Thursday, October 1, 2015

Underrated Classic: Thom Yorke - 'The Eraser'

As Thom Yorke gets ready to debut his first Broadway score this month in the Clive Owen play Old Times, and as we wait for a new Radiohead album, we look back on the frontman's 2006 debut as October's Underrated Classic. The album seemed to come out of nowhere as that summer Radiohead began touring again after a three year absence and as the British band were headlining U.S. festivals like Bonnarroo, Yorke gave the world The Eraser. The record, which featured many of his bandmates and longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Goodrich, was not too far away from his band's DNA but also different enough that he could leave his own thumbprint. Yorke would even call on longtime Radiohead artist Stanley Donwood to create the album's art. The Eraser was Yorke's own lament and his own thoughts being expressed in music. While this record was Yorke's way of expressing himself, it would lay the foundation to what the mysterious band would do next. The following year, Radiohead would shock the music world with their "pay what you want" surprise release to the brilliant In Rainbows. While this would be the only Yorke solo album, he would tour behind the record nearly two years after it was released with a band called Atoms For Peace, who take their name from a song off The Eraser.