I've read a great many knuckleheaded comments lately about The King of Limbs, Radiohead's new album, which is too bad because it means that a lot of people are not appreciating it for what it is: a deepening of their musical concept and process (which do overlap, but are not precisely the same thing). And it seems like the band are getting it from both sides - either the record is too experimental or not experimental enough... It's neither actually. In fact, it's simply further exploration of a way of making music, which they invented, by the way, and which produces results that are unlike those of any other artist. Think of that: after all these years, there's still no one that sounds like them. Of course, this means that there might not be as much of a change between this one and In Rainbows as there was between, say, The Bends and OK Computer, but that's as it should be. It means that they're honing their process. And it's important to keep in mind that these guys are a great and unique rock band, not trend-followers. They'll be remembered among the greatest musicians of our time, of any, in fact. And the best thing I've heard about them recently came in an interview with Jonny Greenwood, in which he said (and I'm paraphrasing) that the band has learned a lot about how to speed up their process. My hope is that this means that we're going to get new music from them more frequently. Here are links to their most recent release (a two-sided single for Record Store Day). For maximum enjoyment, listen to them with the right mindset: "Supercollider"- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ii-FumszIg. "The Butcher": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w19ZlO_JEJ0&feature=related.

I listened to the the Beatles' White Album from cover to cover the other day and was as amazed as I was the first time I heard it. It's well-known now that the album was considered by the members of the band to be a record of their early work as solo artists (listening to the lyrics to "Blackbird" from that perspective says it all), and that the accompanying photos are made up entirely of individual shots, and so forth. But, for me, it still sounds like perhaps the most representative Beatles album, because it contains so much breathing room and thus allows them to be heard both as individuals and as a collective. In retrospect, it's also clear that it was a template for some of the best large-scale ambitions of later rock artists (The Clash's Sandanista! and Fleetwood Mac's Tusk come to mind), and that its individual tracks have remained inspirations for songwriters up to the present moment. An example? Compare "Good Night" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIKugx1sToY) with Radiohead's closing track from Kid A, "Motion Picture Soundtrack" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ju8xO_Zvfo).

The album's MVP is Starr, in my opinion, and not only for his unforgettable vocal contributions (such as the one linked above), but his near-infallibility in the studio and his heart full of soul playing and placement made the record possible despite the tensions present at its making. Check him out on this one, Lennon's "I'm So Tired": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy-gOf-_3f4&feature=related.

And just to round things off, here's a highlight from Harrison, "Savoy Truffle": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBJqPxpWD5w, and one from McCartney, "Martha My Dear": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogwO9V9wIHg.

Kierkegaard's dictum, "Life must be lived forward, but can only be understood backwards", can also be related to music, and particularly composition, in a very important way. The reason for this is that music theory is very largely an after-the-fact activity. Because the composing process is centered on finding connections to a central idea or two and chasing them down as well as possible, there isn't the time to analyze each musical moment in terms of theory. But, the more experience that a composer has, the more likely that they will be able to work backwards from an envisioned whole, and thus infuse logic and inevitability into every gesture. Mozart was this type of composer, and his String Quartet No. 19 in C Major (K. 465), an example of this type of composition. The first movement is what gave the piece its nickname (the Dissonance Quartet), and it gives, very clearly I think, evidence of this kind of very advanced thinking. Have a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7dv2-bxhE8.

Note to regular readers of this blog: Because I'll be working on some other writing projects for the next little while, I'm going to be updating weekly, rather than daily, for a bit. This applies my Shakespeare blog (Star of England, linked on the right) as well.

I was too young to see the original rockabilly singers. And although I was never in the presence of Elvis Presley or Gene Vincent, I did get to see quite a few of the artists who kept that crucial flame alive for those of us who weren't there at the beginning. From among that group, Robert Gordon was the greatest. He had the voice, the understated charisma, the sense of drama and the taste to convey all of the original excitement to the next generation of gone cats. A great example of his taste, by the way, is the fact that he nearly always plays with a rock 'n' roll trio of guitar, bass and drums, which is just as it should be. He's one of the few rockers who (truly) understands that less is more. Here's a great clip of him doing Conway Twitty's "It's Only Make Believe": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwB7itzYIMo. And here's a link to his website: http://www.robertgordon.dk/.

Having mentioned Elvis Presley's ballad singing yesterday, I thought I would find an example for you today, and "Love Me Tender" is as good as any. What's immediately striking to me, whenever I listen to Elvis now, is the control he had over his instrument, seemingly from the very beginning, and the astonishing resonance that it was capable of producing. It was no doubt largely informed by his knowledge of gospel singing (another example of taste being the most important attribute for a musician). Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZBUb0ElnNY.

And now have a listen to the same song (in a medley with "Witchcraft") sung by Presley and Frank Sinatra: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVfXCYk0xSA. How many rock and roll singers could have done that? I think Frank speaks for all of us with his final comment in the clip: "Thank you, Elvis".

Vincent Eugene Craddock, better known as Gene Vincent, is one of the greatest rock and roll singers, up there with Elvis Presley. I think that, along with his sense of swing and dramatic timing, it was his natural quality, the sense that what he was singing about was actually happening to him, that made him so great. Like Presley, he was equally convincing on ballads and rockers, and like John Lennon, the greatest rock and roll singer of the following decade, he had the gift of always making the listener feel like part of the action (and fun). You can clearly hear how much Lennon learned from him by comparing their versions of "Be-Bop-a-Lula". Vincent's was recorded in 1956 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7trV_-mSyE), and Lennon's in 1975. It's the first and best track on his Rock 'n' Roll album of that year (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKQB0ezWGOE).