Some albums rock, some albums suck, and some albums can't be judged easily because you don't know what the hell is even going on. This album is one of latter.
Disc 214 is...Hail To The Thief
Artist: Radiohead
Year of Release: 2003
What’s Up With The Cover?: A very bad piece of modern art - is it supposed to be a seaside city, where the blue at the top represents the sea, and the words that make up the aerial view of the city all the conflicting ideas and thoughts crammed together? That's what I see, but even if I've just guessed right it doesn't make it good.
How I Came To Know It: I first heard Radiohead as a band way back when "Pablo Honey" came out, then went many years until I heard "Kid A" at my friend Tony's place. This particular album is just Sheila digging through the collection (I think I bought her this for her stocking or birthday one year). Sheila is a big Radiohead fan, so the collection is really hers.
How It Stacks Up: We have seven Radiohead albums, and this is the first one I've reviewed. I'm going to be optimistic and say it is the worst.
Rating: 2 stars.
Since this review is going to be mostly negative, let me just start by saying that I admire Radiohead as a band. I think they are creative with what they do with music, and have carved out a sound unique to them. There is a reason they are so well-loved by critics and audiophiles alike.
Having said that, admiring a band's obvious talent is a very different thing from enjoying what they do. While there are a couple of Radiohead albums I quite like, they tend to be the more 'normal' ones. "Hail To The Thief" is not one of those.
To me this music is the extra-terrestrial version of lounge; it is both alien and a little boring. Deep down in some of the songs I can catch the beginnings of an interesting tune, sometimes even with a melody, but it has been so messed with it becomes hard to recognize as music.
In an effort to connect to this record, I sought some connection with the lyrics. Unfortunately, Thom Yorke's high pitched, tortured keening makes it very hard to follow along. When I finally got home tonight and was able to look at the liner notes (since doing that while driving is inadvisable) I discovered that the lyrics are slightly more interesting, but even then they don't say anything that blows me over.
Worse, Radiohead felt the need to give every song two titles, one regular title - and one in italics and parentheses. Example: "There there (The Boney King of Nowhere)." Why do this?
The music on "Hail To The Thief" isn't really about lyrics or melody, however. It is more about establishing an emotional mood. In this, it is fairly successful, and the longer you soak in it, the more comfortable it becomes. By my second listen I could start to get a sense of what they were doing, and even admire it. However, I still couldn't find myself enjoying it.
Each time I was just getting into the groove of a song, Radiohead would add some bizarre synth sound that more properly fit in an eerie scene from a science fiction movie. If that wasn't happening, then Yorke was unleashing some pitiful echoing wail to knock me out of my reverie and remind me that I had, in fact, been abducted by alien musicians.
Sorry, Radiohead - I appreciate the effort, but like Captain Picard, even after being forced to eat your weird food, and subjected to your mental torture in the car for two days, I still see four lights. Now send me back to my ship, my fellow Terrans are gonna start wondering what happened to me.
Best tracks: Um...they are all OK, I guess, or not. Not so much offensive, it's just I have a hard time telling them apart.
Disc 214 is...Hail To The Thief
Artist: RadioheadYear of Release: 2003
What’s Up With The Cover?: A very bad piece of modern art - is it supposed to be a seaside city, where the blue at the top represents the sea, and the words that make up the aerial view of the city all the conflicting ideas and thoughts crammed together? That's what I see, but even if I've just guessed right it doesn't make it good.
How I Came To Know It: I first heard Radiohead as a band way back when "Pablo Honey" came out, then went many years until I heard "Kid A" at my friend Tony's place. This particular album is just Sheila digging through the collection (I think I bought her this for her stocking or birthday one year). Sheila is a big Radiohead fan, so the collection is really hers.
How It Stacks Up: We have seven Radiohead albums, and this is the first one I've reviewed. I'm going to be optimistic and say it is the worst.
Rating: 2 stars.
Since this review is going to be mostly negative, let me just start by saying that I admire Radiohead as a band. I think they are creative with what they do with music, and have carved out a sound unique to them. There is a reason they are so well-loved by critics and audiophiles alike.
Having said that, admiring a band's obvious talent is a very different thing from enjoying what they do. While there are a couple of Radiohead albums I quite like, they tend to be the more 'normal' ones. "Hail To The Thief" is not one of those.
To me this music is the extra-terrestrial version of lounge; it is both alien and a little boring. Deep down in some of the songs I can catch the beginnings of an interesting tune, sometimes even with a melody, but it has been so messed with it becomes hard to recognize as music.
In an effort to connect to this record, I sought some connection with the lyrics. Unfortunately, Thom Yorke's high pitched, tortured keening makes it very hard to follow along. When I finally got home tonight and was able to look at the liner notes (since doing that while driving is inadvisable) I discovered that the lyrics are slightly more interesting, but even then they don't say anything that blows me over.
Worse, Radiohead felt the need to give every song two titles, one regular title - and one in italics and parentheses. Example: "There there (The Boney King of Nowhere)." Why do this?
The music on "Hail To The Thief" isn't really about lyrics or melody, however. It is more about establishing an emotional mood. In this, it is fairly successful, and the longer you soak in it, the more comfortable it becomes. By my second listen I could start to get a sense of what they were doing, and even admire it. However, I still couldn't find myself enjoying it.
Each time I was just getting into the groove of a song, Radiohead would add some bizarre synth sound that more properly fit in an eerie scene from a science fiction movie. If that wasn't happening, then Yorke was unleashing some pitiful echoing wail to knock me out of my reverie and remind me that I had, in fact, been abducted by alien musicians.
Sorry, Radiohead - I appreciate the effort, but like Captain Picard, even after being forced to eat your weird food, and subjected to your mental torture in the car for two days, I still see four lights. Now send me back to my ship, my fellow Terrans are gonna start wondering what happened to me.
Best tracks: Um...they are all OK, I guess, or not. Not so much offensive, it's just I have a hard time telling them apart.
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