The King of Limbs
Encyclopedia
The King of Limbs is the eighth studio album by English rock
band Radiohead
, produced by Nigel Godrich
. It was self-released on 18 February 2011 as a download in MP3
and WAV
formats, followed by physical CD and 12" vinyl releases on 28 March, a wider digital release via AWAL
, and a special "newspaper" edition on 9 May 2011. The physical editions were released through the band's Ticker Tape imprint on XL
in the United Kingdom
, TBD
in the United States
, and Hostess Entertainment
in Japan
.
Following the painstaking recording and relatively conventional rock instrumentation of In Rainbows, Radiohead employed a more spontaneous process to develop The King of Limbs, sampling their own recordings with turntablist techniques inspired by DJing. The band provided little information on the album, not even a track listing, before its release, and did not discuss it in detail until nearly eight months later. Singer Thom Yorke
described it as an expression of "physical movements" and "wildness"; the title King of Limbs possibly refers to an oak
tree in Wiltshire
's Savernake Forest
, thought to be 1,000 years old.
The King of Limbs has the shortest running time and track listing of any Radiohead album. As with 2000's Kid A
, no singles were released, though a music video
was released for the track "Lotus Flower
". The album charted in the top ten in several countries and became a bestseller on vinyl. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and has been nominated for five categories in the 54th Grammy Awards
.
, The King of Limbs was recorded (at least partly) in Los Angeles
, possibly at the home of actress Drew Barrymore
, who is thanked in the album's liner notes
. The recording differed from the difficult In Rainbows
sessions, which guitarist Ed O'Brien
described as "such a slog. We decided at the end of the record never to do it like this again. That was kind of the end of Radiohead mark two." Songwriter Thom Yorke echoed these sentiments: "None of us want to go into that creative hoo-ha of a long-play record again. Not straight off. I mean, it's just become a real drag. It worked with In Rainbows because we had a real fixed idea about where we were going. But we've all said that we can't possibly dive into that again. It'll kill us." In a retrospective interview with NPR
in October 2011, Yorke said the band had felt that "if we are gonna carry on, we need to do it for a new set of reasons."
In September 2010, drummer Phil Selway
stated that the band had been recording "on and off for a year", saying "the process of making In Rainbows — so much came about through what we were doing live — has been quite the opposite so far." O'Brien told Rolling Stone
: "We feel way more empowered in terms of our art and what we're doing. We are in a very different place, a very new place [...] One of the things is we do things without fear... The thing that is different about In Rainbows is that it was an album from the heart. It was a lot warmer. And from what I'm making out in the rehearsal room now, there are still elements of that... I'm an eternal optimist, but I truly believe we can shift massively on this [next] record. That's the thing we all know, that we feel in our bellies as we're rehearsing-- we're on a big move here."
In an interview with NPR
on October 2011, Ed O'Brien and Thom Yorke explained that The King of Limbs has its origins in initial sessions held in 2009, near the end of the In Rainbows tour. In these sessions, the band members used a turntable
with vinyl emulation software
to physically sample
and manipulate music they had been working on. In another interview in September 2011, Ed O'Brien said: "Thom didn’t know how it was gonna be, so we made the songs jamming together [...] Music came first, then the lyrics, and the melody came after. So we had blocks of music and then Thom would write a lead vocal line melody and lyrics to it." O'Brien said this period of experimentation lasted "about five weeks, and it was really like kids in kindergarten. You had to simplify what you were doing — you couldn't do loads of ideas. You had to listen to one another. Believe it or not, in a band you can lose that." Yorke said: "Almost every tune is like a collage: things we’d pre-recorded, each of us, and then were flying at each other. You get to a point where you think, ‘OK, this bit needs a big black line through it.’ It’s like editing a film or something."
With eight tracks and just over 37 minutes of music, The King of Limbs is Radiohead's shortest album. Appearing on a BBC radio show in April 2011, Ed O'Brien explained that Radiohead felt the ideal album was around 40 minutes long, citing Marvin Gaye
's What's Going On
as a classic record shorter than The King of Limbs. Cover artist Stanley Donwood
said: "In Rainbows was very much a definitive statement, and that isn't where the band are at the moment. Where they are now is more transitory. When a newspaper comes out, that doesn't mean news stops, what you have is just a snapshot of how things were at the moment that newspaper was printed. And similarly, this album shows where Radiohead are at the moment the record was released. The music is a continuing thing. And we wanted to make the album representative of that."
Two tracks not included on the album but worked on during the same sessions, "Supercollider
" and "The Butcher
", were released as a single
for Record Store Day
on 16 April 2011. The tracks were later made available as free downloads to those who purchased The King of Limbs from the Radiohead website.
and Colin Greenwood
's rhythm section
, with prominent use of sampling, looping
and ambient sounds
, including samples of natural sounds such as birdsong and wind.
