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Radiohead's new album, "Hail to The Thief", is due out next month (at least stateside). I haven't listened to Radiohead in ages, it seems, but I'm failry excited that they're putting out a new album. Anyone have an advance preview of what the album sounds like?
I liked Kid A immensely, I hope it's a lot like that release. 
it's out on soulseek (mebbe kazaa now as well, i dunno) if people are interested. there was an unmastered copy floating around but the mastered songs were released just last night. shhhhh, don't tell anyboy i told you!
oh, and a review. they've called it a return to their more guitar driven sound from the bends, etc, which i dont think is entirely true. there are keyboards and effects but not as overwhelming as with kid a or amnesiac. songs i think are outstanding: 2+2=5, sit down stand up, wolf at the door, where i end and you begin, and there there. i may be biased tho, i'm a big radiohead fan.
it's funny, with the increased use of the internet there really isn't any such thing as a "new" album anymore. i've been listening to the unmastered tracks for about a month now and even before that i had heard several of the songs from concerts they had played last summer. with a band like radiohead at least they're good enough that it's worth it to hear all the versions and interesting to see the progression the songs have made. but it's not as much fun as back in the "old days' when you just bought an album after hearing a song on the radio or whatever. i remember how excited i was when i heard regret on the radio and that was the way i found out NewOrder had a new album.
Yeah, the album has a lot of keyboards but not a great deal of synths. The first track is quite good, and a few of the others. It kinda drags along in the middle. A friend of mine sent it to me a while back and I don't remember enough of it to say more because I got rid of it. But it isn't a return to the Bends sound, and not even a return to OK Computer territory, although a few tracks get close.
And I agree that "new" albums aren't terribly new anymore. I found Get Ready on audiogalaxy over a month before it officially came out.
do people prefer the bends, ok computer or this new stuff? i had pablo honey when it came out having seen a review of creep on initial release & picking that up but didnt buy the bends til a few years after it came out, when it did was v pleasantly surprised & perosonally prefer it to ok computer. kid a & amnesiac have some good tunes, but easier to select the tracks from those for a compilation than it would be to trim down the bends, ok computer...
No one's forcing you to download copies of albums before they're released!
If you crave the old "pick up the album on day of release and enjoy the tracks the way the artists intended" type feeling then wait for the official release date. Call me old skool but I still mostly avoid pre-release, inferior quality mp3 files and take in the grandeur of albums like this in full on my home stereo. It's worth it.
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very true, dc. but there's that kid on xmas morning feel to it. i couldn't wait to hear the new album and i wanted it as soon as possible. i think i just don't have the self discipline to exercise that kind of restraint. and with the internet it's impossible to not know when new albums come out or are released on the web. so, yes, it's completely my fault. but i blame technology just the same.
when GetReady came out it was so infuriating to me that it came out in the U.K. so much sooner than in the U.S. i couldn't even find an import. there's too much temptation in knowing it's out there.
Unless i bought the PROMO a few weeks before i would avoid MP3'S and the INTERNET HYPE until i can have the joy of listening to a PROPER ALBUM in its full glory.A lot of the times these days everyone seems to want everything SOONER THAN YOU THINK.Relax and chill and enjoy it...there is always time to wait for new great sounds.
Cheers Rocket Mick...can't wait for my next bag of crisps though!
Originally posted by Iain Curtis very true, dc. but there's that kid on xmas morning feel to it. i couldn't wait to hear the new album and i wanted it as soon as possible. i think i just don't have the self discipline to exercise that kind of restraint. and with the internet it's impossible to not know when new albums come out or are released on the web. so, yes, it's completely my fault. but i blame technology just the same. when GetReady came out it was so infuriating to me that it came out in the U.K. so much sooner than in the U.S. i couldn't even find an import. there's too much temptation in knowing it's out there.
Not meaning to stereotype or age bracket you Iain, but this sentiment is indicative of generation today. Rapidly advancing technology has meant that consumers want their entertainment and information instantly. No waiting times, everything must be bite-sized and fast-tracked. All it takes is a little self-restraint, but that's seemingly no longer an option. It's a race to get the information first and fastest. The medium often overwhelms the message in the rush to consume. It's kind of vacuous. Where's it all leading us?
Probably to the kind of themes covered in the Radiohead opus, ironically.
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Originally posted by depthcharge > Originally posted by Iain Curtis > very true, dc. but there's that kid on xmas morning feel to it. i couldn't wait to hear the new album and i wanted it as soon as possible. i think i just don't have the self discipline to exercise that kind of restraint. and with the internet it's impossible to not know when new albums come out or are released on the web. so, yes, it's completely my fault. but i blame technology just the same. > > when GetReady came out it was so infuriating to me that it came out in the U.K. so much sooner than in the U.S. i couldn't even find an import. there's too much temptation in knowing it's out there.
Not meaning to stereotype or age bracket you Iain, but this sentiment is indicative of generation today. Rapidly advancing technology has meant that consumers want their entertainment and information instantly. No waiting times, everything must be bite-sized and fast-tracked. All it takes is a little self-restraint, but that's seemingly no longer an option. It's a race to get the information first and fastest. The medium often overwhelms the message in the rush to consume. It's kind of vacuous. Where's it all leading us?
