You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - In Rainbows – Radiohead

Episode Date: August 10, 2026

Jazz pianists Adam Maness and Peter Martin unpack Radiohead's 2007 masterpiece 'In Rainbows', track-by-track. Hear about the harmonies, odd time signatures, Thom Yorke's singing technique and the production choices that give this album its sound. And learn why many of the musical choices made for 'In Rainbows' are strange for an album that hit #1 on the US and UK charts, and sold three million copies.If you're hearing 'In Rainbows' for the first time, you're not alone. So is Peter! And if you're a Radiohead fan (like Adam), watch for Peter's reaction to, and verdict on, your favorite tracks.-------------------------------Learn to play "Weird Fishes", even if you've never played a note. Led by You'll Hear It co-host Adam Maness, this special lesson is simple enough to follow, even for absolute beginners.You've spent an hour listening to Adam and Peter take the album apart. Now, you can sit down and play it. Join the Players Club: https://yhi.link/weird-fishes-------------------------------Learn to talk like a jazz musician. Download the Liner Notes today:https://yhi.link/linerNotes-2-------------------------------📞 Send us a message: https://youllhearit.com/-------------------------------Start your free Open Studio trial for ALLLLL your jazz lesson needs:https://openstudiojazz.com/------------------------------Kid A: https://youtu.be/uRs2yuQbH1Q------------------------------About You'll Hear It:Jazz pianists Adam Maness and Peter Martin unpack popular albums track-by-track in this weekly listening party. They talk about what their trained ears hear in the music, offering audiences a new window into the records they love.------------------------------0:00 In Rainbows - Radiohead1:25 The poll that picked this album8:44 The pay-what-you-want release20:05 Adam HAD to teach this track26:58 Now we're really into great stuff31:20 Why this album sounds so good44:15 The closer, and a question about Thom Yorke's voice47:50 Peter's verdict50:05 The ten-year run

I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear It Podcast. Music Explored. Brought to today by Open Studio. Go to Open Studio jazz.com for, oh, your jazz lesson needs Peter. We're back. We're back. We're back.

I mean, we were away. I don't know. We were here, but we weren't doing anything. I'm feeling in the groove. Good. Yeah. About time. I know.

My friend. I haven't been in the groove. I'm locked in right now. Yeah. Hey, we are, speaking of back. We're bringing something back. I know. I'm so excited about this.

It's called the speak pipe. Many people have never heard of it. No. So we want to do. a mailbag episode where we hear from you. If you go to you'll hear it.com... Mailbag! If you go to you'll hear it.com,

you could leave us a message. So go to you'll hear it.com. You could leave us a voicemail. We can't promise that you'll get your voicemail read on the air, but we are going to take some questions for the audience. It could be about anything.

Could it be about these albums, about the show, about music, whatever, open studio, you name it. I got a question. Yeah. How come y'all so dope? That's something someone could ask us. Is how come you all so dope?

Yes. Please ask us, but... That's just an example. Feel free to say whatever you want. Peter's got ideas. Peter, today, this is a continuation. This is an evolution. So last season, as a crazy experiment,

we put on the docket, Radiohead's 2000, in my opinion, masterpiece, Kid A. You had never really heard the album. We listened to it. You gave it a try. You seem to like it. Yeah. Yeah, you seem to really like it.

I was curious, and then I was enraptured somewhat. It's a fantastic album. And I got sold over pretty quickly, as I recall. So I'm hoping that energy continues. Because during that time, we also did a bunch of polls on our Instagram.

I did one on my personal Instagram about what is your all-time favorite radio head album. Now, being exenial as I am, I assumed it was going to be Kiddah. Not a thing. Not even close. It was the album that we're listening

to today. It was in rainbows. Wait, wait, wait. I thought we were listening to Robert Glasper and Brad Meldow play. See, this is how he gets me in here. Adam's like, we're going to check out. We totally could listen to a whole album of Robert Glastor and Brad Meldow play Radiohead.

But I joke. That would be fun though. The next one, whenever we listen to OK Computer, I'm going to tell you that it's all. And at a manistria place. Oh, yeah. No, we do a version of weird fishes here, which we're going to talk about a little bit. But no, we're doing in Rainbow's. This was released in 2007.

It has such an interesting release story, Peter. But before we get that release story going, let's listen to the first track, 15 step. And again, we're kind of looking for Peter's reaction during, like, can radio ahead keep Peter's attention, past kidday? One, two, three, four, and five, four to do. It's a lot of time signature. It's a great program that's sold three million copies. Right.

You know, I know. I know. That's a great, really great program drum sound. Oh, it sounds amazing. And then combined with the, that's Tom York, right? I mean, like the... Look at him. It's Tom York singing.

See, I'm, I know. I knew it wasn't Rabber Glasper, at least. I think it's not. No, I... But we talked about this last time. He has such a unique voice, but the way they have it placed here, very difficult to...

