Radiohead -- These are My Twisted Words (Track Review)

Like Pitchfork, those villainous tastemakers, I too am a worshiper of all things Radiohead. The band has never released a sub par album*, even if their last two efforts, Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows, didn't match the perfection of their previous four (no mean feat, that). There's a lot to like on Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows, sure, but there's also a lack of cohesion, no demanding necessity for the albums to be listened to from start to finish. Thief is (Johnny) marred by unsound sequencing, whereas In Rainbows, as fantastic and groundbreaking -- in a (non?)commercial sense -- as it may be, is largely a dish without seasoning**. I suppose it's too much to ask for another classic from a band rivaled by few*** in terms of consistently superb albums (and a pretty nifty solo joint from Mr. Thom Yorke), but when Radiohead put their two latest singles(?), "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" and "These are My Twisted Words," out on this here Internet, I was, as I increasingly am in my old age, underwhelmed. As a tribute song (even if it's an arguably crassly self-serving one), "Harry Patch" works. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of "These are My Twisted Words."

Which is not to say that TAMTW is a bad song, because it's far from it. But neither is it a particularly great song, and if the rumors are to be believed that Radiohead has indeed decided to stop making albums in favor of releasing single tracks every now and then, "These are My Twisted Words" makes for a pretty crummy opening salvo, one into waters already chartered.

Call it the "Knives Out" corollary. For reasons unknown, after perfecting their jazz-rock experiment on 2001's Amnesiac, the band has returned to that dry well far too often (particularly on In Rainbows' latter half), the results ranging from middling to mediocre. "These are My Twisted Words" is, unfortunately, no different.

It's impossible to say where the band is heading creatively, but based on TAMTW -- a song I've replayed almost a dozen times in the span of forty-eight hours, upon each listen hoping it will sound better than the last -- it's an unwelcome one, at least as far as this fan is concerned.

Over and out, boyo.


* Shocking: I've never heard Pablo Honey

** The seasoning being CD 2 sprinkled throughout the release proper, as reviewed here

*** The Beatles, Outkast