Maps of Music

The King of Limbs (2011)

Where the lyrics of The King of Limbs take you, and where it was really made.

Radiohead released no singles from this album, yet the video for 'Lotus Flower' sparked an internet meme.

Key places

Sessions at Drew Barrymore's home (2011)

Recording site Motown Recording Studios — Radiohead spent three weeks at the home of actress Drew Barrymore in Los Angeles in early 2010 while working on the album. The point is set at city-centre level because the exact building is not given. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• The King of Limbs: eighth studio album by English rock band Radiohead
• Self-released as a download on 18 February 2011
• Physical release on 28 March through XL Recordings internationally and TBD Records in North America
• Eight tracks and 37 minutes long, Radiohead's shortest album
• Yorke described it as 'an expression of wildness and mutation'
• Artwork by Thom Yorke and longtime collaborator Stanley Donwood, depicting nature and spirits inspired by fairy tales

Background

• Followed In Rainbows (2007); the band wanted less conventional song structures and recording methods
• Developed with producer Nigel Godrich through sampling and looping of the band's own playing
• Title derives from an ancient oak tree in Savernake Forest, Wiltshire
• No singles released; the 'Lotus Flower' video inspired an internet meme
• Band began an international tour in 2012 with several festival appearances
• Second drummer Clive Deamer joined to perform the complex rhythms live

Recording

• Worked on the album intermittently from May 2009 to January 2011
• Three weeks at the home of actress Drew Barrymore in Los Angeles in early 2010
• Godrich's two-week turntable experiment ended up lasting six months
• Much of the album was assembled from looped and edited samples using software written by Greenwood
• Yorke wrote melodies and lyrics over the sequences, likening the process to editing a film
• Recording paused on 24 January 2010 for a Radiohead for Haiti show at the Hollywood Henry Fonda Theatre

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985.
• The members met while attending Abingdon School, a private boys' school in Abingdon.
• The band was first called On a Friday, and signed to EMI in December 1991 under the name Radiohead.

Members

• Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards), Colin Greenwood (bass), Ed O'Brien (guitar, backing vocals), Philip Selway (drums).
• Nigel Godrich (producer) and Stanley Donwood (cover artist) have worked with the band since 1994.

Career

• Debut album Pablo Honey (1993); The Bends (1995); OK Computer (1997) is considered a landmark record.
• Kid A (2000) marked a dramatic change in style, incorporating electronic music, jazz and krautrock.
• In Rainbows (2007) was self-released as a pay-what-you-want download.
• Over 30 million albums sold by 2011; six Grammy Awards, four Ivor Novello Awards.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone, The Wire, NME and PopMatters named it one of the best albums of the year
• Rolling Stone's Jon Dolan wrote it was 'Radiohead's funkiest record, and one of their most elusive'
• Daily Telegraph's Neil McCormick wrote it was 'Radiohead's most mellifluous collection'
• NME's Luke Lewis felt it was 'a record to respect for its craft, rather than worship for its greatness'
• Pitchfork's Mark Pytlik wrote it was 'well-worn terrain for Radiohead', with the band's signature ambition missed
• AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine described Radiohead 'doing what they do', moving from pioneers to craftsmen
• Robert Christgau gave it a two-star 'honourable mention'
• Los Angeles Times's Ann Powers reported that listeners were divided, some finding it too low-key, abstract or doomy

Reappraisal

• Metacritic average of 80 based on 40 reviews
• 2015: Stereogum's Ryan Leas called it very good music that still felt like a letdown
• 2016: New Republic's Ryan Kearney criticised Yorke's use of idioms on the album
• 2021: Jordan Blum and Chris DeVille called it Radiohead's most divisive record
• 2024: Rolling Stone's Andy Greene placed it among the 50 most disappointing albums, while calling it 'sensational'

Records

• UK retail edition debuted at number seven, ending a run of five consecutive UK number-one albums
• 33,469 copies sold in the UK in its first week
• Standard vinyl became the bestselling vinyl album of 2011 in the UK
• US Billboard 200 debut at number six, peaking at number three
• 307,000 US retail copies by April 2012, Radiohead's first album without US gold certification
• Download version sold 300,000 to 400,000 copies on the band's website
• Nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 54th Grammy Awards

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• A 12-page free tabloid called the Universal Sigh was distributed at independent record shops worldwide to promote the release.
• The special edition included a sheet of artwork printed on blotting paper of the kind used to distribute LSD.
• The special edition was nominated for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package at the 54th Grammy Awards.
• The band did not perform the album live until several months after its release.
• In 2017, 'Bloom' was re-recorded with composer Hans Zimmer for the BBC series Blue Planet II.
• The full album was performed for The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement, broadcast in July and released on DVD and Blu-ray in December.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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