Radiohead have been working on the 5th LP from August until December 2000. Ed O'Brien describes the opening track, 'packt like sardines in a crushd tin box', as a particularly upbeat and 'poppy' track for Radiohead. The final track is an awesome version of 'Life in a Glass House', featuring a part performed by jazz trumpeter and broadcaster Humphrey Lyttleton and written by Jonny.
Thom Yorke also said on January 11th 2001:. "We need time to finish artwork and the film work that goes with it", The comment demonstrates the bands remarkable volte face regarding matters of promotion. Yorke went on to say that the band are "really proud of Amnesiac and we want to give it a fair chance within the giant scary cogs of the bullshit machine". "If 'Kid A' is difficult then God help us!"
Thom Yorke has lambasted alternative rock, saying it needs to be "bludgeoned to death," and hinted that Radiohead will never return to their traditional guitar roots. He said: "It's really exciting to go back into the studio now feeling confident again having learnt different stuff...having to learn to play music that was written in the studio using editing, sampling and sequencers is the way it makes you think about how you play differently....perhaps nowadays we look more to Can and electronica to work out how to structure stuff."
Jonny Greenwood speaking about the material which was omitted from 'Kid A'. He said: "We've got about 13 or 14 songs which we need to edit a little bit, maybe take a couple out, maybe remix one or two, put them in the right order, and then it is done."
However, bassist Colin Greenwood said: "I'm not sure they are two records. We had that group of songs to make one record, and the other ones are left over. It's that we had, say, 23 songs and we wanted to have around 47 minutes of music, so we chose the best combination out of that number (for 'Kid A'), and the rest are waiting on the bench, waiting to be picked for the next team line-up. "It is a combination of like, more conventional, perhaps, but also more dissonant stuff. But it continues on from 'Kid A'. It was all done in the same recording period. It is all a whole."
However, bassist Colin Greenwood said: "I'm not sure they are two records. We had that group of songs to make one record, and the other ones are left over. It's that we had, say, 23 songs and we wanted to have around 47 minutes of music, so we chose the best combination out of that number (for 'Kid A'), and the rest are waiting on the bench, waiting to be picked for the next team line-up. "It is a combination of like, more conventional, perhaps, but also more dissonant stuff. But it continues on from 'Kid A'. It was all done in the same recording period. It is all a whole."
Ed O'Brien confirmed that some of the material the band palyed live on their 'Kid A tour' will feature on Radiohead's future fifth album. He said: "If you record 24 songs, and some of the songs you play live are off the next record, it's inevitable people are going to talk about the next album. We've got that one over and done with, and it's on to the next one. I think we're on a bit of a roll at the moment. Others may disagree."
Colin added: "We've done lots more recordings and we're trying to find the right way to release more of the songs...we want to find a way of releasing the other songs we've recorded, not just on EPs, and put it together as another piece of work...we've got lots of other songs that we want to release sooner rather than later."
"We've got to sort it out! But we're very happy about it, really excited. "(It'll be out in) March/April time maybe. We don't know yet but we want it to come out then. We've got enough music." He explained that some of the songs destined for the new album had emerged during recording sessions for 'Kid A', but that most were completely new. "This is really more things again," he continued: "(We're) keeping it going, y'know, not be like a boring rock band and do an album every two years."
Thom: "It goes off in two ways. One is like very broken machinery. The other is really fat and dark. I played one of the songs to Bjork-- he said, name dropping-- and she said it sounded like I'd just seen something really frightening, then gone and written about it. It's sort of bearing witness to things. We've all listened to these other songs, getting an idea of what we have. It could be an EPs thing; maybe it will be a better record than the one we've just made. It's impossible for us to judge. In the same way, I can't judge what Kid A is like. I can't listen to it-- I don't want to listen to it. When you're in the mastering suite and you hear it for the final time, with all the gaps between the songs, that's it. After that, I went home with the CD and showed it to Rachel [Yorke's girlfriend], and said, "This is Kid A, and I don't want to hear it anymore." I want to do the same thing with the next one. It's fantastic when you finish something that's hanging around your neck."
Thom Yorke has given the strongest indication yet that 'KID A' and forthcoming album 'AMNESIAC' contain similar musical themes, saying the new record is "the sound of what it feels like to be standing in the fire". When deciding which album to release, that or 'Kid A', it was simply "a question of which gun to fire first". Speaking about the inspiration behind 'Amnesiac', he said: "It's about, the things you forget. And remembering...if you look at the artwork for 'Kid A', well that's the fire from afar. 'Amnesiac' is the sound of what it feels like to be standing in the fire." Yorke claims the record features "vocals sung through egg boxes", and the artwork is being made with "a broken photocopier".
Jonny: "It does sound similar, because it was recorded at the same of time [as kid a] and there is some similar songs. The press has indicated that it's going to be a commercial pop song album which has got us all biting our knuckles going 'oh no, here we go again', but that's how it is."
Here are the lyrics of the songs in Amnesiac:
I Might Be Wrong
