No pot of gold at the end of 'In Rainbows'
CD REVIEW
by TERRI MEDINA East Aurora Editor

CD REVIEW

Thanks for making the new album free on the Internet, Radiohead. Because I surely would not have paid a cent for your new disc, "In Rainbows."

The album appeared on the Web Oct. 10 as a download-only release and offered fans the option of making a monetary donation of their c hoosing.

While I am typically loyal to the music industry, here I say, "if it's free, it's free; the heck with donations."

The band told fans to pay whatever they thought the music was worth. I've listened to the album a few times now - in my car, in my office, upside down, in a chair, on a roof. Nothing seems to be working. I can't make the music appeal to me. I'm glad I paid nothing.

"In Rainbows," the seventh studio release for England's notorious early '90s guitar-crushing heroes and the first in four years, does not deliver.

I've always been entranced by Yorke's brooding sadness and melodic tones. They make my heart and head heavy, like I'm on a bullet train going nowhere fast.

This disc doesn't move me in such a way. I thought maybe it was because I've grown up since I fell in love with the Radiohead of the '90s, but time shouldn't be a factor. If anything, the band should have evolved with me.

I'd rather be "packt like a sardine in a crushd tin box" like in 2001's "Amnesiac," than "an animal trapped in your hot car," from "In Rainbows" track "All I Need."

Other tracks, like "House of Cards" had Yorke crooning and guitars beating so that people might want to clap along. Gag me with a spoon.

If I wanted to hear R&B, I'd download some Marvin Gaye. I don't need to hear it from this band.

It's the depressing lyrics and no-hope atmosphere Yorke has created in the past that made me yearn for more.

Ultimately, from this record, I was searching for the Radiohead of my youth, or at the very least, the Radiohead of the early 2000s. I'm not sure I'm getting that.

I did wax nostalgic on "Arpeggi" wherein Yorke sings, "Turn me on to phantoms. I follow to the edge of the earth and fall off. Everybody leaves if they get the chance, and this is my c hance."

I want so much to love this album. I want to follow it to the edge. But this is my stop on the bullet train. This is my chance to get off. Maybe I'll get back on someday.

e-mail: tmedina@beenews.com