Hail To The Thief - Radiohead

Advantages: Radiohead find a mix between guitars and Pro Tools
Disadvantages: New fans may not like all the songs

Radiohead's sixth studio album came out to a barrage of no hype whatsoever. The Oxford boys have been locked away since 2000's Kid A and 2001's Amnesiac albums confused and baffled the world. People say those albums were difficult, but they weren't that hard on the ears, there's been Pink Floyd albums weirder than those 2! The album was preceded by the release of There There, which in my opinion is one of the best songs they've made in ages with ...
...Phil Selway kicks in and brings the song through a thunderous second stage. It's truly thrilling. The album opens up with 2+2=5, and if there was any doubt that Thom Yorke had fallen back in love with his guitar, it's blown away here with this almost-stadium sound. It starts off slowly with an Ed O'Brien riff and spookily clear Yorke vocals (we're all used to not hearing his voice, whether it be auto-tuned out of recognition, or masked behind lap-top ... Read review

Advantages: A much better step on in the Radiohead albums
Disadvantages: That Amnesiac was in between this and Kid A

...are once again on track. Hail To The Thief in terms of gauge falls between Kid A and Ok Computer as an album, with bits of the Bends and Pablo Honey thrown in to make it sound even better. I shall warn you now for all those people who do not like long reviews that this shall be on and if you don’t like long op’s then maybe you should stop reading here. So without further a do lets get on with it. Radiohead are an Oxford based band made up of: Thom ...
...Ed O’Brien: Guitar Philip Selway: Drums The first track on the album, “2 + 2 = 5“, really opened up my eyes to the new sound of Radiohead and just what is to come from Yorke and the lads. It opens with some distortion before the guitars come in then the vocals slowly and haunting. The guitar sounds like it's been lifted from Ok Computer and had a bit of work done to it to add an extra edge to it. Just when you think Yorke's vocals are going to ... Read review

Advantages: Sort of a return to form
Disadvantages: Still too much noodling and experimenting

...truncated vocals. 2003's Hail To The Thief, then, was widely anticipated by industry insiders as a return to the stadium-bothering full rock sound of The Bends. The "insiders" were.........nearly right. Here is the tracklisting and I've followed this with a detailed overview of each track labelling it RTF (return to form), STE (still they experiment) or simply BOB (bit o' both). 1. 2+2=5 2. Sit Down Stand Up 3. Sail To The Moon 4. Backdrifts ...
...You Begin 7. We Suck Young Blood 8. The Gloaming 9. There There 10. I Will 11. A Punch Up At A Wedding 12. Myxamatosis 13. Scatterbrain 14. A Wolf At The Door 2+2=5 I had to slap my speakers the first time I heard this. A stuttered, radio reception dominates the first 30 secs of the track before Thom Yorke wails over a picked guitar motif. Just as you're dozing off he screams: "because" and REAL DRUMS kick in. He stops singing and a little ... Read review

Advantages: Radiohead - Egar to try something new, every track memorable
Disadvantages: Maybe too Experimental

I started out being a huge Radiohead fan, without actually owning any of their albums - well I have a tape of OK computer, but hey. I saw a quick preview of this album in Q mag back in 2002, flicking through very "suggestive" pages about Moby, I stumble on a picture of the Gods that are Ed O'Brien and Thom Yorke with the Q award in hand. Flicking through again, I find an article on them, explaining how they were in LA for recording. "Inevitably, ...
...the times of the September 11th "disaster", "It was like working in a void"... and it shows. The 1st track - 2+2=5 instantly reminds me of what music should be about: expressional and raw. None of this over produced tosh, down to earth, balls out rock n roll. Once the guitar kicks in, a sense of suspense is created, thoms vocals give it urgancy, while a little elctro beat carries on in the background. Building up into a new section...and WOAH, a ... Read review

Advantages: Excellent unconventional music, some beautiful songwriting
Disadvantages: Takes a while to grow on you.

...a successful new sound. Hail To The Thief received a great deal of press for its name alone. Many saw it as a jab at the American government, with Yorke particularly vocal in his dislike for the Bush administration. A play on the saying "Hail To The Chief", it was just too obvious to be Radiohead. Indeed, they denied such accusations, preferring to let their music masterpiece do the talking. This isn't OK Computer. It isn't Kid A. It isn't like ...
...sound unlike any other band. Hail To The Thief was billed as a return to the band's original guitar-driven routes. You can just hear the laughter as they introduce a roaring rock anthem to open the album, only to deviate from the expected course down a road far less travelled. There is no genre to place this record in. The band refuse to comply with the system, and while they continue to produce fantastic music, why should they? 2+2=5 - ( It's the ... Read review

Advantages: Errrrr.... not many advantages
Disadvantages: The worst stuff Radiohead have ever produced

...of the classic Radiohead guitar rifts or Thom Yorkes gravelly high pitched gloomy voice. I would not be surprised if this album alienated Radiohead fans worldwide, and I know that it made me think twice about buying the next one; hail to the thief. Radiohead ditched their traditional guitar performed tracks for this joke of an album, with electronics playing such a role that Cher would be proud. If you are a massive Radiohead fan, like me, then buy it for the sake of owning another Radiohead CD, but dont look forward to it. DONT let this album put you off buying Hail to the thief however, you can read my review on that album. If Amnesiac was created by an unknown band, perhaps I wouldnt be so critical, but Radiohead fans and the music industry have learnt to love the Radiohead of old.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Diverse. Uplifting. Powerful. Colourful. Frenzied. Beautiful
Disadvantages: It's...Not...Free?

...for £8.99 at the turn of the year when these 10 tracks finally found pysical form. IT IS VERY NICE TO HAVE IT ON CD (lovey front cover, cheers Stanley Donwood) Like all the best things in life, this shouldn't come without charge. Here are just some of the reasons why paying for it is better than getting it for free... So here it is. An absolute cracker. Ever since OK Computer in '97 (in my opinion the most perfect collection of tracks ever printed on one shiny CD) I feel Radiohead have been fighting for a new sound. Though entertaining, Kid A, Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief felt somehow empty. It seemed that Radiohead were slacking, waiting for something or merely 'hiding in the woods,' but in any case, they did not represent Radiohead at their Bends-esque peak. 'In Rainbows' though sees the five blokes back at their best. Ironically... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Woman From Tokyo
Disadvantages: All downhill for the band after this release

...This album, the fifth from Deep Purple Mark II, (Ian Gillan / Ritchie Blackmore / Jon Lord / Roger Glover / Ian Paice) seems to be something of a curio's egg these days - Rock Fans Of A Certain Age will all remember Child In Time, Speed King, Smoke On The Water and Lazy, but who remembers any of the tunes on here? Apart from the one about that sweet lady from the capital of Japan? Understandable maybe, because after all we are talking about a band that had sired the great albums In Rock, Machine Head, Fireball and the live Made In Japan, so perhaps this was bound to be a little overlooked, much in the same way as, well, Radioheads "Hail To The Thief", good as it is, will not be mentioned in the same breath as "Kid A" or "OK Computer" will it? When you also consider that by the time it was recorded (in Italy and Germany... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful