i think "there there" is gorgeous and wonderfully -strident-. sitdown's rather sleepy, but then the "raindrops" glitchmeganess cuts in -- ooh er!
seems slower, overall than the last couple. which is good!
― Sean@tangmonkey (Sean M), Sunday, 30 March 2003 07:37 (twenty years ago) link
― James Blount (James Blount), Sunday, 30 March 2003 07:46 (twenty years ago) link
― Sean@tangmonkey (Sean M), Sunday, 30 March 2003 07:50 (twenty years ago) link
― , Sunday, 30 March 2003 07:51 (twenty years ago) link
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 30 March 2003 08:46 (twenty years ago) link
― Simon H., Sunday, 30 March 2003 10:49 (twenty years ago) link
― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Sunday, 30 March 2003 10:51 (twenty years ago) link
― edward o (edwardo), Sunday, 30 March 2003 11:00 (twenty years ago) link
― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Sunday, 30 March 2003 11:40 (twenty years ago) link
― edward o (edwardo), Sunday, 30 March 2003 11:42 (twenty years ago) link
― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Sunday, 30 March 2003 11:44 (twenty years ago) link
1. 2+2=5 [3:24]2. Sit Down Stand Up [4:15]3. Sail To The moon [4:28]4. Backdrifts [5:32] *there's a definite fake that is 4:01*5. Go To Sleep [3:31]6. Where You End... [4:34]7. We Suck Young Blood [4:59]8. The Gloaming [4:23] *there's a definite fake that is 5+ minutes*9. There There [5:25]10.I Will [2:25]11.Punchup at a Wedding [4:55]12.Myxomatosis [3:58]13.Scatterbrain [3:24]14.Wolf At The Door [3:25]
― edward o (edwardo), Sunday, 30 March 2003 11:57 (twenty years ago) link
― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Sunday, 30 March 2003 13:35 (twenty years ago) link
― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Sunday, 30 March 2003 13:38 (twenty years ago) link
― dave q, Sunday, 30 March 2003 14:43 (twenty years ago) link
― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 30 March 2003 15:40 (twenty years ago) link
― Adam A. (Keiko), Sunday, 30 March 2003 15:47 (twenty years ago) link
― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 30 March 2003 15:51 (twenty years ago) link
― Melissa W (Melissa W), Sunday, 30 March 2003 17:28 (twenty years ago) link
This album is so much better than their last two that it's not even funny.
― Evan (Evan), Sunday, 30 March 2003 18:24 (twenty years ago) link
Which, erm, is not to say that I've downloaded them or anything...
― Simon H., Sunday, 30 March 2003 19:53 (twenty years ago) link
― Melissa W (Melissa W), Monday, 31 March 2003 01:14 (twenty years ago) link
― Adam A. (Keiko), Monday, 31 March 2003 01:22 (twenty years ago) link
― Adam A. (Keiko), Monday, 31 March 2003 01:24 (twenty years ago) link
― paul cox (paul cox), Monday, 31 March 2003 01:26 (twenty years ago) link
― justin s., Monday, 31 March 2003 01:45 (twenty years ago) link
― Evan (Evan), Monday, 31 March 2003 01:53 (twenty years ago) link
― justin s., Monday, 31 March 2003 02:00 (twenty years ago) link
― roger adultery (roger adultery), Monday, 31 March 2003 03:03 (twenty years ago) link
― justin s., Monday, 31 March 2003 03:05 (twenty years ago) link
― Michael Stuchbery (Mikey Bidness), Monday, 31 March 2003 03:05 (twenty years ago) link
Now that it's been leaked they should change the title again.
― Evan (Evan), Monday, 31 March 2003 03:05 (twenty years ago) link
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And now for some undercooked and hastily judgmental musings on Hail to the Thief, the upcoming Radiohead album which appeared today on your favorite p2p network.
