Radiohead's Hail to the Thief bridges the gulf between OK Computer's epic progressive rock and Kid A's skittering electronic theatrics, borrowing equally from each. Its title implies that this is 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 US 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 box" 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, Hail to the Thief requires more than a few listens to fully appreciate, but those who stick around will be richly rewarded. --Matthew Cooke

This is a truly underrated album. At first i hated this album, but as the sensational Radiohead always do, i was sucked in by its brilliance. This album is up their with their best work. From the kick up the arse that is 2+2=5, the dreamy sail to the moon and the simply breathtaking There There this is a top quality album from start to finish. Back drifts also took me several listens, as well as Where I End and You Begin before i realized their greatness. There is something about Radiohead that i cannot put my finger on that sets them apart from any other band. Maybe its their intelligence, their lyrics, their originality, Thom York's insanely good voice or Johnny's magical guitar playing. Im not sure, but they really are in a different league to the bland and self loving coldplay or the over rated, nauseating U2. If your a fan of good music and you dont own this album buy it, its worth every penny!

Im not suggesting it and I most certainly hope its not the case but this would be a perfect final LP for Radiohead. The record from its earliest moments crackles, skips and goes out of tune building a sign of weakness within the music, like its worn and dying.

Which fits with the sound and feel of impending doom present in HTTT while also representing RH at its wisest and most confident. Thom begins the record leading you on a pessemistic experience not unlike Paranoid Android in which a slow moarnful ballad about the state of the world leads to 'its too late now, you wern't paying attention' as the music spirals downwards and downwards before hitting a climactic stabilisation and acceptance of a grim new fate. You'll get the goosebumps from the untuned guitars and wise yet terrifying lyrics and thank yourself RH haven't lost it.

But from here where does the CD take you? theres about 10 solid tracks here, all perfect singles then theres some accompanying tracks (Sit down/Stand up) and some that could have been left out nicely at no penalty if the cd was trimmed down.

Sail to the moon borrows with soulful use of piano all the musical influences we associate with the moon and then creates something exterestrial in the light of Subterranian Alien (but better). While Backdrafts runs as frantically off an electronic structure as Go to Sleep does with frantic out of tune guitars.

We Suck young blood uses the more striking keys on the piano with thin and stretched vocals to create a brutal violent ballad about vampires 'are you sweet, are you fresh, are you strung up by the wrists'
There There thumps to tribal drums wheras A punch up at a wedding provides a loveless ballad of a disfunctuanal family at its violent climax.

A wolf at the door however is the absolute gem of the collection, summing up all the anxiety within the album in a fast paced rap to a mournful percussion with an element of nursery rhymes that reveal Thoms fears towards the horrors of the world being inescapable and him and his family being vunrable its grim satire of a happy experience and all the better for it.

If Sit Down, Scatterbrain, I will and The gloaming were pulled from the CD bringing its length away from one hour we would be looking at the best album post-Ok Computer. Instead were looking at an album far less minimal and much more approachable than Kid A and and one that every RH fan needs in their collection.

Radiohead's sixth album proper does'nt have the same emotional feel as previous efforts.In not one of these songs do you feel heartbroken(RE:Creep,Fake Plastic Trees,Exit Music(For A Film),Motion Picture Soundtrack,Life In A Glass House,and with a look to the future Nude.).This does not mean it is not a great album.2+2=5,There,There,Where I End And You Begin and Punchup At A Wedding are melodic and more than worth a an extended listen.I Will would have been better served with its proper full length version.Myxomatosis is quite ssimoply,brillant.A pounding bassline and keyboards form the song.Thom's lyrics are funny,in a this is the end of the world sort of a way.I was delighted when Q drew attention to it recently.

While not being they're strongest album(There is an element of filler here.),it is a very good one.Not just for completists.

Radiohead fans will defend Kid A and Amnesiac. They will even go as far as calling them masterpieces. But for some reason Hail To The Thief is beyond the pale even to them. Strange. It might not be as heavy as The Bends, proggy as OK Computer and as arty as Kid A, but it's by far their most melodic album.

I've never really heard the beauty in Radiohead's music. In fact, I think most it sounds unpleasant on a purely musical level. This is the one album of theirs that sounds pretty. I consider Thief to be their best, and most enjoyable, album.

It could maybe have been sequenced better as the slower songs are front loaded just after the first few songs (I also think OK Computer is much improved if you listen to the tracks in reverse order).

The other albums all took about twenty listens before they started to sound good. I liked the music on Thief within only a few listens. I usually find that immediately appealing music dates considerably worse than difficult music, but so far for the four years I've been listen to Hail To The Thief it hasn't started to bore me.

...what happened? The Kid A/Amnesiac era for this band was a hugely creative and productive time, yet, just two years after, we're presented with the blandness of Hail to the Thief. I think I understand what they've done here; instead of either reverting back to "regular" rock music or continuing their voyage into experimentation, they've attempted to walk the middle line and please both sets of fans. Pleased? Maybe. Enthralled?? Thrilled?? Not a chance! Perhaps I'm being too harsh here; there's definitely some decent tracks present, yet the whole project sticks out like a sore thumb when you consider the progression the group had previously made from album to album. I have a huge emotional attachment to Kid A, so the standards I have for Radiohead albums is unfairly high, but this fails to excite on any level.