Amnesiac | 
| Artist: Radiohead
Label: Parlophone
List Price: £13.99
Buy New: £4.47
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Rating:  151 reviews
Sales Rank: 1675
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 5 x 0.4
UPC: 724353276423
EAN: 0724353276423
ASIN: B00005B4GU
Release Date: June 4, 2001
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| Tracks:
| • | Packt Like Sardines In A Crushed Tin Box | | • | Pyramid Song | | • | Pulk/pull Revolving Doors | | • | You And Whose Army | | • | I Might Be Wrong | | • | Knives Out | | • | Morning Bell/Amnesiac | | • | Dollars And Cents | | • | Hunting Bears | | • | Like Spinning Plates | | • | Life In A Glasshouse |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Though the songs on Amnesiac were recorded at the same time as those on its predecessor, Kid A, the gap between the releases of the pair suggests a determination on Radiohead's part that the two should not be perceived as halves of the same whole. However, there is little in the way of meaningful stylistic divergence between the two albums--Amnesiac shares with Kid A an atmosphere of defeated, vengeful paranoia, a heavy reliance on electronic noises and distorted vocals, a somewhat frustrating absence of Jonny Greenwood's guitar and the song "Morning Bell", which reappears on Amnesiac in a slightly less mournful arrangement. It may just be that Radiohead felt that it might have been a bit much to ask anyone, even Radiohead fans, to consume this entire lugubrious trove at once. Amnesiac, like Kid A is heavy going. And, also like Kid A, Amnesiac rewards repeated listenings generously. The more acute Thom Yorke's lyrical biliousness grows, the harder the band work to redeem matters with some moments of astonishing beauty. "You and Whose Army?" contains gorgeous knelling piano evocative of "Karma Police", "Like Spinning Plates" deploys a backwards backing track to bewitching effect, and the closing track, "Life in a Glasshouse", is an exuberant Laughing Clowns-style wig-out, featuring veteran jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttleton. Once again, it is not so much that Radiohead have not put a foot wrong, but that they're walking where nobody else has trodden. Amnesiac is another giant leap. --Andrew Mueller
Amazon.co.uk Review
Though the songs on Amnesia were recorded at the same time as those on its predecessor, Kid A, the gap between the releases of the pair suggests a determination on Radiohead's part that the two should not be perceived as halves of the same whole. However, there is little in the way of meaningful stylistic divergence between the two albums--Amnesiac shares with Kid A an atmosphere of defeated, vengeful paranoia, a heavy reliance on electronic noises and distorted vocals, a somewhat frustrating absence of Jonny Greenwood's guitar and the song "Morning Bell", which reappears on Amnesiac in a slightly less mournful arrangement. It may just be that Radiohead felt that it might have been a bit much to ask anyone, even Radiohead fans, to consume this entire lugubrious trove at once. Amnesiac, like Kid A is heavy going. And, also like Kid A, Amnesiac rewards repeated listenings generously. The more acute Thom Yorke's lyrical biliousness grows, the harder the band work to redeem matters with some moments of astonishing beauty. "You and Whose Army?" contains gorgeous knelling piano evocative of "Karma Police", "Like Spinning Plates" deploys a backwards backing track to bewitching effect, and the closing track, "Life in a Glasshouse", is an exuberant Laughing Clowns-style wig-out, featuring veteran jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttleton. Once again, it is not so much that Radiohead have not put a foot wrong, but that they're walking where nobody else has trodden. Amnesiac is another giant leap. --Andrew Mueller
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 151
Not quite Kid B, more Kid A- April 24, 2010
klaher (Dublin)
This album is possibly more accessible than Kid A. The opening track, Packt Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box, is a thoroughly original piece of music, driven by a wonderful bassline and a great chorus of 'I'm a reasonable man, get off my case'.
This momentum is spoiled a little by the next track, the funereal 'Pyramid Song'. Not a bad song in itself, but the plodding pace of it jars after Packt. And the less said about the next track, Pull/Pulk Revolving Doors, the better. It's kind of a drum 'n' bass experiment with some warped vocals thrown in, minus any melody worth speaking about. You and Whose Army comes as a welcome relief, which starts with Yorke singing over some sparse electric guitar, before the rest of the instruments come in and build to a great little climax. I Might Be Wrong grooves along nicely, leading into Knives Out, the most 'normal Radiohead' sounding track on the album. It's a great tune, all long drawn-out syllables and jangly guitars.
