"Wall of Eyes" by The Smile analysis: What did we lose???
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- čas přidán 27. 01. 2024
- And more importantly, what did we gain! Plus what one song is good enough to be a Radiohead?
Skye's Stamp (I guess that is a spoiler) - • The Smile - Read The Room
@thesmiletheband @Radiohead #thesmile #radiohead
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![(2024/01/30) BBC Radio 4 - Wall of Eyes Interview - The Smile [Jonny Greenwood]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VJyQZwZ5CfE/mqdefault.jpg)
“A moon shaped pool is not as good as amnesiac” is not only the hottest prof take I’ve heard, it might also be the hottest Radiohead take in general that I’ve heard
Well, Amnesiac might be my favourite Radiohead album so I might not disagree much.
Sounds like a take I've heard Radiohead fans make
@@MM-vs2et Yeah this probably isn't very controversial among early fans especially :D
I assume it's because you are a professor of the arts, but you are a phoenomenal creator. What really sticks out to me about your reviews, elevating them far above others I watch, is that it seems like you've always got a thesis to go off of. You structure your reviews around really thought-provoking questions and answer them throughout the runtime. AAVA
I’ve noticed that too! Truly something worth admiring
I would say Bending Hectic is pretty fucking monumental lol. Also thought them recording at Abbey Road really added to the sound in the album. In Bending Hectic for example they use the violin build up from A Day In The Life from sgt peppers
Yes do that Portishead video. Third is such a fantastic album
Very overlooked, people only talk about Dummy
Damn straight, Third is my favourite Portishead and it's better than the 1997 self-titled sophomore.
I Quit is a psychedelic masterpiece
Hi there professor Skye! I want to thank you so much for all of the thoughtful and amazing reviews you do! I appreciate your contribution to online Music discussion and love how passionate you are about this artform. All of your commentary comes from the heart and I deeply appreciate that. Keep up the good work as always! AVAA :)
The Smile has been Thom and Jonny's way of creating free of the Radiohead massive expectations and long history...a genuine clean slate. I love Wall of Eyes. But I liked A Light, too. Wall of Eyes is an evolution for sure, while a lot of A Light could have been on latter-day Radiohead albums. I *think* Wall of Ice was a leaked EP title predating King of Limbs by a year or so? I forget the source of the leak, but there was Stanley Donwood art associated with it and a URL with "ep" in there, too.....The theory goes that Radiohead was going to release an ep called Wall of Ice in 2009, but kept recording and working and King of Limbs in early 2011 was the result. Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses (which became a Thom solo single + a b-side in 2009 feat. Jonny) was from this time period, and Radiohead did release These Are My Twisted Words and Harry Patch in 2009, as well, all rather unceremoniously dropped from this alleged "Wall of Ice" era. Maybe putting the 4 tracks from these releases together is the Wall of Ice EP!
What’s the b side with Jonny??
Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses features Jonny playing and co-writing and it's the a-side. The b-side is The Hollow Earth, don't think Jonny is on that one, it started in The Eraser sessions... @@d0ubl3d
Was looking for this.
WOI was an ASCii art file (actually an .nfo with the art embedded, but yeah…) included with the TAMTW mp3 initially leaked on the invite only tracker What.cd in August 2009. I was a member, and immediately people were asking what WOI was, whether it was genuine etc.
It was rumoured Jonny was a dirty pirate*, and it was his account which leaked the track. A few days later Jonny confirmed on Dead Air Space that TAMTW was genuine, and our little community chuckled.
*note: tbf, no other uploads nor downloads were present on the account, despite it not being freshly made.
I'm glad that today I found such an interesting and original channel with album reviews, it was worth getting up today
Should we worry for Radiohead that a song is called "I Quit"?
And are we allowed to mention Genesis here? such a Peter Gabriel's era vibe in "Read the Room" and "Under our pillows", especially the calm parts...so great and surprising...thank you and AVAA!
You should be worried that Phil, Ed, and Colin didn’t want to tour anymore if anything. The smile could just be a very respectable way for thom and jonny to continue collaborating together.
finally a 4 minute warning appreciator - that and bangers + mash are just Radiohead gems
Had to pause it at 5:20 to defend AMSP. Amnesiac felt like a B-sides album to me. I put it just ahead of Pablo Honey or equal to the dreary Hail To The Thief. A Moon Shaped Pool is in my top 3 Radiohead albums. It’s a masterpiece, in my opinion. Ok… back to the video.
