Further to yesterday's post on The King of Limbs: with a few more listens it's become apparent that not all of the tracks are as complex as "Bloom", "Little By Little", or "Lotus Flower". In fact, "Codex" and "Give Up the Ghost" are, by Radiohead's standards, fairly straightforward, with the former showing clearly some of the influence of Neil Young on both Yorke's singing and writing. So the point that I made yesterday, about how this will be a difficult album for those who cover Radiohead, may not apply to all of its songs equally. In any event, I always enjoy hearing people do the songs, mainly because they help me to hear even more deeply into the complexity of the original versions. So I hope that I'm wrong, and that there will be many more covers to come in every style we've heard in the past, from reggae to string quartet, solo piano to small jazz ensemble, and in some we haven't yet. Let The King of Limbs reign!

Wow! Neil Young won his first Grammy for music yesterday! (He won for best packaging of a box-set or something the year before.) I guess he finally reached their high standards. OK, enough with the sarcasm - sorry about that - but it is utterly ridiculous that an artist of Young's caliber (and there would be an argument for his being the greatest recording artist in rock history) would win his first Grammy forty years into his career. And I'm sorry, but not one of the albums nominated this year will be remembered in forty years, let alone listened to. And if you don't believe me, listen to any or all of them, and then listen to After the Gold Rush.

Radiohead's Thom Yorke is probably the most interesting singer in rock, and has been for some time, in my opinion. His work ethic is what makes him so; the fact that he has spent so much time writing music using piano, guitar and voice is one factor that gives him a sound that's sensitive and subtle, but also very powerful. It's also clear that he's learned a lot from great singers of the past and present. In an earlier post, I mentioned how he's indebted to John Lydon, a fact that's particularly evident on the more manic material (like "Bodysnatchers", for example), and Neil Young is also a big influence, and there are several great videos on YouTube of him and Radiohead doing Young songs. Here's a version of "Tell Me Why" that is terrific (despite the crowd noise): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHIJcx9EB94. Another singer that can be heard in Yorke is Bryan Ferry, and the version of "2HB" from the soundtrack of Velvet Goldmine, a 1998 film, is quite surprising for Yorke's uncanny impersonation of the Roxy frontman. It's definitely worth a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxcDwzsx8OQ

Just as Neil Young has inspired innumerable younger rockers, he himself had similar experiences with music from before his time. One of these is very memorably documented in Heart of Gold, the 2006 concert film directed by Jonathan Demme, when Young tells the story of being away from home for a long stretch for the first time during his teenage years, and spending all of his money listening to Ian Tyson's "Four Strong Winds" on a restaurant jukebox. I'm not sure but I think this must be the version that he's referring to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjfTDPhMdTk. It's interesting to compare his studio version (from 1978's Comes a Time) to the original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfZes9fFmXc&feature=related, and also to note that both have a wistful, difficult-to-describe quality that can also be found throughout the amazing body of work that Young has written in the forty years (and change) of his career. Obviously that jukebox money was well spent.

One of the coolest tributes to another artist that I've ever seen was done by Wilco when they backed up Neil Young at Montreal's Bell Centre in December of 2008. And as opposed to simply covering one of his songs, which would have been fine but a much more obvious way of doing it, they chose from their own repertoire the songs that seemed to be the most clearly influenced by the great songwriter. Among them were some of the best songs from what I consider to be their greatest album, Sky Blue Sky (2007), including "Hate it Here" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkIgSMOJeOs) and "You Are My Face" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0O89XxpLOg). Give them a listen and I think you'll hear what I mean right away. Then, if you haven't already, listen to the whole album.

(I should also mention that the next time I saw them, in February of this year, they did a rousing medley of "Mr. Soul" and "Broken Arrow", which can also be heard on YouTube. I won't link it though, because I've yet to find one that sounds very good. Please let me know if you do.)