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Critics single out “True Love Waits” on Radiohead's live record
Each of the five critics here reviewing I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings has gone straight to its last track, “True Love Waits”, Thom Yorke alone with an acoustic guitar on a song Radiohead have rarely played and never released before. Jim Farber, in the New York Daily News, thinks the band have turned two inward albums into arena music, and even took “True Love Waits” for a new studio recording. It is as live as the rest, as the band said when they announced the record in September.
The record is eight songs from this year's tour, all but one of them from Kid A and Amnesiac. It came out in Britain on Parlophone on 12 November and in America on Capitol the day after, and entered the UK album chart at number 23.
Robert Wilonsky, in the Dallas Observer, says the last Radiohead album he could play for pleasure was The Bends, yet he finds these versions as warm as the studio originals were cold. “Idioteque” turns into dance music and “Everything in Its Right Place”, with the crowd clapping along, into something close to a spiritual. His one complaint is the length, eight songs in 40 minutes, and he would have liked the live “Optimistic” from a CMJ sampler, or an older song such as “Planet Telex” or “High and Dry”.
Andrew R. Iliff, in The Harvard Crimson, finds “Everything in Its Right Place” the one flat track, though he rates the live “Idioteque” above the original. He questions a third record in little over a year, one that leaves out “Paranoid Android” and “Karma Police”, and expects fans to love it and everyone else to stay puzzled.
Matt Galloway, in Toronto's NOW, calls it a cash-in, out of character for the band and heavy on crowd noise. He does welcome “Like Spinning Plates” played the right way round, since the studio version runs backwards.
Jamey Voss followed the American tour to four shows this summer, and in The Badger Herald, the University of Wisconsin paper, he calls the record essential. For him Ed O'Brien's harmony on “Morning Bell” is one of the most underrated things in the live show.
What the critics said
| # | Date | Outlet | Critic | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 Nov 2001 | NOW (Toronto) | Matt Galloway | A cash-in; only “True Love Waits” a draw |
| 2 | 15 Nov 2001 | Dallas Observer | Robert Wilonsky | Warm where the albums were cold; only fault, too short |
| 3 | 15 Nov 2001 | The Badger Herald (Wisconsin) | Jamey Voss | Essential for any Radiohead collection |
| 4 | 25 Nov 2001 | New York Daily News | Jim Farber | Shy songs made arena-ready |
| 5 | 30 Nov 2001 | The Harvard Crimson | Andrew R. Iliff | Odd timing; fans will love it, others stay puzzled |
on stage
True Love Waits · Thom Yorke alone, acoustic, to an empty room.· cosmobubbleswatch on youtube →