With the guitar is sort of the bridge between the humanity of the voice and the potential automation. They're actually using the automation of the drums. They're not hiding from that. That's part of the stick on this, and I love it. Well, during this whole era, they're flirting with this like the mechanical, industrial,

and then organic. Mechanical industrial complex. They took over a guitar center. It's a big problem. I believe it is a mix of acoustic and electric drums throughout this, but that program drums is so strong. Yeah. And I love these chords here that make up the main riff

For the song, it's like an A-flat minor to a D-flat major to an E-flat minor. It's like an A-flat-Dorian mode, which is kind of an odd mode for one of these kinds of songs. It's kind of forlone, like it's nostalgic but kind of wistful, wispy forlorn a little bit. It's evocative of a mansion in the rain in somebody who would just be eating Yorkshire pudding? No, we're going to get to that. We're going to get to that. No, it's interesting because, like, I think this. Who took my pudding? Sorry. That was random.

Yeah, that was definitely what they were saying over there. No, that's Johnny Greenwood. This sounds just like that. Who took my pudding? But, no, it's a really high-energy first track. You know, it's not my favorite, like, first track on a radio head album. I don't think you can do better than everything in this right place. Wait, did you say it's not my favorite in radiohead in the same sentence? I never thought I'd hear the day.

I have many opinions. But I think it's awesome. I think it, like, sets the stage for what this is. What is great about 15th step is that it sets the stage with what makes in rainbows, so good and what makes it so popular is because, like, in rainbows is radio head sort of getting back to a very

guitar-based sound. Like, when we listen to K-Day, lots of synthesizers, a lot of, like... But that was very intentional, right? Very intentional. They were getting away from guitar-based. A little bit of a reaction. Like, we want some more atmospheric stuff, right? We want some of ambient music's influences. And this is them

going back to a little bit of, like, a great mix between some of that, like the program drums, and the sort of ambient synths, but almost the entire album, the guitars have really come back to take the lead as the instrument. Whereas like throughout Kid A, throughout Amnesiac, even Hale to the Thief, the piano is pretty heavy on all that, and all the keyboards are pretty heavy on that. So I think that's why this is so successful. It's like they're at a place in their career where they're balancing these two things. Yeah. Well, it's interesting. I think you mentioned as we

were prepping beforehand that this album in Rainbows has had a resurgence. resurgence amongst... We think of this, oh, it was 2007, it was just a few years ago. No, that would be 19 years ago, my friend. I know. But you said with younger folks, kind of 20s now... Well, no, no, these would be 30s, like... Oh.

Basically, like, millennials who were teenagers in 2007. So for me, in 2007, I'm like almost 30 years old. Yeah. You know what I mean? So, like, for me, nostalgic radiohead is Oka Computer. It's from 1997. It's from 2000, right? And so Radiohead had such a big...

a high point of their career, like such a good peak, over the course of probably 12 years, they were really at a good artistic peak, that this is, I think, their last great album, in my opinion. I love the last two albums. I think they're wonderful,

but I think this is when they really had their last great artistic push. And so, like, for me, like a mid-millennial, a young millennial, I think they feel very nostalgic about this album. Because whenever we talk, first of all, they're a huge generation. There are a lot of people.

It is right. So in all those polls that I was talking about, They just, like, in rainbows just crushed. And I think when I talk to a lot of Gen X radiohead fans, it's always kid A, okay computer. This is past the, right. And that's, so you're kind of, yeah, now I'm seeing how you're sort of straddling between that

because I know you love this album, but there's definitely some, you know, when we first talked about which radio had, we had a little meeting about it, remember? And you thought this was going to be like a meeting of equals. It was not. It was me saying, well, whatever, whichever one you like best, go with that one.

Yeah, yeah. But it's interesting, too, But just saying because it's been resurgent because this, I see the notes here, it did sell three million copies in the first year. So it wasn't a slow burn, I would imagine. For 2007, that's really, really good. And no big, like, hits on it or anything. No, it's a radio head album.

There never is. There never is. And was the best-selling vinyl record of 2008. Talk about a little mini-resurgence. This is right before vinyl was about to start even resurging. It sold 17 copies on vinyl. Best selling. Which in 2008, that put you on the charge.

Kind of loose old 16. Another interesting thing about the release of In Rainbows, which I remember this happening because I thought it was so cool and so interesting. Yeah. There was very little press around the release. I think they announced it like the week before. Yeah. Hey, we're coming out with our new album.

They were off of a major label. Right. So they had, they left, what was it, EMI, I think, is the label they were on. They left EMI. And they were self-releasing this. And they, for the digital download, it was pay what you want. I remember this now. This was really the first time at scale anyone had done this.

It was kind of a big deal. It was a very big deal. And I remember buying this for $5 because, you know, I was a traveling musician. And wasn't there even like a thing with, they even had something variant on it with iTunes, with Apple iTunes, where you could get on the store and some kind of funny pricing or something. Oh, maybe like later. Or maybe they were trying to get it pay and they were, Steve Jobs was like. No, you could go to Radiohead's website and literally put in $0 if you wanted to.

Right. But you know what's funny is no one knows for sure, but I read that they price. probably averaged between $6 and $8. And because there was no label in between, this was for them a very commercially successful album. Because they kept all of the money that they made. Mostly on virtual product, not on... Yeah, so there's no overhead.