"2+2=5," an incredibly uninteresting title rather fits this equally uninteresting rock n' roll opener. Last time they did this, it was called "Electioneering" and they had the decency to bury it mid-album. Things get slightly better with the second track, "Sit Down Stand Up." The first half of this track wouldn't have sounded out of place at all on Coldplay's latest album. Fortunately, the crazy synths come in, building the song to an eventual ejaculation of repeated phrases and tribal-style drumming. "Sail to the Moon" once again reveals Yorke's self-indulgent enjoyment of sitting behind a piano and slurring his vocals into the ether; but it's been done much better on past efforts. Matthew is convinced "Backdrifts" is one of the best things Radiohead have ever recorded. Hmmm, really? It sounds like a lazy version of "Everything in its Right Place" from Kid A, a song which really is one of the best things Radiohead have ever recorded. Next, we have "Go to Sleep." I'm as happy as any of you that the band have rediscovered a use for their guitars, but this song is neither here nor there (although, it's in a vein similar to "Paranoid Android" without the epic length).
Ahhh, here's a good one. "Where I End and You Begin" doesn't really resemble any other Radiohead track I've ever heard. A shuffling, dancy beat and some Eno-esque ambience in the background, combined with a lack of vocal theatrics from Mr. Yorke make for a wonderful song indeed. Following it with "We Suck Young Blood" was a bad idea. Kill me now, before I have to listen to this whole song...oh wait, it just went into a different and possibly interesting directi...oh, never mind. "The Gloaming" is little more than one or two of the band's members dicking around with some beat software while Yorke does his thing...next!
"There There." The inclusion of this song makes a strong case for the redemption of this album. Sure, it's just a basic guitar/bass/drums midtempo rock song, but the mood created with this one is really comfortable, whereas some of the more experimental things they're trying sound forced and lifeless. "I Will" -- nothing to see here, so let's move on. "Punch Up at a Wedding," for some reason, reminds me of the Bee Gees on Xanax...go figure. "Myxamatosis," while not particularly brilliant, does serve to break up the monotony created by the overall melancholy of the album with some punchy fuzz bass and funky drum work. However, "Scatterbrain" once again brings the mood down with a tenth-generation bastardization of "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" that's neither well done nor memorable.
Closing out the album is "A Wolf at the Door;" a song which may or may not be a good way to sum up all that's happened during our travel with the band through the course of Hail to the Thief. It's not flashy, it's not terribly pretentious, but it's not as beautifully constructed as songs they've written in the past, either. It just sits there, daring you to form an opinion one way or another about its absolute mediocrity. What a drag.
― paul cox (paul cox), Monday, 31 March 2003 03:07 (twenty years ago) link
Hoping. Not expecting.
anyway I think the above review is way off base, but I'll let the more fanatical supporters here have at it.
― roger adultery (roger adultery), Monday, 31 March 2003 03:18 (twenty years ago) link
― sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 31 March 2003 03:23 (twenty years ago) link
― Melissa W (Melissa W), Monday, 31 March 2003 03:27 (twenty years ago) link
― chaki (chaki), Monday, 31 March 2003 03:57 (twenty years ago) link
― squirl plise, Monday, 31 March 2003 04:09 (twenty years ago) link
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 31 March 2003 04:14 (twenty years ago) link
― scott pl. (scott pl.), Monday, 31 March 2003 04:49 (twenty years ago) link
Here's hoping it will repay more listens like Amnesiac did, and not aggravate me the more I hear it like Kid A. Melissa, please write more - I need to muster your level of enthusiasm!
― edward o (edwardo), Monday, 31 March 2003 06:25 (twenty years ago) link
I might write a review for my site at some point.
― Melissa W (Melissa W), Monday, 31 March 2003 06:33 (twenty years ago) link
― chaki (chaki), Monday, 31 March 2003 06:51 (twenty years ago) link
― justin s., Monday, 31 March 2003 07:49 (twenty years ago) link
― justin s., Monday, 31 March 2003 07:56 (twenty years ago) link
"2+2=5": the way Thom does the "gonna hail to the thief, hail to the thief" line justifies titling the album after it.
