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I just listened to Hail to the Thief in its entirety taking qs
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Date: September 16th, 2026 12:57 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137276) |
Date: September 16th, 2026 12:59 AM Author: The Penis Never was big on that one honestly. Obviously it has a few songs I like. But overall I'm just not that big on it. I was always a kid a/amnesiac guy myself. Also in rainbows. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137283) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:13 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) Yeah it's not as good as their other top albums. A bit of an overall dip in quality. It has some moments though. I think in some ways the bizarre political message (Bush sucks?) holds it back a little and really doesn't hold up with time. 2 + 2 = 5 is a jam although it's not clear if they totally land the plane. It's still a (mostly) fun romp. The intro is so iconic and possibly the most recognizable intro of their career.
There, There wins points for being pretty, sparse, mysterious, and ethereal. The melodic high point. And I think Myxomatosis is also melodically strong. Most of the rest of the album has some glaring flaws in the songwriting. Although there's so much craft and artistry that go into it sometimes you get to the end of one of these dreary, borderline unlistenable offerings and it suddenly picks up and you go, wait, what?
They really put a mountain of effort into this, at least ten times more than your average band puts into making a record, and it's still very low energy, half baked at times. But worse of all it's just gloomy and plodding for long stretches. The 14 tracks feel 4-5 too many. It's overly long and at times you can't completely tell when the song changes. It suffers from its own monotony and inability to shake things up or try something different. When they made it they must have been really stuck on whatever idea they had and were overly committed to the shtick. Still, despite the obvious criticisms, it is objectively brilliant at times and if any other alternative band made this record it would be their masterpiece.
There's one clip where Thom accepts some British award for the album and he's teary-eyed and says the band made the record for themselves with no hope that the outside world would give a shit about it, and that the award meant a lot to him and justified their efforts. If that gives you a little window into what they were thinking.
I think it's obvious they went into making In Rainbows with the intent to right some of the wrongs they made on HttT. It really was a bonafide redemption arc. Imagine being so talented that your worst is better than most people's best. I guess it's like LeBron getting knocked out in the conference finals or something. You know he'll be back next year with a vengeance. |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:24 AM Author: The Penis Yeah I think your read is pretty close to mine, especially the sense that Hail to the Thief contains some of Radiohead’s best individual work inside one of their least disciplined albums.
The biggest thing I’d change is that I don’t really think the problem is that they were unwilling to try different things. Almost the opposite. The album has too many ideas and too many partially resolved modes. 2 + 2 = 5, Sail to the Moon, There There, Myxomatosis, The Gloaming, and A Wolf at the Door are doing substantially different things. But they’re all rendered through the same anxious, murky, midtempo HttT atmosphere, so the differences stop registering after 40 minutes.
Most of the record was initially recorded in about two weeks in Los Angeles, often at roughly a song a day, because they wanted immediacy and live interaction again. Yorke described it at the time as direct music made quickly without thinking everything to death.
I think they overshot. |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:30 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) I agree with this. They tried too many things within a moribund, droning, and bland context. The innovation was in the window dressing, not the meat. I think they needed to slow down and take more time to get deeper into the material and polish it. Take Nude for example that took them 20 years to write and went through a dozen major rewrites. You have to sit with the material and let it chew away at you. If they were going to rush through the recording process at least they could have done us all a favor and made it shorter and easier to digest than waste too much of our time. I think if they took the 10 best tracks and front loaded it we would have all been more into it. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137314) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:39 AM Author: The Penis Yeah, I think the problem is that they mistook recording quickly for some kind of artistic virtue when a lot of these songs clearly needed more time. Nude is the obvious counterexample. They sat with that thing forever, rewrote it over and over, and eventually every part of it feels right. HttT often sounds like they got to the first decent version of a song and moved on.
There are tons of interesting sounds and production ideas, but the actual songwriting underneath them can be weirdly thin. The innovation is in the window dressing more than the meat. Sit Down. Stand Up is basically three minutes of setup for a great ending. We Suck Young Blood is more of an atmosphere than a song. A Punchup at a Wedding has a great groove but not enough going on melodically.
And if you're going to make an album that way, at least edit the hell out of it. Fourteen tracks and almost an hour is absurd for material this gloomy and half cooked. Take the best 9 or 10 songs, front load the strongest stuff, and suddenly the slower tracks have room to breathe instead of feeling like one more stretch of sludge.
