Quite why Radiohead are releasing a live album now, hard on the heels of their second studio album in as many years, is a mystery. You can't imagine Thom Yorke wants a slice of the lucrative pre-Christmas market, although he has said that he only undertook the recent spate of interviews because he needs to make enough money to move his family to the moon!
What's more likely is that 'I Might Be Wrong' is Radiohead trashing the notion that 'Kid A' and 'Amnesiac' were difficult and sterile studio bound affairs. 'The National Anthem' positively swings live, buzzing with an energy that's anything but wilfully avant guarde, while 'Morning Bell' is vibrant and compelling, building up to the "walking walking walking" coda with the kind of loose chemistry that only happens onstage.
In some cases, hearing the songs live can help you make sense of the recorded versions. 'Idioteque', greeted by a huge cheer and accompanied by a mass singalong, is miles away from the 'Kid A' version. On record, the track is jarring and harsh, but live it's hypnotic, celebratory even.
'Like Spinning Plates' also benefits hugely. Stripped of the backwards special effects and pared down to Thom's voice and a piano, the track is achingly beautiful and bound to haunt you for aeons to come. You can also make out the words for the first time, giving yet more insight into the song and proving that these compositions can work on a purely emotional level if only you let them.
Of most interest, though, is the previously unreleased 'True Love Waits'. One of Radiohead's oldest unrecorded songs and a live favourite, it drifts along on a casually strummed acoustic and a surprisingly calm Thom, and feels like a rare moment of contentment until you hit the line "I'm not living/I'm just killing time".
Ironically, though, it's missing the electronic backing that made the song so hypnotic on earlier bootlegs. Don't worry. Now you've got your head round everything, a full on beats'n'bleeps live album is bound to be released the week after next.
