On film · concert film · 2011
The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement
Seven brass players and a second drummer came to Maida Vale to help Radiohead play a record built out of loops.
2011
the record, again
The King of Limbs came out in February 2011 with no tour planned, and Nigel Godrich, who produced it, called it a very mechanised record. He filmed the band playing it for his series From the Basement.
It was a very conscious attempt to do something special: to record the album again, once it had been rehearsed and played live, to show it in a different light.
Nigel Godrich · Pitchfork, August 2021
The band played it at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios in London, and the sources disagree on when it was filmed. To rebuild the drum loops by hand they brought in Clive Deamer of Portishead to play beside Phil Selway. Vern Moen directed and edited the film.
All eight songs of the album are in it, in an order of their own, opening on “Bloom” and ending on “Give Up the Ghost”.
2011
"Staircase" and "The Daily Mail"
Two of the songs had never been released. “Staircase” was built for the two drummers, with Deamer on a sampling pad as well as his kit. “The Daily Mail” was older. Ed O'Brien said on BBC Radio 1 that December that it had been “kicking around for at least six years”, and that once the band picked it for the session the arrangement came together within a week. It starts at the piano and ends in Jonny Greenwood's parts for seven brass players.
2011
on air, and on disc
BBC Worldwide sold the programme abroad from 1 July. Canal+ in Spain had it on air by 9 July, Palladia showed it in America on 23 July, and in August XL put the whole session on the band's YouTube channel for a while. On 19 December it went on sale through iTunes, and the same day “The Daily Mail” and “Staircase” came out as a download single, both taken from the session. The DVD and Blu-ray came by post before Christmas and in the shops in January, with “Supercollider” added and a 32-page book of Steve Keros's photographs. The band put it back on YouTube for At Home on 21 May 2020.
Ryan Leas made the case in Stereogum in 2015 that the film is better than the album, with muscle and movement where the record had gone brittle.
the film
The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement· Radioheadwatch on youtube →
sources12
- Radiohead, “Radiohead - The King Of Limbs From The Basement (December 2011)”, YouTube, 21 May 2020, youtube.com (Maida Vale in December 2011, the running order, the credits, the brass players)
- Noah Yoo, “Nigel Godrich talks From the Basement's return, Radiohead webcasts, and more”, Pitchfork, 2 August 2021, pitchfork.com (Godrich's quote, a very mechanised record)
- Wikipedia, “The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement”, en.wikipedia.org (Vern Moen, Clive Deamer, the brass section, “Supercollider” on the disc, the release of 19 December 2011)
- Wikipedia, “The Daily Mail / Staircase”, en.wikipedia.org (the download single taken from the session, Ed O'Brien on BBC Radio 1)
- Songfacts, “The Daily Mail by Radiohead”, songfacts.com (O'Brien's six years and a week)
- SPIN, “Radiohead wrap King of Limbs basement set in deluxe DVD”, 9 November 2011, spinmagazine.com (filmed in April 2011, the book of Steve Keros's photographs, iTunes on 19 December, the post before Christmas and the shops in January)
- Digital Spy, “Radiohead live show gets BBCW distribution”, 3 May 2011, digitalspy.com (BBC Worldwide, 1 July, no tour announced)
- Tiny Mix Tapes, “Radiohead - 'The Daily Mail' [new track, live on From the Basement]”, 9 July 2011, tinymixtapes.com and Clash, “Radiohead hit 'From The Basement'”, 12 July 2011 (the Canal+ broadcast)
- San Antonio Current, “Radiohead's 'From the Basement' special, this Saturday on Palladia”, 20 July 2011, sacurrent.com (Palladia, 23 July)
- Fact, “Watch Radiohead's The King Of Limbs: Live From The Basement video in full”, 18 August 2011, factmag.com and Spin, “Radiohead post 'From the Basement' concert”, 18 August 2011, spinmagazine.com (the whole session on the band's channel, posted by XL, for a limited time)
- Ryan Leas, “In defense of The King of Limbs”, Stereogum, 10 March 2015, stereogum.com (the film over the album)
- This site's song stories for “Staircase”, “The Daily Mail” and “Feral”, and the show page for the session, filed under 1 July 2011