YES! AMSP is in my top 4.
@@olliem40 knives out, i might be wrong, glass house, spinning plates are all great imo. Prefer moon shaped pool ofc but still
Agreed
I thought I was mishearing when he said AMSP is not as good as amnesiac
Pyramid Song!!!
I really appreciate the wealth of musical knowledge and artistic appreciation you bring to your reviews mixed with your hilarious candor. Your reaction to discovering 'how to win friends and influence people' on your son's shelf made me laugh out loud. Wish I had you as a professor! Love your work!
Massively enjoyed this - thanks Professor
Saw them two nights in a row here Austin, TX and it was unbelievable! Love your album reviews. Thank you.
Hey professor, on that “Thom yorke wishes he was the bass player” comment, he actually wrote the bass line to the national anthem, so I’ve always kinda knew that he just had that jammin power in him since learning that lol.
Edit: also a very wonderful analysis of Thom’s lyrical style, perfectly worded what’s so captivating about it to me!
AVAA!
the amount of reserch you do is truly inspiring. this channel is terrific. Keep being the best at laying out and explaining the things im feeling and experiencing myself.
know you get a lot of suggestions but id like to put my "ticket" in for Phil Elverums "A crow looked at me). This album changed my life and id love your prospective.
you have a lot of interesting points.
Makes 100% sense to me when you describe it the way you did.
We are 2 for 3 on the same first impressions! I also said the Friend of a Friend sounds very Beatles-esque (even back when I heard it on tour), and the most surprising of all, you also heard 4 Minute Warning on You Know Me! My friend laughed at me when I said the latter comment during our listening party of the album, so now I feel justified lol. The only thing I said that you didn’t is that the second half of Read The Room sounds like a Home Depot Commercial. Home Depot forever! Great review ❤️
29:21 LOOOOOOL dad moment
This is a really brilliant take on the whole situation.
i cannot get enough of teleharmonic
I just bought the tickets for their concert, im in love with the album
I've been thinking for a few days now that I have to buy tickets for The Smile in Pula (Croatia) in June this year. And I just bought them watching your video! The concert will be in the beautiful Roman amphitheater. And one thing that might be interesting to you: do you know that Balašević had this kind of special relationship with Pula😉 He sang about it in a song and in the vicinity of Pula he had a house where he intended to spend his retirement... Pack your wife and kid and come to The Smile in Pula this summer😁 Many greetings from Zagreb and please, a new review of Balašević as soon as possible!
And the Pula festival, right? That was where Balasevic had his big break?
Thank you for this. I always appreciate your breakdowns. That said, I don't think there is a single song on this album that isn't good enough to be on a Radiohead album. Top to bottom, it's all fantastic. Now, not every song is comparable to top-tier Radiohead. But all of it is good enough to knock a couple songs off Hail to the Thief or The Bends or King of Limbs, etc. This is if Radiohead dropped their jazz album -- Amnesiac meets A Moon Shaped Pool -- and I'm all for it. There's no "bangers" -- no There There or Paranoid Android or Reckoner -- but there also isn't a We Suck Young Blood or Sulk, etc. It's all a mood piece, with so much to unravel on headphones and repeat listens. If it were a Radiohead album, I'd rank it as their 5th best. 9/10
friend of a friend and bending hectic are two of the best things they've ever written. Just like Open the Floodgates and Skirting the Surface on the last one. Plus a bunch of other top tier tracks this album is as good as any Radiohead album.
Finally somebody get the “Rip”connection 🎉 I’ve been brewing that thought for so long. There’s a wif of krautrock to it’s step and hypnotics
As I write this you say “krautrock” my mind is blown!
Radiohead with jazz drums is The Smile.
I like the drums on these records but I think I still prefer the driving consistency and groove of Phil's drumming
Radiohead with jazz drums is Radiohead.
Jazzier*
@OurFamilyInMotion
Sounds fantastic 😍
Love this.
Have you ever seen the videos of Jonny and Thom playing The Rip or Present Tense. Just two very smart musicians enjoying the purest sound of natural instruments. THAT is what I think The Smile is about. Thom loves computers and bips and bops. Jonny similarly loves technology and he loves orchestras too. But The Smile - it sounds like real instruments always - including mistakes. I love it. I feel their love of music in The Smile more than any of their other work. I don't think it's their best work, it's their most joyful. I think The Smile is THEIR smile. They are enjoying it.
