AllMusic gave "Kid A" a favourable review, but wrote that it "never is as visionary or stunning as "OK Computer", nor does it really repay the intensive time it demands in order for it to sink in". The "NME" review was also positive, but described some songs as "meandering" and "anticlimactic", and concluded: "For all its feats of brinkmanship, the patently magnificent construct called "Kid A" betrays a band playing one-handed just to prove they can, scared to commit itself emotionally." In "Rolling Stone", David Fricke called "Kid A" "a work of deliberately inky, often irritating obsession ... But this "is" pop, a music of ornery, glistening guile and honest ache, and it will feel good under your skin once you let it get there."