Tampa Calling

A review and some news. The Radiohead CD dropped Tuesday. As did the DVD and vinyl (see below). Here’s my review:

The Best Of
RADIOHEAD
Capitol/EMI
When a band leaves its label, like Radiohead did recently to drop In Rainbows gratis, the former employer typically cashes in with a greatest hits collection post-haste. Or several collections, which is what EMI has unveiled. Since Radiohead managed to conquer the (alternative) rock world with only a lone radio smash (their debut single “Creep”), the folks at EMI wisely dubbed the new two-disc compilation Best Of, and it lives up to the billing. For instance, there are no glaring omissions — no “where the fuckstick is ‘Karma Police?’” — you know, the kind of “errors” that speak to a record company greedily holding out for a Volume 2 payday.

The Radiohead double disc “special edition,” 30-track Best Of (there’s also a single disc, 17-track edition) spans the band’s entire pre-In Rainbows career, even including a track, “True Love Waits,” from the 2001 mini-album I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings. One quibble: why not sequence the collection chronologically instead of ad hoc? In addition to the pair of Best Of CDs, June 3 also marked the day EMI issued Radiohead: The Best Of (4-piece vinyl set), 17-track and 30track downloads and a DVD “featuring 21 classic promo videos.” 4 (out of 5) stars

The news (from Billboard.com):

Radiohead’s back catalog became available for sale via Apple’s iTunes Music Store this morning (June 3) in DRM-free files, removing the band from the ever-dwindling list of major holdouts from the digital download service.

The band previously had a handful of songs on iTunes that were included on various soundtracks or compilations, and earlier this year, Radiohead’s new album, “In Rainbows,” was made available there.

Click here for entire Billboard.com story.

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