Live From the World, The Best Band in the World, Radiohead!
Written: Mar 12 '03 (Updated Oct 27 '03)
Product Rating:
Pros: An Excellent Live Album from Radiohead.
Cons: It's Geared Towards Hardcore Fans.
The Bottom Line: "I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings" is an excellent live album from Radiohead, the Best Band in the World, who show their power as a live act.
thevoid99's Full Review: I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings by Radiohead
In October of 2000, Radiohead released their long-awaited follow-up to their 1997 masterpiece OK Computer which turned out to be one of the years most mind-bending releases. Kid A took Radiohead to the vanguard of experimental rock as they used less guitars and worked on more obscure instruments as well as electronic sequencers and mini-keyboards where the band stretched the boundaries on how rock music can be played without its traditional conventions. In June of 2001, the band released the follow-up to Kid A called Amnesiac which some thoughts would be a more accessible album but the album filled with tracks made during the Kid A sessions turned out to be another album of experimental tracks with more traditional-driven songs with guitars mixed in with drum machines and all sorts of gadgets.
With the release of Amnesiac, Radiohead went on the road in the U.S. for a tour of unconventional venues in rock as the band was getting praised by fans, critics, and some in the industry for their unconventional approach to the performing, touring, and making albums as the music press had already dubbed them The Best Band in the World. The tour garnered Radiohead more acclaim as the band played cuts from Kid A and Amnesiac as well as classic tracks from OK Computer and 1995s The Bends. While on tour in the U.S. and Europe, Radiohead recorded some shows from the European leg of the tour for a mini-live album that was released in late 2001 titled I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings.
I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings is an eight-track mini-live album filled with several songs from Kid A and Amnesiac as well as a rare gem from the band called True Love Waits. Radiohead had always been known as a great guitar band with the brilliant guitar trio of singer Thom Yorke, Ed O Brien, and Jonny Greenwood who is also the bands multi-instrumentalist playing an obscure French, string-theremin like instrument as well as radio-like gadgets, sequencers, and other things that is played on tracks on the live album while bassist Colin Greenwood and drummer Phil Selway do play some electronic instruments as well as their respective instruments to some songs while re-doing the tracks from I Might Be Wrong. Tracks like Like Spinning Plates, Dollars And Cents, and The National Anthem are re-done in very unorthodox arrangements that at times, makes them more superior than the original recordings. For a band like Radiohead, they have always presented themselves in a very unorthodox fashion and I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings is an excellent live album to showcase their brilliance as a live band.
The album opens with crowd noises and distorted talks as it lead to the first track The National Anthem that is opened by Colin Greenwoods fuzzy bass lines and Phil Selways pulsating drum tracks that are followed by Jonny Greenwoods theremin-like drone that is followed by Ed O Brien playing an accompanying guitar track with singer Thom Yorke singing, Everyone, everyone around there/Everyone is so near/Its all alone, its all alone as Yorke and O Brien play droning guitar riffs as those guitars end up replacing the original brass section in the original recording along with Yorkes vocals and Jonny Greenwoods weird, theremin-like drone that whistles across the entire track. Next is the title track to I Might Be Wrong as it is led by Jonny Greenwoods melodic guitar riffs that are followed by the power-driven fills of Selway with Yorke singing the song while hitting a tambourine as O Brien and Colin Greenwood play their respective instruments to Jonnys droning riffs as Yorke wails his vocals during the song as he sings, Never look back repeatedly as Selway hits thunderous beats during the song and OBrien providing scratchy guitar riffs.
Next is the Kid A version of Morning Bell with Selway playing a pulsating-like drum fill that briefly turns into a drum roll as he plays the entire part repeatedly with Colin Greenwood playing an accompanying bass track. Yorke then sings his doomed lyrics of torment with the repeating lines of Release me, release me while playing a soothing keyboard on the song as Jonny Greenwood plays a blistering guitar solo during the song with Ed O Brien providing noisy drones in the background with squealing feedback and scratchy textures as Yorke makes unintelligible murmurs near the songs coda. Next is a ballad-driven version of Like Spinning Plates where Thom Yorke plays a melancholic piano in place of the distorted, looped textures in the songs original recording. With Colin Greenwood playing an accompanying bass track with Yorke whispering during the song with fans cheering, as he sings the bleak lyrics of the song with Jonny Greenwood playing an ambient-like keyboard accompaniment to Yorkes eerie vocals as pre-recorded strings play in the background of Yorkes melancholic piano.
Next is the electronic-driven Idioteque as drum-machine like beats and sequencers from Jonny Greenwood play during the track that is followed by Colin Greenwood eerie and sterile mini-synthesizer track as Yorke begins to sing with fans singing with him. After the chorus, Phil Selway plays a pulsating drum track with Ed O Brien playing an electronic percussive shaker as Yorke sings the song with the fans singing the line This is really happening/Take the money and run, take the money and run as it leads to the chorus of In our life, everything runs out of time as the fans go nuts for the electronic gadgets the band plays. Next is Everything In Its Right Place appears with Yorke singing vocal notes to the song as droning electronic textures accompanying him before the opening notes of the song appear with its reverb synthesizers and droning bass lines as Yorke sings, Everything, everything, everything, everything, in its right place with Selway shaking maracas during the track as the eerie synthesizer notes accompanying Yorke on the track as the song begins to distort with Jonny Greenwoods array of gadgets and Selway finally playing a stark but thunderous drum beat as the songs droning textures become louder by O Briens guitar.
Next is the song Dollars And Cents arrives with Colin Greenwoods melodic bass line as Yorke sings with a cello playing by Jonny Greenwood and Selways pulsating cymbal crashes and drum fills as Yorke sings the lyrics of We commune, we constructed, we can blur as O Brien plays a washy and eerie guitar track with Yorke playing a tambourine during the song as Selway belts out pulsating drum beats as Colin Greenwood continues with his melodic bass lines as Yorke sings the songs mysterious lyrics as O Briens guitar track gets a bit louder the song begins to end with Jonny Greenwood finally going to the guitar and playing intensely as he belts out washy riffs. The album closer is a lovely acoustic ballad called True Love Waits (not the same Buddy Holly song of the same name) as Yorke plays an acoustic guitar track with as he sings lyrics of innocence and love as he plays the song by himself. He sings even darker lyrics as he sings, Im not living/Im just killing time/Your tiny house/You crazy, cant unsmile/Just lonely, lonely as he plays a powerful acoustic guitar track in one of the bands greatest gems.
I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings is a must-have album for fans of the Best Band in the World. While its a short live album, its one of the more enjoyable live recordings from any band of the past few years, which includes their American counterparts Nine Inch Nails and their live album And All That Could Have Been. Fans who enjoyed the experimental drive of Kid A and Amnesiac will love this album while fans who are into albums like The Bend and OK Computer will find some moments to enjoy. I Might Be Wrong is really a live album for Radiohead fans and in the end, its a must have for all of their fans, including the gem of True Love Waits. Any completist of the band must have this record or theyll be incomplete to the eyes of Radiohead fans.
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