Morning Bell is reprised from Kid A, but with a totally different arrangement. The serene Kid A arrangement is replaced by an almost child-like arrangement. It sounds a little throw-away until you realise that you can hear the lyrics even more clearly as Yorke's voice is right out front, giving more emphasis to lines like 'cut the kids in half'.
It's followed by Dollars and Cents which to my ears is less interesting and a bit more old-school Radiohead. Hunting Bears is a nice instrumental led by electric guitar which builds a nice healthy bit of tension before the warped sounding Like Spinning Plates, where it sounds like the keyboard line was played backwards.
Life in A Glasshouse is the closing track and it sounds like an old jazz band after taking a load of downers. Yorke sounds almost too bleak on this one before becoming somewhat dismissive at the end ('of course I'd like to sit around and chat'). It's an unsettling way to end the album. Nevertheless the album rewards repeat listening. It's less of a cohesive listen than Kid A, but probably contains more impressive individual songs.
 Another oustanding Record! March 2, 2010
Kenneth (nottingham, england)
With radioheads back catalogue of albums garnering more praise than any other bands has in the past decade atleast, it might be tempting for detractors to dismiss this album out of spite alone assuming that it will be championed via the critical mass theory and any overwhelmingly positive reviews of it will be subject to their own self fulfilling prophecies. Whether those cynical theories have any credence or bare any truth on to why this record is frequently heralded as yet another masterpiece from the band that can do no wrong is about as interesting to me as weather reports. All i know is they've made another great album, and if you think i've fallen victim to the tyranny of the masses than allow me to explain why.
"i'm a reasonable man get off my case" thom yorke murmurs on the opening track perhaps addressing both his devoted fans and the tone deaf cynics in the same sentence giving the impression the weights of expectation aren't what he's in it for the minimalism surrounding "packt like Sardines" completely waylays you from predicting what will follow it "pyramaid song" arguably one of the bands greatest songs to date it creates an opaque yet bewildering atmosphere that completely draws you into an alternate universe of oddity and wonder it's grandeur has a breathtaking beauty that will literally render you speechless and where supposed to believe he wrote the song in 15 minutes when it would take a mere mortal a lifetime to try to capture this depth of beauty in one song (yeh sure tom we believe you). "pulk/pull" "Morning bell/amnesiac" and "like Spinning Plates" shut your eyes and drug your mind giving way to vivid imagery of alien landscapes and blackholes this time though it feels almost too unfamiliar to connect with, although you still find yourself gleefully hallucinating in this warped neverland.
"You and Whose Army" is effortlessly cathartic as the drums and piano combine to create sheer ecstasy inducing you into a state of near paralysis as "I Might Be Wrong" washes over you like a stream of conciousness you're helpless and scared as "knifes out" plays in with unrelentingly melancholy asking you to look into it's eyes and what do you see "dollars and cents" staring back at you this song perhaps evokes cerebral thought with it's political undertones hidden in a sea of bass, distorted violins and drum brushes but your emotions are whats being targeted as thom yorke wails "I wanna live in the promised land" fighting with himself as he's told to quiet down and just before they "crack your little souls" hunting bears provides a devilishly strange instrumental leaving you stranded in the middle of nowhere you luckily stumble into some sleazy jazz club and guess who's playing "life in a Glasshouse" to finish you off and believe me by this point you will be emotively drained and psychologically disorientated but i'm willing to wager that you'll want to go through the whole experience all over again and again and again as i've done and feel truely priveleged to have been able to.
A Mixed Bag (including greatness) February 8, 2010
Mr. Blu (Europe)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Amnesiac" starts off where "Kid A" left off: for me, "Packt like Sardines" sounds like a "Kid A" track. Then comes "Pyramid Song", which for me is still today the most amazing track by Radiohead. Very simple, very minimalistic in a way, it feels like some sort of soundscape just reaching out into eternity. Very zen, love it.
Then, dear, oh dear, what the hell were they thinking with "Pulk/Pull"? I really hate this track, having given it many, many chances and yet I continue to find it unlistenable. Luckily the album immediately redeems itself with the slow, haunting "You and Whose Army". "I Might Be Wrong" and "Knives Out" continue the album's good run, even if the former is, again, very "Kid A". But I was really disappointed by the reworking of my favourite "Kid A" track, "Morning Bell"; they should have left well alone.
