King of Limbs by Radiohead to Be Released On Vinyl

Online, March 16, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Radiohead, formed in 1985, has seen worldwide success since their debut studio album, "Pablo Honey," released in 1993 and their single "Creep" exploded across the airwaves. In 2005, they were even ranked at number 73 on the list of "The Greatest Artists of All Time" in Rolling Stone Magazine.

The online release of "The King of Limbs" on February 19 was given four stars by Rolling Stone and an eight out of ten by Spin Magazine. SoundStage Direct will be selling the 12-inch vinyl album when it becomes available on March 28th, and is currently reserving pre-orders. The CD will also hit stores the same day.

Radiohead will also be releasing a "newspaper" edition on May 9th. This edition will include both the CDs and two clear 10" vinyl records in a purpose-built record sleeve. It will include large sheets of artwork, 625 tiny pieces of artwork, and a full-color piece of oxo-degradable plastic to hold it all together. The "newspaper" edition will also be released with a digital download of the album.

The new album, "The King of Limbs", is the first album since the band independently released "In Rainbows" in 2007. It was first released digitally and fans were able to set their own price for the download. When it was later released in physical form, it was praised by critics and topped the charts at Billboard and held a position there for 28 weeks.

The artwork on the album was designed by Stanley Donwood, and pays homage to Northern European fairy tales and their theme of symbiotic relationships with forests and woods. "It's very much about natural forms. I'd heard something about the northern European imagination, in the sense of all our fairy stories and mythical creatures, they all come from the woods," said Donwood. "Me and Thom (Yorke) were working on these ideas of strange, multi-limbed creatures that are neither malevolent or benevolent, they're simply there, part of the living spirit of the forest. That's come through into all of the work."

The name "The King of Limbs" is in reference to a 1,000 year-old oak tree in Wiltshire's Savernake Forest, three miles from Tottenham House where segments of 'In Rainbows" were recorded. Though the tree is not seen anywhere in regards to the album, it was an inspiration, and the phrase also appears in the 23rd chapter of the Qu'ran.

On February 18th, Radiohead released the track "Lotus Flower" and a music video for the song on their blog, and fans quickly began buzzing about the new eight track album. Los Angeles Times music blogger, Ann Powers said that it "can be heard from several different angles", and "Fans and critics have already been registering wildly divergent reactions: Some think it's one of the band's best efforts; others find it too low-key or similar to previous work; a few consider it awfully gloomy, and a few others wish it were less abstract." Nevertheless, Radiohead is a band that has always drawn in their fans and at SoundStage Direct, they expect no different.