So I'm sure they sell, you know, however many copies of Kid A on CD for $1699 in 2000, maybe more than this. Wholesale price, $6 or $7 or something. Yeah, exactly. And then the label takes, and they're whatever. This is like all them,

which is really smart, especially if you have that kind of power. I feel like Prince around this time, maybe it was a little later or maybe even the same time was definitely trying some things like this too. Yeah. It was such an interesting kind of Wild West.

Like what's gonna, like everyone still loves music, but how is it going to be consumed? Because it was like post like Napsters. Totally. There was like the Napster scare and this is like the bands being like, no, we can do this ourselves. And remember the labels were trying to like do some jankety online

where like you had to sign up for the, but you could only get stuff on that. label. Apple was really the only ones who had kind of figured it out with the iTunes. Yeah. But even that was like plug in the iPod. Yeah. Which was fun. There were like, so the comedian Louis C.K., I remember he'd sell his specials off of his website. Like you could pay $10 or whatever for a digital download of the special instead of on iTunes or whatever. So this was that time where people were really taking advantage of that post-Napster pre-Spotify kind of vibes, you know? Yeah. Okay. The second track is Body Snatchers.

And again, driving guitars. This is not something you would hear, right, you know, three or four years ago, as much. I do not understand what it is. I feel like those single-note synth lines. Yeah. It's like when you hear Stevie layering the single-note synths in his classic era, this is classic era radio head, where you hear those warbly single-note scents that come in and, create this eerie line.

And they're almost more like, you know, affecting the music harmonically than melodic. I mean, their melody lines almost secondary to the harmony. You know, that's what came in and kind of pushed thing. Very interesting. Wow, this is one vocal take. Left virtually untouched.

First take. Interesting. And again, the warbly synth. And the harmony there. And he's so, Tom Hork is so. far place back in the mix. Yeah, yeah, on this one. Tucked right in there.

It's what I love about the way they... Much more than the first trip. I love the second half of this song. Now this, as little as I know about radio, and as soon as I hear that kind of... Was that keyboard or guitar? That's acoustic guitar.

Man, I would immediately know it's radio. To me, this is like classic. Just gorgeous. They have so many songs that are like this, that are kind of like, A, B, A, C. you know, and the last minute and a half is something completely different. And always so harmonically interesting.

Like, that could just, if that were in the hands of another sort of rock band from that time, it's going to stay pretty straightforward. The producer's going to be like, no, guys, we got to keep it palatable or whatever. But they're adding all this, like when that warbly synth comes in and it's going to those weird minor six chords and minor major seven chords, and then the end has, you know, like these, the classic like, you know, the minor chord over the third. That's another huge thing with their harmony.

I love it, man. I'm such a sucker for it. Hey, everyone, taking a break real quick. We throw around a lot of music theory terms here in the show. If you're Googling things like, What is a triad? Hold on. I'm Googling.

What is a Lidian chord? How do you spell Lidion? You know how to play that, bro. Good news. We have all the answers for you in the liner notes. You'll find the liner notes companion guide with clear, simple explanations of the context we explore in this episode

in the episode description. Download the liner notes for this episode for free for the next. The next track, this is actually one of their oldest songs. They could never find a version that they liked in all their years of recording until 2007. This is called nude.

The contrasting text you should hear the dry drums and the wet vocals. Yeah. Intentionality to their harmonic progression. We talked about this We talked about OK computer But it's no wonder that a lot of modern jazz musicians Really respond to this music well

You could hear Someone Like a young modern jazz musician Writing a tune that sounds like this Yeah and I think for folks that are like What are you talking about? This isn't jazz? How the hell do you hear that?

There's a certain type of I mean It's really composition I mean, yes, there's the songwriting part of it, but I think for this kind of thing, it's really the composition. There could be any style.

I don't even know what we would call this style or genre. But when a jazz musician hears it, like we're connecting, I would say primarily with the harmony and how the harmony changes. And that's when we talk about the changes. It's primarily a harmonic thing, and then we start thinking about, oh, how could we adapt that?

Not necessarily just, I know a lot of times we get a bad rap for like, yeah, mess it up and ruin it. Yeah. But it's more like, is there something there that inspires, not unlike the tradition coming out, like the bebop musicians taking Cole Porter song. Great American songbooks. Great American songbooks.

And it is the harmony. Because if it doesn't have that, like, you have to manufacture it. Yeah. Which we might do that anyway. Yeah, we might do that anyway. But also, I think it's the way the melody and the harmony interact. Yes. For sure. There's a lot of these long held notes

where the harmony changes underneath in an interesting way. Right. That's like a Wayne shorter thing. But if you think about like the great pop songs that have beautiful melodies and they don't have those necessarily interesting things with the harmony underneath, when a jazz musician would take that,

we have to create all that ourselves, right? Yeah. And maybe we shouldn't be, but that's what we do. Whereas with this type of material, I can definitely hear it on that. And this is, I correct myself, there was a hit up. This was actually a top 40 hit.

This was in the U.S. and the U.K. Dude was. Oh, interesting. number 37. Wow. But, um... First U.S. top 40 hits since creep. Right.

Crazy. Yeah. Wow. Well, as you said before, they were not, that was not their jam. No. To put on a bunch of singles. Um, what was that? Oh, yeah.

So the harmony underneath, when there's already some interesting things, actually we don't need to do as much with this type of material. Same way with a great, you know, sort of standard tune that you don't have to re-harmonize and stuff. So it's not, it's more, I think, comes from a fairly organic place for jazz musicians. to take different, it's not about like, oh, let me jazz up radio head, because I always love that, but now I want to turn it into what I want to do.

It's more like we hear something there. We hear possibilities beyond that, but not like we're having to take it apart so much we should have just written our own tune. Although some people say that. It's true. But when it's done well, when it's done well, when it's done well, it's like it feeds us.

It feeds us enough like nutrients, musical nutrients that we can like really dig in. You're saying it feeds our soul. Yes. Yes. The next track, is this might be my favorite track on the album. So much so that

I got a little surprise for everybody after we listen to it. This is Weird Fish's Arpeggie. I love the bass here. In fourths. To the octave. Yeah. Yeah, nice. Morse. Sound trick, come on now. There's been a few movies this has been on.

Teenage angst. Adding layers. Things are swirling. I tried to, we play this song in my trio and maybe we'll do a version for this show. But I tried to figure out the pattern in that swirling main guitar. And it's not random, but it's also not consistent.

Yeah, it's like, they're kind of just playing it. And I think whoever is playing that, probably Johnny Greenwood, is like doing whatever he wants with. When it's interesting to you hear as the different layers come in, as the intensity grows, the one thing that's not changing, I don't think at all, is the drum groove. Well, like, you have that symbol crash, which hasn't been there a while. Now it's opening up. But that was a long way of discipline of that same pattern. For sure.

using the other elements, whereas the drums is the most obvious one. Now you save that. Now you've got to, everything's open, right? Now there's guitars, there's synths, sir? Yeah. Definitely more guitar heavy though, you're right. And then it goes, he moves into that background vocal, which has a lot more verb and effect on. And then all of a sudden it feels like we're in a fish tank. And all of a sudden his voice is dry completely. Totally dry.

That's a weird fish, a dry fish. They're back in it now. Yeah. The whole end of the song is totally different. Right. It's not going to go back. Two stories. Once they broke down without the drums,

it was like either going to stay there or if they came back in. Which I did. It's something different. It's great. Man, their use of like form, large form within these songs that are not that long, actually, but they feel kind of, each one kind of feels epic,

you know, because of their mastery of like form and balance in terms of how the music is presented. Totally. Which is really certainly the composition, but also the production. And one thing about in rainbows is this might be the most complete album where there's really no filler on it.

I mean, every song is very, very solid. Not that there's ever that many skippable tracks at all on a radio head album, but man, it's just so, everything is so slamming on this. And this song in particular is... Are you in its right place? Is that what you're saying? Yeah, everything's in its right place.

Hey, Peter, remember last week I made a lesson to teach beginners how to play, isn't she lovely from songs in the key of life? Mm-hmm. Well, I did it again. Whoops. did it again. Not no, not yet. That's later this season. Yeah. No, I took a song in Rainbows. I took Weird

Fishes and I made a lesson aimed at people who have never played piano before. So if you want to learn how to play weird fishes on the piano and you've never even touched a piano before, or maybe you took lessons years ago, I don't know. Yeah. I'm going to show you how to do that. It's starting to become a little bit of a club, a little bit

of a club for players. Oh, so you're saying like a players club. A little bit of a players club. Nice. I like it. I've been having such a blast making these lessons. I show you exactly what to do, where to put your hands. We even had our producer Liz try this, and she is Nalian. Really? I didn't even know Liz had a piano. Me either. That's awesome.

This is a bit of a first for Open Studio, where we're teaching even early beginners how to play. Right. And this is not a free offering. We want to be clear, but it is a value-packed offering, so I'm excited about it. It really is. So go check it out. I'll teach you how to play weird fishes. And you can learn how to play. Isn't she lovely, too? We're calling this series of lessons, The Players Club. You can find out more at the show. notes. Go check it out. Now, I mean... Track number five, right? Track number five. Now we're really

getting into some great stuff. This is all I need. Going F. I love about this is where it sits. So we're coming out of the thickest song on the album, just those swirling guitars and sits for four minutes. Yeah. And then we just go to a bass line and a vocal. Yeah. Simple drum. And I love what this is, this was assembled from four

different takes. Oh, really? Yes. And they actually did this at some other place in the album. but this is kind of the thickest version of that. Vocals from one, take drums from another, and they kind of picked all the best bits and forced them together. Tom York called it deliberate disembodiment. Wow, yeah.

Next up, we've got Faust Arp. These are featuring strings from the millennia ensemble conducted by Sally Herbert. Y2K! Everton Nelson. What's up? This is also, this is a great song. You survived.

Faust Arp. Wakey, wakey, rise, and shan it's on again off again on again and watched before like one three right oh something I think that's the very tinglingin it's what you feel no what you are to

what you are to reasonable and sensible deaf and a girl because I'm stuck I think that's the earliest here without you had it even now yeah Well, who was it they called it?

