Things I like about Radiohead’s In Rainbows:
- That it can be downloaded. I’m really not fussed that the file quality means I’m not getting the best possible sound. Between the quality of my ears and my equipment, I can’t tell the difference anyway.
- That it is jaw-droppingly good. The music envelopes and invades me. I feel inhabited by it.
- That I can pay what I want. I paid $20 Australian. That’s less than the average CD I buy and more than the average album I download from iTunes. Unfortunately, I can’t pay what I think it’s really worth because I don’t have that much money. No-one does.
- That I can order a fancy-pants boxed set with proper-like artwork, if I want. I want. That much money I can get.
- That Thom Yorke sings so sweetly, and so agonisingly. And so well, like an instrument.
- That there are old-fashioned swelling strings as well as percussive effects that drill the base of my skull.
- That the bass lines are amazing.
- That Radiohead is avant garde enough to write good songs and then record them.