The National Anthem
Paris '01 -
Saturday Night Live - http://qtv.freechal.com/movie/QTVMovieView.asp?docid=1663490
Colbert Report - http://www.thewrap.com/media/article/radiohead-colbert-report-watch-national-anthem-video-31337
I cannot fathom how shocking this song would have been in 2000 coming off The Bends and OK Computer, and on a a smaller scale the already shocking Everything In Its Right Place and Kid A. But if those two songs are an immediate left turn from where they left off on OKC, The National Anthem is a hard swerve right. Here is the first song in their relevant catalogue*** that gets stuck on one harmonic groove the entire time and doesn't move into a different section - even EEIRP and Kid A have definite sections A, B, C, etc. The National Anthem is a brooding rumination on just one bassline and rockin drumbeat - possibly Phil's best to date. Airbag is good but that's a lot of gear wizardry doing that, I'm sure Phil took this song live. Thom adds the very minimum in lyric to describe some kind of widespread fear or insecurity - the songs title leads me to believe he's referring to society at large. The elephant in the room, the brass section, improvises using Thom and Jonny's strengths as conceptual backdrops - at first Thom's new choppy, scattershot vocal delivery is mimed by a horns staccato dwelling on two notes, this soon is responded to and enveloped by other horns crashing in at increasingly odder angles until they finally coalesce on Jonny's spacey Ondes riff, Thom yells "It's holding on!!" and for a while it feels like its tearing apart.
The entire soundscape here is totally alien and marvelous in its own unique way. The noises at the intro, the entire subtle buildup of the intro section, the entire time that bass is impossible to not love...might have been Thom in the studio, nobody is sure, Colin does it live. Thom claims to have wrote the bassline when he was 16. Speaking of the song live, I posted the 3 that I know feature a horn section to accompany them for a unique performance. I've seen them rock it at shows with just the five of them, but you might as well get the deluxe version they intended. The performance at Colbert is great for the recency and novelty, Paris is good because it's pretty extended and Thom gets really hyper, but the SNL performance takes the cake. Slightly harder to find, it was one of the first live shows after Kid A came out and you can see the contempt in Thom's eyes after the song is over. But the song, my god - never have they been more visually and aurally convincing as crazy geniuses at the same time than here. Jonny switches between radio transmissions and Ondes whenever, Ed is jockeying all over the place for no reason, counterpointing Jonny, Thom is more flaily than usual but there's a certain point near the end from 3:40-on where the camera diagonally zooms in on the band, Ed is feedbackin like a gangster, Jonny is receiving signals from aliens, the horn section is having a private orgy, and Thom looks like a combustion engine perpetually backfiring as the jazz chaos draws to a close, then he goes on to conduct the final anti-triumphant splats of noise with some mad leaps and glare at the audience. If you didn't feel the intensity of this song at that moment, see a doctor. You are dead.
*** - I used "relevant catalogue" to omit Pablo Honey, both "Creep" and "Stop Whispering" focus on one chord progression throughout. Its just easier to consider PH non-canon when you're really into this band, ask Thom Yorke - not that I wouldn't write any of the songs up if someone mentioned them.
9/10
Pyramid Song
Where I End And You Begin
The National Anthem
Karma Police
Everything In Its Right Place
A Wolf At The Door
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Little By Little
Videotape
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