What we get with The Smile, especially with lp2, is Jonny Greenwood filling the space with orchestrations that would be filled by the "missing three." Plus a drummer who can relax through any idea, time, tempo, plus.
It provides a film score quality and connectivity through the music.
I agree that this is much better than the first one. I'm a big Radiohead fan but don't like AMSP much or the first smile album. So I'm very pleased to find that I like this one so much. My favourite Thom / Johnny work in a long time.
...but AMSP is the greatest album ever created :(
@@abstersdictionarymeh… one of their weakest imo…
@@EthanS1481out of 2 albums, that isn’t so bad.
@@mikeybrown7810 what are you talking about? I’m talking about Radiohead’s A moon shaped moon. Are you talking about something created by The smile?
@@EthanS1481 A Moon Shaped Pool is one of the most emotional pieces of music I've ever heard, aside from Bjork - Ancestors.
It is their peak work, so much emotion and effort was put into it, it deserves to be their best work
Great vid! Thank you for addressing the elephant in the room.
Everything they do still sounds like Radiohead.. They should simply reconvene the band and record the songs as a unit.
As a musician I understand that familiarity breeds contempt, but that band has had plenty of time away from each other and since Thom Yorke tends to direct most of the songwriting, it seems they might as well do it as RH.
Godrich is also part of the puzzle and I hope they bring him back.
I honestly think Wall of Eyes is another landmark album from the Radioverse; it's up there with Radiohead's best work. This is the best thing I've heard from any of the Radiohead members outside of Radiohead. The Smile improved on every front from 'A Light for Attraction' and came through with a more concise and focused album that is more disticted from Radiohead.😅
You’re a genius ❤
The album is amazing, I didn't go into it expecting to love it as much as I do. Ah well
"The guitar work is very very Jonny, and the lyrics are very very Tommy." Nicely put 👌🏻🤌🏻
AVAA! - really impressed with this album. Even though a few of the songs I was expecting them to release didn't make it (Colours Fly, Bodies Laughing, Just Eyes And Mouth), what they put together in just 8 tracks is so consistently good. Teleharmonic and Read The Room are my standouts, along with Bending Hectic of course
I will add as well r.e the lyrics at the end of Friend Of A Friend - here in the UK there is an ongoing scandal around how a large number of government contracts to supply PPE during covid (like masks, gloves etc that were often poor quality and unusable) just so happened to be awarded to brand new companies which were ran by people who were friends with government ministers, to the tune of hundreds of millions of £ in profit.
So I believe that's what Thom is referencing here
Your son has awesome decorations in his room! Literally everything there is so cool
Uhhh I beg to differ on that moon shaped pool comment
AVAA a little story about Can. My dads band once was supposed to open for Can. But thier car broke down so they were late and Can had to play first. So actually Can opened for my dad 😎
i love the smile. I miss radiohead so much...
AVAA! This video got me to listen to Can who are very good. Also your Thom impression sounds like Winnie the Pooh.
I've knew Holger Czukay...the bass player from can.
I met him a lot in the 90ies...a freaky guy....he sadly died a couple of years ago.
This guy was...is a legend!
I recommend watching Radiohead’s performance of The King of limbs from the basement. Completely shifted how I thought of the album. As live compositions the songs are way better, but they made the studio album more enjoyable afterwards.
This is a phenomenal album
I’m really happy about it
very interesting and watchworthy review! and I agree: Read the Room sounds like a Radiohead-song. but i disagree, that it doesn’t need the rest of the band. IMO it’s the one song on the album, where Tom Skinner doesn’t really shine, and I feel like it would MASSIVELY benefit from Phil Selways more breaky/electronica kind of drumming, EOBs pads and atmospheric layers and Colins choppy bass-cascades to free up Jonny and Thom for other stuff… especially in the Coda, which could be more exciting and interesting with more dense sozndscapes and drums to break the stiffness. This way it feels a bit more like a sketch of a Radiohead song, more like a B-side. (Still love it, though!😅)
I knew there was a clarinet, but then I've played clarinet years.
I also just clicked with Read the Room. It wears its derivations on its sleeve. King Crimson, Blonde Redhead, and Sonic Youth...but its just not a COPY of those....
