Amnesiac

06/06/2001 1:35 PM, Yahoo! Music
Rob O'Connor

At this point, I give the band credit for being "different." And I give you, the listener, credit for staying "awake." Now, whatever causes a band gifted with the knack for the "pop" tune to skewer off to the "art-damage" world is probably the same as whatever possesses Woody Allen to forsake his comedic gift for the dullness of high seriousness and critics to fall over themselves when discussing the likes of Sonic Youth. In any case, this collection of "leftovers" from the Kid A sessions is at once more "melodic" and "linear" than its predecessor and "Knives Out" and "Morning Bell/Amnesiac" both float past with a beautiful gait that suggests that while these boys may still mistake "noise" as more "authentic" than melody, they can still pump out a pretty tune when the mood strikes them. How these guys "matter" more than, say, Sugar Ray (who have every bit the competitive rock historian in Mark McGrath) still remains to be seen. But just as one day young cinemaphiles will discover that film did not "begin" with Quentin Tarantino, one day earnest young rockists will buy an Amon Duul II album and feel really "silly."