First, had a piece run last week in the Quietus about the recent Radiohead reissues — done in a bit of a rush but it came out well enough, I figure! A quick sample:
Careful cultivators of their mystique, that’s what the band’s always been, and calling them that is no more or less a criticism than calling EMI an entity interested in profit spun out of its properties. If they could have run all their affairs via their website from the start back in the mid-90s they would have done, though the infrastructure to fully do so wasn’t there yet (and ultimately isn’t quite there now). They’re not foolish enough to assume that they were ever fully separate from the business and their protests over the reissues are both rote and heartfelt as a result.
Still, though, perhaps the protests could be even more heartfelt and to the point in one regard. If EMI had to reissue the albums, they should have done so in the way that they were first presented to the public via the media, a real harbringer of the future even more than the music might ever have been. Imagine the niche market of small cassette players with a copy of Amnesiac glued and taped inside, only carefully branded with crying bears and distressed edges, for instance.
Meantime, another slew of AMG reviews went up as well (though honestly I’m not sure why the Batoh/Espvall review isn’t up yet! I’ll double check on that one):
Ned Raggett Ponders It All 