Hail To The Thief
by Radiohead

Underrated in comparison to their other albums? Certainly seems that way. And why? Well, this is possibly due to its length. When I first heard this album, I of course recognized its brilliance. However, it's length, and its apparent lack of flow, did manage to seep in at times, ultimately overthrowing its overall magic. Thom York himself posted a comment a short while back discussing the albums length and track-listing. He felt they'd included some tracks that, as I've noticed, do seem to cause more harm than good (Remember, sometimes less is more). Therefore, he included in this post of his, an alternate track-listing that he felt was far more effective.

1. There There
2. The Gloaming
3. Sail to the Moon
4. Sit Down, Stand Up
5. Go To Sleep
6. Where I End and you Begin
7. Scatterbrain
8. 2+2=5
9. Myxomatosis
10. A Wolf at the Door

Overall, I find this alternate track-listing to be far more cohesive than the original, truly bringing to the forefront a perfect combination of Radiohead's early Britpop sound, and their - shortly thereafter - electronic experimentation. In conclusion, with this album, Radiohead managed to do it again - another masterpiece.

lol @ trying to pare this album down - it doesn't matter that everyone agrees that it should be shorter b/c no one can agree on which tracks to cut. one man's top rated pick is another's cut for this one, strangely enough.

or maybe it's not strange, maybe this album just divides the okc fans and the kid a fans, at least that's what I think. you either don't like the more traditional songs or you don't like the weird ones. or you can appreciate them all....

anyway, the album is like 3 mins longer than OKC, 6 mins longer than kid a, it's not "too long" in the slightest and if you disagree you can prob get ritalin prescribed for that. it'll probably always be their hardest rocking, most diverse work. this gives it a very expansive, epic feel which is what I attribute to all of the "too long" comments.

for every (see below) "'I Will' is a nothing song" comment, there is a "'I Will' is the best song under 2 minutes ever written" comment (see Stereogum comments).

for every, "'The Gloaming' is pointless" comment, there is a "I can't imagine a live Radiohead show without 'The Gloaming'" comment.

at first I really didn't like 'We Suck Young Blood' but there's actually more to listen for on that than most songs on the album. weird little things flying all over, through one speaker or the other. it's a cool track, though still prob the weakest on the album and still better than Hunting Bears, Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors, and Treefingers.

not that Amnesiac or Kid A are bad albums. I know Kid A is better. and surely the best songs from a combination of Amnesiac and HTTT would be from Amnesiac, but HTTT would have the next 6 or 7 best songs in a row. this is better than Amnesiac; the content of the songs doesn't vary as much in Amnesiac (in other words it's def more consistent, I'll concede), but the QUALITY of the songs varies a lot more on Amnesiac, highlighting its lows.

and I know Treefingers is mostly a gap-bridger, but it's still more filler-y than anything on HTTT, which should not have to suffer the disrespect with this "shave it down" nonsense. shave my balls.

Underrated. Everyone says it's too long, but I can't think of a song to cut! I like them all!

Hate the mantra of 'not their best, too long' that this album gets. If anyone else had made it they would have been hailed for a gem of an album. Some underrated tracks on here including Where I End and You Begin (amazing song) and I Will, as well as the obvious crackers. Maybe not as good as Kid A or OKC, but still fucking fantastic.

From Onater 07/26/2016 00:01 | #171817 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Everyone complains about this album being too long yet it's only 3 minutes longer than OK Computer and 4 minutes longer than A Moon Shaped Pool.