There’s a really interesting post on Creating Passionate Users right now: Changing the user experience without changing the product describes how seeing Radiohead play live – for one fan – changed how she listens to, and hears the album Kid A. Following the gig, the fan’s opinion of the CD went from “good, interesting, creative” to “dynamic, layered, complex, brilliant”.
I found this particularly interesting because I had a similar experience with Radiohead. To me, the Kid A and Amnesiac albums were overtly experimental, avant garde and really quite difficult to engage with on a musical, or any level. Despite owning most of what Radiohead released previously, and having a broad taste in music generally, I just didn’t get them.
I haven’t been fortunate enough to see Radiohead play live, but I did stumble upon the superb live EP I Might Be Wrong, which features tracks from the afore-mentioned albums. Listening to the live album, just like with our young fan mentioned earlier, I had a kind of musical epiphany and suddenly the studio albums made sense. As a music fan, I found this as something of a relief: it was quite uncomfortable not being able to connect with music produced by one of my favourite artists. Perhaps this is measure of how good Kid A and Amnesiac really are?
Phil Thompson wrote:
I saw Radiohead in Manchester after Hail to the Thief came out and it also boosted my opinion of HTTT, Kid A and Amnesiac.
The gig was almost rave-esque with my ability to sit idly in my seat taken away from me by an amazing rendition of Idioteque that had every going for it.
Seeing Radiohead live really did bring home the creative effort they’d gone through to make the sounds on their albums.
Small Paul wrote:
I loved Kid A from the off, but:
1. I was feeling particularly down at the time, having just come out of a 2 year relationship.
2. I was living and studying in Oxford (got my copy at midnight in HMV, thankyouverymuch)
3. I was drunk for my first listen.
However, having seen them at Earls Court in November 2003, I’d agree that you haven’t experienced ‘Everything In Its Right Place’ properly until you’ve heard it at the end of their set, swelling to a euphoric climax with the word “forever” scrolling across the lights at the back of the stage.
However, I guess maybe you might want to avoid The Eraser, unless you’ve got secret tickets to Thom;s house or something :)
(If you have, can I have one?)
Small Paul wrote:
Oooh, and more generally: I’m definitely more favourably disposed to musicians I’ve heard play live. Well, usually. Case in point: Broken Social Scene. I don’t think I ever would have gone near their record properly if I hadn’t seen them this year. But I did, and love both their albums.
I mean, we don’t just analyse music as sounds coming into our ears. Maybe some folks better at it than me do, but we’ve got emotional associations and memories and stuff too. If gig=fun, then records of songs played at gig = gig memories = yay.
Partially, anyway. But yeah, maybe it also helps one “hear” bits we didn’t notice before.
Rich wrote:
Too late. I bought it yesterday and I’m rather enjoying it. Haven’t given it a proper listen yet, but I suspect it might be a regular for working to, particularly when I require unobtrusive vocals (ie. when I’m writing as opposed to coding).
Paul B wrote:
My first Radiohead show was at the Gorge in Washington for the Kid A tour. Watching the band play that album on stage was great, but the best part was watching the ballet of roadies and lighting and video techs moving equipment and instruments around the stage, sliding a keyboard onto the floor and simultaneously extending an arm towards the guitar that would otherwise have hit the ground when the player knelt down to reach the keyboard.
One of my other favourite musical moments was with a long time Canadian folk-rock band “Spirit of the West”. Throughout the 80’s they were the torch-bearers of celtic-influenced acoustic folk-rock. And then they released a rock album to the disdain of their die hard fans. Not quite “Dylan goes electric”, but maybe “Dylan goes electric”-junior. Or the Canadian version of any American emotion.
About 3 months after the band released the record, they played a show at their alma matter: the Commodore in Vancouver. The fans were present and indignant. The band walked on stage, and started out with one of their traditional hits, played in their old acoustic style. Throughout the night, they consistently struck familiar chords and sounds with new songs, but peppered the set with classics, adding in the instrumentation of their new record as they reached back in their repetoire. By the end of the night the entire crowd was in full swing while the band played the single from the new record at full volume
It was an excellent moment of watching a band educate and reach out to an audience and a nice example of the complexity of the popular music sphere and how cultural currency is a reality and now and again everyone needs a loan to get them on their feet.
Ches wrote:
Listening to the live album isn’t the same with being on concert. There are non-transmitting atmosphere. And it completes emotions about band
Rich wrote:
Well obviously that’s the case, Ches. However hearing how a band performs their songs in a live setting – even if that experience is just from a recording – is still revealing in itself, and that’s certainly my experience.
Chris Vincent wrote:
Amnesiac and Kid A are both indeed very experimental albums, and I consider them both masterful. I enjoyed them both from the beginning but they have both grown on me immensely.
uk wrote:
Quoted from Small paul…
I loved Kid A from the off, but:
1. I was feeling particularly down at the time, having just come out of a 2 year relationship.
I have to agree the album is amazing when one is down …
Ron wrote:
I thought the trilogy of Kid A, Amnesiac and HTTT were just sublime from the off, being tighter and more showing in songcraft than the Warp (etc..) electronica that inspired them.
I think ‘I Might Be Wrong’ (the album – not my opinion) was great because even though it delivers rocked up versions (in a very Radiohead sense) of the same tracks – they still sound brilliant – which to me highlights the strength of the core songwriting.
A tune’s a tune innit!
John Oxton wrote:
Somewhat late to this party but, anyway, being a huge fan of Autechre, LFO and generally anything on the Warp label meant Amnesiac is my favourite album thus far. I guess it’s what angle you are approaching something from?