The first track, "Bloom", opens with a repeating piano
loop and features complex rhythms and a flugelhorn
arrangement by Jonny Greenwood
. "Morning Mr Magpie", debuted as a solo acoustic performance by Thom Yorke in a webcast in 2002, appears with a repeating electric guitar
riff
and a looping hi-hat
pattern. "Little by Little" features intricate guitar playing over busy, syncopated percussion. "Feral" is an instrumental
featuring wordless, processed vocals, cut-up drum loops, and a distorted synth bassline
. "Lotus Flower
" features a driving synth bassline and Yorke's falsetto
vocals; it was performed by Yorke on acoustic guitar prior to the album's release. "Codex" is a slow piano
ballad
with flugelhorns and strings
. "Give Up the Ghost", an acoustic guitar
ballad with call-and-response
vocal harmonies, was debuted by Yorke in 2010 along with an acoustic version of the album's final track, "Separator", featuring a looped drum pattern and "Neil Young-inspired" electric guitar riff.
Thom Yorke told NPR
: "[The King of Limbs] is sort of a visual thing more than anything else. The images [...] were a very important part of the music. Lyrics were... it wasn't conscious thematics. It was like physical movements [...] Wildness ideas. Ideas of mutating, of creatures. Environmental worries
in my head have become this weird obsession." Yorke rejected the NPR interviewer's suggestion that The King of Limbs was "experimental music
", saying that the band were "constantly absorbing music" and their songs were a reflection of their learning and "stealing" from other artists.
had spent living in forests. As with previous Radiohead albums, Donwood worked with the band as they recorded; the music made Donwood think of "immense multicoloured cathedrals of trees, with music echoing from the branches whilst strange fauna lurked in the fog." He felt The King of Limbs was "very much about natural forms. I'd heard something about the northern European imagination, in the sense of all our fairy stories and mythical creatures, they all come from the woods - Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel & Gretel..." He and Thom Yorke "drew pictures of trees with eyes, with mobile limbs, and mouths and familiars", creating "strange, multi-limbed creatures that are neither malevolent or benevolent, they're simply there, part of the living spirit of the forest."
For the special edition of the The King of Limbs, Donwood wanted to create something different from the special 'discbox' edition of previous album In Rainbows, which he described as "very definitive; there was the record, in a kind of massive box, all shiny and heavy and a bit like a coffee table book
. It was almost like a complete forensic file: all the evidence, all the data, extra CDs with more material." Feeling this "definitive" approach was "entirely wrong" for The King of Limbs, he sought to create something "in a state of flux." He chose newspaper
for "its ephemeral nature", admiring "the way the paper goes yellow and brittle when you leave it out in the sunlight"; this reflected the album's nature theme, "mirroring the inevitable decay that comes with being alive." Donwood took inspiration from real publications, including a stack of "radical" 1960s newspapers and magazines left at bassist Colin Greenwood
's house by an unknown person, and weekend broadsheets: "I wanted to do this thing like a really annoying Sunday paper, you know when you buy the paper and all this crap falls out
? I wanted to do something really annoying with all these crappy bits of floppy, glossy paper."
", with an accompanying music video
uploaded to Radiohead's official YouTube channel. Later that day, Ed O'Brien posted: "It's Friday... It's almost the weekend...It's a full moon....You can download The King of Limbs now if you so wish!" The band released the album a day early.
The download of The King of Limbs is DRM
-free. The MP3
download costs £
6, US$
9, or €
7; the WAV download costs £9, US$14, or €11. Customers may also order a special "newspaper edition" of the album, available 9 May 2011, for £30, US$48 or €36 with the MP3 download, and £33, US$53 or €39 for the WAV download (shipping included). The newspaper edition contains "two 10-inch vinyl record
s in a special record sleeve
, many large sheets of artwork, 625 tiny pieces of artwork, a compact disc
, and a colour piece of oxo-degradable
plastic package".
To promote the CD and vinyl release of The King of Limbs, Radiohead distributed a free single-issue newspaper, The Universal Sigh, at record shops across the world on 28 March 2011. It is separate from the Newspaper Album version of The King of Limbs. Artist Stanley Donwood describes The Universal Sigh as "a 12-page tabloid, printed using web-offset
lithography
on newsprint paper, just like the LA Weekly
or London Lite
, or Daily Mail
".
The paper features artwork, poetry, and lyrics, along with short stories by Stanley Donwood, Jay Griffiths
and Robert Macfarlane
. The free newspaper
concept came from Donwood witnessing "a seething mass of humanity at the top of the steps down to Oxford Circus tube station
, where amongst the heaving throng of commuters were valiant distributors of London Lite and Metro, and the Evening Standard
, attempting to hand them out." Donwood and Thom Yorke appeared in person to distribute copies of The Universal Sigh to fans in London.
Radiohead performed The King of Limbs in its entirety for The King of Limbs – From The Basement
, broadcast in July 2011 and released on DVD and Blu-Ray in December 2011.
In June 2011, Radiohead announced a series of remixes of tracks from The King of Limbs. These remixes and others are compiled on CD as the remix album
TKOL RMX 1234567
.
The album's liner notes dedicate The King of Limbs to "Henry, Zohar and all our little ones".
in the United States, with first-week sales of 69,000 copies. The following week, it peaked at number three, selling 67,000 copies. In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number seven on the UK Albums Chart
, selling 33,469 copies in its first week, making it Radiohead's first album since The Bends
(1995) not to reach number one, and their lowest chart debut since Pablo Honey
(1993). The retail vinyl edition of the album, excluding "newspaper album" sales, sold more than 20,000 copies in the UK in the first half of 2011 - 12% of all vinyl sold in that period - and became the best-selling vinyl album of 2011. (Note that these figures describe retail sales after 28 March 2011 and do not include "newspaper album" or download sales through Radiohead's website, where The King of Limbs was exclusively available for nearly two months prior to its retail release.)
