Amnesiac

Amnesiac
Studio album by Radiohead
Released	4 June 2001
Recorded	January 1999 – late 2000
Genre	Alternative rock, electronica
Length	43:55
Label	Parlophone
Producer	Nigel Godrich, Radiohead
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Blender link NME (8/10) link Pitchfork Media (9.0/10) link PopMatters (positive) link Robert Christgau link Rolling Stone link Slant link Sputnikmusic link Stylus (B) link Tiny Mix Tapes link The Village Voice (positive) link The Washington Post (positive) link
Radiohead chronology
Kid A (2000) Amnesiac (2001) Hail to the Thief (2003)
Singles from Amnesiac
"I Might Be Wrong" Released: 2001 "Pyramid Song" Released: May 16, 2001 "Knives Out" Released: August 6, 2001

Amnesiac is the fifth studio album by English alternative rock band Radiohead. It was released on 4 June 2001 in the United Kingdom, debuting at #1 on the UK charts and #2 on the Billboard Top 200. Amnesiac featured more audible guitar than its direct predecessor Kid A, and unlike that album, it spun off several singles. Like Kid A, it synthesised influences of electronic music, ambient music, classical music, and jazz.

Recording and relation to Kid A

Both Amnesiac and Radiohead's album Kid A, which was released eight months earlier in 2000, were recorded in the same period. Most songs on Amnesiac were recorded during the same recording sessions that produced Kid A ("Life in a Glasshouse", however, was recorded with the band of jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton in late 2000, after the release of Kid A).

According to guitarist Ed O'Brien, "We had to come to grips with starting a song from scratch in the studio and making it into something, rather than playing it live, rehearsing it and then getting a good take of a live performance. None of us played that much guitar on these records. Suddenly we were presented with the opportunity and the freedom to approach the music the way Massive Attack does: as a collective, working on sounds, rather than with each person in the band playing a prescribed role. It was quite hard work for us to adjust to the fact that some of us might not necessarily be playing our usual instrument on a track, or even playing any instrument at all. Once you get over your insecurities, then it's great."^[1]

While explaining the decision to release two albums rather than one, singer Thom Yorke said, "They are separate because they cannot run in a straight line with each other. They cancel each other out as overall finished things... In some weird way, I think Amnesiac gives another take on Kid A, a form of explanation." He continued: "Something traumatic is happening in Kid A… this is looking back at it, trying to piece together what has happened."^[2] About the differences with the previous record he says: "I think the artwork is the best way of explaining it. The artwork to Kid A was all in the distance. The fires were all going on the other side of the hill. With Amnesiac, you're actually in the forest while the fire's happening."

Yorke said, "I read that the gnostics believe when we are born we are forced to forget where we have come from in order to deal with the trauma of arriving in this life. I thought this was really fascinating. It's like the river of forgetfulness. It may have been recorded at same time... but it comes from a different place I think. It sounds like finding an old chest in someone's attic with all these notes and maps and drawings and descriptions of going to a place you cannot remember. That's what I think anyway."^[3]

The album is dedicated to "Noah and Jamie", sons of Thom Yorke and Phil Selway, respectively, who were born between the release of Kid A and the release of Amnesiac.

Singles

The album's lead single was "Pyramid Song", except in the United States where "I Might Be Wrong" was a radio-only single. "Pyramid Song" was Radiohead's first single since 1998's "No Surprises", as their prior album, Kid A, had spun off no official singles. The song reached #5 in the UK, one of the band's highest chart positions. The second single on both sides of the Atlantic was "Knives Out", which reached #13 in the UK and #1 in Canada. Again, unlike Kid A, music videos were produced for both singles, by Shynola and Michel Gondry, respectively. Two separate videos were made for "I Might Be Wrong", one by Sophie Muller, and an Internet-only release by Chris Bran.

B-sides

As the first Radiohead album with commercial singles released since 1997's OK Computer, the band's Amnesiac era also yielded many new B-sides to the singles. Half of them ("Fast-track," "Kinetic," "Cuttooth," "Life in a Glasshouse (Full Version)") were recorded during the Kid A/Amnesiac sessions, while the other half hail from a late 2000 recording session after the conclusion of the Kid A tour. Several of them, such as "Cuttooth" and "Kinetic", are referenced frequently in guitarist Ed O'Brien's studio diary of the sessions. "Cuttooth" was apparently an important song during these recording sessions, to which Radiohead devoted much time, only being left off Amnesiac at the final stages.

