#530: radiohead - nude (2008)
february glowers bring out radiohead’s powers before april showers bring may flowers.
max abelson's super groovy music video spectacular
1960s on mon
1970s on tues
1980s on wed
1990s on thurs
2000s on fri
featuring the fine musical stylings of: the beatles, the rolling stones, serge gainsbourg, yo la tengo, the kinks, harry nilsson, ike & tina turner, antony, aretha franklin, wilco, elvis, talking heads, stephen foster, dr. dre, bonnie 'prince' billy, elvis c., neil young, the smiths, dusty springfield, al green, jimi hendrix, r.e.m., ray charles, belle & sebastian, randy newman, cat power, the cure, queen & pavement
i write for the observer, email me at mabelson at observer.com
"mtv makes me want to smoke crack." -beck
see the archives, or a random post.
"i just happen to be here, and it's okay." -caetano veloso
"it took me about three or four weeks to toilet train my cat, nightlife. most of the time is spent moving the box very gradually to the bathroom. do it very slowly and don't confuse him." -charles mingus
"sing a simple song but keep the swing strong." -de la soul
"his wife was a spent piece of used jet trash, made good bloody marys, kept her mouth shut most of the time, had a chihuahua named carlos that had some kind of skin disease and was totally blind." -tom waits
"i’ve still got things inside me—sad things, happy things—that people don’t know about." -loretta lynn
"after cheesecake with all of your friends and family, who's gonna front the bill? me... say you want to take first-class trips, well i want to work those first-class hips. yes i do." -r. kelly
"i drive a rolls-royce, cause it's good for my voice." -t.rex
gotta think straight, keep a clean plate." -joanna newsom
"keep a clean nose, watch the plain clothes." -bob dylan
"my mother used to tell me about vibrations. i didn't really understand too much of what that meant when i was just a boy. to think that invisible feelings, invisible vibrations existed scared me to death." -brian wilson
"i'll be the wind, the rain and the sunset." -lou reed
"hey there, hey now, well, you can make a pacemaker blink, yeah, easy thing, make a man's heart go bibbity bom like a gentle drum: dirty ass rock and roll. -john cale
"i'm dealing in rock and roll. i'm not a bonafide human being." -phil spector
"at a certain point phil approached me with a bottle of kosher red wine in one hand and a .45 in the other, put his arm around my shoulder and shoved the revolver into my neck and said, 'leonard, i love you.' i said, 'i hope you do, phil.'" -leonard cohen
"we were having coffee or something to drink, i forget, at 2 am at the plaza hotel. phil had this long hair, down to his shoulders, he’s a very strange looking guy, it’s, well, anyway, this was before longish hair was everywhere, it goes back. i could see at this table nearby, there were two couples, i remember, they were older people, at least in the 60s, they’d whisper at each other and look at phil and whisper at each other. finally this lady, tanked, comes over to phil and says, 'alright, sonny, what’s your problem?' and he said, 'premature ejaculation, what’s yours?'" -tom wolfe
"i bite my nails and if that fails i go get myself stoned, but when i do i think of you and head myself back home" -gram parsons
woody allen's reasons to live: "i would say groucho marx, to name one thing, and willie mays, and the second movement of the jupiter symphony, and louis armstrong’s recording of potatohead blues, swedish movies, naturally. sentimental education by flaubert, marlon brando, frank sinatra, those incredible apples and pears by cézanne, the crabs at sam wo’s, tracy’s face."
