Radiohead Announce that New Album, "In Rainbows," Essentially Will Be Free

Radiohead have been working on their mysterious seventh album since February of 2005. Considering that "Hail to the Thief" was released in 2003, one can see that it's been quite a while since the band has released some new music. However, that is all about to change in less than 2 weeks. Radiohead have revealed the details behind their seventh album, which is called "In Rainbows."

You can currently preorder the album from their site in two ways: buying the discbox or a digital download. The discbox comes with In Rainbows on CD, 2 x 12 heavyweight vinyl records, a second CD with more new songs, some digital photographs, artwork, and lyric booklets. That's a lot of good stuff, and it's all encased in a nice hardback book and slipcase. If you decide to preorder the discbox, which is roughly around $81, you'll also be able to digitally download the album starting October 3rd, 2007. The downside is that the discboxes won't be shipped until December 3rd.

The most interesting information revealed about In Rainbows was their digital download deal. If you decide to preorder via digital download only instead of getting the discbox, you essentially get to give Radiohead as little or as much money you want for the album. Yes, you can even give Radiohead $0 if you want. Currently the band does not have a record label, so it should be interesting to see how successful their form of self-distribution will be. Fans of the band are generally pleased with Radiohead's pricing for the digital download, although many think the discbox is rather expensive.

Thom Yorke, singer and guitarist of Radiohead, has described In Rainbows to be somewhat similar to "OK Computer" in some ways. He has mentioned in the past that the upcoming album is more terrifying. According to Yorke, the lyrics conceptually deal with anonymous fear and things like that. Nigel Godrich, their long-time producer who has worked with them since 1995's The Bends, worked on "In Rainbows." However, in a spring 2006 recording session the band worked with producer Mark "Spike" Stent. It is unclear whether or not material produced during this period will make it onto the album.

The tracklisting of "In Rainbows" is below, along with the 2nd CD's tracklisting if you get the discbox:

CD 1 AND VINYL (IN RAINBOWS)

15 STEP
BODYSNATCHERS
NUDE
WEIRD FISHES/ARPEGGI
ALL I NEED
FAUST ARP
RECKONER
HOUSE OF CARDS
JIGSAW FALLING INTO PLACE
VIDEOTAPE

CD 2 AND VINYL

MK 1
DOWN IS THE NEW UP
GO SLOWLY
MK 2
LAST FLOWERS
UP ON THE LADDER
BANGERS AND MASH
4 MINUTE WARNING

Some fans might notice that one song, Nude, is rather old and has been played live numerous times. That song was written in 1997 at the latest. Videotape, All I Need, and Up On The Ladder have all been played live by the band more recently. The link to Radiohead's store in which you can preorder In Rainbows is: http://www.inrainbows.com/Store/index2.html and one can visit the band's blog, Dead Air Space, at: http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/