Thom Yorke - The Eraser

Thom Yorke’s solo album, The Eraser, was released a few weeks with little fanfare. There was buzz, to be sure, but none of the anticipation built around every Radiohead record since OK Computer.

And The Eraser is much what I expected out of a Thom Yorke solo album. It has some good songs, it has some mediocre songs, it is loaded with computer bleeps and Yorke’s tremendous vocals. The Eraser is, in light of Kid A, Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief, decidedly below average.

And that is why I love it.

I don’t love it for what I’m hearing, I love it for what I’m not hearing.

Radiohead detractors love to say that Radiohead could fart into a paper bag, put it on tape, and their fans would still buy every copy available. It’s an obnoxious statement by those who don’t understand Radiohead is the best band alive, stealing this mantle from U2 shortly after The Bends.

The Eraser reminds us of what makes Radiohead great, and it’s not one man. If Radiohead was solely built on Thom Yorke, then The Eraser would be one of the top albums this year. Rather, Yorke’s solo debut proves that Radiohead is the sum of it’s parts: high school friends who grew together, wrote music together, and became the most important band in the world from 1997 on. Yorke provides plenty…that soaring scream, a charismatic front man, and a large portion of the songwriting…but Radiohead is nothing without it’s less visible members.

When all is said and done, The Eraser is a scenic route paralleling the highway of Radiohead albums. It’s nice enough, the trees are lovely, and it offers some pleasant views of a green valley, but it’s still just a pit stop between Hail to the Thief and whatever those geniuses think of next.

Thom Yorke, The Eraser: B-