"We Suck Young Blood" is so incredibly slow and painful that I can't picture anyone putting themselves through the torture of recording it. I mean all this in the best way possible of course.
Thom's vocals are much more dynamic and vivid than on the last two, although I would've preferred a more vicious take on "Myxomatosis" than the somewhat sterilized version on the album (subject to change, of course...).
But the main feeling I have overall is that there is going to be an irritating number of critics calling this a "return to form", which it isn't, becuase they were never OUT of form. There's just no stopping these guys...
― Simon H., Monday, 31 March 2003 09:25 (twenty years ago) link
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 31 March 2003 09:28 (twenty years ago) link
on the album: it's not a masterpiece, but i can't get over how fucking uneasy it is
when they have ideas, radiohead are still pretty unassailable
― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 31 March 2003 14:06 (twenty years ago) link
― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 31 March 2003 14:12 (twenty years ago) link
― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 31 March 2003 14:18 (twenty years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTfDn9bcWbk
― DJP, Friday, 13 November 2020 16:41 (three years ago) link
if wolf opened the album, we'd always be waiting for another flan reprise
― The Beige of Dadz (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 13 November 2020 16:41 (three years ago) link
lol but i want the lips to move so badly
It's funny to read the early posts on this thread and see how eager some people were to evaluate or even write a review of unmastered rough mixes. I've never been that impatient to hear an album.
I agree with those above who say this is a record with no weak tracks, but difficult to listen to in one go. It helps that there are some immediately attractive songs mixed with some very slow growers.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 13 November 2020 17:49 (three years ago) link
xxp haaa i approached this album for the first time in... uh many years today and that's what how i started. I can't handle this thing at all as it was released. I like 2+2=5 but... i dunno maybe it should've been a single? i got:
wolfbackdriftswhere i end and you beginmyxomatosissail to the moonthere, therethe gloamingsit down stand upgo to sleepa punch up at a wedding
the best thing was just not having the momentum of 'sit down stand up' killed dead.
― maf you one two (maffew12), Saturday, 16 October 2021 15:49 (two years ago) link
I've always felt this album is extremely backloaded; I think "There There" through "Wolf At the Door" is one of the best runs of tracks on any Radiohead album
― J. Sam, Saturday, 16 October 2021 18:45 (two years ago) link
Also "We Suck Young Blood" gets a lot of hate, but I love it--such a creepy, demented vibe, and the handclaps are a genius touch
― J. Sam, Saturday, 16 October 2021 18:47 (two years ago) link
i'm not sure i even agree with this, but 39 minutes, 9 songs:
side A2+2=5there,therewhere i endwe suck young blood
side Bsit down, stand upmyxomatosisscatterbrainsail to the moon
upon revisiting, and seeing as how i can't find a good b-side of this era to substitute in, i think this is my least favorite of theirs since the bends. and really i think it would be best a 4-5 song ep (2+2, there there, where i end, sit down, one of the ballads)
― typo hell 13: crypto in insidious, though (Karl Malone), Saturday, 16 October 2021 19:11 (two years ago) link
i had "i want none of this" in the mix for a minute but that's a bit off since it's from 2005. But i think it does that Young Blood/Whose Army vibe better than those ones. But I'm not much into that side of them. I liked "Scatterbrain" at the time but now it just seems like their worst.Would easily reach for The Bends CD over this one... but maybe edited, I'd say this was a better era (bla bla, "white album" comparison above is otm)
― maf you one two (maffew12), Saturday, 16 October 2021 19:51 (two years ago) link
i like the b-sides from this era. it usually felt like most of their b-sides were interchangeable with the coinciding album, but the b-sides from this album create this weird little ep of songs that sound like they were conceived on a broken synth and an obsolete 4-track. i still say "i am citizen insane" is one of the best of the krautrock classics — it was just 25 years late and not made by germans. throw in the remixes and i think it's a weird little companion piece that's very representative of the era.