Oh, Tom York called it their revolver, this album. Oh, that makes total sense, actually. He called it radio heads. Later on. Super interesting. Wow. I never heard that. This is also like the earliest I've ever heard Tom York enter a song.

Yeah, yeah, he comes right away. He's usually like, get the vibe happening. And then I'll get there when I get there. Let me know when the party started. So true to you. Let me know when the angst is elevated, then I'm entering. Great call. Yeah, but it's very beatlesque.

And with the strings, like, super, like, present. Yeah. You know, whenever Beatle's bringing the strings, they'll be like, boom. Oh, that's a well-recorded, well-played guitar. The balance between the bass tenor strings and the... And then the low bass comes in there for the first time. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't spend like tens of hours mixing each of these tracks. For sure.

A lot of intentionality in the mix. Two minutes, that's all you need. Yeah. And so when we talk about mix, I know sometimes people are like, what do you mean? They spend time mixing it up, mixing it up when they're playing. So it's like, no, after the track is finished, with I have the feeling with them to correct me if I'm wrong, mystery radio head. Let me text Robert Glasper

see who can out Radiohead who. Can we please get Robert Glaspers on the show and we could just listen to what he wants to listen to? I'm really interested in what is on his playlists. Right. So when we talk about putting the track together, you know, rehearsing, recording, and like on the track before this,

this, for all I need for the using different tracks to assess. assemble it. That's still not mixing. Like, the mixing process starts, I'm telling you, like, you know this because you've done this. This is for the dear listeners. Yeah. The mixing process traditionally

starts in earnest once everything is done musically. The whole thing... Ideally. Ideally. Although, actually, you know what? There's a lot of mixing that goes on as it goes. I know, I know. But traditionally, like, you've got the track... At a certain point, you have to be like, the music is what it is. But you would be shocked at how much...

Especially I know on an album like this, the mix affects the music. By its very most basic definition, the mix is just how much guitar there is, how loud it is. In relation to the drums, in relation to the vocal, like, that's just the basic thing. And moving those, and so when you talk about a mixer, it's like pushing those, let's try it with this. But it's also like, well, no, just push up the vocals a little bit for that one word or pull it back. That's called active mixing. And sometimes, you know, comping of the track.

Comping of the tracks happens in the mix because you hear things in a new way and you're like, should we take out that four-bar section? That happens. But then the other big part of the mix is like how each of the tracks or the instruments sound. So like you brought up a couple times when how wet or how dry a vocal is, you know, reverb, not EQ, pushing up the high.

I mean, there's so many different things you would be shocked. So somebody who mixes an album and I have the feeling that I'm sure Greenwood and Tom York and stuff were very involved with it. I mean, it just feels like that kind of band, right? Where they're very involved with the mix with the engineer, the producer.

I mean, compared to like acoustic music that we make, where the mix is maybe 10, 15% of the art on the album. Right. You would say like... Yeah, and just the amount of time spends compared to... Although it can get, it can get pushed too. It's like 50% or more on an album like this. Like it's so important, like you mentioned,

like when Tom York's vocals go dry and that breakdown on weird fishes, that is an incredible artistic choice. Right. Like, that's art happening in the mix. Yeah, I mean, it affects the music as much as like, the harmony that was chosen. Yeah, totally. When to drop the drums on.

And I'm sure for most of this, if not all of it, they have total isolation. I mean, that's another reason, like in a lot of acoustic music or jazz or whatever. Classical, there's not as much put on to mix because you can't mix things separately because there's like bleeding through and stuff like this. But the fact that they piece some of these things

together from different takes on different instruments would indicate that they had total separation. So you can do any more. And a lot of times people overmix and get too active with it. Well, I mean, since we're talking about reverb, We're talking about this next track, Reckoner, which is one of my favorite radiohead tracks of all time. Isn't it Rick Conner?

I think it's Reckoner. And it's also one of my favorite reverbs ever. Woo! That's like big empty hall, like Fox Theater reverb. It reminds me of these Brazilian albums in the 70s that were, you know, Samba School albums. Right. Sounded like they recorded in a cave.

Right. Drums in a big hall like that, so unbelievable. The guitar doesn't have it. I don't think. Yeah, it's just a drum. The song came out of a jam. Yeah. Loose group jam.

Apparently. But Tom York's melody throughout here is haunting. See, that's the normal time when Tom New York comes in. That's right. The party started. 50 seconds. He's not a... Oh, parties at 8. I'll be there, Nate.

Yeah, he's coming to 10.30. He's going to roll up on there. It's a five-cord phrase. You know what I mean? That first part. Man, that gives it such a... It's so like that, but it gives it just enough. It's jarring in the most subtle way when you do that.

For sure. It's great. Very subtle. It gives you this rolling but unsettled macro environment. You can hear Charles Lloyd playing this song. You know what I mean? Like, just this soulful, uneasy, but... Yeah.

It's a radio ad song. We've got to have a whole different part. Break down. Break down or break apart. This hook. This is all totally dry. That whole section, you could feel the time. And then when the drums came back in and totally reset it.

