Is This the Final Radiohead Album?
Just don’t leave, don’t leave…
It was roughly twenty years ago that I first stumbled upon a bootleg .mp3 file of Radiohead performing a new and unreleased song in Brussels. In an era of Geocities and mIRC, this ultra-rare audio file gem became a personal symbolic revelation – the Internet was going to change my life from that moment onwards. In that moment of downloading that audio file from some random, fanatical Radiohead fan on some random IRC channel over DCC, I realized that the world was getting smaller, and previously out-of-reach experiences were getting closer to everyone with an Internet connection.
Back in those days, I was rocking a 33K dial-up modem, and was using that to chat with fellow music fans over Microsoft Comic Chat, message boards, and mIRC. Back then, a 4-minute song would take me roughly 20 minutes to download, depending on the compression rate of the audio file. I wasn’t interested in downloading stuff I could just pick up at a store or hear on the radio, so I would tend to download bootlegs, looking for hidden treasures. Most of my time was spent scouring through Nirvana bootlegs, as they had a bunch of odd stuff that never made it onto official releases (for good reason, I might add.)
“True Love Waits” was first performed in 1995, and has been a diehard Radiohead fan favourite ever since. The band didn’t end up releasing the song officially until 2001, when they included a live version on the 8-song I Might Be Wrong EP. However, this was still only a live performance, so the song continued to be hyped by fans for years afterwards. On a few occasions, Thom Yorke has performed the song live as a solo artist, as well as with the greater band during Radiohead sets.
Many consider that original performance in Brussels to be the ultimate version of the song. What’s interesting about this version is the keyboard sequence that appears near the ending. Radiohead were touring in support of The Bends, and working on initial concepts for what would become OK Computer. This particular version of “True Love Waits” feels like the perfect bridge between the acoustic emotions of The Bends and the cold, computerized detachment of OK Computer, which is why many fans (like myself) have clung so dearly to this December 5, 1995 bootleg. Listen for yourself:
Now, after 20 years of hype, Radiohead have finally released an official studio version of “True Love Waits” on their ninth album, A Moon Shaped Pool. As one would expect, the version delivered in 2016 is dramatically different than the acoustic guitar-led ballad of the mid-90s. With a minimalist piano taking the lead and additional meandering piano and dangling atmospherics dancing in the background in support of Thom Yorke’s floating vocals, this new “True Love Waits” feels like a jazz cover of an established classic, only the performers are both the songwriters and the cover artist.
As a few users on Reddit have initially observed, it’s difficult to get used to hearing a new version of a song that so many fans have already been listening to for two decades.
What’s most interesting about this particular song is that it has been the tinder to spark so many online conversations for the last 20 years. In a world where the signal-to-noise ratio is at an all-time high, it is truly remarkable when a single song by a single group of people is still able to incite conversation. Sure, there may not be as much excitement about this song now as there was when it was a new Radiohead song that no one had heard before, but it’s still fantastic to see that folks are actively discussing the song on message boards on the day of release.
When I listen to any version of “True Love Waits” now, I still get a mad case of “the feels.” The song is full of longing and yearning for a time since passed. To me, the song is about letting go of the past, and embracing the reality that life is about to change, while feeling all of the excitement, apprehension, sadness, and fear that goes along with a major life change. This may not have been the intent of the original composition, though I feel compelled to ask which one matters more? The novelist’s original intent, or the actions that the novel inspires the reader to take? The most powerful art is that which is relatable – elements of the creation that make the consumer feel like the creation is “theirs”. A sense of ownership creates a deeper level of connection with the content, and in some cases, makes the content an integral part of the consumer’s life.
I don’t feel attached to many Radiohead songs, but “True Love Waits” is one that has etched itself onto the cavern walls of my brain. I love the 1995 version from when Thom Yorke seemed to have more emotional connection with the lyrical content. I love the 2001 live recording when they finally officially released the song. I love the subsequent live versions by both Radiohead and Thom Yorke as a solo artist from 1995–2015. And I love this new, Kid A-meets-Thelonious Monk studio version that was released today in 2016.
To me, “True Love Waits” represents the loss of an Internet-free world. A world before mass behaviour tracking through digital cookies, and analytics for everything. A world where guitars were exciting because digital sound emulation sounded too terrible. Digital pianos sounded digital, not like pianos.
It also represents the excitement of what’s next – the thrill of not knowing where the world will go and become. Being able to watch live concerts and events from around the world on our phones from anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice is pretty bloody cool, for example. And while there are things we lose with change, we also tend to gain much more than what we previously had.
The 2016 “True Love Waits” is subdued and reserved – a relic frozen in time. In many ways, it feels like it could actually be the very last song in Radiohead’s career as a band. This track is like a time capsule that’s been traveling at the band’s side ever since its inception thanks to the thousands of fans who have continued to cling to its fragile melody and yearning performance. In this final rendition, it’s as though Thom Yorke, the rest of Radiohead, and Nigel Godrich are gently putting the song and their entire history as a band to bed. There’s an air of finality to it; no longing for the past in Thom’s voice this time, only acceptance of a band who has graced thousands of stages in front of millions of fans for 30 years, and is reaching the natural closing of a chapter. Much like how OK Computer was the closing of their guitar-led ‘alternative’ music, this final track on A Moon Shaped Pool feels like the conclusion of a set of chapters in the band’s narrative.
In all likelihood, there is no reason for Radiohead to stop making albums as a band. However, there’s also no reason that they couldn’t call it quits on a high note, with a beloved song that’s been travelling by their side for twenty years. Concluding their career as a group in such an understated and respectable note would leave us all wanting more of their unique charm. Lord knows we don’t want them to devolve like other 90's groups such as The Smashing Pumpkins. It would be much more appropriate for a band of Radiohead’s stature to create a natural denouement into solo careers like The Beatles did in 1969. I can’t think of a better song to end Radiohead than “True Love Waits”, a song that perfectly encapsulates all the various phases of their career into a single performance. It would also leave all of us with the perfect parting thought about them as a band… and that’s just…
Don’t leave.
Don’t leave.
I’ll drown my beliefs / To have you be in peace / I’ll dress like your niece / To wash your swollen feet / Just don’t leave / Don’t leave / I’m not living / I’m just killing time / Your tiny hands / Your crazy kitten smile / Just don’t leave / Don’t leave / And true love waits / In haunted attics / And true love lives On lollipops and crisps / Just don’t leave / Don’t leave / Just don’t leave / Don’t leave
Radiohead’s new album, A Moon Shaped Pool, is now available to purchase as digital download.
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