For me, the album then dips quite considerably. "Dollars & Cents" doesn't do anything for me, and "Hunting Bears" seems somewhat insubstantial. Then "Like Spinning Plates" pops up to give "Pulk/Pull" a run for its money in the worst track stakes. Thank God for "Life in a Glasshouse" which allows the album to close in style.
So quite a mixed bag, combining the sublime and the, quite frankly, pretty poor. It certainly doesn't have a chance against "Kid A" as an album to be measured in its totality. But it has to be bought if only for "Pyramid Song". Just know that this is one CD where you might want to program the tracks you want to listen to.
A great album becomes a good one September 5, 2009
Mr. M. A. Reed (Somewhere, GB)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
"Kid A" and "Amnesiac" are largely the two sides of the same coin. Written and recorded at the same time, the two albums are the twins of the same musical pregnancy, seperated and left to live their own lives. "Amnesiac" suffers slightly from being the younger brother - the perception being it is made of out-takes and not very good songs. This is nonsense.
The two albums really are part of the same whole and should be seen only as companion pieces, not seperate entities. One could argue that each should have different selections and running orders, that the records are in a way, slightly schizophrenic, split personalities that would've benefit from seperation into two distinct stories, and you would be right. But they are in themselves, both, valid artistic statements with no shortage of integrity or vision.
What is truly baffling is the bonus tracks are, once again, shattered into pieces and fragmented out. The concert that appends "Kid A" and "Amnesiac" is a complete, and passionate one hour from French television after the release of the second album. Nonetheless, the concert is broken into two parts, and the songs divided into their parent albums. Instead of a Radiohead concert, you get a random assortment of songs lacking any cohesion. And since it was broadcast on French Television, you might expect the television broadcast on the DVD that accompanies them.... Well, you'd be wrong. The callous and heathen mutilation of the material is lacking in even a moments thought.
Not only that, but the bonus tracks are frankly, very incomplete, and are presented without a moments thought as to how they may sound when listened to as a complete experience.
The shows they are taken from are mutilated, cut to pieces, kids cut in half, torn apart by demons, and abandoned as roadkill with no care. If these releases are EMI's funeral farewell to Radiohead, theyc ould at least bury the records with dignity instead of leaving the corpse in the road.
The 10 song DVD that accompanies "Amnesiac" is servicable, but again, there's so much space unused, and the whole of that Paris concert that is licensed - and available spread across the two CD's in bits - still remains in a vault visually. What a waste. How these can be regarded as bonus editions when they are assembled with no artistry, no coherency, and no consideration is fairly incomprehensible.
This is the sound of a slapdash, half-bothered attempt to put together some vague appetisers to fool the majority of the public and assembled without any consideration for either what is actually available or what makes any form of musical or artistic sense, validity, or cohesion. The sound of a goal being missed as administrators devalue the art.
Sure, it's a fairly hefty bonus package and assembled with some decency, but it is, by any standard, an incomplete package assembled with no thought for what could provide a truly outstanding release. Why be great, when you can be good? Must try harder.
Elegiac January 15, 2009
J. E. Holden (UK)
Thom Yorke once described Kid A as watching the fire from the distance and Amnesiac as being caught in the flames. In this latter album he is burning, yet soaring with lines like "Why can't angels swim with me", muttering "I'm a reasonable man get off my case", his life is "like spinning plates", he recounts "i might be wrong, but could have swore i saw a light go out", and "of course i'd like to sit and chew the fat, but someone's listening in"... these are the lines of the flames. And a wonderfully brilliant fire it is too.
These are the classic and formidable postscripts to the disillusion and melancholy Radiohead captured so world-changingly in OK Computer, the modern office-bound human, preened on vitamins and running machines "like a cat tied to a stick", the captured tragic hero, fatally undermined by the unreality of his reality.
Elegiac, a nice word, means "expressing sorrow often for something now past". It's also a spot on word to describe what this amazing album does now. Amnesiac, a forgetting of pain and inconsistencies and a remembering of the past of youth and promise, destroyed by encounters with the adult real.
Amnesiac, is a remarkable album and a truly worthy companion to, for me, the album of the decade, Kid A. As such, it is often unfairly forgotten next to its brilliant neighbour. However, Radiohead have not come close to the brilliance in this album since, not to mention its three predecessors, except in a handful of tracks.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 151
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