Track Listing
1. 2+2=5
2. Sit Down Stand Up
3. Sail To The Moon
4. Backdrifts
5. Go To Sleep
6. Where I End And You Begin
7. We Suck Young Blood
8. Gloaming
9. There There
10. I Will
11. Punch Up At A Wedding
12. Myxomatosis
13. Scatterbrain
14. Wolf At The Door
| Details | | Number of CDs: | 1 | | Producer: | Nigel Godrich | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Distributor: | EMI Operations/CEVA Logistics | | Recording Mode: | Stereo |
Album Notes
Radiohead: Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, programming); Ed O'Brien (vocals, guitar, sound effects); Jonny Greenwood (guitar, toy piano, glockenspiel, programming, sampling); Colin Greenwood (synthesizer, bass, samples); Philip Selway (drums, percussion).Principally recorded at Ocean Way, Hollywood, California.Not since the Beatles has a group managed to combine mass popularity and cutting-edge aesthetic triumphs so consistently as Radiohead, who by the time of HAIL TO THE THIEF had been on a roll since 1997's OK COMPUTER (as great as THE BENDS was, it didn't garner the band mainstream attention). While KID A and AMNESIAC had been outre, boundary-pushing attempts to expand the pop-rock palette even beyond the ambitious OK COMPUTER, HAIL TO THE THIEF incorporates the avant-garde techniques developed in that journey, applying them to more formal song structures. In this way, we get the best of both worlds on what just might be Radiohead's best album yet. Though this isn't a return to the straight-ahead pop structures of THE BENDS, the guitar does make a welcome return here. There are plenty of glitchy electronics and atmospheric keyboards, etc., but they're integrated with traditional "rock" instrumentation" in a completely organic way. Though they remain art-rockers to the end, with Thom Yorke expressing carefully wrought angst both personal and political, Radiohead injects some blood into things as well. The occasional hard-grooving funk rhythm and crazed rock guitar riff keeps even the airiest sentiments well anchored, making HAIL TO THE THIEF as well balanced as it is progressive.
Editorial Reviews
4 out of 5 - ...Radiohead's definition of pop has evolved from guitar-driven tracks with a Beatles influence to textured, willfully complex songs dripping with Pink Floyd-like ambition...
Vibe (07/01/2003)
4 stars out of 5 - ...Deep, broad and sprawling....It is a magnificently engaging and expansive work...
Uncut (06/01/2003)
...Like all Radiohead albums, it's a slow grower, a densely packed collection of rapidly mutating sounds and surfaces that takes a while to comprehend... - Rating: A-
Entertainment Weekly (06/06/2003)
...THIEF seesaws between the chill of sequencers and the warmth of fingers on strings and keys....It's strewn with the burnished, elongated melodies that have made them the most diversely covered band since the Beatles... - Grade: A
Spin (07/01/2003)
4 stars out of 5 - ...There are so many delicious melodies here, so much that's both soothing and twisted and catchy, so much to sing along with, even if our prognosis is grim...
Rolling Stone (06/26/2003)
4 stars out of 5 - ...There are so many delicious melodies here, so much that's both soothing and twisted and catchy, so much to sing along with, even if our prognosis is grim...Spin (7/03, pp. 103-4) - ...THIEF seesaws between the chill of sequencers and the warmth of fingers on strings and keys....It's strewn with the burnished, elongated melodies that have made them the most diversely covered band since the Beatles... - Grade: AEntertainment Weekly (6/6/03, pp. 76-7) - ...Like all Radiohead albums, it's a slow grower, a densely packed collection of rapidly mutating sounds and surfaces that takes a while to comprehend... - Rating: A-Uncut (6/03, p.112) - 4 stars out of 5 - ...Deep, broad and sprawling....It is a magnificently engaging and expansive work...Vibe (7/03, p.145) - 4 out of 5 - ...Radiohead's definition of pop has evolved from guitar-driven tracks with a Beatles influence to textured, willfully complex songs dripping with Pink Floyd-like ambition...
Rolling Stone (06/26/2003)
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