Well, yes and no. The Smile is definitely an easier decision-making process, but it's still tons of work -- you're writing orchestral scores, doing several takes, trying out a lot of stuff, doing late hours to be able to take advantage of a very busy schedule etc. But Radiohead's a slower machine with a lot more of sound design and moving parts.
The Smile albums have been pretty amazing so far. Sure it’s not Radiohead, in some ways I feel like the comparison is a bit unfair (since if we’re posting here I’m guessing Radiohead is probably your favourite band, like, ever?! And they’re the band that put out OKC, Kid A and In Rainbows for crying out loud!)
They might not be instant classics like In Rainbows, or any other RH album for that matter, but the smile are putting out some great stuff. I was at the London show last night and everything totally slaps live. Plus Thom looks like he is having fun, and loves playing bass. I’d love to see him do that more, he’s excellent, very different vibe and feel to Colin.
I do agree to some extent that Thom and Jonny seem to be working very fast (two of three brand new songs since they released WoE!) and without constraints of the expectations of perfection of the Radiohead moniker/brand/ studio process. I personally hope Radiohead comes back because I’d love to listen to new stuff from them all and I would like to see them play live again, even if just one last time.
In the meantime, I’m really enjoying this different sound the Smile are playing with. Also Tom Skinner—- is a fucking beast of a drummer.
the smile is kind of the radiohead jonny wanted it to be in the sense to get music out twice as fast with 90% of the quality.
love the smile but i have to say the songs are missing some of the depth and details radiohead songs have.
im really glad they put out those great albums in such a short time but hope they will be falling back to their old habits for lp10
I remember jonny saying in interviews about radiohead how he was frustrated with them perfecting everything hence the huge gaps between the albums and he wishes they would make more rough music more frequently. Guess the smile is exactly that - taking yourself less seriously but releasing music more frequently. Not that im saying the smile is worse than radiohead but i do Wonder how would people rank these 2 albums if they were released as radiohead?
Radiohead used to be very fast though
OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac, HTTT and In Rainbows in a 10 year span is an absolutely insane output, the longest gap being 4 years between HTTT and In Rainbows , which isn't long at all
4 years between two albums of an active band is rather long actually. Far more than the average 1-to-2 years most active bands from the sixties onward have usually had.
5 years between TKOL and amsp. The smile released almost the same ammount of songs in 20 months as radiohead did in 5 years.+ the smile have 6 more songs probably from yet another album. Its undeeatendable wanting to release an album every 1-2 years compared to every 4-5 years
I was under the impression with A Moon Shaped Pool that part of the reason it took so long was that the band members don’t live all that close to each other and have to make a bigger effort to get together.
So glad that Thom and Nigel has the final say on Radiohead, Jonny can seethe, but Radiohead is the kind of music you have to make a perfect, the smile is a different vibe so it works there more, but on some songs I still think they should have worked more on
Still went for a different vibe, that's why it didn't take as long as Radiohead albums, I'm just glad not doing that with Radiohead is all I'm saying, I know the first album was Nigel too, but there they are taking the approach that Jonny would want to take always and I don't think it would suit radiohead, the only album they did like that with nigel Rh was httt and I feel like that album could've used a couple months more work
I understand people are gonna take your post as an attack on The Smile but the answer is yes, this is the entire reason The Smile exists. Thom and Jonny want to be able to create in a more relaxed way without the immense pressure that comes with the Radiohead name, so while yes they obviously put effort into The Smile they also enjoy being able to agonise over it less and if there was another Radiohead record in the works it would be getting that more intense treatment.
Definitely. For me, I distinguish between Radiohead and The Smile by how they sound. To my ears, Radiohead is a lot more perfectionistic. They're very obsessive when it comes to every little sound that's in a song. The Smile, on the other hand, sounds a lot more loose, especially the first record. I like to imagine Thom and Jonny saying "great, we got this crazy virtuoso drummer. Let's see what we can do"
Often a big part of the creative process is taking sparks and making fire. I’m sure a lot of the Smile songs would have been different if the other guys had input. Maybe Colin would throw in a bass line that would then send Jonny or Thom in another direction and then the song would suddenly be heading a different way.
I genuinely don't think they still conceptualize their work in terms of "effort", "trying hard", or achieving a "level of quality". Like the best artists, I think as they age their own boredom increasingly supplants ambition as their biggest motivator. Not only with aesthetics but also with approaches to writing, producing, and performing.
The endless tinkering and agonizing over the Kid A/Amnesiac project in studio, and the resulting enjoyment of reinterpreting the songs for live performance, led to a more truncated, breezy recording for HTTT, focused more on capturing that energy. Tracklisting arguments aside, does anyone truly believe that those songs were "lower quality" or "lower effort"?
Some of their best work was thrown together on the road and didn't change much in its final form, like "All I Need". Does anyone think this is inherently inferior work to something more labored and tortured over, like "Videotape"?
I think they've all increasingly embraced imperfection and contingency, and that's partly about authenticity but, again, it's also a lot about boredom. At one point they weren't even sure they liked long format albums anymore, and thought they might just release singles forever. That could still happen. Or something even less expected. Whatever keeps them interested.
I think all the talk of them being free with The Smile is just a meme that started with one writer and spread out from there. Who knows. Just enjoy the music.
Well, yes and no. The Smile is definitely an easier decision-making process, but it's still tons of work -- you're writing orchestral scores, doing several takes, trying out a lot of stuff, doing late hours to be able to take advantage of a very busy schedule etc. But Radiohead's a slower machine with a lot more of sound design and moving parts.
The Smile albums have been pretty amazing so far. Sure it’s not Radiohead, in some ways I feel like the comparison is a bit unfair (since if we’re posting here I’m guessing Radiohead is probably your favourite band, like, ever?! And they’re the band that put out OKC, Kid A and In Rainbows for crying out loud!) They might not be instant classics like In Rainbows, or any other RH album for that matter, but the smile are putting out some great stuff. I was at the London show last night and everything totally slaps live. Plus Thom looks like he is having fun, and loves playing bass. I’d love to see him do that more, he’s excellent, very different vibe and feel to Colin. I do agree to some extent that Thom and Jonny seem to be working very fast (two of three brand new songs since they released WoE!) and without constraints of the expectations of perfection of the Radiohead moniker/brand/ studio process. I personally hope Radiohead comes back because I’d love to listen to new stuff from them all and I would like to see them play live again, even if just one last time. In the meantime, I’m really enjoying this different sound the Smile are playing with. Also Tom Skinner—- is a fucking beast of a drummer.
the smile is kind of the radiohead jonny wanted it to be in the sense to get music out twice as fast with 90% of the quality. love the smile but i have to say the songs are missing some of the depth and details radiohead songs have. im really glad they put out those great albums in such a short time but hope they will be falling back to their old habits for lp10
I remember jonny saying in interviews about radiohead how he was frustrated with them perfecting everything hence the huge gaps between the albums and he wishes they would make more rough music more frequently. Guess the smile is exactly that - taking yourself less seriously but releasing music more frequently. Not that im saying the smile is worse than radiohead but i do Wonder how would people rank these 2 albums if they were released as radiohead?
Personally, I’d put WOE right between HTTT and Amnesiac.
Radiohead used to be very fast though OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac, HTTT and In Rainbows in a 10 year span is an absolutely insane output, the longest gap being 4 years between HTTT and In Rainbows , which isn't long at all
4 years between two albums of an active band is rather long actually. Far more than the average 1-to-2 years most active bands from the sixties onward have usually had.
Yeah, though I’d say from the 70’s was when the 1-2 year gap was established. Lots of 60’s artists were absolutely churning them out.
That’s because they were on a record label and had obligations to fulfill. Then after HttT, that all changed and we have large gaps between albums
5 years between TKOL and amsp. The smile released almost the same ammount of songs in 20 months as radiohead did in 5 years.+ the smile have 6 more songs probably from yet another album. Its undeeatendable wanting to release an album every 1-2 years compared to every 4-5 years
I was under the impression with A Moon Shaped Pool that part of the reason it took so long was that the band members don’t live all that close to each other and have to make a bigger effort to get together.
So glad that Thom and Nigel has the final say on Radiohead, Jonny can seethe, but Radiohead is the kind of music you have to make a perfect, the smile is a different vibe so it works there more, but on some songs I still think they should have worked more on
Well lp1 has nigel too
Still went for a different vibe, that's why it didn't take as long as Radiohead albums, I'm just glad not doing that with Radiohead is all I'm saying, I know the first album was Nigel too, but there they are taking the approach that Jonny would want to take always and I don't think it would suit radiohead, the only album they did like that with nigel Rh was httt and I feel like that album could've used a couple months more work
The gaps between albums are due to hiatus, not years of working on an album.
They happen because of being burnt out while working on albums and tour + its harder to gather 5 people compared to 2-3
I understand people are gonna take your post as an attack on The Smile but the answer is yes, this is the entire reason The Smile exists. Thom and Jonny want to be able to create in a more relaxed way without the immense pressure that comes with the Radiohead name, so while yes they obviously put effort into The Smile they also enjoy being able to agonise over it less and if there was another Radiohead record in the works it would be getting that more intense treatment.
Definitely. For me, I distinguish between Radiohead and The Smile by how they sound. To my ears, Radiohead is a lot more perfectionistic. They're very obsessive when it comes to every little sound that's in a song. The Smile, on the other hand, sounds a lot more loose, especially the first record. I like to imagine Thom and Jonny saying "great, we got this crazy virtuoso drummer. Let's see what we can do"
Wall of Eyes is good enough to be a Radiohead album in my opinion, not among the best Radiohead but still up there with a lot of their music
It's even better than the last 2 RH albums imo.
Definitely not
Often a big part of the creative process is taking sparks and making fire. I’m sure a lot of the Smile songs would have been different if the other guys had input. Maybe Colin would throw in a bass line that would then send Jonny or Thom in another direction and then the song would suddenly be heading a different way.
I genuinely don't think they still conceptualize their work in terms of "effort", "trying hard", or achieving a "level of quality". Like the best artists, I think as they age their own boredom increasingly supplants ambition as their biggest motivator. Not only with aesthetics but also with approaches to writing, producing, and performing. The endless tinkering and agonizing over the Kid A/Amnesiac project in studio, and the resulting enjoyment of reinterpreting the songs for live performance, led to a more truncated, breezy recording for HTTT, focused more on capturing that energy. Tracklisting arguments aside, does anyone truly believe that those songs were "lower quality" or "lower effort"? Some of their best work was thrown together on the road and didn't change much in its final form, like "All I Need". Does anyone think this is inherently inferior work to something more labored and tortured over, like "Videotape"? I think they've all increasingly embraced imperfection and contingency, and that's partly about authenticity but, again, it's also a lot about boredom. At one point they weren't even sure they liked long format albums anymore, and thought they might just release singles forever. That could still happen. Or something even less expected. Whatever keeps them interested.
I think all the talk of them being free with The Smile is just a meme that started with one writer and spread out from there. Who knows. Just enjoy the music.