It’s a week since I received my copy of the ‘In Rainbows’ discbox. It’s a beautiful thing, even if a lot of the fun of hearing the album has now disappeared, seeing as it’s nearly three months since the download became available. The bonus disc, although a nice extra, isn’t exactly essential. Yes, there are some good songs on there (Bangers & Mash, Four Minute Warning, Down is the New Up) but I also understand why none of them were included on the album proper. There definitely is a Radiohead-by-numbers quality to some of the songs and few jaw-dropping ‘I didn’t expect that’ moments. Certainly nothing to complain about but not something that will change your life either. It is nice to hear the ‘In Rainbows’ songs in their full audio-quality glory, however. And it’s still one of my favourite albums of the year and my favourite Radiohead record since ‘Kid A’.
Was it worth the 60 or so Euros? It’s a difficult one to answer. It certainly feels like a luxurious item, with it’s coffee-table style cover, glossy photo-book, double vinyl , cd and download of the same album plus the coveted bonus disc. And it could certainly be accused of style over substance but I’ve a feeling in five years time, it will be quite a treat to take out this extravagantly packaged album and listen to the rarely-played vinyl (or cd – let’s face it – at least one of these isn’t going to get played very often). I certainly don’t regret buying it so I suppose that answers my own question.
For Radiohead fans that are staying in tonight (New Year’s Eve), Radiohead celebrate the official CD release of the album with a pre-recorded webcast at Midnight GMT at www.radiohead.tv. They will apparently play the album in it’s entirety and in the correct running order. There is also rumoured to be some more cover versions, including a Siouxsie & The Banshees one. Should certainly be worth a peek.
GraveyardshiftShane 