Source (purchased/given/borrowed/the wife's): purchased
Date Acquired: July 18, 2006
Original Review: **1/2 (two and a half stars, no write-up)
Thoughts/Memories/ Remembrances: Well, I really like Radiohead, but as a band they peaked for me with "Kid A" (although because of Buy Nothing Year, "In Rainbows" will remain as but a wee pang of longing). Thom Yorke's solo project wasn't much of a diversion from the (4-albums-in) now-typical Radiohead fare of vox, electronic warps and gurgles, sequencers and instrumentation, and by the unsupported 2.5/5 ranking I gave it 19 months ago it didn't really strike a chord. I cant even remember if any Yorke tracks made it onto my massive 4-disc 2005/06.5 compilation, and with, like, 75 tracks on that puppy, if he wasn't included that says a lot about how into this disc I was (which is to say not very much).
Re-Review: At this stage, I believe I've listened to "The Eraser" more times in the past week than I have in the 19 months combined. It's forty minutes of Thom Yorke singing hauntingly against sequenced loops, pianos, and minimalist compositions. I love Yorke's voice, it's soothing and relaxing, but the man has power that, when he chooses to use it, sends shivers up your spine and makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. Yet here one track blurs into another as the downtempo glitches and tones backing Yorke's vocals set an equilibrium from which it can't escape and never tries. There's no adventure here, no sense of exploring his limits, in fact it appears Yorke spent a more concentrated effort on the sequencing than working on song structure, vocals and lyrics. The man's talented, without a doubt, but working solo on all this left him devoid of the collaborative spirit that's made him an excellent frontman for Radiohead and phenomenal guest vocalist with the likes of Bjork and PJ Harvey. In fact, if Yorke wants to do another "solo" album, he should serious contemplate doing duets.
If there's a standout track, I'm remiss to find it. Each song has its moment, a clever lyric or curious loop, but the moment passes quickly. None of these songs linger, none stay in your mind, to be recalled at inopportune moments, or nag you incessantly until you listen to them again. There are no bitter songs here, nothing that will put you off, but there's nothing outright stimulating that will rope you in. I've always called "Kid A" a great album to fall asleep to, but "The Eraser" is an album that will just plain put you to sleep. I want to like it because it's Thom Yorke and I want to hate it because I'm disappointed in this, but it's just such an innocuous work that I can't muster the passion for either. The more I revisit it, the more I search for something to hang onto, and find very little. If only his refrain from the title track - "The more you try to erase me, the more that I appear" - actually applied to this album. The more you erase this work, the less it matters.
Rating (keep/sell/undecided): sell
Date Acquired: July 18, 2006
Original Review: **1/2 (two and a half stars, no write-up)
Thoughts/Memories/ Remembrances: Well, I really like Radiohead, but as a band they peaked for me with "Kid A" (although because of Buy Nothing Year, "In Rainbows" will remain as but a wee pang of longing). Thom Yorke's solo project wasn't much of a diversion from the (4-albums-in) now-typical Radiohead fare of vox, electronic warps and gurgles, sequencers and instrumentation, and by the unsupported 2.5/5 ranking I gave it 19 months ago it didn't really strike a chord. I cant even remember if any Yorke tracks made it onto my massive 4-disc 2005/06.5 compilation, and with, like, 75 tracks on that puppy, if he wasn't included that says a lot about how into this disc I was (which is to say not very much).
Re-Review: At this stage, I believe I've listened to "The Eraser" more times in the past week than I have in the 19 months combined. It's forty minutes of Thom Yorke singing hauntingly against sequenced loops, pianos, and minimalist compositions. I love Yorke's voice, it's soothing and relaxing, but the man has power that, when he chooses to use it, sends shivers up your spine and makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. Yet here one track blurs into another as the downtempo glitches and tones backing Yorke's vocals set an equilibrium from which it can't escape and never tries. There's no adventure here, no sense of exploring his limits, in fact it appears Yorke spent a more concentrated effort on the sequencing than working on song structure, vocals and lyrics. The man's talented, without a doubt, but working solo on all this left him devoid of the collaborative spirit that's made him an excellent frontman for Radiohead and phenomenal guest vocalist with the likes of Bjork and PJ Harvey. In fact, if Yorke wants to do another "solo" album, he should serious contemplate doing duets.
If there's a standout track, I'm remiss to find it. Each song has its moment, a clever lyric or curious loop, but the moment passes quickly. None of these songs linger, none stay in your mind, to be recalled at inopportune moments, or nag you incessantly until you listen to them again. There are no bitter songs here, nothing that will put you off, but there's nothing outright stimulating that will rope you in. I've always called "Kid A" a great album to fall asleep to, but "The Eraser" is an album that will just plain put you to sleep. I want to like it because it's Thom Yorke and I want to hate it because I'm disappointed in this, but it's just such an innocuous work that I can't muster the passion for either. The more I revisit it, the more I search for something to hang onto, and find very little. If only his refrain from the title track - "The more you try to erase me, the more that I appear" - actually applied to this album. The more you erase this work, the less it matters.
Rating (keep/sell/undecided): sell