"i'm going to boogie my scruples away" -lowell george
"the first time i got stoned on grass was with john paul jones of led zeppelin. we'd been talking to ramblin' jack elliott somewhere and jonesy said to me, 'come over and i'll turn you on to grass.' he had a huge room with nothing in it except this huge vast hammond organ, right next door to the police. i ate two loaves of bread. then the telephone rang. jonesy said, answer that for me will you? so i went downstairs to answer the phone and kept on walking right out into the street." -david bowie
brian eno songs that will make good book titles for my 10-volume memoir, in order: here he comes, baby's on fire, golden hours, brutal ardour, taking tiger mountain, events in dense fog, through hollow lands, some of them are old, everything merges with the night, dead finks don’t talk
ry cooder albums that every man should own: into the purple valley, boomer's story, paradise and lunch
#1 song on the white album (tie): long long long, happiness is a warm gun
"the only word is love." -john lennon
thelonious monk's middle name: sphere
"think about something else. was art tatum talented?" -charles aznavour in shoot the piano player
"really, we don't want people twiddling their goatees over our stuff" -radiohead
"i don't rap fast, i rap slow, 'cause i mean every letter in the words in the sentences of my quotes." -lil' wayne
"i love songs about horses, railroads, land, judgment day, family, hard times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separation, murder, war, prison, rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion, patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak and love. and mother. and god." -johnny cash
"the moon is clear, the sky is bright, i'm happy as the horse's shite." -the pogues
"i hope that you all out there, young, old, tall, short, fat or thin, quick or slow, no matter what kind or color or shape or person you are, if you like to make music, why, go ahead, don't let the microphones and loudspeakers faze you, make some yourself.” -pete seeger
"but chuck berry isn't merely the greatest of the rock and rollers, or rather, there's nothing mere about it. say rather that unless we can somehow recycle the concept of the great artist so that it supports chuck berry as well as it does marcel proust, we might as well trash it altogether." -robert christgau
mashable.com says about the spectacular: "you can expect the unexpected with this awesome gem. groovy."
the 33 1/3 book series' blog says: "whenever i start playing around on youtube i always end up watching that lady fall over while stomping grapes, so it's nice to have someone steer me in a more worthwhile direction."
see album covers, photos, posters, quotes & staches
make a tumblr!
2008: j. f. m. a. m. j. j. a. s. o. n. d.
2009: j. f. m. a. m. j. j. a. s. o. n. d.
2010: j. f.
1970s on tues
1980s on wed
1990s on thurs
2000s on fri
featuring the fine musical stylings of: the beatles, the rolling stones, serge gainsbourg, yo la tengo, the kinks, harry nilsson, ike & tina turner, antony, aretha franklin, wilco, elvis, talking heads, stephen foster, dr. dre, bonnie 'prince' billy, elvis c., neil young, the smiths, dusty springfield, al green, jimi hendrix, r.e.m., ray charles, belle & sebastian, randy newman, cat power, the cure, queen & pavement
i write for the observer, email me at mabelson at observer.com
"mtv makes me want to smoke crack." -beck
see the archives, or a random post.
"i just happen to be here, and it's okay." -caetano veloso
"it took me about three or four weeks to toilet train my cat, nightlife. most of the time is spent moving the box very gradually to the bathroom. do it very slowly and don't confuse him." -charles mingus
"sing a simple song but keep the swing strong." -de la soul
"his wife was a spent piece of used jet trash, made good bloody marys, kept her mouth shut most of the time, had a chihuahua named carlos that had some kind of skin disease and was totally blind." -tom waits
"i’ve still got things inside me—sad things, happy things—that people don’t know about." -loretta lynn
"after cheesecake with all of your friends and family, who's gonna front the bill? me... say you want to take first-class trips, well i want to work those first-class hips. yes i do." -r. kelly
"i drive a rolls-royce, cause it's good for my voice." -t.rex
gotta think straight, keep a clean plate." -joanna newsom
"keep a clean nose, watch the plain clothes." -bob dylan
"my mother used to tell me about vibrations. i didn't really understand too much of what that meant when i was just a boy. to think that invisible feelings, invisible vibrations existed scared me to death." -brian wilson
"i'll be the wind, the rain and the sunset." -lou reed
"hey there, hey now, well, you can make a pacemaker blink, yeah, easy thing, make a man's heart go bibbity bom like a gentle drum: dirty ass rock and roll. -john cale
"i'm dealing in rock and roll. i'm not a bonafide human being." -phil spector
"at a certain point phil approached me with a bottle of kosher red wine in one hand and a .45 in the other, put his arm around my shoulder and shoved the revolver into my neck and said, 'leonard, i love you.' i said, 'i hope you do, phil.'" -leonard cohen
"we were having coffee or something to drink, i forget, at 2 am at the plaza hotel. phil had this long hair, down to his shoulders, he’s a very strange looking guy, it’s, well, anyway, this was before longish hair was everywhere, it goes back. i could see at this table nearby, there were two couples, i remember, they were older people, at least in the 60s, they’d whisper at each other and look at phil and whisper at each other. finally this lady, tanked, comes over to phil and says, 'alright, sonny, what’s your problem?' and he said, 'premature ejaculation, what’s yours?'" -tom wolfe
"i bite my nails and if that fails i go get myself stoned, but when i do i think of you and head myself back home" -gram parsons
woody allen's reasons to live: "i would say groucho marx, to name one thing, and willie mays, and the second movement of the jupiter symphony, and louis armstrong’s recording of potatohead blues, swedish movies, naturally. sentimental education by flaubert, marlon brando, frank sinatra, those incredible apples and pears by cézanne, the crabs at sam wo’s, tracy’s face."
