Thoughts on KID A MNESIA

The other day, I wrote an article about a weird art exhibition made in video game form. Everything in there was a celebration from Radiohead, marking the twenty years of their two albums, Kid A and Amnesiac. As well as a virtual exhibition, Radiohead released a combined album called KID A MNESIA, which features the two albums, plus a bonus disk. The bonus disc contains a mish-mash of songs, half of which are untitled. And all of which meld into each other.

The songs released as singles are nice.

There are two new songs on KID A MNESIA that are… not new songs, but full songs that were previously unreleased. They are If you Say The Word and Follow Me Around. Both have music videos, posted on Radiohead’s Youtube channel.

Follow Me Around is probably my favourite of the two. I’m not really sure why, but the simplicity of the song is oddly charming. To me, it kinda feels like sitting down at a campfire while someone gently plays the guitar, singing a short story. If You Say the Word drags on a little and feels… I don’t know, the song kinda seems bored of itself.

Always nice to hear alternate versions of songs.

We get quite a few remixes here. The album starts off with one: Like Spinning Plates ‘Why Us’. There’s also a new version of Fog (Again, Again version) as well as a very weird semi-remix thing. I don’t know why, but Pulk/Pull somehow blends in really nicely with True Love Waits. However, I’d definitely say that True Love Waits is better played on the I Might Be Wrong live album. And while Like Spinning Plates ‘Why Us’ sounds way better than the recorded-backwards-then-flipped version on Amnesiac, again, the live version of Like Spinning Plates seems superior.

Morning Bell also gets yet another version. I assume it’s a song that the band loves, simply because it’s been mixed and replayed a lot. I do like Morning Bell, and this dark version is pretty good. But one unique thing Morning Bell does is that it very cleanly melds in with the next track, Pyramid Strings.

Hard to listen to.

The rest of the album is split into seemingly half-finished tracks. In fact, on the third disc, there are three songs called Untitled (V1, V2 and V3), which I think follow on from Untitled on Kid A. These are a bit tricky to listen to, as there’s a lot of background noise. The Untitled tracks are short and to the point, at least.

The two ‘Strings’ songs though are insanely hard to listen to. I don’t know what it is about them, but I feel almost nauseous while listening to the two tracks. How To Disappear Into Strings is a little easier to listen to, because it does have sections that are more relaxed. Pyramid Strings though, for me at least, is not in any way listenable. That kinda sucks, because Pyramid Song is one of my all-time favourites. But somehow, in KID A MNESIAC, the beautiful song is twisted and broken into an anxiety-driven mess.

An album for collectors, really.

KID A MNESIA is an interesting album, but I honestly wouldn’t recommend it. The album does have some nice tracks, but it feels very unfinished and ever so slightly rushed. Luckily it’s a shorter disc and drifts by somewhat quickly. Honestly though, the album drones on and on, and if it wasn’t for the two tracks used as singles, then the whole of disc 3 would be way worse. Basically, the two new songs carry the rest of the album.

As for Amnesiac and Kid A, the two other albums? They’re both an acquired taste, but at least they both feel finished.