Favorite album transitions, part 3

I’m still reeling from the awesomeness of the Radiohead concert last week, so I’ve been playing through a lot of their albums.

On Kid A, the 2nd track is Kid A and the 3rd is The National Anthem. This tunes work so well together that Kid A seems incomplete to me on its own. It’s meditative, jazzy and wandering… all fair enough if a little dull when taken by themselves. But when you follow it up with the thumping intro to The National Anthem, my little heart goes pitter pat.

As usual, I can’t really recommend these videos, but the recordings are pretty decent. (For two Radiohead videos that are completely on-par with the music, see this earlier Vinny post.)

Postscript: Am I supposed to italicize album names, or song names? I always forget.

Praising Radiohead and Wild Turner

The song is from Radiohead’s new album In Rainbows. The video is from some human called Wild Turner.

The song is stellar, and the video is mesmerizing. This is also a favorite:

Same album, utterly different video source material. A perfect example of that Radiohead tendency (see No Surprises (excellent video), Let Down (blah video)) to pair ineffably lovely music with miserable, alienated lyrics:

Don’t get any big ideas
They’re not gonna happen
You paint your smile
And fill the holes
There’ll be something missing
Just when you found it
It’s gone
Just when you feel it
You don’t
It’s gone forever

I’m highlighting the two YouTubes above because I can’t stop watching them. I love the songs, but the videos, which I’ve watched innumerable times now, made them unforgettable.