Radiohead: Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, programming); Ed O'Brien
(vocals, guitar, sound effects); Jonny Greenwood (guitar, toy piano,
glockenspiel, programming, samples); Colin Greenwood (synthesizer, bass,
samples); Philip Selway (drums, percussion).
Principally recorded at Ocean Way, Hollywood, California.
HAIL TO THE THIEF won the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album
and for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. “There There” was nominated
for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal.
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.
What the critics say…
Rolling Stone (12/25/03, p.109) – Included in Rolling Stone's “50 Best
Albums of 2003”
Rolling Stone (6/26/03, p.72) – 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: A
Entertainment 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-
Q (01/01/04, p.82) – Ranked #11 in Q's “The 50 Best Albums of 2003” –
“[T]here are classic Yorke moments throughout…”
Uncut (01/04, pp.84–7) – Ranked #26 in Uncut's “Albums Of The Year
2003”
Uncut (6/03, p.112) – 4 stars out of 5 – “…Deep, broad and
sprawling….It is a magnificently engaging and expansive work…”
CMJ (12/29/03, p.5) – Ranked #3 in CMJ's “Top 10 of 2003” –
“Fourteen tracks of political anger, aggressive guitars, [and] thumping drum
machines…”
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…”
Mojo (Publisher) (01/01/04, p.59) – Ranked #6 in Mojo's “The Best of
2003” – “[Marries] Radiohead's cerebal laptop wielding side with the
rock might of THE BENDS.”
