Amnesiac is the fifth studio album by the English
alternative rockAlternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s...
band
RadioheadRadiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their first single, "Creep", in 1992...
. It was released on 4 June 2001 in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, debuting at #1 on the UK charts and #2 on the Billboard Top 200.
Amnesiac featured more audible
guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
than its direct predecessor
Kid AKid A is the fourth album by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released in October 2000. A commercial success worldwide, Kid A went platinum in its first week of release in the UK. Despite the lack of an official single or music video as publicity, Kid A became the first Radiohead...
, and unlike that album, it spun off several
singlesIn music, a single is a short recording of one or more separate tracks. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats.-History:...
. Like
Kid A, it synthesises influences of
electronic musicElectronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
,
ambient musicAmbient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
,
classical musicClassical music is the mainstream music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times...
, and
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
.
Both
Amnesiac and Radiohead's album
Kid AKid A is the fourth album by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released in October 2000. A commercial success worldwide, Kid A went platinum in its first week of release in the UK. Despite the lack of an official single or music video as publicity, Kid A became the first Radiohead...
, which was released eight months earlier in 2000, were recorded in the same period.
Amnesiac is the fifth studio album by the English
alternative rockAlternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s...
band
RadioheadRadiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their first single, "Creep", in 1992...
. It was released on 4 June 2001 in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, debuting at #1 on the UK charts and #2 on the Billboard Top 200.
Amnesiac featured more audible
guitarThe guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, eleven-, twelve-, thirteen- and eighteen-string guitars also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar...
than its direct predecessor
Kid AKid A is the fourth album by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released in October 2000. A commercial success worldwide, Kid A went platinum in its first week of release in the UK. Despite the lack of an official single or music video as publicity, Kid A became the first Radiohead...
, and unlike that album, it spun off several
singlesIn music, a single is a short recording of one or more separate tracks. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats.-History:...
. Like
Kid A, it synthesises influences of
electronic musicElectronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
,
ambient musicAmbient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
,
classical musicClassical music is the mainstream music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times...
, and
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
.
Recording and relation to Kid A
Both
Amnesiac and Radiohead's album
Kid AKid A is the fourth album by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released in October 2000. A commercial success worldwide, Kid A went platinum in its first week of release in the UK. Despite the lack of an official single or music video as publicity, Kid A became the first Radiohead...
, 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
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
trumpeter
Humphrey LytteltonHumphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton , also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster, and chairman of the BBC radio programme I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue...
in late 2000, after the release of
Kid A).
According to guitarist
Ed O'BrienEdward John O'Brien is a member of Radiohead. He plays guitar and is responsible for harmony vocals during live concerts and on many tracks from the band's albums...
, "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 AttackMassive Attack are a British music duo from Bristol, UK, considered to be progenitors of a genre referred to as trip hop, that assemble a collective of various favoured session musicians and guest vocalists with whom they make records and tour live...
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."
While explaining the decision to release two albums rather than one, singer
Thom YorkeThomas Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead singer and principal songwriter of the alternative rock group Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...
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, and this is looking back at it, trying to piece together what has happened." 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."
The album is dedicated to "Noah and Jamie", sons of Thom Yorke and
Phil SelwayPhilip James Selway is an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer and backing vocalist of English alternative rock group Radiohead. He also drums, plays guitar and provides backing and occasional lead vocals for 7 Worlds Collide...
, respectively, who were born between the release of
Kid A and the release of
Amnesiac.
Singles
The album's lead single was "
Pyramid Song"Pyramid Song" is a song by the English band Radiohead. It was the first single from their 2001 album Amnesiac and the first Radiohead single released in over three years, after none were taken from their previous album Kid A....
", except in the United States where "
I Might Be Wrong"I Might Be Wrong" is a song by the English alternative rock group Radiohead from their 2001 album, Amnesiac.-Musical structure:Although the album version is heavily produced by Nigel Godrich and Radiohead, with a more electronic texture, "I Might Be Wrong" is one of the more guitar-oriented songs...
