Hail to the thief

This one grows. Take a look at the rising plant-life pictured at the top of the album cover. This album is that humble yet aspiring greenery. This album is the soil, the salt of the Earth that takes time to appreciate. A sort of childish rush of dislike flowed through me the first few times I heard these songs, I had allowed my expectations to direct and colour my feelings. I had expected something radical, something remarkable. Irony: one thing this album is not- radical. One thing this album is? Unremarkable. Does that make it a bad album? Don't be stupid! In it's own way this album is remarkable, stunning, and engaging, however it is a mature album made by a mature band that is no longer relying purely on experimentation to make good music. Experimentation, for gifted artists, is always the easier option.

The album's opening track, 2+2=5 would give you the impression that the experimental, dynamic Radiohead of Kid A and Amnesiac are still squelching around in their insane creative juices, albeit with a more overtly rock/punk sound on this particular track. This is still one of my favourite songs, perhaps testament to the fact that I have enjoyed the 'experimental Radiohead' much more than the earlier 'rock Radiohead'. On this powerful opener Thom Yorke's voice is overdubbed to eerie effect, making his always potent lyrics all the more powerful:

"Are you such a dreamer,
to put the world to rights?
I 'll stay home forever,
where two and two always makes a five"

The track explodes into vicious life with Yorke screaming "Don't question my authority or put me in a box!" It's tempo change and Yorkes soulful vocals are symolic of the Radiohead I have grown to love, perhaps this is why 2+2=5 is at the start of the album, signalling an end to that particular sound and a return to the more standard rock-music that the rest of the record displays.

The very next track Sit down stand up has a very similar climax in which Yorke passionately repeats the lines "The rain drops" in different notes, to what almost sounds like a middle-eastern rock-infused melody. This amazing track is one long and constant build-up to the previously mentioned climax, however that climax is more akin to an implosion than the climactic explosion heard on 2+2=5. This is, undoubtedly, rock music. In that respect it is much more of a cohesive album than the previous two, which saw wild genre changes every one or two tracks from jazz-rock fusion to ambient. The audio chaos is organised into one theme on hail to the thief. Once you 'get' that, the album becomes easier to embrace and feel.

I remember a lot of murmurings in early May as the album's first single There there was put out. Many people thought it was crap. The problem with many people, including myself at times, is that we get used to the speed with which the music scene changes. The same exact reaction came about upon the release of DJ Shadow's second album The Private Press, we took for granted the whole world of music that Shadow had created on his first album, Endtroducing, that we didn't understand why his second one wasn't as instantly impressive, or instantly ground-breaking on the first listen.

Similarly the rock music scene has changed, it has become more simple, perhaps even simplistic. Groups like Doves, Coldplay & The White Stripes have stripped rock down to it's bare bones, emotionally, lyrically and musically. For a band as complex as Radiohead, the modern-day rock scene was always going to be less than accomodating. The reason Radiohead have previously remained unnafected by criticism was because they were living and creating in their own self-made Kid-A-universe, but Hail to the thief is a conscious step back into the popular rock music scene. It therefore exposes a lot more of it's material to cross-comparisons, contrasts and ultimately quick criticisms.

I Will, and Sail to the Moon are other stand-out tracks, all displaying Radioheads expertise in creating emotional moods through music, similarly the more electronic side of Radiohead is revisited to eerie effect on The Gloaming, and to beautiful simplicity on the unbelievably emotional Where I end and you begin. So is there anything that doesn't stand out on this solid record? Well, We suck Young Blood, and Drunken Punch-up at a Wedding both sound very tired to me, the supposed 'irony' in the lyrics really do little to further the albums raw emotional appeal. Raw emotional appeal is what it does have however. Just one listen to the beautifully simple closing tracks Scatterbrain, and Wolf at the door (which sees Thom Yorke rapping his verse, at his most poetic) ensure that this album leaves you with a feel of pure quality. These last two tracks are, in their own ways, remeniscent of the best in progressive rock of the past, music like the Cocteau Twins in the 80's, or Yorkes favourite band- The Pixies. That dash of 'Radiohead' is always there however, brought to your attention by Yorkes wailing voice and evocative poetry.

A band as talented as Radiohead put out good records that affect you. It's just that simple.

Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi