he came back with Strings Attached the following year with the orchestra. Nice. Really cool set. I don't know how we got weird out from Rainy Head. Singing at the concert. Yeah, that's right. Singing the in concert, though. Absolutely. I will check it out. So they closed out the album with Videotape, which is an interesting track. Kind of a slow and stripped down piano song reflective on the whole album. Fun fact. So this song began as like a club hit. So apparently it's listed as 154 beats per minute on any website that you go to. So think of Body Snatchers almost techno's level of beat. So go back and listen to Videotape and think of that. The way I found out about this, there's a guy on YouTube that again, obsessive a Radiohead fan. He noticed that at their concerts, tom York and Colin Greenwood were headbanging to this song and everyone was probably just looking, oh, that's just Radiohead. They're just like that. But he wanted to get into the theory behind it and why were they banging their heads with a slow song. And apparently there's a syncopation that they all have in their head that they're trying to keep the beat by headbanging. And it came out as the striped down, slow ballad type song. And I don't know, I really dig this one.

Participant #1:

And knowing that knowing that that's behind it. I don't know if it adds anything musically, but it adds something. Just showing what kind of passion they have for the music. Yeah, it definitely adds another layer to the song as far as it could be that or this, because this version and I don't know if the last version would have, but this one's got that weird drum track on it. What I read was that it was supposed to simulate film reel spinning off its wheel. I can see that. Yes. And there are a lot of subtle mentions of video. And when he says red, blue, green, I don't know, RGB color on your screen, that kind of stuff. So yeah, I could see that for sure. But I just think that's very innovative and I think the drums are kind of alluding to that beat, but not quite getting there. Because if you listen closer to towards the end of the song, I think the culmination of all of the different beats going on, if you took that and kind of compressed it together, it may give you that 154 beats per minute just for that little 32nd. Now I'm going to go search and see if there's a fast version of it. Yeah, those B sides have gotten out. Yes. And there is a version where someone has taken a metronome and put it over the top of the studio version. And it's really neat to here, too. So I don't know. Just very innovative. They had some other great songs before this that were innovative. There's a song called like, Spinning Plates, reversed the track, memorized the Garbage Duck that the lyrics became and then sang the garbledygook and then reversed that and that was what the song became. And it's really just haunting. You know, there's something weird happening with the vocals, but you can't really put your finger on it unless you know that he recorded it backwards. You would never have some weird Pink Floyd, Twin Peaks sort of thing there. Yeah, absolutely. And then I don't know if you've heard Pyramid song, just time signatures. I don't know how he can do that. And same with videotape. Trying to keep that beat in his head and to be able to play the piano or door guitar or whatever instrument and keep that beat in your head, I don't know. It takes a lot of talent. And again, to the average listener, they may not even think twice about it. They may just think it's a nice little slow ditty. I like albums that I have to listen to several times over to kind of not get it, but just to discover little bits here and there. There's great things about just a hardcore rock album that knocks your socks off. But then there's also great things about a deep album that does take many more listings to really appreciate all of the little stuff that they've not hidden in there, but just kind of all the little stuff that went into making it what it is. Yes, absolutely. I like the word hidden because there are a lot of hidden things on this album. And I think that every listen, you can pick something else out that you didn't hear previously and we both got these Apple earbuds in. I know yours are probably more high tech than mine. Mine are still wired, but I can hear different things through this than, say, my audio technica can just different headphones reveal different pieces. The headphones that I've got in currently, it may not sound the best through these, but I may pick up something that I didn't on vinyl or through headphones. Do you have a preference on this album? I assume you're going to say vinyl versus digital, but just of all the different ways you've been able to listen to it, do you have a preference of which media? Yeah, I'll definitely say vinyl. But that's just again, I'm not a musician. I don't know how to describe things. And Al has always had warmth and I think that's the addition for this album that really puts it over the top. But again, I've purchased this album three times. I do have the 24 bit Wave files, and I don't know if I'm crazy. I know a lot of people are like, Oh, that's just a crack. You can't hear anything more than what's on the CD. I don't know, I feel like I can. Have you ever given a Wave file or a FLAC file, listen and then listen to an MB Three version? I've never done a second person. Okay. But on the physical media, I grew up with vinyl cassettes and CDs. That's just how I grew up. Sure, I listened to, say, Abbey Road on CD first, and great album, fantastic album, but then I listen to it on vinyl. I don't have the words, but it is just so much better. And I can't explain why you think you hear things. And it's not just the vinyl crack. I mean, that does, to me, add to it, sure. But there's something in the way it was originally designed to be listened to. Sir, I'm completely on board with that. Again, I don't know what the word is saying. People obviously like vinyl for a