A Poetic Inquiry into The Smile: "A Light for Attracting Attention" Review

[@romainst-louis5298]

“Reading a book with a pen is in my top 5 favorite activities” might be the nerdiest line ever said. I love it!

[@chrislaurentmusic]

Very refreshing to find someone not only talking about the album, but also focusing particularly on the poetry aspect and tugging on the connective tissue throughout this project. I really appreciate your insight. Thank you

[@anabell7184]

i'm obsessed with a moon shaped pool... that record gets better the more you listen to it

[@Jimmy1982Playlists]

I feel _King Of Limbs_ is still their most underrated... among my favorite albums of their's. Was shocked to find out many 'Head fans don't like it. They should've kept some of those b-sides on the album tho, especially "Daily Mail".

[@JoshBurcham104]

@@Jimmy1982Playlists tkol is interesting but I find it only works if I'm able to get lost in it, if I'm actively paying attention it gets boring and I want to turn it off

[@Mamba4.8]

Everyone of their albums are like that.

[@stevebrougham3930]

Great review, Ted Hughes btw was the poet laureate of England (kind of a big deal) and wrote also a lot of children’s poetry, which led to a vet famous work entitled “The Iron Man” which was made into a film as well as influencing, of all bands, Black Sabbath, on their song “Iron Man” which is on their classic album “Paranoid” from 1970. Hope this helps!

[@JoshBurcham104]

Free in the knowledge is one of my favorite songs this year, really happy with this album as a whole it's a really nice addition to the universe

[@jameshannagan4256]

It really sounds like a Neil Young tune which is not a bad thing at all.

[@Princeps32]

I definitely took that first song different, the intensity of “please” and the overwhelming synth buildup made it feel more like pleading against inevitable decay instead of a hopeful “we’re all the same brother”.

[@deanerhockings-reptilianhu8701]

Absolutely - it's terrifying and brilliant!

[@braelen9]

Loved this video and the appeal to poetry. I think poetry has a tendency of repelling people because it can be over academia'ed, and since that's where we get most of our exposure to it early on, it has the tendency to remind you of homework. I've dived into classical literature recently and it's a treasure trove of experience, it's so much more enjoyable when you don't have to write a paper on it. Getting out of the "the curtains were blue, thus sad" mentality is what has made poetry fun. Cool analysis of The Smile!

[@trixbibi]

being a 30 something academic Radiohead fan and also a huge hip-hop enthusiast kanye fan finding professor Skye makes me feel more represented, awesome beautiful poetic review! Thanks!

[@xendlies]

Huh, I was at they're show a couple days ago and before they start playing music they play a recording on "The Smile" by William Blake as read by Cillian Murphy. Thought they got the name from that poem.

[@professorskye]

Interesting! Might have to make another video, Thom definitely indicated that it was after the Huges poem, which he shared on Twitter.

[@sydney3363]

Very excited to watch the review, saw the smile in london back in march and it was fantastic and ive really enjoyed my listens to this album

[@smokyblue17]

Hurt my feelings a bit when you talked about Free in The Knowledge. That's by far my favorite song. Reminds me a bit of How to Disappear Completely.

[@JV-cz6fz]

The lyrics on that song are so damn cliche.

[@smokyblue17]

@@JV-cz6fz IK

[@automatonpilot5040]

"The last enemy to be abolished is death." -St. Paul

[@GAnafisMER]

Great video. The poetry stuff was something I didn't know I needed but enjoyed listening to your thoughts thoroughly

[@kidamnesiac1724]

I’m completely in love with this album. In every way. The more I listen, the more I love it

[@axlgzrdmattick]

I loved the poetry part thank you skye

[@jameshannagan4256]

Great video I am going to go through your back catalog and hopefully there will be Radiohead reviews.

[@tsfolk4416]

The crow on the finger. Lol, my man.

[@reaganwiles_art]

Ted Hughes was the poet laureate of England until he died a few years ago. I should say that Hughes wrote the preface to the recentest edition of Plath's Collected Poems.

[@vinyllondoner]

Wow, fantastic review. Very insightful. Must read more poetry! Can’t wait to see them at The Roundhouse, London.

[@jameshannagan4256]

I agtee about KOL but it is awesome from the basement and that tour was some of their best live shows.

