Hail To The Thief is a very disappointing Radiohead album

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
LemonMelon

LemonMelon

More 5G Than Man
Joined
Aug 31, 2004
Messages
68,797
Location
Hollywoo
I bought this album last Saturday, and I still think it's the worst album they've ever made. Then again I don't own Pablo Honey, but You is awesome, so it must be better already. :|

2+2=5 is OK I guess...the verses sound the same as every RH song since OK Computer's demise. The ending/bridge is sweet though, it reminds me of Franz Ferdinand or something, with Jack White singing (seriously, that DOES NOT sound like Thom). :wink:

Sit Down/Stand Up is all right, but not as good as 2+2=5.

Sail To The Moon is a good song, even if it really doesn't have a reason to exist. :drool:

Backdrifts is garbage.

Go To Sleep is absolutely fantastic. A modern version of a Bends track really.

Where I End is OK too. But boring.

We Suck Young Blood is horrible. I don't know what they were on, but it certainly didn't help their creative process any. :mad:

The Gloaming? Pass.

There There is pretty good, one of the stronger tracks, but it still is disappointing.

I Will? Crap.

Punchup At The Wedding is pretty good , and it keeps the album alive.

Myxomatosis is awesome. Great bass line. :up:

Scatterbrain is good. Par.

Wolf At The Door is one of the best tracks here, and at the very least, it sounds different.

I give this album two and a half Thom Yorke smilies, out of five.

:crack: :crack:
halfsmile6bh.jpg
 
i'm indifferent toward it. but i love pablo honey, so...
 
I really don't understand this. :shrug:

Oh, Zooters, did you get my email? I think Outlook Express is being a bitch. :mad:
 
httt may be sub par when compared to the rest of radiohead's catalogue, but it's still brilliant when compared to the other shit out there masquerading as music.
 
All I can say about this one is, Radiohead can and have done better. Only 2 songs on HTTT stand out in my mind, while all their other albums (I don't own Pablo Honey) are amazing in every aspect.
 
Disappointing is certainly the word for it. I still think it's a solid album, though; it just reeks of filler. But then, so did Amnesiac (here it comes now)...

My track-by-track:
  • "2+2=5"--Good and loud.
  • "Sit Down, Stand Up"--It works as a transition track. The build-up to the "THE RAINDROPS, THE RAINDROPS, THE RAINDROPS" part is pretty cool.
  • "Sail to the Moon"--Very pretty, in line with "Pyramid Song," which is plenty of reason to exist. Has a lovely ghostly feel, which works beautifully with the lyrical imagery.
  • "Backdrifts"--I like this song. Dunno why everyone slags it off. The outro's about a minute too long, though.
  • "Go To Sleep"--The album certainly sets this one up right by preceding it with the three sedatives. One of my favorites off the album. Has a great improvised feel that holds together well until the end. Doesn't waste a second, which is a lot more than I can say for most of the other tracks on the album.
  • "Where I End, You Begin"--The bass saves it, although I think the spooky melody and atmospherics make it memorable anyway. Another song that takes too long to finish, though.
  • "We Suck Young Blood"--This is where it gets really boring. This would've been a cool "My Wild Love"-ish (Edit: it's a Doors song) interlude if it were a couple of minutes shorter.
  • "The Gloaming"--Also too long. Even if it's only 3:32, it manages to squander the first minute and last thirty seconds on random synth crap. I know a lot of people drool over this stuff when Radiohead does it, but it really kills the flow of the album when every track is broken up with these pointless, long ass intros and outros. After the last two tracks, you really need something punchy here, and this ain't it.
  • "There, There"--The percussion grabs you right away and keeps you there. More of the vaguely tribal feel established by "We Suck Young Blood." It actually builds up to something, so the longer outro is well justified. Definitely one of the better tracks (though an odd choice for a first single).
  • "I Will"--Maybe my favorite track off the album. Nice melody (more of that spookiness that's all over the album; I guess they've been in that mood since OK Computer, but this album still has feels unique for the band; maybe it's the tighter production) and very succinct.
  • "A Punch-Up at a Wedding"--Boring. Doesn't go anywhere. One track like this on an album would be fine, but this is like the fourth or fifth by now.
  • "Myxomatosis"--Sounds different right from the beginning. It has some neat dynamics, so it doesn't feel as flat as the rest of the tracks.
  • "Scatterbrain"--Another song that doesn't go anywhere. It has a few nice ideas that are drawn-and-quartered out to song length.
  • "A Wolf at the Door"--Everyone loves this one. It has the lyric "dance, you, fucker, dance, you fucker." C'mon.
Overall, it's a good, worthwhile album, but Radiohead fans hear some synths and decide it's the most innovative thing since light, so a good album turns into one of the best albums of the 21st century.
lmjhitman said:
httt may be sub par when compared to the rest of radiohead's catalogue, but it's still brilliant when compared to the other shit out there masquerading as music.
Click to expand...
That's a not much of an excuse for any album; it's basically equivalent to "it could be worse."
 
