radiohead: hail to the thief

[Guest godthedog]

i'm sure many of you have it downloaded by now anyway, so spew out what you think.

 

i just listened to it a couple times, but i'm digging it. it doesn't knock me on my ass, and they seem to keep going with that annoying tendency to let great melodies get lost in overproduced murkiness (which they've been doing since 'kid a'), but i still like it. i'll post a more detailed opinion when i give it a few more listens.

[Guest MaxPower27]

Sounds pretty good to me.

 

I've only had one listen through though.

[Guest saturnmark4life]

From what I've heard, I like it a lot. My best friend is the biggest RH fanboy of all time, so I can't really avoid it. Many of the reviews I've seen say it fizzles out in the middle, so I can't cast a solid opinion till I've heard all of it.

 

Of course, most reviewers strive to find faults in RH because Thom hates them all, before giving higher marks to utter shit like coldplay. I mean, even if you don't like RH, surely they're adding more to music than that blatently offensive trash?

[Guest Damn You Helmsley]

I've heard it the whole way through and was impressed.

[Guest R2DFooster McSockman]

I think it's fantastic. Standout tracks for me are 2 + 2 = 5, Sail To The Moon, We Suck Young Blood, There There and A Wolf At The Door (which I think is slowly becoming one of my favourite Radiohead songs EVAH), but there aren't really any notably weak moments.

 

I have no idea where I'd place it in comparison to their previous albums, as 1. I haven't had enough time to judge and 2. It's possible that I could be viewing it through the rose-tinted spectacles of clichéd AGONY after seeing them last month. Either way, it's currently getting da luvvin' from me.

[Guest Kinetic]

My first complete listen was not a pleasant experience. I thought it sounded too slick with too few strong melodies, in addition to having little of the variety that's a trademark of their albums. The only thing that really impressed me was "We Suck Young Blood." Handclaps make any song sound more interesting and Thom's vocal performance has that sort of aching desperation that's sorely lacking on a lot of the other tracks. I've since listened to it about twice more and while I certainly don't think it's up to the standard of their previous four records, I'm not quite yet ready to throw in the towel on this album, either.

[rising up out of the back seat-nuh 0]

Personally I love this album. I've been hearing it all the way through since the live bootlegs last year, so seeing the finished product is great. I Will is possibly the most beautiful song Thom's ever written.

 

The only problem is that on Monday I had to chose between getting the album and getting tickets for The Mars Volta in my home-town. Mars Volta won, so for now I'm stuck with the HTTT mp3's. Oh well: TMV ROCK~!!!

[Guest the 1inch punch]

Any Americans here offended by the title?

[Guest meanmaisch]

I think the album is great although Myxomatosis and Wolf at the Door pale to the live versions from their Lisbon shows last summer. Both tracks are over-produced and needed to be more raw in their sound.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

I've only listened to it once, and in a setting where a few of my friends and I put it on as background, but I feel similar to godthedog. There are a few knockout songs, but as a whole it still doesn't feel like they've gotten past the humdrums of Amnesiac, nor are they back in the perfect songwriting groove of OK Computer.

 

Yet I did sense a really good feeling about it, and I think it's going to be a grower. Here's hoping.

[Guest Mystery Eskimo]

Any Americans here offended by the title?

I read that a lot were. One guy was saying he was a huge Radiohead fan but wouldn't buy it because it was an attack on the President. Which seems really weird to me.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Chirst..OMG, an album title that suggests the president is bad, BAN PLZ.

 

If you're offended by the title of a cd because of patriotic reasons..I don't know what to tell ya.

 

Better get rid of all that CCR, and every other band that opposed the Vietnam war. Don't forget to burn all that Rage Against the Machine, and that devil worshipper John Lennon has to go. Ever notice how close Lennon is to Lenin? That's because listening to the Beatles makes you a communist. Also, Elvis, and those fiends The Kingsmen, who made that subliminal tool of satan and stalin themselves..Louie Louie.