I'm telling you, man, every song on this one, one after the other. This next song, House of Cards, had a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance, best rock song, Best Short Form music video. Sam, we did to use more reverb variations when we do our tracks here. You know what I mean?

To have like totally dry drums and then one haunting voice. It's very rare that you go that much. So cool. Yeah, it's usually like 20% to 80% you know. Not he's that's right in that 50 second mark. No, still 55 seconds. Oh, he's right in that 50 second mark. I thought it was more than a minute.

No, that's when Tommy York joins the party, about a minute in. That little rattle percussion, it's almost like the, you know, the classical percussion. What is that called? What was this past your music video days? This is past my music video days. Yeah, I'm sure it's awesome. You didn't watch your MTV anymore then? No, I actually, like I said, man, I was 30.

I was married and getting ready to have kids during this time. And I was on the road a lot too at this time. So I actually kind of like let go of my fandom for a lot of things during that. You know how it goes. It's like, you can't go as deep. I'm back now. Really? I didn't know this.

Kids are teenagers now, so I'm totally back. They kind of pulled you back to a little bit. They did. Actually, my daughter, last. summer gave a PowerPoint presentation for the family and some of our friends on every Radiohead album ranked, and it took

everything in my being not to sob through all of it, because she put kid A number one. And without I'm surprised you could even get that out. And without me influencing her. Like, I had no idea that she was going to do that, or she was that even into this band, and I was like,

I love you so much. We're like, we're like, rewriting your will as she was doing. Like, she said, that was everything. That one gets everything. That's awesome. The next track, Jake saw falling in the place, this is incredible track. This was the lead single off this album.

Came to number 30 in the UK charts. Didn't get anywhere in the U.S. Interesting. Charts were fickle by this time. Charts meant... Next to zero by... We're 23 right now. We see how long it takes...

It is such a vibe, though, to come in. I mean, to have that as part. Oh Their style Just as you take my stairs You write my number And just as the drinks her eyes They play a mission

Look at a camera That's time you are That is time you are Dude his range is ridiculous That's crazy that He so often sings in his falsetto Yeah That when he goes down that low

It's like what the fuck Man is this This is not a rock band Yeah Art rock is what we landed on before. Art rock, did we say that? Okay. Yeah, but I don't know, man. There should be, I mean, I know you hate genres famously.

Famously. But it is instruct. I guess art rock makes, I mean, that always has a certain level of pretension whenever you say art something. Yeah. I think there's a level of- Like, no, I would ever say art classical or art jazz. No. Because they're already hoorty-to-ty.

But they would call jazz and classical art music. I know. I don't like that. Yeah, yeah. Because it's like art music and folk music. Totally. You know. And it's just not.

Ignorant folk music and. And high class. We know what we're doing. We've got a take on things. But I think in this, yeah, there's like an implication of thoughtful rock and rock and roll. All right. The last track on the album is The Closer. And Tom York called this Absolute Agony.

He built it on a fast four-to-the-floor pulse and came back to find Johnny and Godrich stripped it bare bones, reduced him to tears. Come on, guys. Hospital Studio, December 2006. first moment he'd felt that they got something. What's hospitals? I don't know. Was he that mad at them? You put him in the hospital? Bo on the floor, I'm F's! This is such a beautiful closing track on the album.

This is an incredible piano sound. It's just gorgeous, man. When out the pearly gates, this will be on my videotape. His time His tone His Tom York's

His time He's not He's not And I mean It's got to be intentional Because you can tell he can control And so it gives it such a kind of unaffected humanity, I think, to it.

You know, it's not certain notes are just stunningly in tune, but others are not. Yeah. And I think it's a great thing to, I mean, obviously, we're in the days of auto tune, but they had it at that time, too. Yeah. I mean, this was the way it was on purpose, right? I got some flak last time when we did Kada, when I said that... You read the comments still, man?

I don't read any of those. My wife told me. No, but I mentioned. that I don't think Tom York's like a great singer. Like in the way that like Luther Vandross is a great singer. Right. Has all this control, flawless tone. But he does have a lot of control.

But he does have control. Like he's a, he's not a great singer, but he's a great vocalist. Yes. He is an incredible artist. And he does actually have great control. I think what is so special about his voice is the vulnerability to it. He's the fact that it's not this perfectly manicured vocal performance. He has a lot of control over it very unique.

It's not like, Like, it's like a beautiful, it's not a Lamborghini or Ferrari, but it's something else, you know, it's a beautiful vehicle that's unique. Yeah. And that the driver, because I mean, vocalists, they're not like pianists, where we're like, oh, I got a great new instrument. They're like, this is my instrument. Yeah.

And so how do you get dialed in on your own instrument? I think he's, his level of dialed in is pretty much a hundred. Yeah, I mean, and also he just has a really cool instrument. You mentioned the range. Yeah. You know, when he's low in that song before, he pulls that gear out. sometimes. And then he can

sing in this sort of like whale falsetto. And I mean, like mixed voice things. Oh, I see you. They're whale.

