Listed below are the best albums of the 2020s (so far) as calculated from their overall rankings in over 59,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 1 hour ago).
This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from The Smile. (Remove this filter)
"After hearing the live versions of these songs I was just grateful that Jonny and Thom were able to come together and have fun collaborating again with so much passion, creativity and energy. Now, listening to the recorded version, I’m reminded that Nigel Godrich is that extra element that always...""After hearing the live versions of these songs I was just grateful that Jonny and Thom were able to come together and have fun collaborating again with so much passion, creativity and energy. Now, listening to the recorded version, I’m reminded that Nigel Godrich is that extra element that always ties the genius’ together. Tom Skinner also holds his own amongst the highly esteemed company he keeps. There is haunting beauty, political cynicisms, electronic and percussive tinkering, and garage rocking, making it a very eclectic mix. Does it make it a less than cohesive album? Maybe, if you’re picky. This and the fact that 6 songs were drip-fed to us prior to release make it have the feel of a compilation album in some respects. I’ve always preferred an album have one single prior to release, as a taster, before immersing yourself into the full experience of fresh songs and letting that album experience grow on you with repeated listens. This doesn’t detract, however, from the fact that there is a collection of songs here that are all absolute crackers and will keep Radiohead fans content for a while longer until that deeply desired next LP comes around."[+]Reply
"The Smile return with a second offering that's even more interesting than "A Light for Attracting Attention". I was a very big fan of their debut. After all, Radiohead is my favorite band, so I was naturally drawn to this side project. Many people have argued that The Smile sounds exactly like Ra...""The Smile return with a second offering that's even more interesting than "A Light for Attracting Attention". I was a very big fan of their debut. After all, Radiohead is my favorite band, so I was naturally drawn to this side project. Many people have argued that The Smile sounds exactly like Radiohead, while others haven't been able to get too much into this band. What I'm going to say is that, while it obviously has many similarities, because Thom Yorke is the lyricist and together with Jonny Greenwood they compose the music (with Skinner, alright), this band is able to create and get deep into another sound *just* because they *are* another band with another name.
I loved every single song in "A Light for Attracting Attention", because, yes, they sound a lot like Radiohead (mainly, my favorite cut from that record: "Speech Bubbles"), and even, many could pass off as Thom Yorke solo creations (such as with "The Same"). Having said that, I can't imagine some of those cuts having been able to be recorded by Radiohead as an entity, such as "We Don't Know What Tomorrow Brings" or "Waving a White Flag"; I think they would've been too much out of the equation with the band's history, even taking into account the countless times they've hit a left turn in terms of what people expect from them. Just starting from "zero" with a flagship that doesn't have to specifically adhere to anything prior, can loosen up what they can do, not having to respect any history or live up to any expectations. If something goes bad, well, it was just a side project! With songs like "Thin Thing" or "The Opposite", the third element from The Smile comes to life. Tom Skinner is a perfect way to round up a project that delves, even slightly, into jazz and prog territory.
Coming into "Wall of Eyes" I wasn't too sure what to expect. I saw the band live last year, and I was amazed at the way they are able to almost seeminly, communicate with their instruments. These musicians have reached a level of artistry that is hardly comparable to other rock acts. They are very technical, and also, you can feel a lot of energy and freedom in this sound. I was a pretty big fan of songs such as "Just Eyes and Mouth", that promised an even more radical direction and departure from Radiohead.
When "Bending Hectic" dropped, though, it wasn't what I was expecting. It's a hypnotizing journey that takes you into a very low point, before coming right back at you and ending on a very high note. I loved the song, but I was taken off by it at the same time. When "Wall of Eyes" was released as a single, I had a very similar reaction to it. It was good, though it mainly grew over time. My thought was "Well, I think they're going for a calmer sound and songs that take some time to get to you". And even though that's not a bad thing, I wasn't expecting too much from this album.
I was wrong!
This might be even better than "A Light For Attracting Attention". In retrospect, after talking with other fans of the band, it's true that their debut was somewhat all over the place (something I'm personally fond of). What remains in an album where 3 core members of Radiohead are absent? Some people have said it was lacking in some areas, and that it was too similar to that other main band we are all pretending doesn't exist. But "Wall of Eyes" isn't just a statement that it can do whatever it wants to, but that it can be *as* good as a Radiohead LP, *as* consistent, and even, the right amount of *different* to justify not being a Radiohead album.
"Teleharmonic" is a profoundly amazing song, that goes pretty deep into an electronic sound that doesn't sound nothing like Radiohead's past electronic endeavors, or even Thom Yorke's. "Read the Room" is a more raw and rock-ish cut that strays into post-rock, while keeping a stretched arm that manages to cohesively tie together an album that also features more calm songs such as "I Quit" or "You Know Me!".
Even though I've spent a lot of paragraph trying to argue that The Smile isn't anything like Radiohead, and I still stand by that, at the same time, I incorporate The Smile as part of the bigger Radiohead canon by saying that this might be one of the best albums ever put out by these group of people, in general. The way things blend together sonically and spiritually is *almost* as great as albums like "In Rainbows" or even "Kid A", and not because they sound the same; it's because this feels like an album that's more focused in what it's trying to do. "A Light For Attracting Attention" was testing the waters; it was a singles compilations, even, or just a traditional album in that sense. "Wall of Eyes", however, *is* more akin to what we think about as the *concept* album, or, at least, what Radiohead has delivered time and again.
The atmosphere here is dense, but at the same time, it breathes. An interesting emotion that may be derived from the fact, that for the first time in forever, Nigel Godrich isn't behind a Yorke-led project. This results in a sound that's obviously familiar, from the musicians at play, but feels somewhat different, thanks to a more "natural-sounding production".
In summary, "Wall of Eyes" is another great album from the gang, and I'm pretty excited for their unevitable third album, that's already shaping to be amazing (please, just let me listen to that studio version of "Just Eyes and Mouth"!). I talked about this on my review for the first album, but if Radiohead doesn't return with a tenth album, I'm pretty comfortable with having more albums by The Smile, even if they are the same... even if they *aren't* the same!
Favorite tracks: "Wall of Eyes", "Teleharmonic", "Read the Room", "Friend of a Friend", "I Quit", "Bending Hectic""[+]Reply
"This is definitely not a B-sides album. Yes, the songs were recorded at the same time as Wall of Eyes but they collated 2 albums of very different aesthetics - the various songs chosen to best suit the feeling they were looking for. This album is a meandering jam that incorporates all the playful...""This is definitely not a B-sides album. Yes, the songs were recorded at the same time as Wall of Eyes but they collated 2 albums of very different aesthetics - the various songs chosen to best suit the feeling they were looking for. This album is a meandering jam that incorporates all the playful skills they possess as musicians. It’s another grower which is what makes Thom/Johnny projects so much fun to indulge in. There’s so much to unpack in a seemingly unconvoluted album. This has the potential to be my favourite album as a whole of theirs, pieced together for a greater single work. Their other albums have singularly better songs, no doubt, but there’s something more cohesively interesting here, like pulling together a loosely sewn seam so that the edges come together without a gap in between."[+]Reply
Strangel | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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lleon79 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (4 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