reason, and I think that's it. And I don't know if we can kind of pinpoint exactly what it is, but people who know vinyl and listen to it religiously know what we're talking about when we say that. I have nothing against cassettes, which I had a huge cassette collection at one point, because that mobilized music. You could take your music anywhere you wanted with. And yes, I'm leaving on a track for a reason, sorry, but cassette lets you take it anywhere. So you could at least have that sitting at the lake or at a baseball game. So you had that music anywhere. CDs improved on cassettes audio quality because I've had really terrible cassettes digitally. Even better. Now everything you want is on your phone. It's all there, not even on your phone. Streaming it through whatever service. And I'm glad that the services that are out there are allowing more complete albums. Now, it's not just here's, the top tracks, but I'm a talent. No, I don't want the top tracks, I want to listen to the album. Sure, yeah. And I don't want to shuffle through the album, I want to listen to the damn album track one to track, whatever. I'm glad that there I don't know if it's always been that way, but what's presented to me now is more album based. And I hope that that is a trend that keeps going. I agree. But I am trying to build up my vinyl collection just for my own personal enjoyment. Yeah, I'm right there with you. I still have one of these ancient ipod. Yeah. So there's this guy that does Frankenstein monster versions of these. He's holding up the original ipod there for everyone, but it puts a higher capacity battery, more capacity for the songs. Anyway, he's on Etsy. I will continue to buy his product until he quit making it. But yeah, there's something about physical media that I'm still stuck on. So I don't have any streaming services or anything like that. I can't knock the digital age because it really has given people the ability to listen to music anywhere. Even more so. Sure. And it's actually worth noting that right after my dog passed away recently, I listened to this album in the Headphones Front to Back several times, and I'm not going to be one of those guys who say, oh, it helped me get through tough times. It was soothing to me as I was helping my family during that time. This was a very close, personal dog to our lives, so it hit everybody hard. But this album was a nice listen right after that. And I appreciate you bringing that album to the table. There you go. I'm happy to hear that, for sure. And this album has gotten me through many good times, bad times all in between, too. I'm glad I could help you out there, for sure. So, Luke, in Rainbow's, major top spot. What albums made your short list? Oh, man, yeah. In Rainbows again three weeks from now, it may be something else. Other albums I considered pearl Jam Riot Act is My Love. That was my intro to them. Obviously, I knew all the radio hits, but when I really fell in love with them, which songs are off ride? Mine was the main single, I believe. But, yeah, something about that album, it's another one that you've got to listen to front to back. Mike McCready, a lot of people consider him to be top notch guitar player, but there's something that he does on quite a few of the albums. But this one in particular, in the background, if you've got the Headphones on, he does those embellishments where if you're just listening to it on the radio, you're not going to hear this little thing that he adds here and there. Just little peppered. I don't even know if it's technical guitar playing, but it's just additional little things that just put it over the top for me. But again, ask me later. It may be versus your buddy that was on earlier. So anyway, queens of the Stone Age, thomas for the Deaf, the National Boxer soundgarden super unknown, built to Spill. Probably you in reverse at this point in time. I don't know. Two Ladder LS, REM, Live Search Pageant. I could go on for days. Blind Melon first album. There you go. Love Blind Melon. That's another band that I think is very underrated. I agree. It's a shame Shannon Moon was taken from us. Absolutely. Yeah. That's a band that more people should listen to. Yes. Soup was fantastic as well. And the album they released after he passed. Yeah, all three of those albums are stellar. So I don't know. John for Shanti Guitars, for the Chili Peppers, he's got a lot of solo stuff. There's one called The Imperium. Anyone who wants to listen to another Headphones album, that's one of them for sure. Is that the guitarist that was lost for many years? Yeah. Okay, so he was on Mother's Milk and Blood Sugar, Sex Magic, then had a heroin issue. So Dave Navarro took over after that when John went to rehab. And then John Fishante came back for California and by the way, and Stadium Arcadium. And then his buddy Josh Klinghoffer did their last two albums. And now John is back and apparently they have an album in the can and it's ready to be released any day now. So looking forward to that one, for sure. I know I can go on for Stone, Double Pilots, Core, Modest Mouth, Lonesome, Crowded West, Nine Inch Nails. It's definitely a wide swath of options there. And here's another thing, I don't know what time we're out here. I'm sure we should wrap up soon. I don't want to bore people, but I made a note saying I wanted to ask you a question. If you thought that music was as powerful to you today as it was when you were younger, I'm talking when you're at work, all you can think about is getting in your car to listen to that album again. When you say music today to me, do you mean like, the music that's being created today? Yes. Not just necessarily created today, but when was the last time you had that feeling like you were like, Oh, man, my footstep, I got to go listen to that song? It's just infectious ear wig that I've got to hear. Up until I started this podcast, I would say not really. I kind of hit a low point as far as music. Modern music right now just isn't grabbing