Kid A

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The Most Anticipated and Uniquely Marketed Album of the New Millenium. Eschewing Most of their Conventions, Radiohead have Reinvented their Music from the Ground Up. Their Approach Has Been Hailed as Having Produced the First Masterpiece of the Year. While it May Take Some Time to Absorb, Repeated Listenings Yield Deep Aural Pleasure. .co.uk ------ Radiohead may well be the most courageous band in Britain. Their second album, The Bends ( /exec/obidos/ASIN/B000002TQV/%24%7B0%7D ), was a success both critically and commercially, and they followed it up with an album of epic prog-rock, OK Computer ( /exec/obidos/ASIN/B000002UJQ/%24%7B0%7D ), that would have destined a lesser band to commercial failure and, eventually, obscurity. Instead, it was almost universally hailed as one of the finest albums ever recorded. So it should come as no great surprise that their fourth album, Kid A, is even more experimental, owing a debt to the studio-born soundscapes of Brian Eno ( /exec/obidos/artist-search/Brian%20Eno/%24%7B0%7D ), Aphex Twin ( /exec/obidos/artist-search/Aphex%20Twin/%24%7B0%7D ) and even later Talk Talk ( /exec/obidos/artist-search/Talk%20Talk/%24%7B0%7D ). Kid A is an album that would not sound out of place on the Warp Records roster, as keyboards, sequencers and electronic effects take the place of guitars on most tracks (particularly unusual for a band that boasts three guitarists). In fact, this is an album that succeeds without rock's bombast, from the looping keyboards of album opener "Everything In Its Right Place" to the bouncing, bass-led "The National Anthem" to the album's hauntingly atmospheric highlight, "Idioteque". Meanwhile, more traditional Radiohead tracks like "How To Disappear Completely" and "Optimistic" offer a natural bridge between the electronic noodlings of Kid A and the (slightly) more mainstream-sounding OK Computer. Radiohead may well be the most innovative popular band since the Beatles ( /exec/obidos/artist-search/Beatles/%24%7B0%7D ); as such, Kid A represents the most successful evolution of a major British act since Sgt Pepper's ( /exec/obidos/ASIN/B000002UAU/%24%7B0%7D ). --Robert Burrow