11-27: Lightning Bolt: Hypermagic Mountain
11-20: Wooden Wand and the Vanishi...: The Flood
10-02: ...: Oboroed/Circus Live...
07-04: Need New Body: Where's Black Ben?
04-09: Caribou: The Milk of Human Kindness
10-13: Sonic Youth: Sonic Nurse
10-13: Things Explod...: It's Never Worked Befor...
10-03: Controller.Controller: History
Music Reviews index


11-09: Three...Extremes
10-19: Battle Royale II
10-04: A History of Violence
08-26: Grizzly Man
08-22: The 40 Year-Old Virgin
08-12: The Dukes of Hazzard
08-05: The Devil's Rejects
08-03: The Island
Movie Reviews index


01-06: List: Best/Worst of 2005: Movies
08-28: List: 2004's 50 Best Albums, Part 2
07-02: List: 2004's Best and Worst Movies
04-20: Article: Mikel Ate That CD
04-20: Interview: Half of the Fiery Furnaces
04-17: List: 2004's 50 Best Albums, Part 1
04-08: List: 2003's 20 Best Albums
Features index


Radiohead: Hail to the Thief
Radiohead
Hail to the Thief
Capitol: June 10, 2003

88


Hail to the Thief is Radiohead's sixth major studio album. It's a mixture of much of their previous work, leaning more towards their later work. It’s less guitar rock than Pablo Honey and The Bends, yet it’s not as heavily experimental as Amnesiac. It’s got a great lead track in "2+2=5", which can really rock at times but it also has a softer side, reminiscent of "Paranoid Android". It continues on strong with more songs that can easily remind you of other old songs - not to say they are simply trying to repeat the success of the older songs, but it’s simply Radiohead. After a while, some songs are bound to sound similar. "Sail to the Moon" reminds me of "Pyramid Song." Even though I really like most every song on this CD, it seems to go to sleep in the middle. Maybe too many slow, mellow songs, or maybe it’s just me. I really like the end of the CD, though. "A Punch-up at a Wedding" picks things up nicely and is followed by "Myxomatosis" which really gets you going. "Scatterbrain" slows it back down a little, but then it finishes very strongly with "Wolf at the Door", which seems to be Radiohead's take of rap. They nailed it, whatever it is. A great CD, with a huge variety of music. Very well put together; yet another impressive effort from an amazing band.


quoth Andrew Vavoulis.



-> 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/ The Gloaming
-> 9/ There There
10/ I Will
-> 11/ A Punch-Up at a Wedding
-> 12/ Myxomatosis
13/ Scatterbrain
-> 14/ A Wolf at the Door