me, and that's why I wanted to hear what other people listen to. I've discovered many new albums that I haven't listened to all the way through before or at all on this particular podcast, band on the Run, Lauren Hill, Van Halen, DMX, things that are just outside of my comfort zone, too. And I'll put Radiohead in there, too. I hadn't really dove into Radiohead the previous episode that is going to go live soon. Pearl Jam. I had heard Daughter, I had heard Dissident, but I hadn't listened that whole album. Whole album was fantastic. Yeah. So music is on a huge upswing for me, but it's through a lens of the past, sure. Which I am perfectly okay with because there's a lot of music out there that I personally miss. One that I keep going back to now is still banned on the Run that Alan brought to the table. Sure. You talk about something that I had never listened to, standing on the Run. I mean, that was just the Paul McCartney single, right? I didn't give two shits about that album. It's really good and there's a great story behind it, and then that Allen story adds to it. So coming up after this recording, I've got a couple that I had never listened to, which is just Kiss, Destroyer, Sunny Day, Real Estate Diary. Those are two albums I'd never listened to before and also Alabama Shakes Sound and Color, which, when you talk about engineering, and one of the most beautifully put together albums I've ever heard. Check that one out. Okay. With the earmuff headphones that will blow your mind. Okay, good to know. Yeah. I really recommend that one. And then Allen has convinced me to take part in this. So I will be bringing the album to the table to close out season one. Okay. It'll be an album that's special to me. I know it is. Alan knows what it is. But we'll get to that. But again, I am okay discovering new music through the lens of the past because there's just so much out there that I missed. And then also through that, I've listened to a couple more Wings album. I listen to a couple more Pearl Jam albums. I've listened to another DMX album. So I'm relooking at a lot of these artists from that. That's awesome. Yeah. When I made that note, I was feeling kind of down because I was really thinking about it. When was the last time I was really impressed with an album? And I tried to make a list and came up with a few, but just really didn't have any of that passion. If I had to say, the last time I was thoroughly impressed with an album was my Chemical Romance Black Parade. Okay. And what year was that? I want to say five, six. Okay. So it's been some time for you. Oh, yeah. That's not the album I'm bringing in, but I considered it. It's really good, and that's something I expected out of just some emo pop punk kind of guys. It's an album with a lot of influences from the Wall and several others, and it's a concept album about death. That is fantastic. All right. I'll give that one a shot as well. But, yeah, it was a good question to ponder. Excellent question. Yeah. Recently, I have gotten into an artist that I can't get enough of, and it was just a couple I'd say about a week ago when I was doing research in Rainbows, tom York was actually on one of her albums, PJ Harvey. I am completely hooked on her music now. So I kind of scratched that question because I kind of got over that slump because right now I'm just thinking, okay, when can I get back and start listening to our songs? Actually, I take that back in the lens of rock music. That's kind of what I was thinking because we've been talking rock music. But in my more recent adult years, I've really discovered jazz a lot more. Okay. Specifically, New Orleans trade jazz. And I got married down there. Love the city, love the music, love the people there. We even considered moving there. It's really a special place to my wife and I have several vinyl of various legends. You got the usuals Citi Machete or Louis Armstrong, but then you got the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. There's an album called just Preservation. It's a Preservation Hall jazz band with a whole bunch of different guest artists from Del McQuarie to Trombone Shorty. They were on the Foo Fighters, one of their more recent albums on Sonic Highways. They went there and they recorded the one song at the actual Preservation Hall. Nice. And it's a good song. That's a pretty good album. That Sonic Highways. I agree. It didn't get enough attention the way they wrote it and the way they created it. That was a pretty cool documentary and HBO series they had on that. But that is a good series. The album Preserve, and all proceeds to the album went to Katrina Fun. But there's so many different guest artists on that album, all with this amazing brass band doing tread jazzins, and they're singing a lot of old standards. Okay. So there's really good stuff. Very cool. Well, before we wrap this up, please tell our listeners if you're working on anything or if they can find you or anything you want to pitch. I want to pitch absolutely nothing. I've got no social media presence. I'm sure Al said the same thing. He did, actually. There you go. Yes, I'm a loner. Nothing to pitch except go check out PJ Harvey. Like I said, I'm addicted her albums. I didn't know how long she had been around, but early 90s stuff. So there you go. That's my pitch. That's my pitch. Go check her out. Songs from the city. Songs from the Sea, I believe, is the album that I'm currently going through. And it's just amazing. And the way I found it was Tom saying one of the songs with her on that album. Okay, Luke, I'd like to thank you for your time today. It was a pleasure to sit and talk with you about Radioheads in Rainbows. You, too, had a blessed so much appreciated. Thank you for listening to music Rewind, a podcast from the Sidereal Media Group. And as I always say, listen to the full album. Until next time,

Participant #1:

a podcast from the Sidereal Media Group. Back to you, anchors.

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