Radiohead- In Rainbows (2007)

This album really made us all sit up and take notice in 2007, of course, by its initial release as a download which, bravely, invited us to pay whatever we wanted to. The video for "Jigsaw Falling into Place" was on heavy rotation on all the rock and indie music channels on the telly, far more widespread in 2007 than they are today, giving us the impression that the band may be moving slightly towards a more accessible sound, the prospect of which gave me mixed feelings.

In 2021, this doesn't ound that way at all, but simply a further development of Radiohead's less commercial but much richer new direction from Kid A onwards. "Jigsaw Falling into Place", as the obvious single, is perhaps an outlier with its relatively radio-friendly sound: the rest of the album is very much a soundscape, and a captivating one.

This album, shorn of its context after fourteen years, is a masterpiece. I suspect I'll be saying similar things about other Radiohead albums. By this point, they can do no wrong.