The King of Limbs received positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic
, which assigns a normalised
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score of 80, based on 34 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". BBC Music
's Mike Diver
praised the album as "a fans-pleasing eighth album from Britain's most consistently brilliant band." Michael Brodeur of The Boston Globe
complimented "the tense calm these eight songs maintain—a composure that feels constantly ready to crack", commenting that "where In Rainbows was mellow but brisk—an album that felt on its way somewhere—these songs are eerie and insidious, creeping like shadows—and, often because of the haunting voice of Thom Yorke, the occasional chill." PopMatters
gave the album 9 out of 10, stating "The King of Limbs is a beautiful record, one that begs more of a conscious listen than its predecessor, but one that provides equal—if different—thrills in doing so."
François Marchand of The Vancouver Sun
said that the album "bridges Radiohead's many different styles" and is "worth embracing". Mark Pytlik of Pitchfork Media
gave the album 7.9 out of 10, summarising it as "well-worn terrain for Radiohead, and while it continues to yield rewarding results, the band's signature game-changing ambition is missed." Pitchfork later named "Give Up the Ghost" as "Best New Music," with writer Jayson Greene praising it as both "a highlight" and "life-affirming." Los Angeles Times
writer Ann Powers
noted that the album polarised opinions of fans and critics, commenting that it "can be heard from several different angles", which explains why "fans and critics have already been registering wildly divergent reactions: Some think it's one of the band's best efforts; others find it too low-key or similar to previous work; a few consider it awfully doomy, and a few others wish it were less abstract."
The King of Limbs has been nominated for five categories in the 54th Grammy Awards
: Best Alternative Music Album
, Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package
, Best Short Form Music Video
, Best Rock Performance
(for "Lotus Flower") and Best Rock Song
(also for "Lotus Flower").
Additional personnel
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead 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 debut single "Creep" in 1992...
, produced by Nigel Godrich
Nigel Godrich
Nigel Godrich, , is a recording engineer, record producer and musician. He is best known for his work with the English rock band Radiohead and is sometimes referred to as the "sixth member" of the band...
. It was self-released on 18 February 2011 as a download in MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
and WAV
WAV
Waveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs...
formats, followed by physical CD and 12" vinyl releases on 28 March, a wider digital release via AWAL
AWAL
AWAL is a UK based digital distribution and entertainment services company that works with independent artists, comedians, and labels. The company was started in 1997 by Denzyl Feigelson....
, and a special "newspaper" edition on 9 May 2011. The physical editions were released through the band's Ticker Tape imprint on XL
XL Recordings
XL Recordings is a British independent record label owned by Richard Russell. It originated as a 1989 offshoot of Beggars Banquet Records.Though only releasing an average of six albums a year, XL Recordings has worked with The Prodigy, Radiohead, The White Stripes, Dizzee Rascal, M.I.A., Vampire...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, TBD
TBD Records
TBD Records is an American record label co-founded by Coran Capshaw and Phil Costello, and is a sublabel of ATO Records, distributed by RED Distribution. The label was founded in August 2007 and quickly announced its first release, the band Underworld's first studio album in five years, Oblivion...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and Hostess Entertainment
Hostess Entertainment
, DBA Unlimited, is a Japanese independent music company, representing some of the biggest Western alternative artists and labels in Japan, such as the Beggars Group , Domino Records, V2 Records and PIAS UK Distribution...
in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, 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...
.
Following the painstaking recording and relatively conventional rock instrumentation of In Rainbows, Radiohead employed a more spontaneous process to develop The King of Limbs, sampling their own recordings with turntablist techniques inspired by DJing. The band provided little information on the album, not even a track listing, before its release, and did not discuss it in detail until nearly eight months later. Singer Thom Yorke
Thom Yorke
Thomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...
described it as an expression of "physical movements" and "wildness"; the title King of Limbs possibly refers to an oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
tree in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
's Savernake Forest
Savernake Forest
Savernake Forest is on a Cretaceous chalk plateau between Marlborough and Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, England. Its area is approximately .It is privately owned by the Trustees of Savernake Estate, the Earl of Cardigan, and his family solicitor. Since 1939 the running of the forest has been...
, thought to be 1,000 years old.
The King of Limbs has the shortest running time and track listing of any Radiohead album. As with 2000's Kid A
Kid A
Kid A is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released in October 2000 by the Parlophone label. A commercial success worldwide, Kid A went platinum in its first week of release in the United Kingdom. Despite the lack of an official single or music video as publicity, Kid A...
, no singles were released, though a music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
was released for the track "Lotus Flower
Lotus Flower (song)
"Lotus Flower" is a song by the English band Radiohead. It was released in 2011 on their eighth studio album The King of Limbs.A music video was released on February 18, 2011 and features black-and-white footage of lead singer Thom Yorke dancing while singing the song. It was directed by Garth...