Probably to the kind of themes covered in the Radiohead opus, ironically.
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no offense taken, dc. and i'm probably older than you think. ;) i'll totally agree with you about the restraint. while it's kinda funny with regard to music the way it typifies life today isn't so funny. while i consider myself a fairly successful and achieving person, i do struggle with the immediate gratification vs. long term ( and more meaningful) goals i set for myself.
and i actually feel sorry for kids today who can get by writing book reports and papers entirely from sources off the web.
i guess it illustrates what arthur c. clarke (i think) called culture lag, where the technology has evolved past the ability for contemporary society to deal with. the best example i think is that of cloning and all the issues surrounding that. we have the ability but not the societal structure and ethics to deal with the implications. science and advancement are not always a good thing.
I've been listening to the album on the web and watching the video for "There There" and so far i like what i here, the album sounds much harder than previous works, which is good. I will buy it in a couple of days when it is released (june 9?) and see how good it really is after repeated listening.
i've had the mastered copy about 2 weeks now and it FUCKING SUCKS. the music is good but THOM YORKE needs to STOP HIS WHINING...worse than MORRISSEY...
YORKE and BILLY CORGAN need to DISAPPEAR FOR GOOD!
all you MOBSTERS know what to do!
in summary:
Radiohead = pretensious, overhyped bullshit Billy Corgan = the symbolic death of NewOrder and all things decent newOrder = champions of the world (even with Bernard Sumner + his bogus lyrics + embarrasing/distracting stage antics)
Hmm...
I've been a huge Radiohead fan for ages. Actually longer than New Order fan, really. (Don't get worried, they don't fight againts each other on my head).
I still think that Kid A is the best ever made record. That says it pretty good. I'm far too prejudiced to give you an neutral rewiew of Hail To The Thief but I'll give it a try.
I've also heard the unmastered version of HTTT so far. I decided to get the proper version when the actual album gets on sale, so all the excitment would not go away.
And so it's pretty stupid to make any rewiews just by some shitty mp3:s which aren't even the finished songs.
Of course they do tell something, like that the album has lot's of potential (maybe not as much as Kid A or OK Computer) and the (almost a cliche) more guitar oriented songwriting is actually true. Although the sound is still very, very un-mainstreamish and Radioheadish at the same time, if you know what I mean.
14 songs is quite a lot of songs to keep the whole album "together". Too much in my opinion. It doesn't mean that there are crappy songs on it (all the songs are very good or even better), but somehow smaller records always sounds better.
And as somebody said before, it's the kind of album, that really needs several all the way trough going listening moments to get the idea. Just like the case was with Kid A and Amnesiac. Lot's of great songs there are indeed. Go to Sleep, There There, I Will, 2+2=5 and Where I End and You Begin to mention few of those.
And on great thing (thinking of New Order too) in this album ,and in Radiohead in general, is the great artworks and the artistic side of the album. Stanley Dondwood is most definitely the new Peter Salville or Anton Corbijn.
have to go with biz trapezoids opinion really, seen them live a couple of times and they are the least soulful or honest band live. i stood very unmoved as Thom pretended to be very emotional during Creep. new albums dull too.
Originally posted by Jonny have to go with biz trapezoids opinion really, seen them live a couple of times and they are the least soulful or honest band live. i stood very unmoved as Thom pretended to be very emotional during Creep. new albums dull too.
I just don't get radiohead anymore. There's just wayyyy too much moping going on for a band thats supposedly "the greatest band in the world"(tm) - or at least thats what rock journos tell me. At least Morrissey has delved into self-parody and has a sense of humor about his lyrics/persona etc. Radiohead also rub me the wrong way when they try so hard to give off the image that they're an indie or a cult band, yet they do such blatant commercial stuff like fly planes with 'Hail to the Thief - 6/10/03' all over southern californai (the radiohead plane was shortly followed by a plane with a banner for the good charlotte/new found glory show coming to YOUR TOWN) and play their video all day long in times square. Also check out the thread "Radiohead in the NME" that I started that nobody felt like commenting about for more of what I'm babbling about.
So I take it this has become the "We Hate Radiohead" thread now :D
"Meanwhile, 'Krustophenia' sits on the shelves..."
Let's get back to the "We Love Radiohead thread" then:
I LOVE RADIOHEAD!
It's done!
PS- Just don't mention "Kid A" or "Amnesiac" to me, OK?
I don't care any flying planes or shitty mainstreamers like NME and pals who are praising Radiohead. It's true that Radiohead is very artificially lifted to the position that they enjoy nowdays. It's also true that they've earned that place with their attitude towards post-rock music. And of course RH isn't unique band, theyr just somehow so "they changed the rock music" nowadays made by journalists and stuff.
It's obvious also that the personalities and their humble respond to interwiews and to their fans has to be a part reason to their "greatness".
Only thing is, that I don't care at all. I'm listening now HTTT and it's simply amazing (again). That's enough for me. I don't care for NME frontcovers or some overflying planes. You know, I don't listen New Order because Hooky drinks same beer as I do, or the position they earned with that revolutionary, almost a "cult" like pop and computer based music -fusion in 80's. I listen it because they rock on stage and most of all, on their records.
