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 year’s 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 1995’s “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 band’s 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 Greenwood’s fuzzy bass lines and Phil Selway’s pulsating drum tracks that are followed by Jonny Greenwood’s 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/It’s all alone, it’s 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 Yorke’s vocals and Jonny Greenwood’s 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 Greenwood’s 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 Jonny’s 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 O’Brien 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 song’s 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 song’s 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 Yorke’s eerie vocals as pre-recorded strings play in the background of Yorke’s 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 Greenwood’s array of gadgets and Selway finally playing a stark but thunderous drum beat as the song’s droning textures become louder by O’ Brien’s guitar.
Next is the song “Dollars And Cents” arrives with Colin Greenwood’s melodic bass line as Yorke sings with a cello playing by Jonny Greenwood and Selway’s 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 song’s mysterious lyrics as O’ Brien’s 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, “I’m not living/I’m just killing time/Your tiny house/You crazy, can’t unsmile/Just lonely, lonely” as he plays a powerful acoustic guitar track in one of the band’s greatest gems.
“I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings” is a must-have album for fans of the Best Band in the World. While it’s a short live album, it’s 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, it’s 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 they’ll be incomplete to the eyes of Radiohead fans.
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