Reception

Amnesiac was received well by most critics, earning a 75/100 rating on review aggregator MetaCritic.^[4] It was also ranked as one of the best albums of the year by several publications. The Village Pazz and Jop poll ranked it number 6 on their top 10 albums of the year. Alternative Press declared it the #1 album of the year. Los Angeles Times also ranked it number 5, and Rolling Stone ranked it number 10 and also ranked it 25 on the 100 best albums of the decade. Others included Magnet (in no order), Mojo (number 8), 3 of the 4 major reviewers of The Onion (number 8, 8, and 5), and Spin and Spin Cycle at number 2 and 3. The album nearly matched Kid A in terms of sales, and although it debuted lower in America it yet managed to sell more copies in its first week. As a result, Amnesiac indicated that the band's continued musical explorations were commercially viable to a mass audience, and cemented Radiohead's status as one of only a few modern UK rock bands able to achieve consistent success in the US.^[5] In 2010, Rolling Stone would rank Amnesiac as the 25th best album of the decade 2000-2009.^[6]

Amnesiac was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2001, though it lost to PJ Harvey's Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, an album on which Yorke had appeared the previous year in a duet with Harvey (Yorke thanked PJ Harvey in the liner notes to Radiohead's 2003 release, Hail to the Thief). Like Radiohead's three previous releases, Amnesiac was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album, but the award instead went to Coldplay for Parachutes.

The band wrote the songs for both Amnesiac and Kid A in the studio, without regard for live performances, which had to be developed and arranged later. Many of the songs that ended up on Amnesiac had been played and recorded during shows in 2000 to promote Kid A. Radiohead had not toured widely outside of Europe since 1998, but in 2001, their Amnesiac tour reached North America and Japan.

Several months after the release of Amnesiac, the I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings EP was published. This EP had recordings from the tour, including Amnesiac tracks "I Might Be Wrong", "Like Spinning Plates", and "Dollars & Cents". This live version of Like Spinning Plates features the melody of the studio version played in reverse.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Radiohead. 

Early French promotional copies included a bonus track titled "Like Spinning Plates (Reversed)" which is just as the title suggests. It is unknown if the band approved this as no other release contains this track in that form.

Collector's Edition Bonus CD

Tracks 9–14 recorded live at Canal+ Studios, 28-04-01
Track 15 taken from I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings

Special Collector's Edition DVD

Other editions

In addition to the standard release of Amnesiac, a special edition album was released. This consists of a red hardback book, like the book pictured on the album cover. The book is styled as a library book from "Catachresis College Library", with the CD inside the book cover along with library slips and date stamps, some of which reference Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. The book featured many pages of art designed by Stanley Donwood and Thom Yorke, who went by the pseudonym of "Tchocky" when credited. In 2002, the special edition album won Donwood and Yorke a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package. "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" is called "Pull/Pulk Revolving Doors" on this version.

Release history

The album was released in various countries in June 2001.

References

External links

• Feature and Interview on Amnesiac: Simon Reynolds, "Walking on Thin Ice", The Wire, July 2001 (archived at Follow Me Around)
• Feature and Interview by Nick Kent on Amnesiac: "Happy Now?", Mojo, June 2001 (archived at Follow Me Around)
• Radiohead recalls recording 'Amnesiac'

Radiohead Thom Yorke • Jonny Greenwood • Ed O'Brien • Colin Greenwood • Phil Selway Studio albums Pablo Honey • The Bends • OK Computer • Kid A • Amnesiac • Hail to the Thief • In Rainbows EPs Drill • Itch • My Iron Lung • No Surprises/Running from Demons • Airbag / How Am I Driving? • 8 Outtakes From Amnesiac • COM LAG (2plus2isfive) Live album I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings Compilations Radiohead Box Set • Radiohead: The Best Of Singles "Creep" • "Anyone Can Play Guitar" • "Pop Is Dead" • "Stop Whispering" • "High and Dry"/"Planet Telex" • "Fake Plastic Trees" • "Just" • "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" • "Paranoid Android" • "Karma Police" • "No Surprises" • "Pyramid Song" • "I Might Be Wrong" • "Knives Out" • "There There" • "Go to Sleep" • "2 + 2 = 5" • "Jigsaw Falling into Place" • "Nude" • "Reckoner" • "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" • "These Are My Twisted Words" Other songs "Exit Music (For a Film)" • "Everything in Its Right Place" • "The National Anthem" • "Optimistic" • "Idioteque" • "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" • "House of Cards" • "Bodysnatchers" DVDs Live at the Astoria • 7 Television Commercials • Meeting People Is Easy • The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time • Radiohead: The Best Of • In Rainbows – From the Basement • Live in Praha Related articles Discography • Live performances • Awards and nominations • List of Radiohead songs • Nigel Godrich • Stanley Donwood • The Help Album • The Eraser • Jonny Greenwood Is the Controller • There Will Be Blood • Bodysong • Jaydiohead • Familial • Atoms for Peace • "Scott Tenorman Must Die" • Dead Children Playing Book:Radiohead • Category:Radiohead • Portal:Alternative music