Last edited:
timothius said:
All I can say to this thread is...

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
Click to expand...

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I couldn't have said it better, myself!!! Perfect.

I love Hail to the Thief very, very, very much, personally; still, I'm pretty interested in understanding what people who don't like it so much have to say. I hope that people keep posting, because the dislike, so to speak, is something I don't yet understand.

Easily my favorite band in the world, but I think there's plenty to criticize about this album ("We Suck Young Blood," anybody...?) and most of their others, too. I'm intrigued to see if anybody (aside from those who already have) actually has anything meaningful or constructive to say... Enlighten me, my friends!!!
 
Indeed, constructive criticism is really the point of this thread.

I personally sometimes feel that I'm not authorized to criticize the latter albums because I've always been more of a Bends /Computer kind of guy that is somewhat fond of Kid A and about half of Amnesiac. :|
 
Amnesiac is brilliant.

HTTT is brilliant. 2+2=5, Sail To The Moon, Backdrifts, Where I End And You Begin, There There, I Will, Punchup At A Wedding, Myxamatosis, Scatterbrain, A Wolf At The Door :drool:

RH Album Rankings:

#1: Kid A
#2: TIE: OKC/HTTT
#3: Amnesiac
#4: The Bends
#5: Pablo Honey

That could change any minute though. It's all brilliant, really.
 
better than amnesiac? no way. httt has two absolute classics (2+2=5, there there) a few rather good songs (the gloaming, backdrifts, sail to the moon, sit down/stand up) and then a whole bunch of songs that are completely forgettable.
 
how many radiohead threads can we have talking about the same thing?

I'm surprised that no one has pointed out the similarities between Punch-Up At A Wedding and Eminence Front by The Who. Similar beat, similar keyboard/sequencer sound. And for that alone it's awesome.

Why does every song have to "go somewhere"? Is there something wrong with finding a groove and just hanging out? Clearly Radiohead aren't slaves to the verse-chorus-verse structure of pop music, so why complain when they don't follow it? The song has 15 goddamned songs; something different isn't a bad idea.

There is more genius contained on this album than any other in the last 5 years, regardless of whether or not it's cohesive. It's not often that you can put on headphones and be totally transported to all these different soundscapes in an hour's time. It's a fucking PRIVILEGE to listen to this album.

You should all be licking the shit off their shoes.
 
lazarus said:
Why does every song have to "go somewhere"?
Click to expand...
They don't. "I Might Be Wrong" doesn't go anywhere, and it's awesome. "Knives Out" doesn't go anywhere, and it sucks. It just depends.

When half the album is totally aimless synth jiggery-pokery, it gets old. You have to go somewhere eventually. "Treefingers" is pretty insubstantial on its own, but sandwiched between "How To Disappear Completely" and "Optimistic," it's exactly what the album needs and when it needs it. Whereas the stretch between "Go To Sleep" to "There, There" is painful.
lazarus said:
The song has 15 goddamned songs; something different isn't a bad idea.
Click to expand...
It didn't need 15 goddamned songs. Kid A only had ten, and it was better for it. They obviously could've put many more on it (they had enough left over for Amnesiac and some B-sides), but they didn't because they wanted the album to make a succinct artistic statement.