[Guest mesepher]

I was subjected to an early "release" of it during the schoolyear as my roommate played it over and over... after the first song, I wasn't impressed at all. He had a single from the Radiostation... that was decent, but not great.

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

Any Americans here offended by the title?

The title is lame, anyone actually offended by it is lamer.

[Guest mesepher]

Any Americans here offended by the title?

not at all. I'd buy a shirt with his (GW) photo on it too.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

I'm just offended by how retarded the title is. The more I listen to this album the more I like it, and it feels dirty saying that I like an album called Hail to the Thief. Woulda gladly taken any of the song titles as an album title, or any random lyric. Just...yuck. It's the kind of clever that stupid, stupid people love.

[Guest the 1inch punch]

I only brught up the whole title thing because the NME bulit up hysteria about it, my bad

[Guest godthedog]

I'm just offended by how retarded the title is. The more I listen to this album the more I like it, and it feels dirty saying that I like an album called Hail to the Thief. Woulda gladly taken any of the song titles as an album title, or any random lyric. Just...yuck. It's the kind of clever that stupid, stupid people love.

we think more & more like each other every day.

 

except for the whole prince thing.

[rising up out of the back seat-nuh 0]

Meh, the name sucks. just call it H3T.

Makes it sound kewl

[Guest myburninghammer]

To second Chave, I just have to say that I got an advance of the Mars Volta record on Monday and I've actually listened to it more than Hail to the Thief. It's a really interesting record, sort of a cross between AtDi, Radiohead, Rush and Dillinger Escape Plan...catchy and weird at the same time. Worth checking out if you don't mind suffering for your ar, er, rock.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

I'm just offended by how retarded the title is.  The more I listen to this album the more I like it, and it feels dirty saying that I like an album called Hail to the Thief.  Woulda gladly taken any of the song titles as an album title, or any random lyric.  Just...yuck.  It's the kind of clever that stupid, stupid people love.

we think more & more like each other every day.

 

except for the whole prince thing.

To be fair, I've started to come around to the view that Purple Rain is his finest because it's so crisp and fluid and filler-free, while Sign O' The Times is more his White Album. I remain mildly obsessive. But enough of that--back to the Radiohead.

 

More listens beget, of course, more reaction. I applaud that there are no blatant low spots, like Amnesiac's "Push/Pulk Revolving Doors," or the bland one-two punch of "Hunting Bears" and "Dollars and Cents," neither of which I can remember a note of for the life of me. "2+2=5," "Sit Down Stand Up," "A Wolf at the Door," and "Backdrifts" stand out for me in particular, with "The Gloaming" as the only one I'm feeling an urge to skip. This album is what I thought Amnesiac would sound like before I first heard that disc two years ago. It's pretentious and ridiculous often, particularly when Thom Yorke is shouting "THE RAIIIINDROPS" over and over again, or something brutally retarded like that. But I like the sound, and I like the way it fits into Radiohead's catalog. I'm glad it's not Kid A Part III, and I have a feeling that while this is really quite good, it poises the band to really hit classic status again with the next installment.

[Guest godthedog]

it really feels like 'kid a part III' to me, especially "the gloaming." there's a great song somewhere in there screaming to get out, but they suffocated it with effects. the songs (particularly the melodies) are making the album worthwhile to me, but at the same time it's frustrating because it seems that they feel like they have to gimmick every song & can't let any of them just stand for themselves. the beatles turned the same trick, but they did it much better by finding a way to gimmick each track in a way that strengthens the song, and here the gimmicks seem oppressive. it's like they've got all these really good songs, & all these really cool effects, but they can't put the two elements together into something cohesive.

 

they have been improving with that though (at least if you just chart the last 3 years). they really hit the right balance the first time they tried it, with 'ok computer', then went waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off in the "gimmick" direction on 'kid a'--but they've gradually been going back to the songs. i still like the album more everytime i hear it, & i think their next one will be better.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

Further thoughts:

 

Listening to the album on the way to work this morning, I concluded that "2+2=5" and "There, There" are probably the closest we're ever going to get to the explosive pop-rock of "My Iron Lung" and "Just" anymore. Which is fine by me, because I already have The Bends, and for all the misfires over the past couple years, the band is still keeping me interested even through their mistakes.