" was a radio-only single. "Pyramid Song" was Radiohead's first single since 1998's "
No Surprises"No Surprises" is a song by the English alternative rock band Radiohead. It was released as the third and final single from the group's 1997 album OK Computer...
", 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"Knives Out" is a song by English alternative rock band Radiohead. The composition features electric and acoustic guitars, complemented by singer Thom Yorke's vocals. It appears on Radiohead's 2001 album Amnesiac, recorded during the same sessions as the previous album Kid A...
", which reached #13 in the UK and #1 in Canada. Again, unlike
Kid A, music videos were produced for both singles, by
ShynolaShynola is the collective name of a group of, then, four visual artistsbased in London who have collaborated on a variety of projects,most notably a number of acclaimed music videos for several pioneering artists....
and
Michel GondryMichel Gondry, born May 8, 1963, is a French film, commercial and music video director and an Academy Award-winning screenwriter. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise en scène.- Biography :...
, respectively. Two separate videos were made for "I Might Be Wrong", one by
Sophie MullerSophie Muller is a British music video director.-Background:Sophie Muller was born in London, United Kingdom, but spent her early years growing up on the Isle Of Man...
, and an Internet-only release by Chris Bran.
Reception
While
Kid A garnered much critical attention,
Amnesiac is sometimes viewed as the less accomplished of the two works. Although the album garnered a generally positive critical reception, it has been criticised for a lack of cohesion. Some critics and fans even refer to this fragmentation as a deliberate device used by Radiohead to escape the formula of their previous work. Nevertheless, the album was received well by most critics and nearly reached
Kid As sales (debuting lower in America, but with more copies sold in the first week), marking the band's continued musical explorations as commercially viable to a mass audience. The album appeared to cement Radiohead's status as one of only a few modern UK rock artists able to achieve consistent success in the US.
Amnesiac
was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2001 (which it lost to PJ HarveyPolly Jean Harvey is an English musician and singer-songwriter. Raised in Corscombe, Dorset, Harvey formed the band as a teenager with drummer Rob Ellis and bassist Ian Olliver, who was replaced with Steve Vaughan. The trio released their first album Dry in 1992...
's Stories from the City, Stories from the SeaStories from the City, Stories from the Sea is an album by English singer-songwriter PJ Harvey, released on 23 October 2000. It became the second major commercial success of PJ Harvey’s career, following her successful 1995 breakthrough To Bring You My Love. The album sold slightly over one million...
, an album on which Yorke had appeared the previous year in a duet with Harvey. Yorke would go on to list PJ Harvey in his Thank Yous section in the band's 2003 release, Hail to the ThiefHail to the Thief is the sixth studio album by English alternative rock band Radiohead, released on 9 June 2003. It debuted at number one in the United Kingdom and at number three in the United States, where it sold a greater number of copies in its first week than any of Radiohead's albums to date...
). Like Radiohead's three previous releases, it was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Alternative AlbumThe Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album has been awarded since 1991. From 2001 to 2003, the award recipients included the producers and engineers as well as the artists...
.
Radiohead wrote the songs of both Amnesiac
and Kid A
in the studio, without regard for live performances, which had to be developed and arranged later. The band had played many of the songs that had already been recorded and would end up on Amnesiac
during shows in 2000 to promote Kid A
, but they had not toured widely outside of Europe since 1998. In 2001, Radiohead's Amnesiac
tour also reached North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
and Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Several months after the release of Amnesiac
, I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings
was released, instead of a previously planned "I Might Be Wrong" single. This "mini album" had recordings from the tour, including Amnesiac
tracks "I Might Be Wrong", "Like Spinning Plates" and "Dollars & Cents". "Like Spinning Plates" was particularly noted for being a departure from the song's studio version.
Special edition
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 "CatachresisCatachresis is "misapplication of a word, especially in a mixed metaphor" according to the Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Another meaning is to use an existing word to denote something that has no name in the current language....
College Library", with the CD inside the book cover along with library slips and date stamps, some of which reference Ray BradburyRay Douglas Bradbury is an American mainstream, fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer.Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles, Bradbury is widely considered one of the greatest and most popular American writers of speculative fiction of the...