"i'm going to boogie my scruples away" -lowell george
"the first time i got stoned on grass was with john paul jones of led zeppelin. we'd been talking to ramblin' jack elliott somewhere and jonesy said to me, 'come over and i'll turn you on to grass.' he had a huge room with nothing in it except this huge vast hammond organ, right next door to the police. i ate two loaves of bread. then the telephone rang. jonesy said, answer that for me will you? so i went downstairs to answer the phone and kept on walking right out into the street." -david bowie
brian eno songs that will make good book titles for my 10-volume memoir, in order: here he comes, baby's on fire, golden hours, brutal ardour, taking tiger mountain, events in dense fog, through hollow lands, some of them are old, everything merges with the night, dead finks don’t talk
ry cooder albums that every man should own: into the purple valley, boomer's story, paradise and lunch
#1 song on the white album (tie): long long long, happiness is a warm gun
"the only word is love." -john lennon
thelonious monk's middle name: sphere
"think about something else. was art tatum talented?" -charles aznavour in shoot the piano player
"really, we don't want people twiddling their goatees over our stuff" -radiohead
"i don't rap fast, i rap slow, 'cause i mean every letter in the words in the sentences of my quotes." -lil' wayne
"i love songs about horses, railroads, land, judgment day, family, hard times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separation, murder, war, prison, rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion, patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak and love. and mother. and god." -johnny cash
"the moon is clear, the sky is bright, i'm happy as the horse's shite." -the pogues
"i hope that you all out there, young, old, tall, short, fat or thin, quick or slow, no matter what kind or color or shape or person you are, if you like to make music, why, go ahead, don't let the microphones and loudspeakers faze you, make some yourself.” -pete seeger
"but chuck berry isn't merely the greatest of the rock and rollers, or rather, there's nothing mere about it. say rather that unless we can somehow recycle the concept of the great artist so that it supports chuck berry as well as it does marcel proust, we might as well trash it altogether." -robert christgau
mashable.com says about the spectacular: "you can expect the unexpected with this awesome gem. groovy."
the 33 1/3 book series' blog says: "whenever i start playing around on youtube i always end up watching that lady fall over while stomping grapes, so it's nice to have someone steer me in a more worthwhile direction."
see album covers, photos, posters, quotes & staches
make a tumblr!
2008: j. f. m. a. m. j. j. a. s. o. n. d.
2009: j. f. m. a. m. j. j. a. s. o. n. d.
2010: j. f.
why hasn’t the european union’s symbol for explosives been made into a radiohead album cover yet? it’s screaming for at least an inner sleeve. the eu’s oxidizing agents warning sign isn’t bad either, but it would be better for a new jersey pop punk group i think. actually the entire continent’s hazard symbols for chemicals are all pretty great. thanks, wikipedia.
#503: orchestral manoeuvres in the dark - genetic engineering (1983)
surely if radiohead made the best album of the 1990s and the best album of the 2000s (ok computer and kid a) then radiohead’s probably going to make the best album of the 2010s. and i predict, based on a close study of the victorian fin de siecle, brian eno’s oblique strategies, rhett davies’ discography, the genealogical history of the greenwood brothers, and phrenological curvature of phil selway’s skull, that it will sound like the more danceable songs on orchestral manoeuvres in the dark’s underrated album dazzle ships. it’s available here—see for yourself.
