Radiohead Discography

After repeated listens, probably dozens, I started giving serious thought to where The King of Limbs fits into Radiohead's catalog. I think it's natural to think about a new album from any artist or band within the context of their entire body of work and just as natural to rank albums and songs against each other and, for me, thinking about the entire body of work of an artist / band tends to reveal something about how they have progress as artists but also as individuals.

So, Allmusic.com - a music encyclopedia type resource that I often use for album reviews, band bios, etc. - has the Radiohead studio albums ranked as such. They use a five star system, number of stars in parentheses.

1. OK Computer (5 stars, plus the "allmusic check mark" which signifies their album of choice for a particular band)
2. Kid A (5)
The Bends (5)
4. In Rainbows (4.5)
5. Hail to the Thief (4)
6. Amnesiac (3.5)
The King of Limbs (3.5)
8. Pablo Honey (3)

Second to last, basically then for The King of Limbs. Just ahead of their first effort Pablo Honey. After staring at this list and really thinking about it for a long time, I think it is probably right or at least defensible. I mean, if you forget about the star-rating system and just look at the ranking of their albums, what would you change? Anything? Maybe you would put Hail to the Thief below Amnesiac and even King of Limbs? Maybe Kid A up top in lieu of OK Computer? I don't know.

But if I am ranking them. I am ranking based on my personal preference, obviously. And I would probably use something like Total Anticipated Lifetime Listens which TALL = (A) number of times I have chosen to listen to the album to-date + (B) anticipated future listens, with the qualifier that all listens have to be at least commenced full-album listens (from track 1) embarked on by your own choosing. Which ignores industry significance and other BS and focuses on what you enjoy listening to. So, for example, something like the album that contains that song about eating a grenade by the high-pitched young black guy who sang at the Grammys might score highly under another statistic because that song is on the radio 36 times a day actually scores a zero here because (i) you only heard the song and not the album and (ii) you did not choose to listen to it in the first place, it's just the radio stations force-feeding it to you. But something like Van's Astral Weeks scores highly, because you start every Sunday morning by putting that vinyl on and does anyone actually pull a single from this album as opposed to giving it a full listen?

Anyway, my TALL Radiohead list probably looks something like this:

1. Kid A (A landslide really, this was the album I listened to most when I was listening to the most music in my life. And, quite literally, when someone says "Radiohead," I think of Kid A. It's a desert island album. And I do not know another album by any artist that rewards repeated listens like this one.)
2. In Rainbows
3. Amnesiac
4. The King of Limbs (more of an "album" in my mind than the ones below it)
5. The Bends
6. OK Computer
7. Hail to the Thief
8. The Creep Single with Extended B-sides

And this ignores I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings and Com Lag, which are both not studio albums but both probably fit into the top three of my list.

Anyway, Allmusic probably does not ignore historical significance, industry impact, influence over contemporary and future artists, etc. All of which TALL definitely ignores, because unless you're a critic, reviewer, or a sheep what is important has no bearing on what you listen to repeatedly unless it first sounds good.