". The album charted in the top ten in several countries and became a bestseller on vinyl. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and has been nominated for five categories in the 54th Grammy Awards
54th Grammy Awards
The 54th Annual Grammy Awards will be held on February 12, 2012, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It will be broadcasted on CBS. Nominations were announced on November 30, 2011 on prime-time television as part of "The GRAMMY Nominations Concert Live! – Countdown to Music's Biggest Night", a...
.
Recording
Like 2003's Hail to the ThiefHail to the Thief
Hail to the Thief is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released in June 2003 through Parlophone Records. After two Radiohead albums that featured heavily processed vocals, less guitar, and strong influence from experimental electronica and jazz, Hail to the Thief was seen...
, The King of Limbs was recorded (at least partly) in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, possibly at the home of actress Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore
Drew Blyth Barrymore is an American actress, film director, screenwriter, producer and model. She is a member of the Barrymore family of American actors and granddaughter of John Barrymore. She first appeared in an advertisement when she was 11 months old. Barrymore made her film debut in Altered...
, who is thanked in the album's liner notes
Liner notes
Liner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes.-Origin:...
. The recording differed from the difficult In Rainbows
In Rainbows
In Rainbows is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was first released on 10 October 2007 as a digital download self-released, that customers could order for whatever price they saw fit, followed by a standard CD release in most countries during the last week of 2007. The...
sessions, which guitarist Ed O'Brien
Ed O'Brien
Edward John O'Brien is an English musician, songwriter and guitarist for the rock band Radiohead. He is also responsible for harmony vocals during live concerts and on many tracks from the band's albums...
described as "such a slog. We decided at the end of the record never to do it like this again. That was kind of the end of Radiohead mark two." Songwriter Thom Yorke echoed these sentiments: "None of us want to go into that creative hoo-ha of a long-play record again. Not straight off. I mean, it's just become a real drag. It worked with In Rainbows because we had a real fixed idea about where we were going. But we've all said that we can't possibly dive into that again. It'll kill us." In a retrospective interview with NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
in October 2011, Yorke said the band had felt that "if we are gonna carry on, we need to do it for a new set of reasons."
In September 2010, drummer Phil Selway
Phil Selway
Philip James "Phil" "The Graf" Selway is an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of English rock group Radiohead. He also drums and provides backing vocals, along with occasional guitar and lead vocals, for 7 Worlds Collide...
stated that the band had been recording "on and off for a year", saying "the process of making In Rainbows — so much came about through what we were doing live — has been quite the opposite so far." O'Brien told Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
: "We feel way more empowered in terms of our art and what we're doing. We are in a very different place, a very new place [...] One of the things is we do things without fear... The thing that is different about In Rainbows is that it was an album from the heart. It was a lot warmer. And from what I'm making out in the rehearsal room now, there are still elements of that... I'm an eternal optimist, but I truly believe we can shift massively on this [next] record. That's the thing we all know, that we feel in our bellies as we're rehearsing-- we're on a big move here."
In an interview with NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
on October 2011, Ed O'Brien and Thom Yorke explained that The King of Limbs has its origins in initial sessions held in 2009, near the end of the In Rainbows tour. In these sessions, the band members used a turntable
Turntable
A turntable is generally a rotating platform, and may refer to:-Music:* Turntable, a motor-driven platform that normally rotates a gramophone record at a constant rotational velocity as part of a phonograph....
with vinyl emulation software
Vinyl Emulation Software
Vinyl emulation software allows the user to physically manipulate the playback of digital audio files on a computer using the turntables as an interface, thus preserving the hands-on feel of deejaying with vinyl while allowing playback of audio recordings not available in phonograph form...
to physically sample
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
and manipulate music they had been working on. In another interview in September 2011, Ed O'Brien said: "Thom didn’t know how it was gonna be, so we made the songs jamming together [...] Music came first, then the lyrics, and the melody came after. So we had blocks of music and then Thom would write a lead vocal line melody and lyrics to it." O'Brien said this period of experimentation lasted "about five weeks, and it was really like kids in kindergarten. You had to simplify what you were doing — you couldn't do loads of ideas. You had to listen to one another. Believe it or not, in a band you can lose that." Yorke said: "Almost every tune is like a collage: things we’d pre-recorded, each of us, and then were flying at each other. You get to a point where you think, ‘OK, this bit needs a big black line through it.’ It’s like editing a film or something."
With eight tracks and just over 37 minutes of music, The King of Limbs is Radiohead's shortest album. Appearing on a BBC radio show in April 2011, Ed O'Brien explained that Radiohead felt the ideal album was around 40 minutes long, citing Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
's What's Going On
What's Going On
What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released May 21, 1971, on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records...
as a classic record shorter than The King of Limbs. Cover artist Stanley Donwood
Stanley Donwood
Stanley Donwood is the pen name of English artist Dan Rickwood. Donwood is known for his close association with the British rock group Radiohead, having created all their album and poster art...
said: "In Rainbows was very much a definitive statement, and that isn't where the band are at the moment. Where they are now is more transitory. When a newspaper comes out, that doesn't mean news stops, what you have is just a snapshot of how things were at the moment that newspaper was printed. And similarly, this album shows where Radiohead are at the moment the record was released. The music is a continuing thing. And we wanted to make the album representative of that."
