Maps of Music

Amnesiac (2001)

Where the lyrics of Amnesiac take you, and where it was really made.

Amnesiac was recorded in the same sessions as Kid A, and Radiohead split the material into two albums because it felt too dense for a double album.

Key places

Sessions at Guillaume Studios in Paris (2001)

Recording site Pathé Marconi studios — Radiohead recorded Amnesiac from January 1999 to mid-2000 across several studios, and Guillaume Studios in Paris was one of them. The point is placed at city-level coordinates. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Sessions at Medley Studios in Copenhagen (2001)

Recording site Medley Studios — Medley Studios in Copenhagen was one of the studios where Radiohead recorded Amnesiac during its sessions from January 1999 to mid-2000. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Strings recorded at Dorchester Abbey (2001)

Recording site Dorchester Abbey — The strings for Amnesiac, arranged by Jonny Greenwood and performed by the Orchestra of St John's, were recorded in Dorchester Abbey, a 12th-century church near Radiohead's studio. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Amnesiac: fifth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead
• Released 30 May 2001 by EMI
• Recorded in the same sessions as Kid A (2000)
• Radiohead split the work in two because it felt too dense for a double album
• Draws on electronic music, 20th-century classical music, jazz and krautrock
• Final track Life in a Glasshouse is a collaboration with jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton and his band

Background

• Radiohead released no singles from Kid A; Amnesiac was promoted with the singles Pyramid Song and Knives Out, both with music videos
• Videos were also made for Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors and Like Spinning Plates, and I Might Be Wrong was released as a promotional single
• Radiohead launched the GooglyMinotaur chatbot, which fans could talk to on AIM
• The Amnesiac tour began in June 2001 and included the first North American tour in three years and a homecoming performance in Oxford

Recording

• Sessions ran from January 1999 to mid-2000 at Guillaume Studios in Paris, Medley Studios in Copenhagen and Radiohead's newly built studio in Oxfordshire
• Strings were arranged by Jonny Greenwood, performed by the Orchestra of St John's and recorded in Dorchester Abbey
• Influences included synthesisers, ondes Martenot, drum machines, strings and brass
• Yorke said the title came from a Gnostic belief that the trauma of birth erases memories of past lives

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

• Received positive reviews
• Some critics found it too experimental or less cohesive than Kid A, or saw it as a collection of Kid A outtakes
• Rolling Stone saw Amnesiac as a further distancing from Radiohead's earlier style
• Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times called it a richer, more engaging record than Kid A
• Alexis Petridis of The Guardian felt it returned Radiohead to their role as the world's most intriguing and innovative major rock band, though he found the electronic tracks Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors and Like Spinning Plates self-indulgent
• Stylus called it slightly more straightforward than Kid A but less exploratory or interesting

Reappraisal

• In 2016 Dorian Lynskey wrote in The Guardian that Kid A and Amnesiac were spotty and that the strongest tracks from both should have been released as one album
• For its 20th anniversary in 2021, The Atlantic wrote that Amnesiac might be Radiohead's best work
• In 2024 Consequence called it a rosetta stone for understanding Radiohead as a whole

Records

• Debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart
• Debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 with 231,000 first-week sales
• Sold more than 900,000 copies worldwide by October 2008
• Certified platinum in the UK, the US and Canada; gold in Japan for 100,000 shipments
• Nominated for the 2001 Mercury Prize and several Grammy Awards; the special edition won Best Recording Package at the 44th Grammy Awards
• Rolling Stone ranked it number 320 in its 2012 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list
• Metacritic rating of 75 out of 100 based on 25 reviews

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Radiohead enlisted ActiveBuddy to build GooglyMinotaur, a chatbot on the AOL Instant Messenger network that launched on the day of the Amnesiac release
• Jonny Greenwood wrote to Lyttelton saying the band were a bit stuck, and Lyttelton agreed to take part after his daughter showed him OK Computer
• The recording session with Lyttelton lasted seven hours and left him exhausted
• The Minotaur on the artwork stands for the maze Yorke felt lost in during his depression after OK Computer
• Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors started as an attempt to record True Love Waits, and the True Love Waits version was released later on Kid A Mnesia (2021)

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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