Here is good news-it was Ed. He was busy…heard it in BBC radio interview. It ain’t over but damn…it’s so great. I’ll miss them someday when Radiohead get together for a record.
Phil recently said in an interview that they are close. It will be 6 long years this summer.
@@GeneralMig Thanks for the confirmation…So thankful for The Smile. Hell of a great way that get through the years. I’m loving this record as a cohesive piece. I just don’t see them hanging it up just yet. They love making music and you can hear it. It’s been such a great long ride. I can’t think of another band I’ve hung with this long? Sure, great records that never age, but vital work every time out with records that always reveal themselves over many listens.
Oh wow. This hit hard.
Imagine if John and Paul had continued, or come back together, under the name 'Lennon-McCartney" - which they basically did on 'The Ballad of John and Yoko'.
What makes you think a new radiohead album would sound any different than a smile record. I feel like no matter who is playing on these records, the end product will be what johnny and thom want us to hear. I just consider these precious jewels radiohead 2.0.
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL I ALSO THOUGHT HE SAID "oh yoko" ON WALL OF EYES
AVAA - and that Portisheads' album is actually named Third, so it is definitely third one, no error there: Dummy, Portishead, Third
What does AVAA mean, please?
It is indeed the third studio album.
Amazing video as always :)@@bwpm1467
It’s their John Wesley Harding.
Who's up tho
I had a chance to chat with the band last July after their Philly concert and I told Tom Skinner how he was the perfect drummer for the Smile. He was borderline blushing, but I'm glad to see I'm not the only one thinking that. He's amazingly talented.
I was at that show! My big takeaway from that show was how great Skinner is. I was blown away.
@@GeneralMig it was great. I’m going to see them for the third time this summer in Frankfurt 👍🏻
Wow I remember Skye with like 10k subs. Don't get big time on us now. AVAA
Once I get a plaque I’ll go big time
I need more information on Reginald the Oxford ghost who plays the piano for Radiohead lol
His story will be told
I’d argue this album is actually more cohesive, and if you value music from a standpoint of the album start to finish, I think that’s more important.
another thought..: that whole „Nigel wouldn’t do that! (rough guitars..) The Smile does.“ - Nigel produced ALFAA, are you saying the first smile album didn’t have that Can-feeling, rough guitars and more loose approach? because i don‘t. think thing is just the tip of that wonderful iceberg.. i think it really just is thom evolving and being much more relaxed at this point of his musical journey. just think of the point he was at when making AMSP, personally. aswell nigels dad had died during the AMSP-sessions..
Thom didnt try to be sexy! He was a freak in this vid
For me, Radiohead did not come into their own until Amnesiac/Kid A. They completely left rock behind and created a new genre and everything after that too in the sense that every album before that was dateable like your Spielberg and Kubrick analogy they are creating lasting masterpieces.
Wow
The second song, teleharmonic, thom straight up asks "Will i make the money, i dont know"
Nah, it’s “the morning”
22:00 Are there no the Smile songs that are better than the average The King of Limbs song, except Read the Room, in your opinion?
MOONSHAPED POOL IS THE MOST AMAZING THING❤❤❤
AVAA I do NHL streams and whenever they put their gambling ads up I pop up a lower third saying DO NOT GAMBLE KIDS
Ya know when the Beatles came up with the concept of ‘sgt pepper’, historically in part, to ‘get away from the idea of being ‘the Beatles’ to create more freely? That’s kind of what the smile is, albeit in a different way. It’s a separate thing but it’s also a means for them to be freer, to get out of their heads, to be more creative more often and to just play. Sorry but I don’t subscribe to the notion that those later RH records were all necessarily made better by all that extra time they took, (I feel that fans can hype something up if it takes longer to produce and that’s part of the psychological effect of that if you’re as good as RH is) and I think on some level that the smile is an extension of the notion that T + J probably didn’t love that some of those RH records took so long to produce. while the work is great, they probably spent some of that time getting in their own way to try to live up to... whatever and, simply: the smile doesn’t have that baggage. that they didn’t take many years to come out with records as the smile doesn’t, to me, make them lesser, greater or more or less ‘monumental’ than an RH record. they’re simply a band who can exist without the weight of certain expectations, whether self imposed or otherwise. not better. not worse. Just Different. I know one thing though: if we don’t already, many of us are going to look back on these smile records and know that some of the output, if not a lot of it, will hold up to just about anything RH has produced. If you’re already a fan of RH, that will inevitably come to pass as the narrative shifts away from a growing disappointment at RH’s lack of activity, even if it’s not now the case. *mark my words
Why on earth do you not play the song? Now I have to go find it, and I'm not coming back here to true up the review and then rate the video.