That seems like one of the big lessons they took into In Rainbows. They had plenty of good extra songs and just left them off. Being good wasn't enough anymore. The song had to make the album better. |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:41 AM Author: hank_scorpio caring about not having to skip a song if you don't like it is some real faggy shit, why wouldn't you want to hear everything they can give you? It doesn't hurt you to not love every track on every album (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137337) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:44 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) That's like saying why would you be mad if someone spliced a 20 minute slapstick routine into the middle of The Godfather? Because the film would have been worse. The whole point of art is to strive for perfection. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137344) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:46 AM Author: hank_scorpio except we don't listen to vinyl anymore, each song is its own thing and very, very rarely does an album amount to a cohesive piece of art, I honestly can't think of a single album that works front to back, I'd rather have the chance to love a song the producer didn't or skip it if I don't (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137349) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:48 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) Frank Zappa - Hot Rats (1969) (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137352) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:51 AM Author: hank_scorpio I like weird shit but zappa was just trolling us I think (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137363) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:53 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) He wrote a lot of real retarded music that is incredibly difficult to get through. That being said hidden within are many pearls that could change your life. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137365) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:54 AM Author: hank_scorpio I can believe that but I'll never know, some things aren't worth the time (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137369) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:56 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) https://open.spotify.com/track/5D5iBlSJZXTRUO8a7KVtaP
Watermelon in Easter Hay live '78 tell me that isn't the most overwhelming guitar instrumental/solo you've heard in a long time. Perfect tone. So much feeling and digging deep. |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:44 AM Author: The Penis You are treating an album like a folder of songs rather than a composed work. If you’re judging individual tracks, then sure, more material can only give you more chances to find something you like. But an album has pacing, sequencing and a sense of proportion and total cohesion. A weak or redundant track can damage the experience even if you’re technically free to skip it. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137346) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:46 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137348) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:47 AM Author: hank_scorpio I am indeed treating an album like what it actually is, a series of songs that generally don't have much to do with eachother because some doods on drugs wrote them one by one and then a jew put them in order (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137350) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:49 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) Ok, Zoomer (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137355) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:50 AM Author: hank_scorpio name one perfect album, I'll wait (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137358) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:53 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) Led Zeppelin IV (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137366) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:55 AM Author: hank_scorpio had to check the track listing but side two is weak, great closer but not perfect (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137371) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:57 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) We can say Four Sticks sucks here (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137375) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:58 AM Author: hank_scorpio I didn't want to be mean but yeah that is the worst on the album (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137379) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 2:08 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) Yeah it's really tough when you make an album with like 7 of the greatest rock songs ever made but there's one that's pretty meh. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137397) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:42 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) I couldn't agree more. Very well said. Imagine how much less good In Rainbows would be if there were like 4 more songs about as good as Faust ARP. It would have been a lot worse. There's almost no filler and every track has something to say.
What album should I review next? Thinking about Sigur Rós - () but I'm open to suggestions. |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:39 AM Author: grrr women grrrrrrrrrr Id love to discuss this w someone who has decent takes on music. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137330) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:43 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) Where's the lie? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137340) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:43 AM Author: hank_scorpio what is there to discuss? It is the least interesting radiohead album outside of the first one and is weird for the sake of it because thom yorke is mentally ill (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137341) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:44 AM Author: grrr women grrrrrrrrrr Anyone that doesnt immediately state that ok computer is the best radiohead album is a fucking retard and should be treated as such (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137343) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:45 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) It's a virtual tie between OK Computer and Kid A. And The Bends is very close. They made two flawless albums. I lean Kid A but that doesn't take anything away from the greatness of OK Computer. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137347) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:49 AM Author: hank_scorpio OK is probably the best but I would argue Kid A is the most influential, you have to remember how fucking long ago that was and how much music since is aping that vibe, electronic music prior to that was gay dance shit and I really think all of the dark stuff since owes a lot to it (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137356) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:51 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) Mfcr
