While we all eagerly await bootlegged copies of “112: Live at Fairfield,” to appear on the campus network, hopefully Radiohead can hold us over.
Just months after their June release of “Amnesiac,” the Oxford quintet has released their first live album, “I Might Be Wrong,” with songs pulled from their European shows in Berlin, Oxford, Oslo, and Vaison La Romaine.
Emphasis on the “might” in the title. If Radiohead are wrong, no musicians should ever be right. The eight song CD shows listeners why Radiohead simply is the greatest band in the world (Spin’s words last year, not ours). While most Radiohead albums contain small details perfected in the studio, the live album shows that the band can do it just as well on stage.
1. The National Anthem- The opener at every show, amazing not only because it starts with a transistor radio being sampled, but because the driving bass line is loud, fuzzy and moves the whole song along. Thom Yorke’s grunting only add to the fun.
2. I Might Be Wrong- Radiohead has always had the ability to make certain songs better live (“Talk Show Host,” anything from “Pablo Honey”). This song could quite possibly be the greatest example of making a song better for the fans. The tempo has been upped and as a result so has the quality.
3. Morning Bell- “The Divorce Song,” not only jams more than it did on “Kid A,” but Thom’s mumbling rants at the end of the track lend it a resonance that was missing from the studio version.
4. Like Spinning Plates- If there was any proof needed why this band has the greatest skills in the world, this song is it. Forgoing the operatic auras of the “Amnesiac” version, a simple piano chord drives the live version. Outstanding.
5. Idioteque- A great, rousing sing-along that is filled with so much energy that you have to listen to it again.
6. Everything In Its Right Place- The greatest live version of any song committed to CD in ten years. Sampling, normally confined to rap music (and music studios) lifts the song into another dimension. Thom Yorke’s vocals swoop in and out of focus as Colin Greenwood’s bass line pushes the song along. Hypnotic.
7. Dollars and Cents- The album’s only misstep, it just seems out of place. While the song is well performed, it just doesn’t have the greatness of the other seven tracks.
8. True Love Waits- For Radiohead fans, the equivalent of finding the Loch Ness Monster. First performed in Brussels in 1995, the song only made it into regular rotation live this year, despite the enormous popularity of the 95 bootleg. An absolutely wonderful song, that not only makes you want more, but it makes you wonder what other gems Radiohead might be holding back from the world.
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