Two tracks not included on the album but worked on during the same sessions, "Supercollider
Supercollider / The Butcher
"Supercollider"/"The Butcher" is a 2011 single by the English alternative rock band Radiohead. It was released on 12-inch vinyl in the UK, Europe and Japan on 16 April 2011 for Record Store Day. It was released on the same format in the United States and Canada on 14 June 2011."Supercollider" was...
" and "The Butcher
Supercollider / The Butcher
"Supercollider"/"The Butcher" is a 2011 single by the English alternative rock band Radiohead. It was released on 12-inch vinyl in the UK, Europe and Japan on 16 April 2011 for Record Store Day. It was released on the same format in the United States and Canada on 14 June 2011."Supercollider" was...
", were released as a single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
for Record Store Day
Record Store Day
Record Store Day is an internationally celebrated day observed the third Saturday of April each year. Its purpose, as conceived by independent record store employee Chris Brown, is to celebrate the art of music...
on 16 April 2011. The tracks were later made available as free downloads to those who purchased The King of Limbs from the Radiohead website.
Music and lyrics
The King of Limbs places an emphasis on Phil SelwayPhil Selway
Philip James "Phil" "The Graf" Selway is an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of English rock group Radiohead. He also drums and provides backing vocals, along with occasional guitar and lead vocals, for 7 Worlds Collide...
and Colin Greenwood
Colin Greenwood
Colin Charles Greenwood , is an English musician and composer, best known as the bassist of the rock band Radiohead. Apart from bass, Colin plays keyboards, synthesizers and works on sampling on the electronic side of Radiohead...
's rhythm section
Rhythm section
A rhythm section is a collection of musicians who make up a section of instruments which provides the accompaniment section of the music, giving the music its rhythmic texture and pulse, also serving as a rhythmic reference for the rest of the band...
, with prominent use of sampling, looping
Music loop
In electroacoustic music, a loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections of material can be repeated to create ostinato patterns...
and ambient sounds
Ambient music
Ambient 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 :...
, including samples of natural sounds such as birdsong and wind.
The first track, "Bloom", opens with a repeating piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
loop and features complex rhythms and a flugelhorn
Flugelhorn
The flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the valve bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus...
arrangement by Jonny Greenwood
Jonny Greenwood
Jonathan Richard Guy "Jonny" Greenwood is an English musician and composer, best known as a member of the English rock band Radiohead. Greenwood is a multi-instrumentalist, but serves mainly as lead guitarist and keyboard player. In addition to guitar and keyboard, he plays viola, harmonica,...
. "Morning Mr Magpie", debuted as a solo acoustic performance by Thom Yorke in a webcast in 2002, appears with a repeating electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
and a looping hi-hat
Hi-hat
A hi-hat, or hihat, is a type of cymbal and stand used as a typical part of a drum kit by percussionists in R&B, hip-hop, disco, jazz, rock and roll, house, reggae and other forms of contemporary popular music.- Operation :...
pattern. "Little by Little" features intricate guitar playing over busy, syncopated percussion. "Feral" is an instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
featuring wordless, processed vocals, cut-up drum loops, and a distorted synth bassline
Bassline
A bassline is the term used in many styles of popular music, such as jazz, blues, funk, dub and electronic music for the low-pitched instrumental part or line played by a rhythm section instrument such as the electric bass, double bass, tuba or keyboard...
. "Lotus Flower
Lotus Flower (song)
"Lotus Flower" is a song by the English band Radiohead. It was released in 2011 on their eighth studio album The King of Limbs.A music video was released on February 18, 2011 and features black-and-white footage of lead singer Thom Yorke dancing while singing the song. It was directed by Garth...
" features a driving synth bassline and Yorke's falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...
vocals; it was performed by Yorke on acoustic guitar prior to the album's release. "Codex" is a slow piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
with flugelhorns and strings
String section
The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...
. "Give Up the Ghost", an acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
ballad with call-and-response
Call and response (music)
In music, a call and response is a succession of two distinct phrases usually played by different musicians, where the second phrase is heard as a direct commentary on or response to the first...
vocal harmonies, was debuted by Yorke in 2010 along with an acoustic version of the album's final track, "Separator", featuring a looped drum pattern and "Neil Young-inspired" electric guitar riff.
Thom Yorke told NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
: "[The King of Limbs] is sort of a visual thing more than anything else. The images [...] were a very important part of the music. Lyrics were... it wasn't conscious thematics. It was like physical movements [...] Wildness ideas. Ideas of mutating, of creatures. Environmental worries
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
in my head have become this weird obsession." Yorke rejected the NPR interviewer's suggestion that The King of Limbs was "experimental music
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
", saying that the band were "constantly absorbing music" and their songs were a reflection of their learning and "stealing" from other artists.
