18
vice versa. Ultimately, both promise the same thing, defined by Yorke in a word that
also about beauty, like a majestic view, and what we did on this record was to allow
the songs to be epic when
8
macrocosmic and thrilling proportions. Alex Ross of The New Yorker, one of
i
degree, the song is dominated by Johnny and his classical-composer side, but all
together but then they do, and I think that interplay may mimic the creative tension
between the individual voices in the band.
In Rainbows to carry an air of real
menace. Much of the sound on the track is generated by Ed and his pedals, but the
main hook comes courtesy of the two Greenwood brothers, Colin on bass and Jonny
on Fender Rhodes, playing in grim unison; their doom-laden bassline is later
harmonized by Jonny on glockenspiel in a whimsical touch. The bizarre metaphors of
almost desirable. Yet all this is just a prelude. Two minutes and 45 seconds into the
song, the mood changes as a piano (played by Yorke) enters the fray, hammering
offbeat accents on a harmonically ambiguous chord (Cmaj9#11, for those keeping
8
Ibid
19
score). Strings and keyboards swiftly gather behind it, like a bank of black storm
clouds hovering on the horizon.
simulated the white noise a rock band creates when it plays at full volume in a small
room. He did this by giving each string player one of the 12 notes in the chromatic
scale; the end product blankets the frequency spectrum, in a manner similar to 20
th
-
As the swirling sou
necessary. A perfect Radiohead moment, in other words, and a powerful ending to
From this point on, the album quiets down and settles into a fairly consistent
mood of thoughtful reflection. None of the remaining tracks offer the pure
-of-consciousness lyrics, distilled from many pages of random
instance of apparent clarity), and the inspiration for the title remains a mystery.
Nothing in the music or lyrics i
band Faust, which suggests that the namecheck here is to the classic devil-dealing
character of Marlowe and Goethe fame; this possibility will be reinforced later in the
album. (As for Arp, it could refer to a synthesizer, the sculptor Jean Arp or an
all of which are as likely as any other
suggests a lost John Lennon track from
20
attached to a completely different song, a balls-out rocker that Radiohead played live
during the 2001 Amnesiac tour. During the In Rainbows sessions, Thom and Jonny
went back to the song, rearranged it and wrote a new coda. Eventually, the coda was
in the next chapter, Yorke would revive
couple of years down the road.)
electric guitar. Various percussion implements shakers, tambourines and drums,
which sound like they were recorded in a vast echo chamber
-right
abstract, although they seem at times to touch on the ephemeral nature of possessions.
Individual lin
wistful, almost prayer-
touch comes during the bridge, in which the groove stops, the chord progression
wanders away from its home territory and strings shimmer in the distance above a
-and-white 10-inch TV screen to full-colour Cinemascope;
no wonder the band chose these words, and by extension this moment in the song, to
give the album its name.
part shows a distinct reggae influence. Add over-the-top echo effects on both guitars
the closest Radiohead have ever come to making a dub
track.
9
The all-enveloping vocal reverb is actually room ambience from Halswell
House captured on computer by Nigel Godrich and used as an outboard effect;
9
All the members of Radiohead have been dub fans for years, but Jonny Greenwood is particularly obsessed
collecting his favourite dub tracks from the vaults of the Trojan Records label.
21
-file guitar work sounds
contributes various pings and pops in the verses and a low sliding single-note riff in
the chorus, while Yorke concentrates on maintaining the offbeat six-string groove.
g couplet
the lyrics soon slide into murkier
waters. In the second verse, lines about collapsing infrastructure and voltage spikes
s is personal or political,
related to a failing love affair or in the chorus is personal or political, related to a
failing love affair or an environmental crisis. The lyrical ambiguity certainly fits the
hazy atmosphere of the production. Unfortunately, the lack of focus is matched by a
similar lack of musical variation, and what started out as an enticing listen eventually
becomes monotonous. At five and a half minutes, this is the longest track on In
Rainbows, and frankly it feels like it.
harking back to the three-guitar drama of Bends-
t first to hear Thom playing the central arpeggiated
guitar part on acoustic rather than electric, but otherwise the recorded arrangement
In
Rainbows counterparts is that its lyrics actually come close to telling a coherent story,
about people connecting (or not) at a nameless bar early some evening or at least
acknowledged that many of the observations are drawn from past bibulous outings of
NME.
10
just below the surface. And yet, caustic as the words may be at times, they also bear
10
NME, December 8, 2007.
22
evident in the little details
inebriated karaoke performance is about to begin. The time captured here is the time
before the alcohol really kicks in, the time when the air is alive with possibilities and
the jigsaw really does seem to be falling into place. In the long run, a night out on the
been well trodden, but the perceptive lyrics and energetic performance make this tune
a grower. The music certainly meets quality control standards, highlighted by the
recurring ghostly humming that ties the track together and the tight harmonic
In Rainbows, marked the
dynamic structure was classic Radiohead: beginning with a mournful Yorke piano
drums kicked in and building to a grand climax. To many outside observers, the
effect was brilliant, and the song quickly became a fan favourite. Still Thom
remained dissatisfied, and when the time came to record the song, it went through a
number of rearrangements, a process that its principal author later described as
11
12
which allowed Jonny and Nigel to deconstruct the track in a new way.
Once their work was done, Thom was allowed back in, and what he heard pleased
13
-key affair than its earlier
live counterpart. The full-band build-up is history, and the drum part that once played
11
And Thom Yorke On The Re
12
13
Ibid
23
a rhythmic tug-of-
14
replaced by percussion
samples and the off-kilter clatter of a Roland TR-
maybe the problem was musical; the line is tied to a descending four-note phrase that
makes up the melodic core of the song, and singing it all the way through means that
the same phrase is repeated five times in a row perhaps a tad too much repetition
for a song whose tune is fairly basic as it is. Ironically, the way the extra words have
been excised ends up hurting the flow of the melody, as one line runs into the next
Mortality and memory are the themes of this haunting song. A line about
gates seems to refer back to the story of Faust (previously namechecked in the title of
give Mephistopheles his soul in exchange for
preserved on video for loved ones to watch and remember in the future, and possibly
used as an explanation for whatever Faustian bargain the singer has made. Evocative
14
That tug-of-
intra- beat of each measure) should be. Thom, inspired by the
electronic trance music of Surgeon, wanted the piano to always be an eight-note ahead of the drums, a concept that
deeply bothered Jonny.
24
1.2 Текст перевода
Альбом In Rainbows
In Rainbows
15
-
In Rainbows
Radiohead
Computer
Discbox
-
15
25
Kid A
16
Amnesiac
17
-
Radiohead
In Rainbows
Hail To The Thief
18
Kid
-
Step
19
The Tourist Computer
In Rainbows
16
17
18
19
26
Step
,
, You used to be all right/What happened?/Et cetera, et cetera
20
21
22
.
Radiohead
Airbag
23
-
24
Boss SP-303 Dr.
Sample
Step In Rainbows
-
Bodysnatchers
25
20
21
(. sample)
22
Matrix
23
24
.
25
27
Tottenham House
26
-
-
Electioneering
27
Creep (slapback delay
28
I have no idea what I am talking about
29
Radiohead
30
-bow
Kid A.
Bodysnatchers
-
31
RadioheadIm a lie
32
26
Tottenham House
27
28
Slapback delay
29
30
bridge .
31
Your mouth moves only when someone's hand's up your ass
-
32