[Album] Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007)

Quote:

First off, it will only be available on www.inrainbows.com initially. Secondly, it appears that they are releasing this album without a signed deal with a record company. Of course, many of us have been saying for years that they don't need EMI or any label.

If you go to the site now, you'll notice that there are two options for pre-ordering: Discbox and Download.

What is the difference?

DISCBOX
THIS CONSISTS OF THE NEW ALBUM, IN RAINBOWS, ON CD AND ON 2 X 12 INCH HEAVYWEIGHT VINYL RECORDS. A SECOND, ENHANCED CD CONTAINS MORE NEW SONGS, ALONG WITH DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHS AND ARTWORK. THE DISCBOX ALSO INCLUDES ARTWORK AND LYRIC BOOKLETS. ALL ARE ENCASED IN A HARDBACK BOOK AND SLIPCASE.

THE ALBUM DOWNLOAD AUTOMATICALLY COMES WITH THIS PACK. YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE FILE DIGITALLY FROM THE 10TH OCTOBER 2007.

DISCBOXES ARE BEING MADE TO ORDER AND ARE PRICED AT £40.00 INCLUDING POSTAGE. SHIPPING WILL BEGIN ON OR BEFORE 3RD DECEMBER 2007.

Tracklisting:
CD 1 AND VINYL
15 STEP
BODYSNATCHERS
NUDE
WEIRD FISHES/ARPEGGI
ALL I NEED
FAUST ARP
RECKONER
HOUSE OF CARDS
JIGSAW FALLING INTO PLACE
VIDEOTAPE

CD 2 AND VINYL
MK 1
DOWN IS THE NEW UP
GO SLOWLY
MK 2
LAST FLOWERS
UP ON THE LADDER
BANGERS AND MASH
4 MINUTE WARNING

DOWNLOAD
If you don't want to pay for all the extra stuff, you can simply download the songs on October 10th. How much does it cost? YOU DECIDE. Radiohead is letting you choose how much to pay. No really, it's up to you.

Tracklisting:
15 STEP
BODYSNATCHERS
NUDE
WEIRD FISHES/ARPEGGI
ALL I NEED
FAUST ARP
RECKONER
HOUSE OF CARDS
JIGSAW FALLING INTO PLACE
VIDEOTAPE

source

Granted, the price you put in is all in british sterling, but how fucking cool is this? Radiohead is a fantastic band, and I'll gladly give them some of my hard-earned money for some of their amazing music.

It's funny too, how pissed the record labels are over all of this. Well, I wouldn't say pissed so much as I'd say "whiny", but yeah. Quoted from this Time magazine article:

Quote:

While many industry observers speculated that Radiohead might go off-label for its seventh album, it was presumed the band would at least rely on Apple's iTunes or United Kingdom-based online music store 7digital for distribution. Few suspected the band members had the ambition (or the server capacity) to put an album out on their own. The final decision was apparently made just a few weeks ago, and, when informed of the news on Sunday, several record executives admitted that, despite the rumors, they were stunned. "This feels like yet another death knell," emailed an A&R executive at a major European label. "If the best band in the world doesn't want a part of us, I'm not sure what's left for this business."

Labels can still be influential and profitable by focusing on younger acts that need their muscle to get radio play and placement in record stores — but only if the music itself remains a saleable commodity. "That's the interesting part of all this," says a producer who works primarily with American rap artists. "Radiohead is the best band in the world; if you can pay whatever you want for music by the best band in the world, why would you pay $13 dollars or $.99 cents for music by somebody less talented? Once you open that door and start giving music away legally, I'm not sure there's any going back."

Awesome, just awesome.

Oh, and the album comes out next week (October 10th) worldwide. Just so you know.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

They're going to eventually release the regular version of the album in stores sometime next year. I'm not entirely sure when, though.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I wasn't able to download the album from the website until late Thursday night, but I've been listening to it all weekend and I'm totally in love.
I have to mirror Karasu's comments about the album being mellow and harmonic. Although it does have its upbeat moments, notably '15 Step' and 'All I Need'.
I strangely love 'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi' and I don't know why. It's just so damn, I don't know, awesome.



On a side note:

I just looked at Isohunt to see how many people were torrenting it, and noticed one of them listed as "320kbps", but with a filesize the same as the 160kbps official release from the website. What a bunch of idiots.

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No one here is forking out for the vinyl release I hope.

I don't know about here, but I've heard that a lot of people ordered the box set.

Either way I plan on downloading the 2nd disc when that hits the internet. I might send them a few more pounds if I like it, unless it's coming with the in-store album anyway.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.