Some great points on Thom's lyrics, but there are at least 14 The Smile songs that are as good as Radiohead's best work.
"We've definitely lost any feeling of intricately constructed dissonant masterpieces."
This is where I stopped watching. Did you actually hear the album? It's, harmonically and rhytmically, the most complex thing they've done in ages (maybe ever)!!!
Also, Sam worked with Nigel and Radiohead for many, many years. Nigel is like his mentor. No lost here.
Read the Room agreed.
So glad we got sloppy from the smile
getting sloppy from a smile, call that radiohead
I love this record after one listen. It feels like they've been listening to Black County New Road
i think youre kinda tripping 😭 on some parts... like... no band member feels bad about any other... noone is jealous... phil is busy with its own stuff... enjoying the smile too!
i think the band members also enjoy to step back and watch... see what the rest are doing... relaxed, no work needed, no touring, spending time with family, writing songs, releasing their own stuff, being by themselves
maybe you were joking but i cant really know
hey okay you’re right, king of limbs is properly rated, but bloom is still one of the best
AVAA prob best you have ever done .If Carlsberg did music reactions stay safe.
The ‘where did the money go’ Covid thing would more likely be in reference to the Conservative Party and that they spent millions on contracts to friends which either provided sub par service or in some cases , I believe, nothing. Not conspiracy stuff.. it was a big thing in the UK and imo that would align more with their politics than suggesting Covid was made up.
Sorry to go on about just one point!
My wife is a huge Radiohead fan and I can take some songs but most of them make me really physically uncomfortable and I think it’s mostly the drums. I get on with the Smile much more! I really enjoyed that livestream show thing they did with the first album. Avaa if you made it this far 😂
I won’t gamble on sports! Thank you!
Touched by the hand of God(rich) you know 😊
AVAA, Loss and Gain is the Same
Your assessment of read the room is spot on. When the album dropped, I couldnt stop listening to it.
Disagree with Nigel not allowing slight mistakes here and there, did you ever listen to AMSP with headphones on?
Go back to the bends? What does that even mean? LOL
This is way better than anything that Radiohead has dropped.
nah wall of eyes is great but never better than ok computer, Kid A, In rainbows, the bends , a moon shaped pool
29:18 hahahaha
All of Radiohead's albums are great, but, imho, Amnesiac is probably the weakest overall (along with Hail To The Thief - well, okay, Pablo Honey is their weakest) while A Moon Shaped Pool is in my top three (their most recent - or last - three). But cheers on a good video. Whatever Thom and Jonny have to do to keep making great music, I'm for it.
Day 252 of Asking you to Review Achilles Come Down by Gang of Youth
video is -11 db
I bought "Wall Of Eyes" yesterday, having not bought or listened to any Radiohead since "In Rainbows". This new album sounds fresh as hell.
I like The Smile just fine. But I enjoyed their first album much more than the second one. This new one feels like a series of B sides from the first one. Very similar but a lot more boring. Also, eight tracks on an LP feels underwhelming. There's too little energy. Plus there at least two "A Day in the Life" moments on this album. An album should have one, max. If that. Idk maybe this one will grow on me over time as a lot of their stuff tends to do. But after two complete listens, it hasn't happened yet.
nah ur wrong
AVAA
We lost Nigel!! AVAA
Thom… 🤤🤤🤤 AVAA
I feel that phil selway ran out of ideas to propell the sessions. Somewhere in between HTTT he lost his love for jazz theory. That is what incorperated the improvs that radiohead is noted for. A drummer leading. Thom and johnny can barely keep up with skinner. Annnd. Thom stopped writing lyrics in the form of two person conversations. I love the warning narrarations but you need the back and forth dialogue to go with it.
"A moon shaped Pool not as good as Amnesiac" - Dude, I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you there! :)
Avaa
I thought bending hectic was a good song
Bending Hectic was actually a bit meh on first listen for me. Many listens later it's actually really really good. So visceral and cinematic. Up there with best of radiohead. That final third drop over the cliff....you really see it through the sound. Astonishing!
one thing you've got is tom skinner's jazz background!-they are a threesome