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I don't why you think you'll be flamed because I agree with a bit of what you wrote. Next to the rest of Radiohead's discography, it doesn't really stand up. But I'm wary of the "something new or it sucks" concern (Mr. Expletive went into it more somewhere else) and, apart from novelty, In Rainbows has some very beautiful parts that are great to discover after a few rotations. As far as I can tell, Radiohead got sick of the same mentality and said "fuck it, let's make something we want to play instead of what people expect" (i.e. coming up with some new sound for the critics). They're getting older so I understand this. Saying "fuck you" to expectation is like driving against traffic except the traffic is quick to match your direction, it takes skill to keep up the u-turns. Perhaps this album is just to dupe traffic a bit and give them a breather. But really I'd rather have Radiohead do something safe but beautiful instead of a vain attempt experimentation that falls on its face under its own force. (the parallels here with Sonic Youth are interesting here).
But it is right to say this isn't up to par with their previous efforts as those have both quality and novelty over In Rainbow's quality. Of course those that don't see quality in the previous albums won't see quality here but they hardly matter. But Radiohead isn't a band to stay comfortable in a chair for very long so I expect a shift of some sort on the next release (if there is one). But, true to course, this is only a half-expectation.
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