Originally posted by Monsieur Round&Round Let's get back to the "We Love Radiohead thread" then:I LOVE RADIOHEAD!It's done!PS- Just don't mention "Kid A" or "Amnesiac" to me, OK?
Yeah, and by the way. Just for you: Kid A , Amnesiac ;)
Radiohead: Hail to the Thief 3 stars (Parlophone)
Alexis Petridis Friday June 6, 2003 The Guardian
In 1999, when they may well have been the world's biggest band, Radiohead released a documentary. Meeting People Is Easy featured the Oxford quintet touring the globe in high dudgeon. Whenever an interviewer made the far-from-contentious suggestion that the band's music was depressing, singer Thom Yorke reacted like a recalcitrant 14-year-old who had been asked to clear the table. It was difficult viewing - multi-millionaire rock stars being petulant ranks among the world's least appealing sights - but the film made its point: Radiohead loathed promoting their records. For their next album, Kid A, they refused to pose for pictures, release a single or make a video and gave hardly any interviews. Their awkward behaviour matched the awkward jazz and electronica-influenced music on Kid A and its follow-up, Amnesiac.
Recently, however, Radiohead have been turning on the charm and talking up their seventh album, Hail to the Thief, as "OK Computer 2". The video for single There There is currently being broadcast on a Jumbotron screen in Times Square. Aeroplanes flew over last month's Californian Coachella festival trailing Hail to the Thief banners. Last week, Radiohead submitted to a ribbing on Jonathan Ross's TV show. By their standards it's a promotinal blitzkreig. Radiohead have done everything to promote their new album, short of parading down Oxford Street on an elephant, shouting at pedestrians through a loudhailer.
Despite Radiohead's claims, Hail to the Thief bears little comparison to the crowd-pleasing epic rock of OK Computer and a distinct resemblance to the more recherche Amnesiac. Sythesized rhythms clatter; electronic noises blurp; pianos and guitars play serpentine patterns. Several tracks sound like good ideas rather than good songs: Mixomatosis's monstrous electronic riff, Sit Down Stand Up's build from ambient pattering to thunderous crescendo. Indeed, it seems slightly less impressive than Amnesiac, because the sound is strangely familiar. That's partly because of Radiohead's vast influence. Their patented mournful, pounding piano ballads are everywhere these days, copied by Coldplay and Aqualung, and used by advertisers to flog cars and mobile phones. But it's partly because Hail to the Thief is their third album to draw on the same glitch techno and free jazz influences. What once seemed impossibly outré is starting to sound orthodox.
However, Hail to the Thief's big drawback has less to do with its similarity to its predecessor than the sense that Radiohead's famed gloominess is becoming self-parodic. Its bleakness - expressed in fragmentary, elliptical lyrics - seems to hold the album back. It is hard to fathom what songs such as I Will and The Gloaming are so cheesed off about. As a result, the album's prevalent mood is a vague, grumpy dissatisfaction. It doesn't sound horrified or angered by the state of the world. It sounds like it has been waiting ages for customer services to sort out the refund on a faulty sandwich toaster. Its overall message seems to be: tsk, typical.
The painfully slow We Suck Young Blood is a case in point. This, you suspect, is what Kid Rock - the dumbo white rapper who demonstrated both his musical preferences and his Wildean wit by wiping his bum on Radiohead toilet paper in a recent video - thinks Radiohead sound like: lethargic, whiny, so defeated they can barely muster the energy to get out of bed. It doesn't exactly jump the shark, but it does walk very slowly around the shark tank, gloomily shaking its head and muttering about the awfulness of keeping sharks in captivity.
Hail to the Thief's genuinely great moments arrive when chinks of light become visible through its grim facade. Sail to the Moon is a woozy lovely song about Yorke's infant son. A Punchup at a Wedding is even better, a funky bassline laden with bitter, witty lyrics: "You had to piss on our parade," wails Yorke, before schoolmarmishly suggesting his protagonist "had to ruin it for all concerned". It's unlikely to get you rolling in the aisles, but it's a positive hoot compared to what else is on offer.
You could never describe Hail to the Thief as a bad record, but in light of its contents, the charm offensive surrounding it makes sense. It's a band trying to rustle up interest in an album that's neither startlingly different and fresh nor packed with the sort of anthemic songs that once made them the world's biggest band. Yorke recently claimed Radiohead will sound "unrecognisable in two years' time". That comment makes their future seem more intriguing and far brighter than Hail to the Thief suggests.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003
Pure shite. Didn't even get the song titles right? I wonder what record has that dude listened? ;)
I just don't seem to understand, what in earth does some bands promotin campaign, as disguisting to some people as it is, has something to do with the opinion how good the promoted album really is.
It looks like the boy written that one never seriously even tried to listen it twice trough.
Last night they were on Later With Jools Holland. I didn't reckon much of their new songs to be honest - and what the hell was Jonny Greenwood doing with his guitar on that second number? It was extremely amusing to watch!
