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.
Principally recorded at Ocean Way, Hollywood, California.
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).
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." Pitchfork (Website) - "[A] well-sequenced collection of songs that finds them internalizing the blend of experimental electronics and straightforward rock they wore so far out on their sleeves just a few years earlier."
Dissappointed This CD, at times, can get on your nerves...with drab and annoying vocals and over done electronics. I was hoping their latest effort would be more of a "song" orented CD instead of another venture into electronic experimintation. They should get back to "Bends" style....which EVERYONE loved. Submitted by a reviewer (Penna.) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo 1 of 1 found this helpful.
Raising the Bar With each Radiohead album, I become more and more excited. They never cease to raise the bar -- not only for their own musical development, but for music development in general. I have never before heard a band that so eloquently crafts their music. The Bends was only the beginning, I can't wait to see where Radiohead take us next. (I'm in love with their music.) Submitted by s0ult0nes (Warrensburg, MO) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
OK Computer still thier best Too many boring, uninteresting melodies. Creativeness and experimentalism are great, if you can make them work. This band is searching for something. Submitted by jdouglas2000 (Washington, DC) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
Oh, Radiohead.... What can I say about this album? I have been lucky enough to like each Radiohead album better than the last, and this album is so elegant and belligerent at the same time! It makes me realize that ignorance IS bliss... and that good, no great, music can STILL be made, if you really do have some talent and intelligence! Submitted by a reviewer (Champaign, IL) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
Hail to the guitar Yeah,the guitar is back,but still not as prominant as i would like.Lots of electronics still if that's your bag.I like about half the songs a lot,the rest is average in my opinion. Submitted by Sinkadotentree (Wasaga Beach,On) Was This Review Helpful? YesNo
Dissappointed
Raising the Bar
Hail to the guitar
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