Weird fishes. Whales eat weird fishes. So that, there it is. If you stay in the end, that's what you get. Okay. So reaction in rainbows

post Kidd A. Wait, this was in rainbow? I thought we were listening to Kida. I got confused again. Why see you can't? No, this is okay computer,

right? Doggone it. You know what my reaction is that piano? I mean, Robert Glass, or is that Brad Melda? Who was playing piano on that? Who was playing piano on that last track?

No, I would say, I think, man, I love what I just heard. And I want to dig in deeper to this. Like, I think I will go back and listen to this a little bit more than Kid A, actually. You're like a millennial. Well, I feel like, I mean, Kid A is great. This is a much more even, some people might say much smaller range album. Yeah. But to me, this felt like, look, and we appreciate you guys listening and listen to my ignorant

and dribble about this. I love these episodes. I love hearing your takes on these things, like from a very fresh perspective. You know what I mean? Like, it's great. No, but I think that we're not giving it, like I'm thinking even as I go,

the fact that it's, I want to go back and just sit and listen to this and vibe out on this. Yeah. You know, this felt like, and I'm not doing it total justice because I feel like until you do that, you don't really know,

but it's kind of like when you sample something, you're like, oh, it's like previews to a movie. You don't really know. And sometimes, like, especially for comedies, you're like, oh, that's so, you're laughing. Then you're like, wait, are those the only good jokes that are going to be in the movie? Did I just see it?

Thanks a lot. Netflix. But with this, I feel like I want to get the transitions. We don't have time or the legal license to do that here. No, we do not. But, I mean, this makes me want to feel the transitions from this to feel the balance and the journey, which I definitely got some. And as you guiding through, it was great.

And so I think that from beginning to end, I would prefer this. But I'm a little nervous as I say this. Don't hit me. No, you're with the majority. You're with the majority. People prefer this to any other radio. Oh, I'm a sellout. Yeah, you're a seller.

You're a very commercial. What does Brad Meldal think? What's his favorite? Brad loves OK, Peter. You just know he does. What about Robert Glasper? Glassper loves kid, eh? I'm just telling you.

There was a video that was going around the internet recently. I don't know if you saw, of Robert Goss were playing everything in this right place. It was fed to me everywhere I went. He's Tyrian. Yeah, in Paris. And it was so powerful that. It's a great, great version. What about Adam Manus?

What is Adam Manus? say, can you give me a stack ranking of those three at least? I know you mentioned the two after this. You didn't prefer a much. Well, let's talk about the run. So for me, there's a radio head run. They have Pablo Honey and they have the Benz, which are their first two albums.

And actually, their biggest hit creep is from that first album. But to me, they hit their artistic stride with OK computer. Did we do the joke? Who was the comedian, the creep joke? Did we cover that last time? Yeah, Patrice O'Neill. Yeah, white people love creep. That, Anna, you got to check it out.

It's great. No, but from, so 1997 is OK Computer. Yeah. And then from there, they're on a run until this album. And like I said, I like the King of Limbs. I like Moon-shaped Pool. But I think that run between, that's really just OK computer, Kid A, Amnesiac, Hail to the Thief, and in rainbows.

And then I'm also going to throw in... That's pretty... So you're talking about 10 years. 10 years. Five albums. Yeah. And I'm going to throw in Tom York's solo album, The Eraser, which I'll play a little bit of it here.

Wasn't that late? Wasn't that after this? That was 2006, The Eras. Oh, it was right before this. Right before this. Oh, wow. Okay. I got to check that. So, yeah, actually, that's what's my up next. That was a great. I mean, you talk about, when we talk about other classic periods, oh, yeah. That's such a great output. Even though, like, I know that there's some tortured, like they were sitting in the ramshackle, you know, English manor house, you know, for months on end and stuff. But I mean, that, if you look at the,

yeah. Well, I mean, think about it. This is their, this is the end of that period. Yeah. The last album of that period. And this is their most popular album afterwards, which is like, you know, We've covered Steely Dan, right, Goucho, which was their sort of last album until, you know, 20 years later. And that was the end of a sort of 10-year run from them. We've covered people like Miles Davis. Right. You know, we've talked about Miles,

and he's got this electric era in the 80s era. But that, from 57 to like 67, when you think of Miles, you're thinking of that. Like a lot of people are thinking of that. But I know people love Bitches Brewing on the corner. I love that stuff too. But I think most culturally we think of Miles in that. in that late 50s.

We should do like a stack ranking or tier list of classic classic runs. Yeah, Stevie, Miles, radio head, pole train. Herbie. Herbie's got a couple. Steve's run, right? Music in my mind, you could say,

or maybe the album previous to that, what was that one called? Filling this first finale. No, that was after. Music of my mind. Music of my mind was the first one of what's considered the concerto period. It was the one.

It was his last blue-known album before the Tonto period. in the comments. We talked about it and now I'm spacing. But music of my mind up until when? Like... As long as the key of life. 76? Yeah.

Six years. You don't think hotter in July and Secret Life of Plants? That's definitely not the class. You're talking about the classic period? I'm talking about a run. Because he was still on a run after the classic period. Yeah, but there was such... There was like, there was a break there.