#454: radiohead - kid a (live, 2003)
with today’s conclusion of pitchfork’s top 200 albums of the 2000s countdown, the most haunting of all radiohead issues—kid a versus amnesiac—was finally put to rest. everything is in its right place: amnesiac (which has its intelligent supporters, but does not reach the same mind-tickling, soul-floating heights) clocked in at no. 34, while its sister album was named the decade’s no. 1 album. which it is!
remember when you were in third grade and were delighted by the trick ending of aerosmith’s amazing video, which revealed that alicia silverstone had been in charge of the virtual reality machine the whole time? that’s what it’s like, every single time, to listen to kid a in its entirety. it’s gigglingly good. it’s cold music that makes your head go warm. music with gravity to make you float! and the singing’s pretty, too.
but then here’s the thing: if radiohead’s ok computer was the best album of the 1990s, and radiohead’s kid a was the best album of the 2000s, then what happens when our children’s children start arguing over which was greater?
kid a artwork was so wonderful. remember the secret booklets? the buddy icons? the cartoon bears that said things like, “i had access to beautiful women, champagne and caviar. no, i don’t regret a minute of it”? the scary slogans in big type? when i’m a global dictator i’ll hire thom yorke and stanley donwood to do my branding.
#430: radiohead - the national anthem (2000)
the new york observer’s very own leon neyfahk, who might be one of the smartest people i’ve ever met, and certainly one of the lankiest, once mentioned to me that he thought antony and the johnson’s painfully beautiful cover of beyoncé’s crazy in love was lousy. he was wrong! sure, antony’s cover doesn’t have the original’s sizzle or swagger or sweatiness or sexiness, but it’s full of ecstacy and torment, and what else can you ask for from a pop song?
leon became even more wrong today, cosmically wrong, when he wrote on twitter that it is “the most tedious thing,” and “more boring” than a bad song on pink floyd’s ummagumma. then he had to go and say it is “more boring than treefingers,” which is an easy target—that’s the murky, dreamy, eno-esque song on radiohead’s kid a. speaking of which, only last week leon casually said that he not only prefers radiohead’s amnesiac to kid a (which, hello, is insane), but then went ahead and gave the national anthem as an example of kid a’s weaknesses.
that is where he crossed the line.
not liking the national anthem is not liking waterfalls, heavyweight boxing, trampolines, the smell of blood and getting to second base for the first time. it is a song that pounds and throbs and thuds and wallops, and it’s pretty. (and this video, made for an mtv contest, is a classic too.)
so leon, if you’re reading this, please open your ears and heart to antony’s beyoncé song and the national anthem. treefingers isn’t bad either.
#179: radiohead - life in a glass house (2001)
too much radiohead is like too much beatles or hershey’s chocolate or lobster or simpsons, so every year i go on a months-long radiohead diet. this may, june and july there was no thom yorke, no ok computer, not even johnny greenwood’s there will be blood soundtrack.
but now it’s august, which means i get to hum merrily along to chipper little lyrics like: “once again packed like frozen food and battery hens/think of all the starving millions.” fun times are here again!
image #45: start with a baby, toss in the year 1993, mix in some radiohead, and throw in a dash of googly eyes, and you’ve cooked yourself a totally sweet album cover.
#21: neil young - don’t let it bring you down (1971)
it’s primary day, so i’ve been trying to find a super appropriate get-out-the-vote, times-they-are-a-changin’ song. radiohead’s electioneering has the right idea, but it isn’t exactly the best track on “ok computer.” besides, it’s tuesday, which means i need something from the 70s—too early for public enemy, too late for pete seeger.
but high-voiced, long-haired neil young makes good songs for election day. and even though he has more activist-y songs then don’t let it bring you down, somehow this tune’s picture of burning castles, dead men, sinking moons, red sirens, scraped skies, cold winds and morning papers feels more political than whining about impeachment.
his after the goldrush-era performance here on the bbc is enough to make you want to change the world. and another thing! he likes obama.