[@oldchicken2]

The parts you give us the option of skipping are always my favourite parts of your videos haha

[@micahlively8321]

This review was my introduction to what you do on your page and it also got me into Ted Hughes (especially Crow). Thank You for that. I know he was a controversial figure, but the poetry is really great!! ...and so are your reviews!

[@professorskye]

Glad to hear this!

[@Torthrodhel]

I really love We Don't Know What Tomorrow Brings. It's cliché. So is the situation it's describing. It fits so perfectly. It's less hackneyed than it is just straightforward. As someone struggling to move house and worrying about the relative danger coming back as my floor falls out from beneath me and demands I find another (so-to-speak), it really speaks to me. I guess cliché just doesn't bother me very much. The sheer feeling of something often overwhelms what is, honestly, only a slight bother on its own merit. I've heard it before lots? Eh, so I've heard it before lots. So what? What does it say here, what does it add to this thing? Y'know.

[@EayuProuxm]

Who owns this utility coat of muscles? That's a good phrase

[@TractorCountdown]

Chances are Hughes is also harking back to William Blake's The Smile. We read Hughes' short story, The Rain Horse, in school c.1973, and it's stayed with me for its terrifying depiction of our naivety in the face of nature - definitely worth reading. I haven't listened to The Smile yet - can't wait.

[@chuckrainey8036]

These guys are in their bag in 5/4, they make that time signature sound so natural. Per the comment about Tom’s 5 taps into YWNWITA, I also didn’t realize that until I started thinking about it while listening to this review

[@SelenaSea]

"...But he’s not a man at all - he’s a mushroom!” - Antoine De Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince. Making mushrooms out of men.

[@tsfolk4416]

My take on Thom Yorke's lyrics. The shit that is man, and also, if only. If only we could be more.

[@NicholasSWilliams]

Loved this so much. Thank you.

[@tourertourer9947]

You should do a review on Noname's debut album

[@karasu9]

I like these long videos

[@d0ubl3d]

i think the point you make about geography, topography, and anatomy being an interconnected theme in radioheaads music and visual art; expanding upon it theres the intersection in OK Computer's cover depicting what human society has created, the quite literally somewhat connected to anatomy cpr dummy on The Bends album cover, Amnesiac's what looks to be constellations while also depicting a crying minotaur who would be stuck in a labyrinth which presents the much more claustrophobic feeling in this era versus its counterpart of Kid A, In Rainbows might be the biggest stretch as the cover looks like a colorful object in space but it adds to the grand feeling of being alive and apart of this universe that i get out of that album, and A Moon Shaped Pool's album cover looking like the face of a despondent man on the moon. Also, despite Pablo Honey's cover not being made by Stanley Donwood, there's the feeling of youth depicted by the baby's face that reflects the start of the band beginning to find their sound and the surrounding flowering visual as well as what looks almost like candy dots that surround the baby's face which may represent further that feeling of youth or their candy coated view of the world disappearing and blooming into a more nuanced one as they would develop. i havent finished the video yet so i hope you didnt touch on these later in it after you mentioned the ones that you did otherwise this was a waste of time lol

[@grzegorzkowalski2413]

Thank you for your analysis, I'm from Poland. Unfortunately, I have to wait till June for the album to arrive.It's great. We are lucky to live in the times of Thom York. I don' really care what's the name of the band. Great music is great music. Keep up the magic KZbin work

[@cactusesforyou2202]

9:48 Two gods, one who loves their enemies and has all the weapons

[@Torthrodhel]

Hey, I love playing Pyramid Song on piano (and voice)! Really play around with the actual time signiature vs the apparent one, much more than in the studio version, put in some cheeky leanings, bit of a pause here bit of a skip there y'know, really go to town teasing it. Just from virtue of there being less in the background to solidify it (until the 'beat' comes in anyway; which I'm also mimicking on the piano, of course). Also do a mean punk-blues version of Kinetic.

[@greenvelvet]

I didn't like King of limbs until I listened to the live from the basement sessions of that album, and that is a completely different experience. Songs like little by little, take on a whole new life when you have two live drummers instead of whatever toy drum box is on the studio album

[@KazziKolorZz]

This is the kind of content I want to see.

[@freddiemoller3692]

It's interesting that you say Ted Hughes is no longer discussed in academic circles in the USA because, as a student in England, I can tell you that Ted Hughes is CONSTANTLY discussed in academia here- probably more so than Sylvia Plath. But, it makes sense that it would be different in America. (Also, fun fact: being a white male doesn't mean your poetry doesn't deserve attention. The only thing that matters is whether your poetry is good. We pay attention to great black poets and great female poets because they write great poetry, not because they're black or female. That would be demeaning. I know that you know better than to say that we study the art of the Haitian diaspora (for example) because they're Haitian. We don't. We study it because it's great.)

[@user-pf7bu7dm5r]

Thank you for saying what I felt.

[@EayuProuxm]

still laughter scampers around on centipedes is another good phrase

[@yrne6892]

I believe that the guitar in thin thing is just delay

[@timk6181]

Radiohead, the age that they are, would have studied Hughes in high school. He was English laureate for a good while too.

[@Jimmy1982Playlists]

Unfortunately, a lot of people think poetry is only about love, or dainty things... one reason I love to pull Bukowski out on them. Your videos are only getting better, Prof!

[@emilydavis3624]

Thank you I really loved the poetry bit. :D

[@OurFamilyInMotion]

Wondering what you think about the incredible new studio albums by Wilco, Marillion, and String Machine.

[@playingpossum9656]

Do you plan to make a video on Preacher’s Daughter by Ethel Cain? Your video on her previous EP is how i discovered this channel, would love to hear your thoughts on this new incredibly immense work of hers :)

[@Dragic27]

Great video. Sadly not sure what video you are talking about with the mushrooms

[@liavch1]

Thanks :)

[@joaquinbaume1291]

i love kendrick but this is what i was excited for, this album is fucking solid

[@hylasgeist1568]

'smarty smarty smarty-pants folks' 😂

[@atlargeauteur]

Interesting Review, album was okay. Thom Yorke is hit or miss for me, but I like always like hearing him discuss music.

[@jonathongoodwin]

Puscifer- Bullet train to Iowa - mushrooms

[@qworkus3539]

you are the coolest guy on youtube

[@michaelhernandez3137]

Please. What is the CD in front of the Moon Shaped Pool album?

[@porkfriedrice1530]

PROF! Pease review the new Sauce Walka X Daringer album dropping this year

[@DovahFett]

I hope that you and your English professor friend can recognize the irony in the idea of ignoring and overlooking a poet because of inherent qualities that they could not control (skin color, sexuality), so that you can _instead_ focus on another poet because of the inherent qualities that _they_ could not control. That’s not progress. It's running in place, and an intrinsically discriminatory approach to teaching... well, anything.

[@cobalt-6747]

I like your voice!

[@ROArecords2]

It's a side project

[@JV-cz6fz]

The biggest mistake they did was making SIX singles. Big L. The album had less impact for me on the first listen. Eventually I understand it better now and I enjoy it a lot but 6 singles really dragged it on way too long.

[@SelenaSea]

I loved that unorthodox approach - and the extra art we got with it in all the amazing videos that accompanied each single.

[@JV-cz6fz]

@@SelenaSea extra art work was nice. I was actually hoping the album over would be as minimalistic with bold colors like theme of the singles but don’t get me Wrong the actual album cover art is so beautiful. Just left me wondering what that style would look like as a front cover.

[@jonathongoodwin]

PUSCIFER

[@afriendofjamis]

Ahh yes my favorite Kardashian, Kaprice Kardashian. The show would be nothing without her.

[@nvl2254]

Cool, but this is not Smile by Brian Wilson. Please review Smile by Brian Wilson

[@hylasgeist1568]

I've got to really disagree with your analysis of Thom's lyrics. he often reappropriates common phrases and makes them mean multiple things at once. I think you're missing the point. also I love his solo work more than most Radiohead albums, but maybe that's just me. otherwise, good review.

[@MordykKateryna]

Damn How can u NOT like this album (thanks about mentioning Ukraine, it’s really valid for me)

[@StephenReid-hk8hs]

He's a poet but doesn't know it 👍

[@igorgasin4007]

Ese atuendo me vuelve loco SEXTINDER.Uno loco contigo y tienes ese cuerpo curvilíneo, hiciste un buen trabajo modelándolo también. También me gusta el último atuendo. Me encantat cómo los cinturones de liga se.