5 Standout Album-Closers by Radiohead

Radiohead has released nine studio albums in their career. Except for the somewhat forgettable “Blow Out” from their debut album Pablo Honey, the songs that close out those records are uniformly fantastic.

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That makes choosing only five of those songs to highlight a rather difficult task. But we’re going to give it a shot here, looking back at the fantastic closing statements of this brilliant band.

“Street Spirit (Fade Out)” from ‘The Bends’ (1995)

The Bends represented a massive leap forward in just about every possible manner for Radiohead. They displayed an ability to mix crunching rock with more meditative moments, a sense of drama and portent evident in everything. “Street Sense (Fade Out)” finds Thom Yorke wailing ominously over interlocking guitars and background vocals that sound like chanting monks. When he moans, “Immerse yourself in love” in the final moments, it sounds more like a death sentence instead of a paean to positivity.

“Motion Picture Soundtrack” from ‘Kid A’ (2000)

Radiohead delivered one of the bravest records in rock history in Kid A. Instead of trying to recapture the spirit of their massively praised OK Computer, the group tore their sound down and built it up again as synthetically as possible. It paid off brilliantly, of course. “Motion Picture Soundtrack” ends things on a note that’s somehow lush and eerie all at once. Instead of playing up the lovely melody, the band buries Thom Yorke’s pronouncements in a melancholic haze, captivating us with the mystery of it all.

“Life In A Glasshouse” from ‘Amnesiac’ (2001)

If you want to know if someone is a true Radiohead fan, ask them how they feel about Amnesiac. That album upped the ante on the anti-rock elements of Kid A, leaving some listeners confused. Throughout the record, the approach is almost like jazz in the way it takes liberties with song structure. “Life In A Glasshouse” features Thom Yorke’s typically gloomy ponderings and places them amidst some out-of-left-field horns. The song leaves us with a New Orleans funeral vibe, and who could have seen that coming?

“A Wolf At The Door” from ‘Hail To The Thief’ (2003)

Hail To The Thief gave Radiohead the opportunity to get back to more of a traditional rock mode. They seemed to relish that, delivering some of the most muscular tracks of their career. But they sent everyone home from the album on a somewhat bizarre note. “A Wolf At The Door” offers a woozy, drunken musical vibe in the verses. That serves as the foundation for Yorke to bust out some half-rapped lyrics that get awfully dark. Just when you’re sinking into the morass with him, the song swerves into a swooning chorus that seems to be asking for mercy.

“True Love Waits” from ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’ (2016)

Like any other band that’s been around a while, Radiohead has amassed a backlog of songs that they never quite polished up for an album. For many years, “True Love Waits” stood pretty tall on that list until the band finally gave it a go on A Moon Shaped Pool. When they had played it previously live, they usually did so with acoustic guitars. But the official recording featured some wispy piano, while Thom Yorke stretched out the tune well past its breaking point. It became a dreamy piece, one that almost seemed to question the deep emotion found in the lyrics.

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