― things repeat forever and there never is a remedy (Austin), Sunday, 17 October 2021 15:47 (two years ago) link
only song I don’t like on this album is “go to sleep”
― brimstead, Sunday, 17 October 2021 16:16 (two years ago) link
Didn't want to keep going on there, but funny you mention cuz that's my favourite one now (or maybe tied with There There). I thought it felt totally superfluous on the record back then. Listening to this era is always a ridiculous and changing experience unlike anything else. Of course a lot of it for me might be that I was finishing university when it came out. The other one people go on about editing is King of Limbs but I wouldn't touch it. Maybe just make a sort of deluxe version by throwing the (great) additional material onto the end. Never thought much of the Thief b-sides but Austin has me wanting to try again.
― maf you one two (maffew12), Sunday, 17 October 2021 17:32 (two years ago) link
“go to sleep” is goddamn amazing
i think this album is too long and the sequencing has never made any sense to me. i did appreciate hearing an album majorly influenced by this one a few years ago tho (foxing’s nearer my god)
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Sunday, 17 October 2021 17:58 (two years ago) link
I remember being happy they were rocking again, even though I loved Kid A/Amnesiac.
Home to what has to be a top ten Radiohead song for me, “A Wolf At the Door”.
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 17 October 2021 19:01 (two years ago) link
And agreed - it’s a bit too long.
― Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 17 October 2021 19:02 (two years ago) link
wait there's people who don't like "go to sleep"? i mean sure, it sounds like a bends-era rewrite but . . . i'm pretty okay with that on this album? listening to it now after not hearing it for a while and it sounds like the zeitgeist of what i think of when i think of "what does radiohead sound like?"
― things repeat forever and there never is a remedy (Austin), Sunday, 17 October 2021 20:50 (two years ago) link
it's a messy album & they never quite nailed a lot of these tracks in the studio - "the gloaming" and "myxomatosis" are live staples that were significantly improved by some small changes when they played them live
― ufo, Sunday, 17 October 2021 21:28 (two years ago) link
& tracks like "sail to the moon" and "scatterbrain" are solid songs but the arrangements feel like sketches compared to what they're usually capable of. "a punch up at a wedding" is on to something too but not quite there
― ufo, Sunday, 17 October 2021 21:43 (two years ago) link
idk it really stuck out as superfluous to me, I LOVE every other song on this album.
― brimstead, Sunday, 17 October 2021 21:52 (two years ago) link
sail to the moon is like top 5 rh
xp re go to sleep
― brimstead, Sunday, 17 October 2021 21:53 (two years ago) link
honestly it’s my favorite album of theirs
“punch up” is the best song on here
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Sunday, 17 October 2021 21:55 (two years ago) link
besides “there there”
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Sunday, 17 October 2021 21:57 (two years ago) link
the groove is great i just wish it got even more intense or the dynamics were stronger idk
the songs i would absolutely cut from this are "i will" and "we suck young blood"
― ufo, Sunday, 17 October 2021 22:23 (two years ago) link
"punch up" absolutely should have become a live staple
― ufo, Sunday, 17 October 2021 22:24 (two years ago) link
Yeah I like Punch Up. I think almost all the songs stand up on their own, it is, as everyone has already said, a strange matter of the whole thing not hanging together quite right
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Monday, 18 October 2021 01:26 (two years ago) link
Through bad timing and other situations this tour was the last time I saw them live, though I've seen various webcasts etc since. Seeing them four times in five years from 1998 to 2003, they were hands down the most compelling live band on that scale easy, there was always something next level they brought, and so seeing them for the tour for this with a now ridiculously good back catalog they could draw on was a sight to behold.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 18 October 2021 02:03 (two years ago) link
When the guitars lock into that long outro groove in "There There" I'm convinced it's the most thrilling thing they ever did.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 18 October 2021 02:15 (two years ago) link
Hail to the thief cause he’s the thief and he needs hailing.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Monday, 18 October 2021 04:39 (two years ago) link
This and Pablo Honey are the two Radiohead albums I never listen to. I find it weird that for a younger generation this was their entry point for Radiohead and they love it and think it’s one of their best. I think I wouldn’t have been an immediate fan and would have probably written them off for years if this was my first Radiohead album.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, 18 October 2021 05:46 (two years ago) link
There’s probably 5 songs max I’d save and half of them are divisive, I guess. Myxomatosis and Backdrifts are my two favorite songs in here.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, 18 October 2021 05:49 (two years ago) link
Ah fuck I made pretty much this exact same comment a year ago.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, 18 October 2021 05:51 (two years ago) link
Sorry for reposting then.
