What gets on my t1ts about Radiohead doing the "who needs a record company" bit, is that of all people they bloody did! Their first album bombed - rightly - and their record company persisted and encouraged and supported them.

I handed over the equivalent Euros required for the disc box - looking forward to its eventual arrival in December. That out of the way, the record itself is a definite grower. I have to admit that, having loved Thom Yorke's Basement version so much, I skipped straight to 'Videotape' to hear how they'd managed it. Didn't like it first time out, liked it better second time, and now it all fits into place. 'Reckoner' had the same effect - repeated listening brought it to full bloom. The rest of the album sounds great too. 'House of Cards' is probably my favourite track, though - it has a kind of warmth that no previous Radiohead track brought to the table. Lowlights are probably 'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi' and 'Jigsaw Falling Into Place' - sometimes this direction works, but these two just lack that extra edge to make them special.

As a whole, the record feels like a definite maturing of their sound and makes Hail to the Thief sound to me (and I do like that record) like a progression towards this sound. The strings make a welcome addition, and the Beatles' influence on their work is, I think, more audible than ever (see particularly 'Faust Arp', 'House of Cards' strings, and, surprisingly 'Bodysnatchers', which sounds to me like a heavier 'Paperback Writer').

Thom's voice sounds excellent on this record - as it did on last year's Eraser - and Phil Selway's drumming is superb (see 'Reckoner'). It's not quite in the 'Kid A' league for me because it lacks a certain coherency in its tracklisting, but it's definitely up there after a week's listening (too early, of course, to make a full judgement).