What seemed like like a ridiculous idea at the time, Radiohead's experiment to allow fans to pay what they like to digitally download their new album 'In Rainbows' appears to have paid off.

While the band won't say how many albums were downloaded and how generous fans have been, reports from Britain suggest 1.2 million "bought" it from the band's website on the first day of sale. A poll of 3000 fans who bought the album found the average paid was $9.00, about half the usual price on iTunes.

On those figures, on the first day alone the band would have collected more than $10 million. By cutting out the middleman, the band would get the lot.

If contracted to a record company, they would have had to sell 10 times that many albums to make the same profit.

Additionally, a reported 700,000 orders have been taken for the deluxe boxed version of 'In Rainbows', which includes a double vinyl disc, a book, eight bonus tracks and two CDs and a download free of digital rights management, which limits the ability to make copies.

It would seem that only a band as universally popular as Radiohead, free agents on the music scene by fulfilling their original record contract and seemingly at the peak of their career would be able to pull off such a coup... but what of the product?

Upon our first listen Radiohead's seventh studio effort sounds more like a continuation of and leftovers from 'Hail To The Thief' and Thom Yorke's solo venture 'The Eraser' than anything else.

But upon your first listen please leave behind your favorite Radiohead album -- in particular, the groundbreaking 'OK Computer' and 'Kid A' -- because well, this isn't it. But a band's new album should not have to carry baggage just because the band has already made its masterpiece (or masterpieces).

There are, however, things to keep going into In Rainbows, things that could really serve well the way you hear the record. The first thing to hold onto is the band's last album, and the second is the sense of discovery that a Radiohead album used to invite, or even demand, before 'Thief' and 'The Eraser' came along. If you can let the band's past fall away while you listen to 'In Rainbows' you will find it has its own batch of surprises and eccentricities, making a band that seemed like it'd done all it could sound fresh again.

The songs are stripped down, relying predominantly on Jonny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien's lackadaisical guitar tangents, often delivered in shimmering tones that are rife with warm, fuzzy melancholy. Of course at the forefront is Yorke's unmistakable croon, delivering a plaintive wail that is both heartwarming and detached. Then there's the syncopated rhythmical surges of Phil Selway and the loping, fusion jazz inclined basslines of Colin Greenwood to consider, as well. But with the guitars continually playing and Thom always providing that voice brinking on the edge of insanity, Radiohead proves their identity once again.

'In Rainbows' does lack one major aspect of a classic album: a standout track. 'The Bends' had "Street Spirit", 'OK Computer' had "Paranoid Android" among others, and 'Kid A' had "Everything In Its Right Place." Meanwhile, this album lacks that defining song; it rather feels content to brew in its own inherent atmosphere. "Videotape" closes off the album peacefully, like a peck kiss goodbye, and it fittingly finishes the sparse emptiness of the record. However, the entire album lacks a climax. If anything, In Rainbows will be remembered for its unforgettable marketing campaign, with a subtleness and brevity that parallels the album's atmosphere.