NME 'hail to the thief' review

Even if we haven't read it?

Whining that Radiohead doesn't sound like Bends/OK anymore after all this time = DUD.

(re: Kid A & Amnesiac) "If you play those two records now, you're immediately drawn to the moments where the band are at their most conventional."

Um, no.

Somehow, i don't think i should go and read this review. I'm already swimming in bile as it is. That and my son has just about run me into the ground...

Far as i'm concerned, the album's great. I'm not too worried about what NME thinks. And i'm using 'thinks' in the loosest possible manner.

awww...NME....remember that? A bit like candy tobacco and Haunted House lollies.... long forgotten, but tasty at the time.

I've not heard the album, but it seems like a predictable review from a predictable stance.

Anyone who thinks that the "rock" songs were the best moments on Kid A/Amnesiac is not someone whose viewpoint I find valid enough to pay attention to.

Boring and predictable and says acres about the prejudices and shortcomings of the reviewer and almost nothing about the album or the band.

the NME is predictable and easy target at this stage, but i still enjoy a good moan! there's nothing wrong with some straightforward rock, but the notion that the success of a couple of rock bands has rendered any attempts to make experimental/electronic music invalid is absurd, and disappointing to read. i'm talking about this part...

"It's ironic that 'Hail To The Thief' emerges at a time when the fashion once more is for a more primitive musical experience. Both The Strokes and The White Stripes have shown that a pared-down emotional rawness can be both commercially and critically successful. Once again, Radiohead find themselves an anachronism but this time not in a particularly positive way. They feel cumbersome and self-important besides these younger groups"

and yes, i think many found the experimental pieces on the last two albums to be the real triumph, not the old-school radiohead ones. oh well, enough potshots at an easy target for now, i have study to do.

I'm not so sure how similar to Autechre or Aphex Twin ANY of the stuff they did was.

I think he may be onto something, in a roundabout cultural way, with the part that Kilian quotes, in that I'd say the Strokes and White Stripes et al and the way NME has sold them has given rise to an attitude that emotional or serious music is for wankers.

I doubt Radiohead give a fuck about "these younger groups" but I imagine alot of former fans might now see them as cumbersome and self important.

FWIW I think Idioteque is the best thing they've ever done.

That's maybe a roundabout way of saying; Radiohead are no longer quite so much in the public eye.

"I'm not so sure how similar to Autechre or Aphex Twin ANY of the stuff they did was"

true, i'd only say 4 tracks off kid a (at most) could be said to sound like these acts. perhaps former radiohead fans have moved over to the garage rock crowd a bit, but it still seems a bit silly to criticise the album for not being straight-up rock.

i.e. is every review of an experimental album going to include a passage which says "this album is cumbersome when set against the white stripes"? (to be fair, they probably only drew this comparison because radiohead is competing sales-wise with them, and competing for the affections of the same people.)

The White Stripes are as cumbersome as it gets. I'm not in the mood for a new Radiohead album though and I wish they wouldn't bother for a bit.

I fully agree Tico, re the White Stripes.

In answer to your question Kilian, I reckon in the NME, yes!

''and I wish they wouldn't bother for a bit.''

replace 'a bit' for 'for evah'.

I reckon they've another 20 albums in them yet. I was wondering if the lack of marketing is the reason the album feels so insignificant.

The thing is, surely "Hail To The Thief" will far outsell anything the Strokes or the Stripes, with their one top ten single between them, will ever put out.

the white stripes new album is selling very well indeed, i think. i'd say radiohead outsell the strokes, but i think the white stripes have made quite an advance sales-wise with "Elephant".

Yeah but the Strokes have had one album, in fairness.

Julio, why do you read every Radiohead thread?

idioteque is prob the best thing they've done.

to be fair to my friends at the nme. they did give it 7 out of 10. but it was the tenor and tone of the review that shat me tearless. whoever said before the bit about them wanting another ok computer/bends record 5 years later is sad. me i would have felt betrayed if they went garage rock. its nice to see principles even if they are self important and deluded. wellok maybe not all the time.

''Julio, why do you read every Radiohead thread?''

melissa, I was being flippant as usual. sorry.

That review is retarded.

"Looky looky! We like these NEW ROCK BANDS now! Please buy our magazine!"

You can smell the desperation in their sweat, man.