My favorite Radiohead album. While I agree with you about the desire to skip some of the tracks on first listen, you’ll come to realize on repeats that most of the tracks are very important to the album overall. It didn’t click with me the first, second, even third time around, but there’s a reason it became my favorite album of all time.
It's very underrated. It's an excellent album whenever you're in the mood for something different, like Enigma's MCMXC a.D. or Those Who Ride With Giants' Forlorn, you want to listen to something good, but not like anything else, stick on Hail To The Thief.
One of their most experimental albums imo. Some aimless songs, but some legendary gems. Things like where I end, myxomatosis or wolf at the door, could easily be the base for whole new genres, but they decide to just move on from them. Absolutely frustrating, but that's Radiohead for me, they keep running away from labels, which makes them unique, but also leaves so much potential behind. I just wish they had been more prolific.
I’ve always seen this album as a sort of “best of” but only made out of new songs, HTTT summerise pretty well what RH is as a band, from the more acoustic/pop-rock beginnings to the more electronic/experimentations of Kid Amnesiac
No surprise - but I will say several years later I returned to this and it really hit me much much better, tracks like "When I End and You Begin" I cared nothing for intially I now hold as some of their very best. And "There, There" is my all time favorite Radiohead song, so you nailed that. But, have no fear, you are soon to be VERY well rewarded on the next album more than you can probably believe.
It's easy to forget how often Radiohead's releases challenge the listener on their first listen. And cool how Mr. Lugga is taking a personal stance on the band's very deliberate choices with instrumentation and lyrics, comparing the lyrics & musicality in their previous albums. And all the SUCKING, wow. 🤯 After all these years, who knew 2+2 = SUCC. 🙏 Ty, Mr. Lugga 😅
I always felt there's a great 10 track album in this 14 track album. Get rid of Backdrifts, Sail to the Moon/Scatterbrain - pick one, probably Sail to the Moon stays. And I'd personally lose Punch Up and maybe even Myxomatosis. I liked these live but I don't care for the album versions. I think thom agreed because he's described it as over long before and even once posted an alternate tracklist on radiohead's blog.
Please do the beggar by swans whenever you can. i’m looking forward to it and in my opinion, it is the most bittersweet, and best swans album there is.
Only one I really disagree with is Myxomatosis. That song is a banger. But weirdly you're like the 3rd reactor I've seen say that Myxomatosis was objectively good/they respect it but they didn't vibe with it.
You don't really know what kind of album you are listening to, first you have to know the context of the album, you don't know how to interpret the lyrics of the songs either.
@@luggareviews When it comes to doing an analysis, your arguments are very poor, you don't even know how to interpret the lyrics of the songs, you lack some intelligence.
"Hail to the Thief" is an album that greatly divides the opinions of Radiohead fans. For many, it is a solid work but does not make it into the top 5 of the band's best albums. For others, it is one of their best, or even the best Radiohead album. In my opinion, it is a good album, but by no means one of the band's best. It has a very extensive tracklist, with most of the songs rated around 7 or 8. It's a good album, but average considering Radiohead's outstanding discography. Without a doubt, it is below the band's top 5 albums: "OK Computer," "Kid A," "In Rainbows," "A Moon Shaped Pool," and "The Bends."
I think Hail to the Thief and the Bends are on equal footing but _very_ different. The other 4 you mentioned are definitely better albums. The Bends is a lot easier to listen to but the artistic direction of many of the songs on Hail to the Thief is insanely good.
as a radiohead fan, this is def one of the more lackluster projects imo. my favorites are super basic, kid A, ok computer, in rainbows, and A moon shaped pool are each basically perfect imo. and i love amnesiac, just a bit less than the other 4. hail i like half of it, king of limbs and the bends i basically never listen to.
Try the basement session for The King Of Limbs it's fantastic the addition of organic instruments puts it in the top half of their discography for me. The studio album is near the bottom just Bloom and Little By Little alone are so much better and the addition of the two songs that should have been on the album make the basement session awesome.
@@jameshannagan4256 i have. live is totally different from studio imo. their live performances being great doesn't necessarily speak to the quality of the album the king of limbs. and it's subjective, so it doesn't really matter. I'm glad the people who like it like it, but to me it is sub par. i don't care about the studio release even if i like the basement performance. i love Seperator though!
@@crumbtember I think Nigel crapped the bed on KOL and it was a worthy project because of how great it was from the basement. The studio album is another story I never listen to it.
This album is so underrated in my opinion. I don't get why some people think some songs are simple and straightforward. Some amazing melody and harmony. Anyway...
I completely agree. I've always considered it one of their strongest albums. Probably in their top 3 or 4, overall. He seemed really off the mark for this reaction, which is weird because before this one he was much more open and focused.
I actually think Go To Sleep is super creative. It manages to be country-ish while being catchy and yet being 5/4. And personally love the "random guitar" at the end.
I consider this album to be one of their 4 best and _significantly_ stronger than Amnesiac. A lot of the tracks you gave terrible scores you didn't understand. For example; 2+2=5 was about mindless people living in an Orwellian/dystopian world and swallowing everything their government tells them. It's literally a reference to George Orwell's 1984. And We Suck Young Blood wasn't a "children's Halloween song." The band stated that they targeted their record label, and the music industry as a whole, with that one. Thom has also talked about how difficult making this album was due to how much time and effort he, and the rest of the band, put into it. Saying it almost broke him. He said that Amnesiac was mostly a b-side album (all but 3 songs on that one being b-sides) so it didn't take much time to throw together, but Hail to the Theif was a full-fledged album that they spent a great deal of time creating. [It's reception from critics and fans alike being far stronger than Amnesic. Same goes for sales.]
The only problem of HTTT is that it’s too long. If they just left half of the tracks for b-sides and added 4 min LA version of I Will, it would be one of their best actually. Like Where I end and you begin, 2+2, wolf at the door, there there, myxomatosis are fucking bangers
Half of the tracks for b-sides? The only track I could see pushed to a b-side is we suck young blood. That's a song on a realm of its own. What would you consider a b-side? Wolf? Backdrifts? Sit down? Hell no.
I love this album - because at the time it came out I was just happy they’d remembered how to use guitars 😀 But overall it should’ve been 9 or 10 tracks and a very different order - still contains 3-4 of my top 20 Radiohead songs
Some of the songs I didn't like as much on first couple of listens grew on me as does all of their discography. That's Radiohead in a nutshell all their music needs repeat listens you'll pick up a lot that you just didn't get the first couple of times it's how they roll.
I think this album is in the bottom half of their discography, to be honest. In fact the only two albums I would put below this, are TKOL and Pablo Honey. That being said, there are still some great songs on here, particularly 2+2, Sail To The Moon, and A Wolf At The Door. I do not enjoy The Gloaming, Backdrifts, or A Punch Up at all.
This one of those albums you have to listen to a lot to the get the ideas and flesh them out in your mind and that goes for the musical elements as much as the lyrics.
The band themselves say they are not happy with the tracklisting. I would remove Backdrifts, We Suck Young Blood, and A Punch Up at a Wedding. Also reorder the tracks so they are like this instead: 1. 2 + 2 = 5 2. The Gloaming 3. Where I End and You Begin 4. Sail to the Moon 5. Go To Sleep 6. There, There 7. I Will 8. Sit Down Stand Up 9. Scatterbrain 10. Myxomatosis 11. A Wolf at the Door I think it works a lot better like this
