52/ Palo Alto - Airbag/How Am I Driving? EP - 1998It was only last week that I finally got my hands on a special edition of the Airbag/How Am I Driving? EP. I've always had the EP digitally but I never bought a physical copy. So as I was driving home from the record store with the songs blaring in my car, the CD player came to "Palo Alto" and I remembered just how much I love this song. I still think that this is the only b-side from the OK Computer era that could have had a place on the album without the album being made worse. I just love the explosions of guitar on "But I'm OK (BADADADA) How are you? (BADADADA)"51/ Backdrifts (Honeymoon Is Over.) - Hail To The Thief - 2003How could you not like this song? I absolutely love it. Album version and live version. I love the way this song starts and when the beat comes in with Thom's vocals. The song does suffer from an ending that's slightly too long but I love it regardless. I really, really want an instrumental version!50/ Go Slowly - In Rainbows (Disc 2) - 2007When this song first appeared in a set at a gig in England back in 2006, it was ok. Nothing to go on about. It was neat to hear a brand new song but the song itself wasn't very comparable with the rest of material that was debuted in both the same gig and later gigs. Then they released In Rainbows and I got my discbox in the mail and listened to the studio version. WOW. The song has such a cold and dark and pretty feel to it. Like a mysterious dark-haired girl. The song never really builds into a proper climax but the acoustic guitar at the end is more than enough. Not to mention the beautiful glockenspiel and electric guitar riffs. And that guitar "solo!" One detail I really miss from the live version is a riff that Jonny played during the verses that gave the song a slight "desolate desert" sound to the song. Oh well.49/ (Nice Dream) - The Bends - 1995One of my favorites off of The Bends. I absolutely love the chord changes in this song. I would be close to tears if I heard this played live at a future concert. Good tears, of course.48/ Scatterbrain (As Dead As Leaves.) - Hail To The Thief - 2003I've never fully understood why I love this song so much but it's such a perfectly formulated song. The sound, guitars, drums, singing, chord changes all fit the constant mood of the song: looking out a large window at a rainy, windy, messy-weather day. The trees blowing back and forth and the rain causing the whole image to distort.47/ Videotape - In Rainbows - 2007I would feel confident in saying this is one of the more "controversial" songs of Radiohead's repertoire. Not for the lyrics or singing. But for what they did to the studio version. Essentially, they took everything that made the song a fan favorite during its trial runs at live venues and got rid of it. The best live version of this song is definitely the Hammersmith Apollo debut of the song. It was the first time it was ever played publicly and it EXPLODED with energy. But when they got into the studio, they took away the proper drums and guitar and replaced them with a quiet electronic beat and... no guitar. But the twist? The studio version is actually a lot better and more fitting for the song. The lyrics go with the new version so much better than the 2006 live version. It took a couple of months before it clicked. But when it did, it became a personal favorite.46/ Where I End and You Begin (The Sky Is Falling In.) - Hail To The Thief - 2003This song features some of my favorite drumming and one of my favorite themes (musically) of all time (the opening notes). Also some fantastic lyrics. My favorite live performance of the song definitely has to be the performance I experienced firsthand in Atlanta this year.45/ Optimistic - Kid A - 2000I fell in love with this song when I picked up Kid A so long ago... and then I stopped listening to it. It became boring to me. And then Radiohead performed it in Atlanta this year. And I fell back in love with it. The studio version is so rich with "bony-sounding" guitars and a tribal sound unlike any other song they've done before. The lyrics follow the same theme with the opening line: "Flies are buzzing round my head. Vultures circling the dead. Picking up every last crumb." This song just ties together the overall sound of Kid A so perfectly. "Dinosaurs roaming the earth."44/ You and Whose Army? - Amnesiac - 2001I was stuck on this song for a good two weeks when I first got Amnesiac about 4 years ago. It starts so muddled... it reminds me of a man tired and weak from battle, the obvious loser of the fight, continuing to egg on the oversized army ahead of him. He then leads his small force against the larger in their last battle. This is also a live favorite of mine.43/ Fog (Again) - Com Lag 2plus2is5 - 2004"Fog (Again)" is just that song that is irresistable to sing along to. I love every inch of it. It makes me want to cry when I hear it just because it's such an emotion-riddled song. I'm not a huge fan of the electronic (or, original) version of the song though.42/ A Wolf at the Door (It Girl. Rag Doll.) - Hail To The Thief - 2003As I was listening to Scatterbrain while writing this, the song ended and skipped to the next song, "A Wolf At The Door." And I completely forgot how incredibly badass this song really is. Apologies for not originally considering it but when you have a few hundred songs to pick from the task gets a little daunting. Please find and listen to the Atlanta 2003 performance of this song. Amazing.41/ Lift - Live in Salamanca - 2002I don't think I need to describe why I like this song. Or why it needs to be on LP8. Or why I want them to play it live soon. Or why I love Thom's voice in it.More to come!
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