Packaging and artwork
The King of Limbs artwork was influenced by Northern European fairy tales and their association with nature and woods, inspired by the time the band and cover artist Stanley DonwoodStanley Donwood
Stanley Donwood is the pen name of English artist Dan Rickwood. Donwood is known for his close association with the British rock group Radiohead, having created all their album and poster art...
had spent living in forests. As with previous Radiohead albums, Donwood worked with the band as they recorded; the music made Donwood think of "immense multicoloured cathedrals of trees, with music echoing from the branches whilst strange fauna lurked in the fog." He felt The King of Limbs was "very much about natural forms. I'd heard something about the northern European imagination, in the sense of all our fairy stories and mythical creatures, they all come from the woods - Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel & Gretel..." He and Thom Yorke "drew pictures of trees with eyes, with mobile limbs, and mouths and familiars", creating "strange, multi-limbed creatures that are neither malevolent or benevolent, they're simply there, part of the living spirit of the forest."
For the special edition of the The King of Limbs, Donwood wanted to create something different from the special 'discbox' edition of previous album In Rainbows, which he described as "very definitive; there was the record, in a kind of massive box, all shiny and heavy and a bit like a coffee table book
Coffee table book
A coffee table book is a hardcover book that is intended to sit on a coffee table or similar surface in an area where guests sit and are entertained, thus inspiring conversation or alleviating boredom. They tend to be oversized and of heavy construction, since there is no pressing need for...
. It was almost like a complete forensic file: all the evidence, all the data, extra CDs with more material." Feeling this "definitive" approach was "entirely wrong" for The King of Limbs, he sought to create something "in a state of flux." He chose newspaper
Newsprint
Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper most commonly used to print newspapers, and other publications and advertising material. It usually has an off-white cast and distinctive feel. It is designed for use in printing presses that employ a long web of paper rather than individual sheets of...
for "its ephemeral nature", admiring "the way the paper goes yellow and brittle when you leave it out in the sunlight"; this reflected the album's nature theme, "mirroring the inevitable decay that comes with being alive." Donwood took inspiration from real publications, including a stack of "radical" 1960s newspapers and magazines left at bassist Colin Greenwood
Colin Greenwood
Colin Charles Greenwood , is an English musician and composer, best known as the bassist of the rock band Radiohead. Apart from bass, Colin plays keyboards, synthesizers and works on sampling on the electronic side of Radiohead...
's house by an unknown person, and weekend broadsheets: "I wanted to do this thing like a really annoying Sunday paper, you know when you buy the paper and all this crap falls out
Supplement (publishing)
A supplement is a publication that has a role secondary to that of another preceding or concurrent publication.A follow-on publication complements its predecessor, either by bringing it up-to-date , or by otherwise enhancing the predecessor's coverage of a particular topic or subject matter, as in...
? I wanted to do something really annoying with all these crappy bits of floppy, glossy paper."
Release
Radiohead announced The King of Limbs on their website on 14 February 2011, scheduling it for release five days later. On 18 February, the band's blog Dead Air Space published a song from the album, "Lotus FlowerLotus Flower (song)
"Lotus Flower" is a song by the English band Radiohead. It was released in 2011 on their eighth studio album The King of Limbs.A music video was released on February 18, 2011 and features black-and-white footage of lead singer Thom Yorke dancing while singing the song. It was directed by Garth...
", with an accompanying music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
uploaded to Radiohead's official YouTube channel. Later that day, Ed O'Brien posted: "It's Friday... It's almost the weekend...It's a full moon....You can download The King of Limbs now if you so wish!" The band released the album a day early.
The download of The King of Limbs is DRM
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
-free. The MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
download costs £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
6, US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
9, or €
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
7; the WAV download costs £9, US$14, or €11. Customers may also order a special "newspaper edition" of the album, available 9 May 2011, for £30, US$48 or €36 with the MP3 download, and £33, US$53 or €39 for the WAV download (shipping included). The newspaper edition contains "two 10-inch vinyl record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
s in a special record sleeve
Record sleeve
A record sleeve is the outer covering of a vinyl recording. The sleeve is technically the paper covering that is closest in contact to the surface of the recording, as in "dust sleeve", "liner" and "album liner". The term has come to be synonymous with "record jacket" and "album jacket", which is...
, many large sheets of artwork, 625 tiny pieces of artwork, a compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
, and a colour piece of oxo-degradable
Oxo Biodegradable
Oxo Biodegradable plastic is polyolefin plastic to which has been added amounts of metal salts. These catalyze the natural degradation process to speed it up so that the OXO plastic will degrade resulting in microfragments of plastic and metals which will remain in the environment but will not...
plastic package".
To promote the CD and vinyl release of The King of Limbs, Radiohead distributed a free single-issue newspaper, The Universal Sigh, at record shops across the world on 28 March 2011. It is separate from the Newspaper Album version of The King of Limbs. Artist Stanley Donwood describes The Universal Sigh as "a 12-page tabloid, printed using web-offset
Offset printing
Offset printing is a commonly used printing technique in which the inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface...
lithography
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
on newsprint paper, just like the LA Weekly
LA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
or London Lite
London Lite
London Lite was the trading name of a British free daily newspaper, published by Associated Newspapers , and now defunct. It was available Monday to Friday afternoons and evenings from street distributors in Central London only...
, or Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
".
The paper features artwork, poetry, and lyrics, along with short stories by Stanley Donwood, Jay Griffiths
Jay Griffiths
Jay Griffiths is an award-winning British writer and author of Wild: An Elemental Journey, Pip Pip: A Sideways Look at Time, Anarchipelago and A Love Letter from a Stray Moon.Biography=...
and Robert Macfarlane
Robert Macfarlane
Robert Macfarlane, , is a British travel writer and literary critic. Educated at Nottingham High School, Pembroke College, Cambridge and Magdalen College, Oxford, he is currently a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and teaches in the Faculty of English at Cambridge.-Books:Macfarlane's first...
. The free newspaper
Free daily newspaper
Free daily newspapers are distributed free of charge, either in central places in cities and towns, or with other newspapers. The revenues of such newspapers are based on advertising.-In the U.S.:...
concept came from Donwood witnessing "a seething mass of humanity at the top of the steps down to Oxford Circus tube station
Oxford Circus tube station
-External links:* ** ** * Plans of the station after the Victoria Line works , , *...
, where amongst the heaving throng of commuters were valiant distributors of London Lite and Metro, and the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
, attempting to hand them out." Donwood and Thom Yorke appeared in person to distribute copies of The Universal Sigh to fans in London.
Radiohead performed The King of Limbs in its entirety for The King of Limbs – From The Basement
The King of Limbs – From The Basement
The King of Limbs - From The Basement is a 2011 live video album by the English alternative rock band Radiohead. It includes performances of all eight tracks from The King of Limbs, plus unreleased tracks "The Daily Mail" and "Staircase"...
, broadcast in July 2011 and released on DVD and Blu-Ray in December 2011.
In June 2011, Radiohead announced a series of remixes of tracks from The King of Limbs. These remixes and others are compiled on CD as the remix album
Remix album
A remix album is an album consisting mostly of remixes or re-recorded versions of a music artists' earlier released material.One of the earliest remix albums was 1971's Aerial Pandemonium Ballet by Harry Nilsson, which was released by Nilsson after the successes of Everybody's Talkin and The Point!...
TKOL RMX 1234567
TKOL RMX 1234567
TKOL RMX 1234567 is a two-CD remix album of songs from The King of Limbs by English rock band Radiohead remixed by multiple artists. The album compiles a series of seven 12" vinyl singles/EPs, also released as digital downloads from the band's in both MP3 and WAV file types. TKOL RMX 1234567 was...
.
The album's liner notes dedicate The King of Limbs to "Henry, Zohar and all our little ones".
Reception
The King of Limbs debuted at number six on the Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
in the United States, with first-week sales of 69,000 copies. The following week, it peaked at number three, selling 67,000 copies. In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number seven on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
, selling 33,469 copies in its first week, making it Radiohead's first album since The Bends
The Bends
The Bends is the second studio album by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released on 13 March 1995 by Parlophone. The Bends was produced by John Leckie at EMI's studios in London, and engineered by Nigel Godrich, who would go on to produce all future albums by the band...
(1995) not to reach number one, and their lowest chart debut since Pablo Honey
Pablo Honey
Pablo Honey is the debut studio album by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released in February 1993. The album was produced by Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie and was recorded at Chipping Norton Studio and Courtyard Studio, Oxfordshire from September to November 1992...
(1993). The retail vinyl edition of the album, excluding "newspaper album" sales, sold more than 20,000 copies in the UK in the first half of 2011 - 12% of all vinyl sold in that period - and became the best-selling vinyl album of 2011. (Note that these figures describe retail sales after 28 March 2011 and do not include "newspaper album" or download sales through Radiohead's website, where The King of Limbs was exclusively available for nearly two months prior to its retail release.)
The King of Limbs received positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalised
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 80, based on 34 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". BBC Music
BBC Music
BBC Music is a team working in the department of Audio and Music Interactive at the BBC. Responsible for the BBC Music website - the portal site to music content across the BBC website....
's Mike Diver
Mike Diver
Mike Diver is a British music journalist. He started his career at music website Drowned in Sound, where he became editor, before moving on in 2008 to become editor of Clash magazine's website. He has contributed to several magazines including NME and Rock Sound.Diver is currently album reviews...
praised the album as "a fans-pleasing eighth album from Britain's most consistently brilliant band." Michael Brodeur of The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
complimented "the tense calm these eight songs maintain—a composure that feels constantly ready to crack", commenting that "where In Rainbows was mellow but brisk—an album that felt on its way somewhere—these songs are eerie and insidious, creeping like shadows—and, often because of the haunting voice of Thom Yorke, the occasional chill." PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
gave the album 9 out of 10, stating "The King of Limbs is a beautiful record, one that begs more of a conscious listen than its predecessor, but one that provides equal—if different—thrills in doing so."
François Marchand of The Vancouver Sun
The Vancouver Sun
The Vancouver Sun is a daily newspaper first published in the Canadian province of British Columbia on February 12, 1912. The paper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. It is published six days a week, Monday to Saturday...
said that the album "bridges Radiohead's many different styles" and is "worth embracing". Mark Pytlik of Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
gave the album 7.9 out of 10, summarising it as "well-worn terrain for Radiohead, and while it continues to yield rewarding results, the band's signature game-changing ambition is missed." Pitchfork later named "Give Up the Ghost" as "Best New Music," with writer Jayson Greene praising it as both "a highlight" and "life-affirming." Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
writer Ann Powers
Ann Powers
Ann Powers is an American writer and pop music critic.Powers has been writing about popular music and society since the early 1980s...
noted that the album polarised opinions of fans and critics, commenting that it "can be heard from several different angles", which explains why "fans and critics have already been registering wildly divergent reactions: Some think it's one of the band's best efforts; others find it too low-key or similar to previous work; a few consider it awfully doomy, and a few others wish it were less abstract."
