The Radiohead die hards are advocating that In Rainbows might just be their best album yet, and when it bears such achingly beautiful fruit as Nude it's not hard to see why.
Nude has been kicking round for a good few years. It was formerly entitled Big Ideas and occasionally got an airing at gigs. But for In Rainbows the song has been completely reworked, the tempo slowed, the instrumentation altered. The first verse features only a seismic, prowling bassline, hushed drums, and Thom Yorke's heartbreaking murmur uttering a dizzying vocal melody.
But through blissful arpeggiated guitar lines and haunting keys the song swells and grows and concludes with breathtakingly entwined melodies and beautiful choral arrangements. It's almost overwhelmingly beautiful, a ghostly, yet uplifting, semi-spiritual, amazing piece of Radiohead genius.