You know what I mean? And I think that, you know, maybe we're maybe, you know, Tom York and the boys would look at this different and be like, no, this is not how we're thinking about it. But sometimes other people are better objectively, like, like you kind of have this demarcation point from 97 to 07 based upon the albums. And not only your love for them, but kind of like the lineage of it. Yeah. And so they are somewhat arbitrary, but once you've had some space to look back artistically

and what the flow, because there's other stuff like in terms of, you know, sometimes the instrumentation and what, I mean, because Stevie had that whole period where he was playing everything. Yeah. And he did that sum, and then, like, everything changed. Yeah. Stevie stayed the same. Stevie stayed the same, but everything changed.

And I think also there's a cultural thing where you kind of like age out. Yeah, a little bit of, I mean, they're still in their 30s here. And isn't there a thing, like, we could say this for anybody, but I mean, we're talking about Radiohead here too, where you have the presence of mind, you know, you're not only great musicians, but you're great, you've made a great important rock band, one of the most important of all time.

You know what I mean? The fact that you could even be like, this is our revolver. I don't even know these guys, I don't know how cocky they are, but I mean, I don't think they're too cocky to say that, you know. Or they're cocky enough to say that. But the idea of... I think they're appropriately cocky.

I tried to guess. Right. But the fact that, I mean, I'm sure at this same point, they could look back, I mean, a couple years after this record and be like, damn, we've made some stuff. You made some shit. We didn't just, this isn't some one-hit wonders.

It wasn't even a lot of hits. It would be. But it was a lot of important albums, right? How much fun would it be to do a classic run episode? We should do that. Because think about the Beatles. Beethoven. 60, Beatles 63, 74?

Yeah. 70? Yep. And then they're not even a band after that. Can't say their name. We can't play their music. Can't play their music. You think about John Coltrane. Yeah.

You know, he goes on this tear for like five, six years where he's just like growing and we're all, you know, watching this evolution happen. The meters. The meters. That's a run. Prince. We've already talked about Prince's run from the late 70s until the late 80s, you know.

Well, drop in the comments if you want us to go running. Hey. Well, this is so cool, man. Should we do some categories real quick? Oh, dang. Desert Island. What's your apex moment slash Desert Island? I got weird fishes for my, weird fishes for my desert island.

I like weird fishers. I mean, I'm going to be really following your lead on this. I like that reckoner. That was killer. That was, I mean, even if I hadn't seen this loose described as growing out of a loose group jam, that was immediately the feel and the vibe. And that was a nice little pattern interruptor,

not so much like with the sound or the vibe, but with the approach. Yeah, yeah. Quibble bits. I have, was too expensive. Was it expensive? No, it was paying what you want. Oh, I thought you meant the production of that.

That was a joke. It was a joke. That was good. I love jokes that have to be explained. Thank you. Okuchamolz. I wouldn't know because I won't see it. It was an iPod V2.

Okay. Is this their best album? No, I'm going to say, for me, K'd A. Really? Yeah. Okay. There you go. Okay, this will be a good one.

Snobometer. Five. Man, you used to hate the five. And now you're dialed in on the five. I'm dialed in. I'm locked in on five. I feel like Radiohead is always, wait, 10 is more snobby, right?

Yeah. I feel like anything radio head It has to at least be a six. I'm going to go seven. But it sold three million copies. Dude, Robert Glasper, Brad Meldow. That's all, and Adam Manus. That's the trifect of snobbiness.

And Ethan Iverson, I'm sure. And Alan Iverson happens to love radio heads. So that's fun fact. Hey, AI, come on the show. Up next, I have that 2006 Tom York solo album that I mentioned called The Eraser. This is Adams for Peace. This is such a cool project.

If you haven't checked out the eraser, the whole thing is beautiful. It's 2006. Yeah. How's it going to be up next? occurred before it you're going back in time because we're in the future now we have all of this

but that's kind of what I was saying like when you have forget about 20 years later even a couple years later you could look back and be like oh you started explaining in a way that they didn't even know at the time you know it's like oh this makes sense

that led to that no more going to the dark side with a flying saucer eyes the other guys in radio head should have sued Tom York for not calling us a radio. I can already tell what that's going. Well, you can hear what Tom is into on that one. What do you think I'm next, Peter?

What do you put next in this? Oh, this might be controversial for reasons. I see what you're doing. I love it. I love it. I'm looking in 2007. Kanye West, I'm not even going to say his name. Graduation.

Such a good album. That's a great album. Such a great album. And that was the same year. It's a, who? Kanye West. It was a different person in that time. Man, I wish he was still that person

so we could talk about some of that music because it was so amazing. And I think, like, I was kind of, I wasn't listening to him a lot, but I remember, like, that year, now I know, remember, it's 2007, I can even place it, was like, yes. Buddy, can we please do some more from this era?

Can we do some Dilla beats? Can we do some... Let's do some Kanye. How about, let's go all the way in there. I just love this era. The 2000s were so fun. They were so good. The a aughts.

Right? The aughts. The aughts. We ought to do that. We'll hear it.