The King of Limbs has been nominated for five categories in the 54th Grammy Awards
54th Grammy Awards
The 54th Annual Grammy Awards will be held on February 12, 2012, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It will be broadcasted on CBS. Nominations were announced on November 30, 2011 on prime-time television as part of "The GRAMMY Nominations Concert Live! – Countdown to Music's Biggest Night", a...
: Best Alternative Music Album
Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album
The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums in the alternative rock genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards...
, Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package
Grammy Award for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package
The Grammy Award for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package has been presented since 1995. The award has had several minor name changes:*From 1995 to 1997 the award was known as Best Recording Package - Boxed...
, Best Short Form Music Video
Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video
The Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality short form music videos...
, Best Rock Performance
Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance is a new category in the annual Grammy Awards ceremony from 2012.It combines the previous categories for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Best Rock Instrumental Performance.The restructuring of these...
(for "Lotus Flower") and Best Rock Song
Grammy Award for Best Rock Song
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rock music genre...
(also for "Lotus Flower").
Track listing
All tracks written by Radiohead and produced by Radiohead and Nigel Godrich.Personnel
RadioheadRadiohead
Radiohead 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 debut single "Creep" in 1992...
- Colin GreenwoodColin GreenwoodColin Charles Greenwood , is an English musician and composer, best known as the bassist of the rock band Radiohead. Apart from bass, Colin plays keyboards, synthesizers and works on sampling on the electronic side of Radiohead...
- Jonny GreenwoodJonny GreenwoodJonathan Richard Guy "Jonny" Greenwood is an English musician and composer, best known as a member of the English rock band Radiohead. Greenwood is a multi-instrumentalist, but serves mainly as lead guitarist and keyboard player. In addition to guitar and keyboard, he plays viola, harmonica,...
- Ed O'BrienEd O'BrienEdward John O'Brien is an English musician, songwriter and guitarist for the rock band Radiohead. He is also responsible for harmony vocals during live concerts and on many tracks from the band's albums...
- Phil SelwayPhil SelwayPhilip James "Phil" "The Graf" Selway is an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of English rock group Radiohead. He also drums and provides backing vocals, along with occasional guitar and lead vocals, for 7 Worlds Collide...
- Thom YorkeThom YorkeThomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...
(also credited as "Zachariah Wildwood" for cover artCover artCover art is the illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book , magazine, comic book, video game , DVD, CD, videotape, or music album. The art has a primarily commercial function, i.e...
and packaging)
Additional personnel
- Yazz Ahmed – flugelhornFlugelhornThe flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the valve bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus...
on "Bloom" and "Codex" - Drew Brown – additional engineeringAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
- Bryan Cooke – additional assistance
- Stanley DonwoodStanley DonwoodStanley Donwood is the pen name of English artist Dan Rickwood. Donwood is known for his close association with the British rock group Radiohead, having created all their album and poster art...
– cover artCover artCover art is the illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book , magazine, comic book, video game , DVD, CD, videotape, or music album. The art has a primarily commercial function, i.e...
and packaging (credited as "Donald Twain") - Nigel GodrichNigel GodrichNigel Godrich, , is a recording engineer, record producer and musician. He is best known for his work with the English rock band Radiohead and is sometimes referred to as the "sixth member" of the band...
– productionRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, engineering - Noel Langley – flugelhornFlugelhornThe flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the valve bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus...
on "Bloom" and "Codex" - Robert C. Ludwig – masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
- Darrell Thorp – additional assistance
- The London Telefilmonic Orchestra, led by Levine AndradeLevine AndradeLevine Andrade is an Indian born British musician , producer and conductor.-Early life:Levine Andrade was born in Bombay and emigrated to England...
and conducted by Robert Ziegler – stringsString instrumentA string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
on "Codex"
Charts
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
2 |
| Austrian Albums Chart Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann... |
11 |
| Belgian Albums Chart Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts... (Flanders) |
7 |
| Belgian Albums Chart Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts... (Wallonia) |
8 |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
5 |
| Danish Albums Chart | 10 |
| Dutch Albums Chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
3 |
| Finnish Albums Chart | 13 |
| French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
8 |
| German Albums Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
13 |
| Greek Albums Chart IFPI Greece International Federation of the Phonographic Industry Greece or IFPI Greece is the Greek branch of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and is the official charts provider and recording sales certification body for Greece. Currently two charts are compiled, one for sales of... |
9 |
| Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
7 |
| Italian Albums Chart Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy.... |
8 |
| Japanese Oricon Albums Chart Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc... |
3 |
| Mexican Albums Chart | 8 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
5 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
4 |
| Spanish Albums Chart | 10 |
| Swedish Albums Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
9 |
| Swiss Albums Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
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| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
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| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
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