Crazy when you hear Everything In Its Right Place in the Nick Fuentes intro lmao. The long arm of Thom's genius and the Prophet 5. |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:49 AM Author: The Penis OK Computer and Kid A are both excellent. I think I like Kid A better, but doesn't mean OK Computer isn't great too. Amnesiac and In Rainbows are also pretty close behind for me. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137354) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:50 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) Are you running everything I say through an LLM and changing it very slightly again? Ugh... Nffi (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137357) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:50 AM Author: The Penis No. I actually do agree with you. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137359) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:53 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) 180 (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137367) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:57 AM Author: The Penis You know what's funny is that back in the 2000s noone on xo would admit to liking kid a. IRL you could definitely find people but it was more niche. Now suddenly people consider it obvious that Kid A was genius. I always put it at the top. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137376) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 2:06 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) I liked Kid A so much the first time I heard it I thought all the other Radiohead albums were shite for like two years. I must have listened to it over and over on repeat like 9 times. I remember jogging over to the store to get it. This fag from Minnesota played a hint of Idioteque in some faggy class we were in. I was like what the hell was that. I took off sprinting. Like I literally ran several miles to the store to pick it up. I had to drop everything I was doing and go get it. I don't remember anything after that. I listened to it like 11 times in my dorm room on repeat and I wouldn't come out. I went into a deep depression that lasted for several years where all I would do was listen to Kid A. I thought it was the End of Music. I was certain it was the Last Rock Album like it was just over for good. I couldn't touch a guitar for years. I just considered the matter settled. I couldn't listen to OK Computer it made me want to puke. All I wanted to do was listen to it over and over again. I blacked out the first time I heard Idioteque in full. I just set it to repeat. I must have listened to it for hours and hours. This went on for years. Eventually I came out of the coma and could listen to other Radiohead albums again. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137389) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 2:09 AM Author: hank_scorpio I think there is an argument that it was what really killed rock, all of the weirdos who would have picked up a guitar got on their computers and started making drone noises that would have been cooler in a band (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137402) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 2:10 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) That's like saying Picasso killed classical painting. Like maybe he did... But it's Picasso. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137404) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 2:12 AM Author: hank_scorpio never really cared for him tbh and modern art is mostly a disaster so I'd be kinder to radiohead, at least the electronic stuff is pretty cool sometimes (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137406) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 2:12 AM Author: The Penis This is basically the correct way to encounter Kid A. You’re supposed to hear 40 seconds of it by accident, abandon whatever life you were living, and reappear months later with completely different standards for recorded music. The first time idioteque hits properly it really does feel like somebody has shown you a machine from 30 years in the future and then casually put it on a rock album. I think I have listened to this album more than any other album. even when I listened to it too many times, I kept putting it in my car's cd player, because there was nothing else I felt like listening to. I actually first bought the cd early in high school. But I listened to it the most times in college. Haven't listened to it as much over the past decade, but I did at least once last year. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137407) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 2:20 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) Cr
It's definitely a once a year refresher. It can really trip you out just like the first time if you wait long enough between takes. Certain movies too like Boogie Nights hit different after a few years. There are just certain tent poles you have to periodically revisit where you go damn, they kept breaking past every creative barrier with a bulldozer. |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:51 AM Author: hank_scorpio in rainbows is a better listen but less interesting (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137361) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:53 AM Author: The Penis Yeah that's probably what puts it ahead of amnesiac for me (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137368) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:55 AM Author: grrr women grrrrrrrrrr In rainbows is what music critics think great music is supposed to sound like (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137372) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:58 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) False lol. It's actually very good. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137378) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 2:00 AM Author: The Penis You think so? I don't really see it like that. It's a fun, easy to listen to album. To me, music critic focused stuff would be more boring and pretentious and maybe forcing weird ideas at times. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137382) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 2:01 AM Author: hank_scorpio music critics like whatever they think will make them seem cool, they are bigger frauds than lawyers (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137383) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 2:04 AM Author: The Penis Yeah music journalism is awful. But I agree with your take that in rainbows is a better listen, but less interesting. Which IMO goes against it being something that is just what critics think music should sound like. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137384) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:56 AM Author: grrr women grrrrrrrrrr Okc & kida are both acceptable.
Hatp is a retarded emotional quasi-woman though |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:57 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) Love ya babe (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137377) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 1:58 AM Author: grrr women grrrrrrrrrr Id love you a lot more if youd stop whining about rsf and develop real musical taste of your own (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137380) |
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Date: September 16th, 2026 2:09 AM Author: I crank it somewhat regularly to Violet Myers (Prestige Feuds) What album should I review next for your pleasure? Thinking about doing Sigur Rós or Poison. Thoughts? (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5904182&forum_id=2/#50137403) |