I just received an email from the distributors of the new Radiohead album, the King of Limbs, with the official release date of the physical format of the album— in stores (no, you cannot order these other formats direct from the site where you can pre-order the digital format or “newspaper album”). During the haste of announcing the availability of the digital format and the artsy newspaper album, there was no mention of when the album would be available on old fashioned CD and older fashioned 12-inch record at shops (on-line or brick and mortar). It seems the answer is March 28, a Monday, meaning a UK release date. Those in the US should therefore expect the CD and LP on Tuesday, March 29. So, in a little less than a month after the digital release, the physical format will follow at your favorite indie record shop or nearest Best Buy. Here’s the specific line from the email from Sandbag UK:
“For the next few weeks, The King Of Limbs will be exclusively available from our website,
but from March 28th it will be on general release on CD, 12″ vinyl and digital download in all good record stores.”
So it seems the double 10-inch format for the newspaper album is a design thing, as the album does fit on one 12-inch record, a concern expressed in an earlier post. Hopefully the spreading out of tracks does improve the album’s sound quality. 
Although, if they really wanted to give it higher quality vinyl sound, they would have manufactured it on two 45 rpm 12-inch records, as In Rainbows‘ limited edition featured. Still, it should not make that much difference, seeing as Radiohead is not necessarily about analog instrumentation and have been known to make music with lots of digital affectations. But who knows, maybe we will be in for another surprise…