idk that there's really a generation that thinks HTTT is up with their best? there are people who do really rate it but i don't think it's at all a generational thing, just a matter of taste
― ufo, Monday, 18 October 2021 07:30 (two years ago) link
Yeah Kid A tends to be seen as the nu-Radiohead / millennial fan canon
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Monday, 18 October 2021 08:37 (two years ago) link
in rainbows has been pretty solidly established as up there with kid a/ok computer in the canon now for a while too
& people still seem to generally really love a moon shaped pool too, though i'm not a huge fan of it. it's a better listen front-to-back than hail to the thief or even amnesiac, but never reaches the same highs as those either, it's all solidly second-tier
― ufo, Monday, 18 October 2021 08:44 (two years ago) link
I’ve been revisiting the Radiohead discography for the first time since I was an obsessive in high school 20 years ago, and enjoyed revisiting this one. I bought the special edition with the foldout map. I listened to it for the first time as I drove back from the record store and had a nice moment when a storm broke and it started pouring rain just as "Sit Down. Stand Up" hit the "raindrops” part.
I agree with the usual complaints about it being too long and not quite flowing. I’ve always loved individual tracks more than the whole. I’ve been listening to this re-arrangement of the album and have come to prefer it, even though when one song ends, my mind still cues up the opening notes of the next song from the original track listing.
― blatherskite, Thursday, 17 February 2022 15:23 (two years ago) link
They were really solid on the tour for this album, though not as good as they were on the Amnesiac tour (at least when I saw them).
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 17 February 2022 15:24 (two years ago) link
Taking "Wolf At The Door" and "Scatterbrain" out of HTTT is a bold move
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Friday, 18 February 2022 01:01 (two years ago) link
This order really works though
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Friday, 18 February 2022 01:22 (two years ago) link
yeah i didn't listen to it, but that alternate sequencing looks a little weird to me. i'll check it out though.
― get shrunk by this funk. (Austin), Friday, 18 February 2022 01:24 (two years ago) link
“I am a wicked child” is one of my favorite tracks from the era, glad they added that one but yeah removing scatterbrain and wolf at the door is not ideal for me. I’d rather remove “go to sleep” which somehow I’ve never been a fan of.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 18 February 2022 01:26 (two years ago) link
Only thing I like of the song is the glitchy guitar solo, Thom’s performance is very… idk whiny lol
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 18 February 2022 01:28 (two years ago) link
yeah that alternate tracklist is baffling, "where i end and you begin" as the closer?
― ufo, Friday, 18 February 2022 01:41 (two years ago) link
Yeah Radiohead closers are usually low-key.
That said, “wolf at the door” isn’t a great closer. Not sure what would be the best one from the og tracklist.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 18 February 2022 07:46 (two years ago) link
Maybe the less electric “where I end and you begin” version of the kid a/amnesiac sessions would’ve a good closer, actually.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 18 February 2022 07:49 (two years ago) link
This one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYVMCKfFqbE
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 18 February 2022 07:50 (two years ago) link
I think my main problem with HTTT is that it suffers from a stylistic focus. It feels like a collection of moods rather than a more concise “album” concept.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 18 February 2022 07:52 (two years ago) link
The alt tracklisting is frustrating but it does make the tracks I'm less fond of stand out a bit better, while making the tracks I like but feel are out of place fit in a lot better
― Urbandn hope all ye who enter here (dog latin), Friday, 18 February 2022 08:18 (two years ago) link