The Pot is Full

Looking back I was perhaps slightly dogmatic in my assertions yesterday, particularly now that I can't get a second allusion out of my head with regard to Greenwood's Be Good and Stay Quiet. Being a principled and experienced Radiohead exponent, I know all too well that to succumb to the almost overwhelming temptation to listen to bootleg recordings of unrecorded songs somewhat taints the end product. It's hard to explain exactly why that is, but Videotape is a case in point, although something like Nude is an exception. And so, when early performances of new songs trickle down through the ether in ever-increasing standards of recording, I tend to avoid as best as possible listening to them over and over again. Fellow fanboys will know the demands this makes upon one's person (see Give Up The Ghost, for example). With this in mind, it's notable that hearing Be Good and Stay Quiet ebbing and flowing through my speakers earlier today, Thom Yorke's obscure performance of an unnamed track in New York this year sprang resolutely to mind. Before today I’d only listened to this recording once. It's understandably been titled "Let Me Take Control", or "A Walk Down The Staircase" by fans, and unquestionably falls into the no-play bracket, being as unnervingly perfect as it is. Why has this track now invaded my previously untroubled listening of Greenwood’s piece? In what way does this unnamed song overlap with The Present Tense? Well, by Yorke’s own guarded and sarcastic admission, he “only [has] one trick on the guitar now” (see link below), and the creative output he enjoyed while touring with his band, Atoms for Peace, has led to more than a couple of songs similar to these two. Greenwood’s score, possibly without meaning to or even realizing, has synergized the two songs into a beautifully erudite and simple offspring. For reference, here is the video of Yorke performing the untitled song. (My heterosexuality has by now, been well evidenced, but I do say he looks rather delicious.)