I am at sixes and sevens trying to figure out how critic after critic could have listened to this record and not come away disturbed and filled with dark wonder. I am fairly confused as to how it came to pass that at least one critic, hearing “Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box,” didn’t put on a ‘40s style reporter’s hat with a little “press” card sticking out of its band and immediately wire the editor: NEW RADIOHEAD ALBUM STOP THREAT TO GLOBAL EMOTIONAL WELLBEING STOP SONGS LIKE RUBIKS CUBES WITH COLORS SANDED OFF STOP PLEASE SEND RYE WHISKEY NOW STOP. But even if the first song hadn’t done the job, the second, “Pyramid Song,” should have put everybody on notice that something very special was underway. I do not even want to talk about “Pyramid Song,” or the title track, or the frankly terrifying “Knives Out,” or “Like Spinning Plates”; not now, anyway. If nobody else is willing to go out on a limb and say it, I am: Amnesiac is important enough to warrant very close inspection. Last Plane to Jakarta will, between now and the spring thaw, examine the album on a song-by-song basis. Those of you who have strong opinions about any given song on it are encouraged to write us and tell us what they are. You critics who weren’t actually listening to the record but reading the press kit instead back in June are invited to come along for the ride. We hope. We hope. That you choke.

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