Hail To The Theif - Radiohead

Review : For a sound of protest first sighted the U.S., picked up from the sewage in the streets of Liverpool and unleashed upon the world to claim an audience larger than any faith or ideology had, rock has been on an anaesthetic for some time now. So when the brave few record a disc...well it must be heard.

Hail to the thief is perhaps a more accessible album when compared to Kid A and Amnesiac but certainly as good ...if not better. For one Thom Yorke's drifting wail manages to outdo even the Ok Computer days...especially on songs like Drunken Punchup at a Wedding. For a band which had decided to use chinese radio waves instead of riffs by perhaps one of the best lead guitarists in the world today, these guys are a little beyond the either class of the brave or the foolish.

This album hears them mixing the electronic pulses of Kid A with some ..well ..sheer rock. One must truly marvel at the arrangement of music. To notice the complexity this might ensue , do listen to Backdrifts. johnny Greenwood along with Ed O' Brien find their guitars after an album long hiatus (well not really)...and deliver. For those who have heard the band before I have little to say but to request you to buy the album.

For those new to the band, a few things to note. Miles Davis released Bitches Brew..not a conventional jazz album...good jazz is almost always unconventional...good music, more so...rock was supposed to be a fresh attack on orthodoxy....so if some rock sounds ''weird'', its not to be thrown aside...this band is one of the few that has shaken rock up from its deep slumber in a recycling factory milieu...there are few left now that manage to give the method its madness...so do give these guys a shot...

P.S.: Listen to Pablo Honey/Bends for the bands notion of rock

..................to the later albums for what rock could be

..................to Ok Computer for when it all starts changing

.................to Hail to the thief since on some day of the week I'd be convinced its one of their best albums

.. cheers

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For those of you who thought that Kid A and Amnesiac were too strange and inaccesible to bear, Hail to the Thief is the album you've been waiting for. Yorke uses his wailing voice to create possibly the best Radiohead record yet. The experimental sound of the two previous records seems to have finally developed into something most listeners will apreciate. The spacey effects and odd chord progressions are still plentiful, but more controlled and well placed. The first song 2+2=5 is powerful and angry with a suprising blast of distorted guitar fury we haven't heard since Pablo Honey. Yorke's voice is used very differently from song to song with wonderful harmonies that make for some very good music. ''I will'' the tenth song, sounds sort of like ''Because'' by the Beatles, only better. All the elements that make Radiohead one of the best bands around are used to their fullest effect in Hail to the Theif. So if you think they've gotten too wierd lately, pick up a copy anyway, you won't regret it.

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Jonny Greenwood pluggin his guitar in the amplifier to start off this album. 'A good way to start off' says the muffled voice in the background> The long awaited album by the so called saviours of rock hit the stores in June> As a renegade radiohead fan, I was salivating since January> If you've seen 'Meeting people is easy' (a film by Grant Gee), you wud've noticed how the band became uneasy with all the media PR and the innane interviews and doin a tour with over a hundred shows... it took its toll on the band and they decided to hibernate for a few years... the apocalyptic turn came when they released Kid A in 2000... WHAT A SHOCK!!!! An absolute 360 degree turn from Ok Computer... Amnesiac was released in its aftermath also provin to be inaccessible to the average listener.. Both were outstanding records, in particular Kid A... as one critic said, 'if you didnt like it, you didnt get it'... The album was leaked over the internet almost 3 months before it was going to be released... there was absolute internet frenzy (considerin radiohead has the biggest and most active internet fan community)... 2 of the most popular unofficial radiohead sites were down because of so much activity... to the chagrin of the fans, the tracks weren't the final versions.. but we all got a taste of what was about to hit us>

