Main menu
Fretplay home Submit tabs

Radiohead
Radiohead tabs Radiohead discography

Channels
Guitar channel Bass channel Guitar videos Reviews

Message Forum
Guitar forum Bass forum Bands and artists Promote your band Recent discussions All categories

Fretplay.com

Radiohead guitar tabs

CD reviews

Com Lag (2Plus2IsFive)

Radiohead - Com Lag (2Plus2IsFive) Audio CD

A fair review of the Radiohead "Com Lag (2Plus2IsFive)" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Radiohead reviews here, or go back to the Radiohead tabs.

Band: Radiohead
Title: Com Lag (2Plus2IsFive)
Rating:

Release Date: 2007-05-08
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: 2+2=5 [Live] 2: Remyxomatosis [Remix] 3: I Will [Los Angeles Version] 4: Paperbag Writer 5: I Am a Wicked Child 6: I Am Citizen Insane 7: Skttrbrain [Four Tet RMX] 8: Gagging Order 9: Fog (Again) [Live] 10: Where Bluebirds Fly 11: Footage from Belfort Festival of 2+2=5 [Live][Multimedia Track]

A wortwhile - if not great - addition to your Radiohead collection
After months of press attention, "Punk Floyd" finally released their long awaited sixth album, Hail to the Thief, in 2004 to much anticipation. For starters, let's face it: Radiohead will probably never again be half as good as they were in the late 90s. The album, a clear caricature of the band's past work, wasn't outright injurious, but it certainly left pockmarks the band's reputation for being inventive and fresh each time out. Following Thief the band's label, Parlophone, released a Japan-only EP, Com Lag, which was immediately rumored to be the band's last release for their longtime label. Parlophone has since been exercising their right to milk the band's lesser known material, starting with the My Iron Lung EP and inevitably working their way up to Com Lag, which was only briefly obtainable in the U. S. at high dollar import prices.

Comprised of 10 tracks from the band's Thief era, Com Lag carries a full-length price tag due to it's lengthy tracklist and aging (read: gainfully employed) fanbase. Com Lag is also unique in that it stands as the only Radiohead release that was clearly put together with very little thought or effort. Included on the EP are two live tracks, two remixes, what appears to be a demo version of "I Will" and all five B-sides from the Thief recording sessions. So, more or less, Com Lag is what you get when you dig in the cushions of Radiohead's couch.

Let's start with the remixes for "Myxamatosis" (cleverly titled "Remyxomatosis" here) and "Skttrbrain. " Sure, they're amusing to hear once, but with a dozen or so largely unheard songs from the Kid A/Amnesiac sessions just sitting around, why squander disc space letting a couple of electronic New Jacks blip around with perfectly good songs? Songs like "Fast-track," "Kinetic," "Fog," "Worrywort," "Cuttooth," "Trans-Atlantic Drawl," and "The Amazing Sounds of Orgy" continue to be heard only by obsessive downloaders and folks who'd rather buy an import single than the latest Travis or Coldplay record. Let's not even get started on The Bends era B-sides or still unreleased OK Computer and Kid A/Amnesiac tracks.

Now, the live tracks. "2+2=5" kicks off Com Lag with what just might be the most accurate live recording in Radiohead cannon. For the most part they stay loyal to all the song's original moves, but they do so with a whole lot more fire and fight. The other live offering comes in the form of the earlier mentioned Kid A/Amnesiac castoff, "Fog" (here called "Fog Again"). Originally issued as a B-side on the "Knives Out" single, "Fog" is a slow moving, lush track that's presented on Com Lag as a stripped down piano ballad that immediately brings to mind a more well known Radiohead B-side named "True Love Waits" from Radiohead's live EP, I Might Be Wrong.

The five B-sides here - originally released via Thief singles - come off as somewhat folky demos, lacking the customary Nigel Godrich-produced sheen heard on everything since their very early days. Two of the tracks, "Where Bluebirds Fly" and "I Am Citizen Insane," are half-baked instrumentals that would've been better left in the vaults. Com Lag really pays off with the trio of "Paperbag Writer," "I Am A Wicked Child" and "Gagging Order," three songs that see Thom Yorke and Co. stretching their legs in the (believe it or not) fitting realm of unpretentious production. The thing, blippy "Paperbag Writer" dances on Colin Greenwood's dominant bass licks while "I Am Citizen Insane" swaggers through alleys, harmonica and all, as Yorke sings "I am the devil's son. " "Gagging Order" is, much like "Fog Again," a simple acoustic song that hangs on Yorke's every sweetly sung word.

And of course there's the "Los Angeles version" of "I Will," a song that originally appeared on Thief. Whether or not the recording is included to tease fans or not is unclear, one thing's for sure: Radiohead sound really, really good without their typically dripping thick production on "I Will. " The same goes for the aforementioned B-sides.

Likely the best B-side/EP band of their time, Radiohead (or Parlophone, who knows) have finally made yet another valuable collection of rare tracks available to their loyal Stateside fanbase. Com Lag might not be as necessary as Come To Florida, My Iron Lung or Airbag, but it's undoubtedly worth having in spite of its tossed together nature. (Greg Locke).

Save your money, buy Itch
I paid $10 for the Japanese Import on ebay, and it's worth it because I love Radiohead, but $35+ is nuts. You'd probally be better of just buying the Go to Sleep sinlge, the two songs off that are really the only ones worth paying for. Really, if you can find a copy of Go to Sleep, Gagging Order and I am a Wicked Child are the only songs worth buying. I got my Go to Sleep single for $3 or $4 which leaves a lot of money to but better Radiohead imports.

4.5 Stars... a 'must-have' for any Radiohead fan
"My Iron Lung" is one of the best examples, "Airbag/How Am I Driving" is another. Radiohead is not shy about issuing its B-sides and other assorted "left-overs". Not merely a single or an EP, but not quite yet an album's worth of music, these releases are hard to classify. After the release of "Hail to the Thief", Radiohead issued another such "maxi-EP", but only for the Japanese market, namely "Com Lag"

"Com Lag" (10 tracks, 36 min. ) was originally released in 2004 in Japan, but finally re-released for wider audiences in 2007. This compilation is a hotch-potch of (then) unreleased tracks, B-sides, live tracks and remixes, and so not surprisingly this is all over the place. It starts off very strongly with a live version of "2+2=5" (from London's Earl Court in November '03). The outstanding instrumental "I Am Citizen Insane" reminds me musically of the Thom Yorke solo album "The Eraser". Other highlights for me are "Paperbag Writer" (which is the best track on here for me personally), "Gagging Order" (just Thom Yorke and acoustic guitar), "Fog (Again") (just Thom and piano; recorded live) ; "I Am a Wicked Child" and the closer "Where Bluebirds Fly". I can do without the 2 remixed HTTT tracks: a nervous remix of "Myxomatosis", and a slightly better remix of "Scatterbrain".

In the end, "Com Lag" reflects both the scattered sense of these types of grab-all compilations and the scattered sense of the Hail to the Thief album. However, if you are a Radiohead fan, you will cherish this release. (Last but not least, I stumbled upon this recently while browsing in the used CD bin at my local indie-record store, and picked this up for only $7. 99!).

a decent companion for Hail to the Theif
The remixes are really good but the tracks Paperbag Writer, I am Citezen Insane, and Where Bluebirds Fly are just plain dull and not worth more than one listen. As Radiohead imports go, this is one of my least favorites. Fog (Again) is a pretty albeit brief piano ballad. Two of my favorite tracks are Gagging Order and I am Wicked Child but I already own these as b-sides to one of the american singles from "Hail". If you don't own either "Airbag/How am I Driving?" or "My Iron Lung" I would strongly reccomend buying those first. However if you are like me and can't resist hearing any new Radiohead song you can find then by all means, buy this disc.

A Must Have
I'm not a huge fan of the remyxomatosis, but skttbrain is awesome, and the whole thing is worth buying just because of gagging order and fog (again). If you are a true Radiohead fan, you need to get this EP. .

You can see a complete list of all Radiohead discography, or go back to the Radiohead tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.