If they were that desperate to get these songs out there, they could've made them freaking B-sides or something; it's not like they haven't done it for better songs (like "Cuttooth" and "Fog," which are better than anything on Thief yet missed not one but two albums). And God knows the actual Hail B-sides were even worse, so it's not like they couldn't have bumped those off to make room.

And honestly, there's nothing on Thief that's that different, which is probably the main reason so many people found it so disappointing (I don't hold that against it, though; I'm not one to get hung up on how clever or "innovative" my music is, probably because I realize, when you get down to it, it's all pretty similar in structure, some bands just dress it up more).
lazarus said:
There is more genius contained on this album than any other in the last 5 years, regardless of whether or not it's cohesive. It's not often that you can put on headphones and be totally transported to all these different soundscapes in an hour's time. It's a fucking PRIVILEGE to listen to this album.

You should all be licking the shit off their shoes.
Click to expand...
Suffering through a ton of incoherence just for a few glimpses of brilliance is something I expect from a bootleg of demos, not a major album release. On an album without any major standouts, like this one, coherency is everything.

That said, Thief isn't that bad, but honestly, the raving fanboys here don't have much of an argument besides, "but...it's Radiohead!" What exactly is so bleeding brilliant about this album that it makes all its flaws irrelevant? All your gushing just makes you sound extremely forgiving.

Even Beatles fans (apparently the most overrated band ever, according to people who haven't heard of Radiohead) admit they released some garbage. It's a rare thing to hear a Radiohead fan concede they've done anything less than shit-lickingly good since The Bends (I fully anticipate someone to attack me for deriding the Hail B-sides).
 
Last edited:
There There is soooo good, so haunting!!!

Weeeeeee aaaaaaare aaaaaaaaaaccidents waitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing waitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing to haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaappen

:drool:
 
It was good but not fantastic. I can't really say I'm a big Radiohead fan anymore. They used to be in my top 5. I really dug Pablo Honey and The Bends and still dig them very much. O.K. Computer is amazing when I'm in the right mood, Kid A is a good ambient/electro album but not great, Amnesiac was a bit better and Hail was good. I don't know. I guess I'm just not a big fan of Post O.K. Computer Radiohead material. I wish the'd go back to writing songs with melody. Material that showcased Yorke's vocals. I'd rank Radiohead's albums in the following order:

1. The Bends
2. Pablo Honey
3. O.K. Computer
4. Amnesiac
5. Kid A / Hail to the Theif (TIE)

It's a significant drop off in appeal for me though after O.K.
 
Last edited:
HTTT has no really weak track

the gloaming gets better with every listen...
I can't find fault
and i suggest you listen to it more
 
typhoon said:

Whereas the stretch between "Go To Sleep" to "There, There" is painful.
Click to expand...

:down: I can understand how many don't like We Suck Young Blood and The Gloaming (I like them) but Where I End and You Begin is absolutely brilliant. Just about the perfect mix of rock and electronica.

"I Will Eat You Alive" :drool:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

dan_smee
I listened to No Line on the Horizon right through tonight for the first time in about 10 years…
2 3
Replies
83
Views
2K
lazarus
lazarus
Reggie Thee Dog
Are we NOT discussing the Dolby Atmos Mix of Achtung Baby?
Replies
13
Views
1K
count rushmore
count rushmore
W
A Boy Falls From the Sky is some U2's best work
Replies
3
Views
2K
zoocarolina
Z
dan_smee
U2 - the lost album
Replies
4
Views
1K
gvox
gvox
MrsSpringsteen
Gilead States Of America
Replies
16
Views
876
MrsSpringsteen
MrsSpringsteen

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom