I Might Be Wrong – Live Recordings

The fact that this is no less than the third Radiohead review on these pages in the space of one year is in itself remarkable. Intially conceived as the third single release from Amnesiac, the project gloriously mutated into another 40 minute goody bag akin to the extended Airbag/How Am I Driving? package. In 1997/1998, their global jaunts were clouded by the paranoia captured in the Meeting People Is Easy documentary. In 2000/2001, they are thrillingly documented here.

The recording and production standards are impeccable. Crowd noise is pitched at a perfect atmospheric and evocative level that never gets instrusive. If one must cherry-pick the real ripe ones, ‘Like Spinning Plates’ is stunningly stripped from its puzzling avant garde structures and warped loops, left bare as a simple piano ballad. ‘Idiotheque’ at Oxford is gigantic, frenetic and thrilling as Underworld at full-throttle. Just for being such good fans and paying so much attention all year long, we get the never before released but much bootlegged ‘True Love Waits’. After spending the last eighteen months bringing the complex sound webs of Kid A/Amnesiac to the masses, this simple, straightforward tune will remind many of ‘Thinking About You’ as Thom beautifully sings “True love waits in haunted attics/and true love lives on lollipops and crisps.” And for the first time in quite a while, you find yourself listening to a Radiohead song and going “awww!” A lovely way to bookend their most dazzling era yet.