's Fahrenheit 451Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel authored by Ray Bradbury and first published in 1951.The novel presents a future American society in which the masses are hedonistic, and critical thought through reading is outlawed. The central character, Guy Montag, is employed as a "fireman"...
. The book featured many pages of art designed by
Stanley DonwoodStanley Donwood is the pen name of English writer and artist Dan Rickwood. Donwood is known for his close association with the British rock group Radiohead, having created all their album and poster art...
and
Thom YorkeThomas Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead singer and principal songwriter of the alternative rock group Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...
, who went by the pseudonym of "Tchocky" when credited. In 2002, the special edition album won Donwood and Yorke a
Grammy AwardThe Grammy Awards —or Grammys—are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry...
for
Best Recording PackageThe Grammy Award for Best Recording Package is the latest in a series of Grammy Awards presented for the visual look of an album. It is presented to the art director of the winning album.- History of the award :...
. "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors" is called "Pull/Pulk Revolving Doors" on this version.
Track listing
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
- "The Amazing Sounds of Orgy"
- "Trans-Atlantic Drawl"
- "Fast-Track"
- "Kinetic"
- "Worrywort"
- "Fog"
- "Cuttooth"
- "Life in a Glasshouse (Full Length Version)"
- "You and Whose Army?" (Canal+ Studios 04/28/01)
- "Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box" (Canal+ Studios 04/28/01)
- "Dollars and Cents" (Canal+ Studios 04/28/01)
- "I Might Be Wrong" (Canal+ Studios 04/28/01)
- "Knives Out" (Canal+ Studios 04/28/01)
- "Pyramid Song" (Canal+ Studios 04/28/01)
- "Like Spinning Plates (Live)" (I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings)
Special Collector's Edition DVD
- "Pyramid Song"
- "Knives Out"
- "I Might Be Wrong"
- "Push Pulk/Spinning Plates"
- "Pyramid Song" (Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. It was traditionally shown every Thursday evening on BBC1, before being moved to Fridays in 1996, and then moved to Sundays on BBC...
05/25/01)
- "Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box" (Later... with Jools Holland 06/09/01)
- "Knives Out" (Later... with Jools Holland 06/09/01)
- "Life in a Glasshouse" (Later... with Jools Holland 06/09/01)
- "I Might Be Wrong" (Later... with Jools Holland 06/09/01)
- "Knives Out" (Top of the Pops 08/17/01)
B-sides
As the first Radiohead album with commercial
singlesIn music, a single is a short recording of one or more separate tracks. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats.-History:...
released since 1997's OK Computer
, the band's Amnesiac
era also yielded many new B-sidesB-Sides is an iTunes-exclusive album from the Coventry Trio The Enemy, consisting of ten songs that were B-sides to the single releases from their debut album We'll Live and Die in These Towns.-Track list:#Fear Killed the Youth of Our Nation...
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'BrienEdward John O'Brien is a member of Radiohead. He plays guitar and is responsible for harmony vocals during live concerts and on many tracks from the band's albums...
'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.
Release history
The album was released in various countries in June 2001.
| Country |
Date |
Label |
Format |
Catalogue number |
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
|
4 June 2001 |
ParlophoneParlophone is a record label, founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company. The ₤ trademark is a German L, for Lindström. It also resembles the British pound sign , which itself is derived from the letter L for Libra, meaning pound in Latin...
|
2x10" |
10FHEIT 45101 |
CDA Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store sound recordings exclusively, but later it also allowed the preservation of other types of data. Audio CDs have been commercially available since October 1982...
|
CDFHEIT 45101 |
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
|
5 June 2001 |
CapitolCapitol Records is a major United States-based record label owned by EMI and located in Los Angeles and New York City as part of Capitol Music Group...
|
CD |
CDP 7243 5 32764 2 3 |
| United States |
5 June 2001 |
Capitol |
CD |
CDP 7243 5 32767 2 0 (special edition) |
External links