IMAGI-BLOG
"In Rainbows" coming to CD, thanks to... Dave Matthews?!
Submitted by Erik Gonzalez on October 23, 2007.After the astonishing (apparent) success of the digital release of Radiohead's In Rainbows, now we get word that Radiohead will be releasing the album on CD in the states. However, as usual, Radiohead is taking an atypical route. According to NME, Warner Brothers, Columbia, and (gulp) Starbucks battled for the rights to In Rainbows, but it seems that Thom and the boys will be licensing the album to ATO Records for the US release.
ATO is an independent headed by the manager of Dave Matthews Band... now, talk about strange bedfellows. No word on when In Rainbows might be released in physical form, but my guess would be soon.
» permalink «
2
Erik Gonzalez said on October 23, 2007:
The question is, with this kind of release, what constitutes the "proper" album? Does the deluxe edition or the proletarian edition? Are those 8 tracks bonuses or integral to our understanding of what the band was trying to say? At this point, I tend to believe that the 10 track version of In Rainbows is the "album" while everything else is bonus fodder. Of course, the actual CD release could change that ...
» reply
3
Shane Curry said on October 23, 2007:
Right, exactly.
I'm still feeling like disc-in-hand will still constitute an official release in the minds of a lot of people and reviewers, and I predict the physical release will be anywhere from 12-16 tracks. It only makes sense to find a medium ground with a release like this.
Now, does anyone want to start taking bets on what the price of the physical disc will be?
» reply
4
randy said on October 23, 2007:
ATO is hardly an indie label. It's a division of RCA, which is a division of Sony BMG. So, basically, they're releasing the disc through Sony.
» reply
5
Erik Gonzalez said on October 23, 2007:
You know, Randy @ 4, I was wondering that myself because I thought that ATO was just an imprint label. Good job clarifying (and bad job NME for not figuring that out).
» reply
6
Tim Hanken said on October 24, 2007:
ATO is also the home of My Morning Jacket so lets all cross our fingers for an ATO tour with MMJ opening for Radiohead.
I can dream.
» reply
7
Agnostic Layer said on October 27, 2007:
The connection is hardly 'strange'. In Rolling Stone's Top 100 Artists of All Time, it was Dave Matthews who wrote the piece about his admiration of Radiohead.
» reply
Reviews
Shane Curry said on October 23, 2007:
I'm so excited.
They're going to have to release the cd version before everyone gets their hands on the vinyl delux edition.
I think it's strange that everyone is going around writing reviews for the 10 track version of this album when there's 8 other tracks that no one's even heard yet. No one's technically heard this album in it's entirety, but it's already been labeled either "genius" or "a boring series of jam sessions".
2 of the other 8 songs are titled MK1 and MK2, so I can sadly only assume the unveiled tracks are going to be little more than flawless-fluff, but I'm crossing my finger for a handful more jems (I'm secretly holding my breath for more orchestral arangements, piano and wandering, non-linear vocal harmonies...)