A summary of each track is definitely in order... 2+2=5 - Jonny Greenwood pluggin his guitar in the amplifier.. one of the first sounds of the recordin process> A track that explodes in the middle with Thom Yorke accusing everyone of not 'payin attention'... a fantastic repetitive phrase delivered with utmost urgency and pain... GUITARS ARE BACK!!!! A very good track to open the album with... Sit Down Stand up - Unusual chanting for the first time in a radiohead song.. (Sit down Stand up)... bein chanted over and over again... I feel arrogance seeping in every single vein when I hear this song... 'walk into the jaws of hell'.. 'we can wipe you out anytime'... a mockery of political shennanigans of the 21st century... it is unusually calming in a way> until it builds up with thom repeating 'the raindrops'... again, a sense of urgency in the latter half of the song> Sail to the Moon - I love the piano in this track> a very vivid, dreamy track... feels like im floatin in the air and sucking in the music through my skin> feels like thom is calling the youngsters of the world to wise up, unlike their predecessors.. 'someday you'll be president'... 'maybe you'll know right from wrong'... a track that shows a glimmer of hope, yet already knows what the outcome is going to be... Backdrifts - This is where we enter first time in the territory of electronica on this album> 'one gust and we will probably crumble'... hard hitting honest https://lyrics... the chorus tears me apart.. 'you fell into our arms, we tried but there was nothin we could do'... the music is very reflective while thom's voice is penetrative> the beats and musical effects take you on a different plane of thought altogether... Go to Sleep - This track makes me close my eyes> you feel enveloped by the guitars.. 'im gonna to sleep and let this wash all over me'... a track of denial... a track that you would want to put on repeat> Where I end and you begin - This track catches your attention from the very start> an absolute serious tone that makes u feel like something big is coming your way... 'im up in the clouds, im up in the clouds... and I can't, I can't come down'... its almost sympathetic, but turns into rage... the guitars signal there is more to come than the seemingly whiney https://lyrics... 'i'll eat you alive, there'll be no more lies'... feels like ur skin is being stripped down to reveal your flesh and your flesh is bein stripped to reveal your bones and still that isn't enough> We Suck Young Blood - Tears slowly dropping on the floor> perfectly mangled bodies walking down the avenues> 'are you hungry, are you sick, are you begging for a break'... I see ER rooms with sick surgeons smiling with perfectly shaped white teeth... a very insightful and sad track. 'would you do anything'.. we are all being bought by corporations and mostly by our peers.. eerie clapping makes a distinct mark in this song> The Gloaming - This feels like there are shooting stars falling on your heads> a dark drum loop stuck in your head with thom's voice sprinkled all over it.... 'genie let out of the bottle, it is now the witchin hour'... 'murderers, you're murderers'... the lights in the room suddenly go black and the world around you is dying.. 'they will suck you down to the other side'... buzzin in my head.. buzzin sounds turnin down the volume on everything happening outside> There There - The first single from the album> feels like you're in the shade of a huge tree with sounds coming outta its branches... 'just cause you feel it, doesn't mean its there'.. drums causing you to think that there is a beat inside your head> 'we are accidents waiting to happen'.. the latter half of the song sensationalizing those https://lyrics.. frenzy> lost> lonely>loud<fast> makes u feel like that... I Will - 'I will lay me down, in a bunker underground'.. a last sigh to the world> asking for a change... an angry retort to everything that is not in its right place> the few seconds of absolute calmness that occurs before you spill with rage.. Punch up at a wedding - This is what we call a 'chilled out' track> 'i dont know why you bother, nothing is ever good enough for you'... at least in radiohead terms, its a chilled out track> a pleading> strip you down naked with my judgemental eyes> a beautiful melody marked with edgy lyrics delivered almost in a state of drunken paranoia... absolutely delicious> Myxomatosis - A menacing track.. feels like the guitars are about to devour you and rip you to pieces> almost monotone delivery of lyrics showin absolute disgust... 'i dont know why I feel so tongue tied'> haunts you to your very inner core of morality... 'twitching and salivatin like with myxomatosis'.. everything is a blur> societal cataracts> makes your hair stand up<> Scatterbrain - After comin outta the dark valleys of myxomatosis, the soundscapes seem to venture into picturesque mountains... 'yesterday's people end up scatterbrain'... its like the light you're seeing after the black nights only to realize that its just pretentious> A Wolf at the Door - Almost like Thom is sayin everythin from the top of his head> a flurry of lyrics with no comprehensible connection between them... more like thom is ranting.. 'snakes and ladders, flip the lid, out pops the cracker'... sittin down on a bench watchin everythin and shouting what you see... spontaneous visions.. 'investments and dealers, cold wives and mistresses'> a perfect way to end the album.

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