I like Jonathan Romney: he’s pretty much my model of what an intelligent, engaging arts journalist should be. And here he is talking about Kid A. I’d basically agree with what he says about the response to the album, with the proviso that applauding experimentalism and ‘bravery’ shouldn’t be a knee-jerk response. A record like Blur’s 13, for example, deserves nothing but brickbats for its cynical plundering of Sun Ra, Krautrock, etc – the only ‘artistic vision’ evident there was a vision of ripping off a few styles Blur’s fans hadn’t heard yet. Kid A has its derivative moments, and I still can’t say I like it, but I can at least respect it. (I’d still say, also, that the puffing of a ‘proper’ album to follow in the Spring seriously blunts the bravery idea, but it’s unfair to judge that record until it comes out. As if that’s stopped me before.)