| Hail to the Thief | 
 enlarge | List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $1.49
You Save: $17.49 (92%)
Buy New/Used from $1.49
Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 1000 reviews)
Sales Rank: 3327
Category: Music
Artist: Radiohead
Publisher: Capitol
Studio: Capitol
Manufacturer: Capitol
Label: Capitol
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.5
MPN: 84543
UPC: 724358454321
EAN: 0724358454321
ASIN: B000092ZYX
Publication Date: 2003
Release Date: June 10, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Tracks:
| • | 2 + 2 = 5 | | • | Sit down. Stand up. | | • | Sail to the Moon. | | • | Backdrifts. | | • | Go to Sleep. | | • | Where I End and You Begin. | | • | We suck Young Blood. | | • | The Gloaming. | | • | There there. | | • | I will. | | • | A Punchup at a Wedding. | | • | Myxomatosis. | | • | Scatterbrain. | | • | A Wolf at the Door. |
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Radiohead Photos More from Radiohead
OK Computer | 
The Bends | 
Kid A | 
Pablo Honey | 
Amnesiac | 
The Astoria London Live |
Amazon.com
Filling the gulf between OK Computer's epic progressive rock and Kid A's skittering electronic theatrics, Hail to the Thief borrows equally from each. Its title implies that this will be a collection filled with songs of anger and dissent, but Radiohead no longer howl at the moon like they did on 1995's The Bends. Instead, they use eloquent metaphors and complicated arrangements to express the uncertainty, fear and anger arising from the 2000 U.S. presidential election and a post-9/11 world. There?s no doubt about where Thom Yorke and company stand; the prog-rock break on "2 + 2 = 5" and Yorke's terror at the thought of being "put in a dock" make that immediately clear. But there's a prevailing sense of powerlessness here. The tinkling piano behind the cold sonic surface of "Backdrifts" and the brief, swooping melody in the middle of "Sail to the Moon" are islands in a sea of confusion. Like the band's best work, Thief requires more than a few listens to fully appreciate, but those who stick around will be richly rewarded. --Matthew Cooke
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 995 more reviews...
 happy, happy, joy, joy June 29, 2009
Radiohead has done something no other band has been able to do: convince me that growing up isn't so bad. R.E.M. couldn't do it (I stopped listening after Document), nor could U2 (I stopped after The Joshua Tree). All the other bands that I adore just didn't have enough staying power (Gang of Four, Joy Division, Ride, The Smiths). It took me years to move on from Pablo Honey, but with each successive album, they are more and more capable and more and more interesting.
Hail to the Thief is proof that they can do anything now. There's a sense of complete mastery. They don't have to prove anything - they can just have fun in any style they choose. I love the industrial sound of Myxomatosis a la Skinny Puppy with Thom Yorke settling on a deep, intimate voice this time. Or the punk urgency of 2 + 2 = 5.
This band is so fascinating, capable, and stimulating that I'm willing to go wherever they lead even if it means I have to grow up to keep up with them.
 Radiohead's brief trough into mediocrity June 5, 2009
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This album is actually a 2 star when stood up to Radiohead's standards and potential. This album has listenable enough tracks, however memorable hooks or beautiful ambient passages are RARE. There are maybe, 3 or 4 tracks that i put on regularily, but this is not an ok computer, the bends or in rainbows in the sense that it cannot be fully enjoyed as a listen all the way through. Very weak for Radiohead.
The tracks that have some substance:
1. 2+2=5 - This is actually over rated. No where near some of radiohead's other great work and can even get annoying at times. However, at other times it's very catchy and has a variety of different sounds.
4 - Backdrifts - I enjoy the electronic feel here, kinda creepy feeling in a way, But also simply a very catchy verse.
5 - Go to Sleep - Fantastic acoustic guitar work here. A much different feel from the rest of the tracks. Catchy chorus
9 - There There - THe feel of this track is similar to that of "I Might be Wrong" from amnesiac. A great rock song with some interesting lyrics.
13 - Scatterbrain - One of the catchiest Verse/Chorus structures of the album. Thom shows off his ability to sound melancholic as well as on any other album with this track.
Point is... if your not a big radiohead fan, this is not the place to start. I would recommend skipping it as it can be very hit and miss. It is mediocre, and i cannot be blamed for not trying hard enough to delve fully into this album. I listened very carefully and found very little. If you love radiohead then you probably already have it and enjoy some of the tracks like me. Enjoy! (or try)
Hail To The Thief April 9, 2009
The funny thing about Radiohead is that their music is either hit or miss. No, I'm not talking about their albums, I'm talking about their songs. The only way to judge how good one of their albums is is by the number of outstanding tracks it contains. This album only contained four or five strong tracks, a huge step down from both Kid A and Amnesiac, the two previous releases from the band that shared the electronic influence of Hail To The Thief. Unfortunately, this is also the band's longest release at almost an hour, with fourteen strange and mostly forgetable tracks. The main problem I had with this album was that it had no stand out tracks. I mean, there were some great songs, but every other Radiohead album has at least one or two tracks that I can play over and over and never get tired of. On the other hand, the album doesn't have any tracks that I just can't stand and will always skip. This is just one of those albums that you buy and listen to once and you just never feel like listening to the whole thing again, and Radiohead shouldn't be the kind of band to release music like that. I guess I'm on the fence on this one.
Radiohead's amazing, violent sonic implosion February 25, 2009
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
If Kid A is like starring at a Rothko painting and OK Computer a Futurist landscape, than Hail to the Thief is a Munchian scream. It's a serrated strait jacket. It's a terribly bloody knife fight. It's a... well, you get the idea. For a band known for skipping across the darkness of one's mindscape, Thief was darker and more depressing than anything they've ever done (I believe the rumours that the five musicians came perilously close to calling it quits, though those rumours happen with every album). But it's also a beautiful summation of those ideas started six years previous. If OK Computer suggested a technology-fueled alienation, this is what alienation feels like. Raw, agonizing pain. What's most astonishing about this album is how physical it feels: "Myxomatosis" is the rock music equivalent of a seizure and "2 +2 = 5" is a nervous breakdown set to a terrifying falsetto. And by rock music, I mean ROCK MUSIC, because this is Radiohead's most "rock" album of their career. The guitars squall and shriek, the drums and electronic backbeat is insistent and determined. For all the press they get for their challenging missives, I love just listening to them rock out. And then, of course, there's the album closer. "A Wolf at the Door" employs a falsetto-less Thom Yorke as he chants alongside a propulsive yet uneasy beat that gradually builds. The lines that are most prominent ("flat on my face" - "put me inside/put me inside") provide much of the bruising force. While there is a desire to read a greater political meaning to the whole thing that Yorke et al have flatly refused is there, the greatest achievement of this album is how it conveys crippling emotional violence. Is it pleasant? Of course not. Is it powerful? Even for Radiohead, distinctively so.
 Simply Dreadful January 27, 2009
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
I'm a big Radiohead fan so it pains me to say this, but.... this collection of tracks is the most uninteresting, unlistenable, monotonous music I could ever imagine a band like Radiohead recording. There's not an interesting track on this whole album. Boring from start to finish. Don't bother with this one. If you're a Radiohead fan Hail To The Thief will only diminish your regard for the band. Pass this one by.
|
|
|
