Radiohead – The King of Limbs: Live From The Basement

Photo: Live From The Basement and Radiohead

I should admit from the outset that I’m a huge Radiohead fan. I still remember the moment my friend George placed his Walkman headphones over my head in my old sixth form common room and The Bends roared through my ears and assaulted my senses. Since then I’ve followed everything the band have done, been to every tour and special performance, bought every album and special edition release.

In my professional life, I’ve spent the last four years building BBC Worldwide’s Music Television business. We now represent the best music television around from BBC titles such as Later…with Jools Holland and Top of the Pops; festival content from Glastonbury and Radio 1’s Big Weekend; to the best music documentaries and performance pieces from labels and artists such as Blur, Leona Lewis, Bon Jovi, The Rolling Stones and Hugh Laurie.

Last year I had the opportunity to bring together my personal passion and professional life when I met with Radiohead’s management, Bryce Edge and Chris Hufford. You could not wish to meet two more welcoming, co-operative, professional and knowledgeable people. Both Chris and Bryce instantly saw the potential that a partnership with BBC Worldwide could deliver. However, any project was obviously going to be dependent on the band – thankfully the band was interested and had a project in mind.

Radiohead launched their new album ‘The King of Limbs’ in February and from that point everything seemed to happen at light speed. The band wanted to work with their long time producer Nigel Godrich. He is one of the team responsible for ‘From The Basement’ – an incredible music show that sets the benchmark for quality in music television. The band’s concept was to perform the whole of their new album for our TV project.

Photo: Live From The Basement and Radiohead

So, last month I was honoured to be invited to Maida Vale Studios to be present for the recording session. Seeing the band perform in that proximity is truly incredible. Philip, Ed, Jonny, Colin and Thom are all incredible musicians in their own right, but together there is a unique chemistry that creates something spellbinding. They performed the whole of The King Of Limbs, playing each track until it was perfect. The usual five members of the band were joined by drummer Clive Dreamer (Portishead, Roni Size) for the session and boy did it add something. If that was not enough, a horn section was drafted in to play on a number of songs. To top it all off, the band decided to perform Supercollider (which until now was only available on 12 inch single) and two brand new tracks, ‘Daily Mail’ and ‘Staircase’.

The result is a beautiful fifty five minute journey into the world of Radiohead. The King of Limbs is a stunning album in itself, but seeing the band bring these songs to life is a joy to behold. The full programme is coming to a TV screen near you soon, with confirmed broadcasts on Palladia in the USA, Canal + in Spain, Fuji TV in Japan, MultiShow in Brazil and SuperChannel in Canada. In the meantime, sit back, relax and enjoy a brand new Radiohead song – Staircase.