5. RadioheadAmnesiac
I love the orchestration, I love the sentiment, [Thom Yorke] is going through a peaceful patch on that record. He sounds like for the first time he is crooning to you a little bit, like he is a little more comfortable. He is still dealing with huge social issues in his lyrics and very deeply personal experiences as well. On ‘Morning Bell’ he sings: "Where’d you park the car?" That’s the conversation your parents have when they are newly split up. They still have to share a vehicle, that is a conversation that they have to have. If you’re a child of the ’80s, nowadays everybody’s got their own car, but that was the only communication my parents had after about six months. And when I heard it singing out in the middle of his lyrics, I just knew for sure that’s what he was talking about.
So, beautiful, overarching. Sometimes Thom’s lyrics are like being berated. It’s like being shouted at, and then at other times, he seems to pull a rainbow out of the sludge out of nowhere. That record, it could have been any of them, but that’s the one I consider mine, in the same way I feel a sense of ownership of those Talk Talk records. That’s the Radiohead album that’s given me the most joy. It can take you back to a sad time in your life, and I think that’s what good music does as well. You know it brings you forward to the present, but also reminds you of your emotional connection to something in the past. And I think if an album can do that, it’s worked, basically.