 

"The Gloaming" grated on me again, which is more evidence of the gimmickry problem you mention. Worse is when you see how good they still can be without much of a gimmick two tracks later: "I Will" is simple, short, and as I see it, great. Layering the vocals is about the only thing tricky going on there, and it works wonderfully. It's still got the sort of dark, steely sound they've been cultivating, but without too much of the blip-boop-fwoooom distraction.

 

I also feel weird connections to Tom Waits' Bone Machine in general atmosphere and sound, but that might just be the stripped-down handclappy doom on "We Suck Young Blood."

[Guest Kinetic]

I concur on "The Gloaming" being a pretty weak track, even if I disagree on this whole notion of Kid A being gimmicky. What you're referring to as gimmicks are actually ideas, which are then fleshed out and turned into songs. Anyway, I think the biggest problem with this particular album is the sequencing of the tracks, especially in the middle portion. Part of what made OK Computer such a great album was that it was perfectly sequenced; "Airbag" is a great opening track and every song built upon that. This one feels more like a collection of unrelated songs until, say, "There There" when the closing sequence begins. Those five or so songs (I don't happen to have the album with me currently) are all great, although I'd have had "Myxamatosis" as the song to segue into "A Wolf At The Door" Minor complaints one and all, though, as I think this is a pretty fine addition to their catalog.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

I like the sequencing of Kid A even more than OK Computer. It hits the right levels of slither and bombast all the way through, and I tend to feel like everything builds up to the rather cathartic, dancy explosion of "Idiotheque," with "Morning Bell" and "Motion Picture Soundtrack" as great drift-offs and aftermath. That's one of the reasons I like "Sit Down, Stand Up" so much on this new one: its structure reminds me of a condensed reinterpretation of that entire album.

 

I agree that "Myxomatosis" sounds great going into the closer. I skipped "Scatterbrain" once and was delighted at how nice a transition it was. For me, I'd have to say the low points are "Sail to the Moon," "Go To Sleep," and the aforementioned "The Gloaming," which do break up the first half of the album somewhat awkwardly.

[Guest Kinetic]

I think "Sail To The Moon" is fine where it is...sort of this album's equivalent to "Subterraean Homesick Alien." I agree on "Go To Sleep," though. That could have been put elsewhere or dropped altogether. Thom Yorke's harmonizing with himself in the middle portion almost makes up for the Days of the New guitars, but not quite. I think "Scatterbrain" is a bit of filler, as well. But, again, this is all pretty nit-picky and I don't typically pore over albums for hours at a time unless I think it'll end up being rewarding in the end.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

Just a reminder for anyone interested: tickets for the first North American leg of the Radiohead tour go on sale tomorrow morning at 10am eastern. I'll be at the show in Maryland, and it will be glorious.

[Guest godthedog]

no particular insights to offer, but this record is really growing on me. as of now, my favorite radiohead since 'ok computer'.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

Scrap those concert plans, kids, unless you want poor seats. The Radiohead ticket distribution folks, WASTE, bought a pile of tickets...and then decided it would be funny to sell them 6 hours ahead of when they'd said they would. Can't say I'm surprised, but couple that with corporate purchases, and only lawn seats were available to the public for the show in Maryland. Same horrors stories from most other venues, too. How I hate the way any large-scale concerts are ticketed.

[Guest C-Bacon]

Scrap those concert plans, kids, unless you want poor seats. The Radiohead ticket distribution folks, WASTE, bought a pile of tickets...and then decided it would be funny to sell them 6 hours ahead of when they'd said they would. Can't say I'm surprised, but couple that with corporate purchases, and only lawn seats were available to the public for the show in Maryland. Same horrors stories from most other venues, too. How I hate the way any large-scale concerts are ticketed.

Yup, thats what happened to me. So no Radiohead in Toronto for me.